"Lucian's communications cut out five minutes ago." Cynthia's voice carried over the roar of the engines.
Lin Hao fastened his seat belt and looked at the clouds racing past the window. "What caused it?"
"Unknown. His last message was, 'The fourth level has fallen. We're retreating.' Then the signal cut out."
"Is he still alive?"
"His locator puts him on the north slope of Mt. Coronet. He hasn't moved since."
Lin Hao said nothing. If his position hadn't changed, he was either trapped or something had happened to him.
"What about the seal on Dialga?"
"Our monitoring shows that the outer structure of the Spear Pillar has already begun resonating." Cynthia brought up a chart on her tablet. "Six hours ahead of my estimate."
Arceus, Lin Hao called in his mind.
I'm here.
Can you sense what's happening at Mt. Coronet directly from here?
Yes, Arceus replied. The core of the Spear Pillar has yet to be breached, but three fissures have already appeared in the outer space-time barrier. Cyrus is using super-ancient energy and fragments of the Red Chain to expand them in targeted directions.
Has Dialga awakened?
Not fully, but its mind is being drawn toward the summons. If this continues for another two hours, its instincts will drive it to respond.
"Two hours." Lin Hao glanced at the flight-time display. They still had two hours and forty minutes before reaching Sinnoh.
They were forty minutes short. Cynthia silently did the math. "We won't make it on the regular flight route."
"Is there an irregular way?"
Cynthia looked at him. "Arceus can open a spatial passage."
Lin Hao fell silent for two seconds. "Using Arceus to open a passage would be announcing my arrival to Cyrus."
"He'll find out sooner or later."
"The difference is whether he has