Sacred Fire, the Ice Empress's humiliation

Ho-Oh was not large, measuring about four meters long. It circled overhead, its wings shimmering as it beat them.

Chi Hong was stunned by the sight of Ho-Oh's arrival. For a moment, he could only stare.

Not far away, Charizard quickly flew back. Its eyes and Greninja's were filled with admiration and longing for such power.

But what looked sacred to Chi Hong was a vision of terror to the Ice Empress.

To her senses, Ho-Oh's aura belonged to a million-year Soul Beast. It had even reached the realm of gods!

The Ultimate Ice she had always taken pride in seemed so insignificant beneath Ho-Oh's holy light.

"A divine beast... No, how could a divine beast possibly exist in this world? Even Snow Empress and Di Tian could never possess an aura like this!"

The Ice Empress's cool voice trembled. In the world of Soul Beasts, bloodline suppression was something humans could not sense.

When faced with a Soul Beast whose bloodline far surpassed her own, she could hardly even muster the will to resist.

Chi Hong looked at the Ice Empress and sighed.

"Why put yourself through this? I told you not to push me. Do you see your mistake now?"

The moment he summoned Ho-Oh, Chi Hong formed a faint connection with it, similar to the one he had with Charizard. But he could only command it to use moves for a short time, and its sole designated opponent was the Ice Empress.

The Ice Empress regarded Chi Hong warily.

"I've never seen a Soul Beast like this on this continent, much less one controlled by a human like you. Who are you, and what does that Plate have to do with you?"

You wasted one of my Legendary Pokémon Balls, and you still have the nerve to ask questions.

Seeing that the Ice Empress still did not understand her situation, Chi Hong gave a cold snort.

"I can't be bothered to answer you. You don't deserve to know. Ho-Oh, use Sacred Fire."

Ho-Oh let out a long cry that shook the heavens and earth. Then it opened its beak, and every rainbow-colored stream of light around it converged before it, forming a huge, swirling vortex.

The next instant,

Ho-Oh unleashed a rose-gold flame from its beak. It poured forth like a living, sacred torrent, straight toward the Ice Empress.

For an instant, the sacred radiance made the Ice Empress feel as though she were seeing a god. Then she snapped out of her daze and realized it was a reaper that could take her life!

The Ice Empress hastily drew on every last bit of her core power, using Ultimate Ice to raise layer upon layer of shields around herself.

This was her strongest defensive skill.

Ice Empress Protection!

The stream of fire washed over the shields of Ultimate Ice. In less than a second, every layer had burned and melted away.

Sacred Fire engulfed the Ice Empress without mercy.

"Mm—"

A pained groan escaped her amid the flames.

When her voice had grown so weak it was almost inaudible, Chi Hong had Ho-Oh withdraw the Sacred Fire.

After the flames faded, the Ice Empress lay where she had fallen, barely alive. Her diamond-like shell had been scorched red, and she had no strength left to resist.

But faint groans still escaped her. Sacred Fire continued to burn, and traces of it remained inside her, consuming what little life she had left.

"Human, what will it take for you to spare me?"

The Ice Empress pleaded through her pain.

Chi Hong looked down at her.

"Oh? Why do you think I'd spare you? When I tried to explain myself earlier, were you going to spare me? And don't you know how valuable the Soul Bone and Soul Ring of a four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast like you are?"

The Ice Empress fell silent.

She knew that humans and Soul Beasts were mortal enemies. There was no chance this human would spare her.

But she did not want to die. The longer a Soul Beast lived, the more it feared death.

Otherwise, she would not have tried everything she could to survive her approaching four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation.

Even the Snow Empress, with seven hundred thousand years of cultivation, had been forced to take human form and cultivate anew to survive. No one knew whether she was alive or dead now.

The thought left the Ice Empress in despair. Why did Soul Beasts have to suffer so much?

The heavens would not tolerate their growing strength. They had to face heavenly tribulations, yet could never become gods.

Generation after generation, they remained trapped in this world.

Facing her imminent death, the Ice Empress silently closed her eyes. Her body began to tremble.

Seeing that her resolve had completely crumbled, Chi Hong smiled. "Ice Empress, if you want to live, you have one last chance."

The Ice Empress opened her eyes. "Human? What trick are you trying to pull now?"

Chi Hong pointed to Charizard and Greninja.

"Don't make me sound so awful. I only want you to become my partner, just like these two."

The Ice Empress looked at the proud Charizard and Greninja, who was striking a cool pose, then snorted. "Dream on, human. I may be afraid of death, but even if I die, I will never submit to a human and become your servant!"

Chi Hong shook his head.

"Who said anything about servants? They're my companions, and we stand together through life and death. My Martial Soul doesn't need me to kill Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings. Instead, I form contracts with them. From then on, we grow together and share both triumph and loss."

The Ice Empress carefully sensed Charizard and Greninja. With her powerful Inner Focus, she could detect no trace of either Soul Beast being controlled. On the contrary, both brimmed with vitality.

What shocked her even more was that the fire dragon was only six years old, yet had the strength of a six-thousand-year Soul Beast. The other was even more outrageous: not yet a year old, it possessed the strength of a peak four-thousand-year Soul Beast.

"Bah. So what? I don't want to be partners with a human like you. I won't believe you."

The Ice Empress still spoke with a cold snort.

But there was a hint of wavering in her voice.

Chi Hong pointed to the sky and said calmly,

"Even if you don't trust me, you should trust Ho-Oh, a Legendary Pokémon, shouldn't you? Don't you want to become one yourself? Don't you want eternal life?"

The Ice Empress looked up at Ho-Oh flying overhead. Setting aside the fact that it had nearly killed her with a single move, its aura and power truly were everything she had dreamed of attaining.

"So... so what? Can you make me a Deity? That phoenix is clearly only a demigod. It still hasn't ascended to the Divine Realm, or it wouldn't be here."

The Ice Empress's voice softened considerably.

Chi Hong continued to tempt her.

"You forgot, the one you contracted with is me. As long as I become a God, you will naturally be able to ascend to the Divine Realm and attain the rank of a divine beast."

With that, Chi Hong released the power of the Ice Pillar Plate.

The familiar aura made the Ice Empress shudder. Even some of the Sacred Fire still lingering inside her dissipated.

Seeing this, the Ice Empress finally believed most of what Chi Hong had said.

That Plate contained the Ice Law she longed for more than anything. It belonged to the realm of gods.

And as the Plate's owner, Chi Hong was certain to become a god.