The air inside the Temple seemed to have solidified, every inch of space heavy with tension and oppression. The Pokémon League's four top experts stood like four towering mountains, their unshakable presence completely sealing off every possible escape route for Ye Li and Apollo. Their very existence exerted an invisible pressure.
"Ye Li, I'm warning you one last time." Lance's voice was low and icy, as though it came from the depths of a frozen glacier, with a barely perceptible note of admonition. "Abandon this dangerous ritual and hand over the orbs. Stop clinging to your delusions and compounding your mistakes." His gaze was firm, fixed directly on Ye Li.
Ye Li met Lance's golden eyes, filled with righteousness and unwavering conviction, but his heart was ice-cold. He knew full well that words were now pointless. From the moment he had chosen this thorn-strewn path, only hostility had remained between them, with no possibility of reconciliation. Now, his only choice was to activate the ritual immediately!
Before anyone could react, Ye Li vanished from where he stood like a phantom. Moving at his utmost speed, like an arrow loosed from a bow, he reached the Altar in an instant. Without the slightest hesitation, he moved with near-feral force, slamming the three orbs clutched in his hands into their corresponding recesses on the Altar!
Buzzzz-!!!
The instant the three orbs fell into place, an immense surge of energy fully activated the Altar! Three dazzling pillars of light, ice-blue, golden yellow, and crimson, roared up from it like three mighty dragons, tearing unstoppably through the Temple's dome and shooting into the clouds, piercing heaven and earth!
At that moment, the skies over all of Shamouti Island changed dramatically. Thick, ink-black clouds instantly shrouded the once boundless, clear sky, as though an invisible