Just as Arceus had said, Cobalion had all but gone on a killing spree.
After taking the initiative and finishing off Steven's Skarmory, Cobalion had overwhelmingly crushed his other four Pokémon, leaving only Mega Metagross.
Steven was in no less dire a situation than Cynthia.
The only good news was that the Swords of Justice were so far above their Pokémon in level that a single landed attack left them on the verge of death.
Even after becoming Shadow Pokémon, they had no strength left to help the Swords of Justice.
On the battlefield, only Leon and Diantha could barely hold their own.
But they were fighting just as cautiously, because these Shadow Dragonite and Shadow Kangaskhan were far too high-level.
One careless moment could leave their partners contaminated with dark matter.
Seeing Cynthia's Garchomp and Steven's Metagross about to give out, Leon and Diantha were preparing to grit their teeth and send one or two of their partners to help.
But just then, Cynthia's Garchomp reached her limit.
Terrakion put every ounce of strength into a diagonal Sacred Sword slash.
A line of blood suddenly burst across Garchomp's body, from her left shoulder to her right hip.
Scalding blood poured relentlessly from the wound, while strands of pitch-black liquid spread through her body.
That slash brought every injury Garchomp had suffered crashing down on her, both physically and mentally.
She could no longer hold on.
"Gar... chomp..."
Unwilling to accept defeat, Garchomp glared fiercely at Terrakion before her, as though she wanted to devour Terrakion alive.
"Garchomp!" Cynthia shouted, wrenching free of Diantha with all her strength and sprinting toward Garchomp.
"Cynthia, don't go!" Diantha reacted and hurriedly reached out to grab her.
But Cynthia had already run too far, and Diantha's hand closed on empty air.
After utterly