The extreme cold slowed the flow of energy within the Barrier's structure, while the force of Hydro Pump reached the peak of its second surge at that exact moment.
The two forces collided and tore at each other across the Protect Barrier's surface, ripping fine cracks through the once-stable emerald-green energy shield.
"Crack—"
At the sound, Gardevoir's pupils suddenly constricted. Its body instinctively twisted to the left to evade, but Ice Beam was too fast. The icy-blue beam grazed its right arm solidly.
Frigid energy exploded at the point of contact. From elbow to fingertips, Gardevoir's right arm was instantly coated in a layer of gray-white frost, and the temperature of the entire limb plummeted to freezing.
"Gardevoir!"
The cold spread along its nerves. Gardevoir furrowed its brow tightly, and a suppressed cry of pain escaped its lips.
The remaining Ice Beam streaked past its side and struck the green moss behind it, freezing the lush ground into a gray-white crust of ice.
The frost on Gardevoir's right arm rapidly spread. The gray-white ice crystals crawled upward inch by inch, and the entire arm had nearly gone numb.
Seeing this, Xinhai's pupils narrowed slightly. His voice rang clearly and decisively in Gardevoir's mind: Fire Punch, melt the frost.
"Gardevoir!" Gardevoir abruptly raised its left hand, and crimson flames erupted from its palm, engulfing its entire right arm.
The blazing heat and the bitter frost clashed fiercely across its arm, producing a sharp sizzling sound. White mist rose into the air as the ice coating its skin melted and peeled away at a visible rate, turning into droplets that fell from its fingertips to the ground.
Within a few breaths, feeling returned to its right arm by seventy or eighty percent. Though faint red marks still lingered on its skin, they