Crack! The instant Pluto's finger touched the gem, the entire stone shattered into countless motes of red dust that scattered through the air. At the same time, thick, visible black smoke suddenly poured from the still-flying fragments of the bone throne, enveloping all the red dust along with Pluto and Lugia.
"Aaaaaaah!" A scream utterly unlike a human voice rang out. The black smoke swelled and contracted, and in the blink of an eye, faces formed in its rolling bulges-vicious, brutal, greedy, venomous...
Each face trailed a plume of black smoke. There was no telling how many faces the smoke had formed as they wheeled through the air, wailing and shrieking amid gusts of chilling wind. Lugia was still faintly visible at the very center of the smoke, but Pluto had vanished entirely. Only shreds of cloth still streaked with blood drifted down, seemingly the last proof that he had ever existed. The dust from the shattered red gem had likewise disappeared without a trace.
"Sis... / Max..." Trembling all over at the terrifying sight, May and Max clung to each other, their faces drained of color. Though Manaphy also huddled in May's arms, Manaphy's gaze remained unchanged, fixed on Lugia within the black smoke.
"I have a terrible feeling about this. These are the sinful souls of people who coveted Lugia but never obtained it, still carrying that greedy obsession after death!" Cynthia bit her lip hard, refusing to let herself lose composure. "I don't know how Pluto did it, but he used these souls' desire to possess Lugia to cloud its own thoughts, then used that red gem, imbued with divine power, to suppress the souls and control Lugia. Now that the bone throne and the red gem have shattered, the souls have been released, while Lugia is