The Nightmare God Who Held Good Intentions

Darkrai.

Its appearance somewhat resembled Rika Orimoto in her incompletely manifested form: a humanoid upper body, with its lower half shrouded in darkness and shadow.

However, its color scheme was the opposite of Rika's. Its body was predominantly black, with only two contrasting colors: the red jagged collar-like protrusions around its neck, and the white murky mist resembling long hair atop its head.

The Pitch-Black Pokémon, a Dark-type Mythical Pokémon.

Pitch-black was its classification, Dark was its type, and Mythical meant rarity.

If Pokémon were ranked like Cursed Spirits, Darkrai would undoubtedly be classified as Special Grade.

Whether in strength or rarity, it was beyond comparison with ordinary Pokémon.

Fortunately, when he received the system prompt, Akesato was in the "Zone," his state of mind exceptionally stable. Otherwise, his reaction would not have been much calmer than when Ralts hatched.

After all, Ralts had the bonus of being the number one waifu in the Pokémon world. Darkrai relied purely on its rarity and overwhelming strength.

If it was Darkrai, then its long incubation period was easy to understand. In the mainline Pokémon games, these Mythical Pokémon could not breed offspring at all.

This time, he absolutely had to praise the system. Though, to be fair, this was indeed the sort of move domestic mobile games excelled at.

And this was the fundamental reason Akesato had never called upon Pokémon, relying only on himself.

After all, Black Flash involved a considerable amount of luck. Given Akesato's personality, he would never bet everything on Black Flash. What if it went wrong?

What truly made him decide was Darkrai's "fetal movement."

When the human bomb combatants appeared, when Kento Nanami landed a Black Flash, and when Akesato broke through his limits.

It grew clearer and stronger.

Finally, at the instant Akesato successfully landed a Black Flash, Darkrai broke free from its Dark Egg and entered this world.

Like every hatched Pokémon, it was only Level 1, yet the innate majesty it possessed was enough to make anyone without sufficient willpower tremble.

Darkrai had another title in the Pokémon world—the Nightmare God, the god of nightmares, capable of plunging living beings into endless nightmares.

With the willpower of high-level Curse Users, they should not have been frightened by Darkrai.

But Akesato and Kento Nanami had already scared the courage out of both men, leaving none of their former arrogance behind.

And Akesato's actions made the two realize that this Boy, who had toyed with them in the palm of his hand from beginning to end, had not used any cursed technique even now.

Since when had Tokyo High School produced another monster on the level of Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto?

It was terrifying.

"Looks like we can't get away," Bayer said listlessly.

If they had not been frightened by Darkrai, they might still have had a chance. Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

"I can't get away. You still can."

At the critical moment, Kekun made a startling choice.

Gathering his remaining strength, he rolled off Bayer's shoulder, shoved Bayer forward, then used his own body to block Darkrai's path. He tore open his shirt, revealing a Cursed Seal that even Jujutsu Sorcerers rarely possessed. The cursed energy contained within was clearly perceptible to both Jujutsu Sorcerers and Pokémon.

"If you don't want to be blown to death, nobody move!"

"Kekun!!! Don't be impulsive! Don't do anything stupid!"

Bayer's reaction was more intense than ever, because he knew exactly what his old companion intended to do.

"This isn't stupidity. It's the most suitable course of action. If I don't do this, neither of us will escape. This time won't be as easy as last time."

Kekun wore a fearless expression, completely ignoring Darkrai's innate intimidation.

"The mission failed. As the coordinator, I should have been responsible for it. Rather than both of us getting captured, it's better to leave behind one last hope. Go."

Bayer had risked himself for him, so naturally he could risk his life for Bayer. What did a mere nightmare matter? Could the dead still have nightmares?

"Ugh!"

Knowing his old companion had already resolved to die, Bayer gritted his teeth, gave Kekun one final look, and charged forward with his head lowered.

"Classmate Akesato, Kekun appears to have turned himself into a human bomb. Your Pokémon—"

Even as the Curse Users enacted their tearful farewell, Kento Nanami did not forget to warn him.

Akesato looked utterly calm. It wasn't like I hadn't considered that you might have some move where you take everyone down with you. We're both playing with bombs, but you're far inferior to Deidara.

"No problem. Even if it's not just Kekun, even if all the bombs explode together, it'll be fine. When I say none of you can escape, none of you can escape. Gardevoir!"

"Gardevoir~"

The Psychic Queen, who had been secretly following them all along, immediately answered her master's call.

Given her personality, if Akesato had not kept stopping her, she would have come out long ago and used Psychic Power to knock down every enemy.

With a light tap of her finger, Psychic pinned the restarting Bayer to the ground, leaving him unable to move.

"You forced my hand!" Kekun roared when he saw this, about to activate the Cursed Seal and self-destruct.

But Akesato merely smiled faintly and ordered, "Darkrai, use Binding Spell."

"Mm."

With a deep response perfectly suited to the darkness, its blue eyes turned red.

Glared at by those eyes, Kekun immediately found his body stiffening, his cursed energy circulation stalling as well. Though it lasted only an instant, it was enough for Akesato's Pokémon to subdue him.

Darkrai lunged forward and struck Kekun's jaw with a claw, giving him a concussion. Gardevoir's attack followed close behind.

Skill · Hypnosis.

As the name implied, it could put someone to sleep.

Though it did not have a one hundred percent hit rate and was also affected by the target's willpower and resistance, Kekun was already at the end of his rope. How could he resist a fully prepared, higher-Level Gardevoir?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bayer."

With those final words, Kekun closed his eyes and fell into a dead sleep.

Still conscious, Bayer let out a pained sigh. "I'm the one who got you involved."

Watching this, Akesato felt an inexplicable sense of dissonance well up inside him.

He knew villains were people too, with their own emotions and desires, but seeing these two terrorists putting on such a deeply bonded display still made Akesato uncomfortable.

He hurried forward and knocked Bayer unconscious.

Only now could the battle truly be considered settled.

The reason he had not killed the two of them to eliminate future trouble was, first, because he was mindful of Kento Nanami's attitude; second, because Akesato did not want his Pokémon stained with human blood; and third, because they would be more useful alive to Satoru Gojo. As for how Gojo would use them—interrogation, negotiation, or perhaps intimidation—that was up to Gojo himself.

He took out his phone and messaged Jitako Ijichi, who was also waiting nearby. For a moment, the dependable adult man had nothing to do but remark:

"You were right. This time, the minors were more useful than the adults."

"I thought you'd have an issue with me." Akesato breathed a sigh of relief.

"While I don't entirely agree with what you did, you made the plan, and you were fully capable of controlling the situation, so I won't say anything—when I was surrounded, your Pokémon had been keeping an eye on me the whole time, hadn't they?"

"So you noticed."

Gardevoir was the final pellet in the slingshot.

With her there, Akesato could do seemingly risky things without any worries.

Besides, Kento Nanami had long seen through him. Akesato simply thought too much; he was not truly cold-blooded.

Just like that Darkrai. He looked terrifying, and his setting was that of the Nightmare God who brought nightmares, but there was a soft side to him as well.

The fact that Gardevoir had not shown any rejection toward him was the best proof. Darkrai, however, had shown a slight competitive spirit toward Gardevoir.

Because putting people to sleep and leading them into dreams was the duty of him, the Nightmare God.

Even though his Level was too low and he had yet to master the relevant Skills, the instincts of the Nightmare God still called to him.

PS: This chapter finally has that Jujutsu Kaisen flavor. A lot of Jujutsu Kaisen villains have the scripts and lines of righteous protagonists—that's exactly the effect we want.

PS2: Please keep supporting with monthly tickets, follow-up reads, and tips.