There were at least a thousand Pokemon at Alamos Town.

The black gas that had exploded out of Agent Zero of Quasi Cipher Pol covered all of them instantly before... seeping inside them.

This was not an ordinary gas, though.

It was one of the abilities granted to Zeus by the Prototype-Prototype fruit — Viral Gas Explosion!

Through this gas, Zeus could infect all living creatures with Blacklight Virus, which was the core of his own powers, effectively gaining absolute control over them.

However, that wasn’t all there was to it.

As the black gas entered the Pokemon, and even the common people, thin, black-red veins, pulsating rhythmically, began surfacing on their bodies.

Their limbs enlarged, their faces twisted, and their entire friendly nature deformed.

In only a matter of moments, all the Pokemon and people, other than those relevant to the storyline, mutated, becoming...

"Brawlers..." a thin, sharp voice echoed across the town. "... to me."

The roars and cries and growls of thousands of people and Pokemon filled the surroundings, melting out into the black swirls of a strange dimension.

Meanwhile, missing his entire hand, with half his blond hair lying listlessly over his face, Red Sun gawked as, on one side, ShineGreymon uselessly tried to put up a front against Palkia after losing all his reserves, and, on the other, a furious Darkrai attacked a similarly weakened Beelzemon.

As if that wasn’t enough, another roar filled the skies suddenly.

Heads snapped up and, from the darkness, Dialga came flying, his wrathful eyes planted dead on Palkia.

Lifting his head, the Time Pokemon let out another roar.

In the very next moment, meteors, as large as houses, rained down, falling right on top of Palkia... and on ShineGreymon, both the Space Pokemon and Light Dragon Digimon crashing on the blackened, destroyed land with a BOOM.

Meanwhile, all the low growls of Pokemon-turned-Brawlers had already gathered at the epicenter of the black gas. Soon, the sound of bloody squelches rang out, along with a disgusting crunching sound, blood washing the land red.

Slowly, all the hints of the black gas dissipated.

Baron Alberto had disappeared, revealing the true enemy.

However, Agent Zero looked nothing like his original self when he had arrived in the timeline yesterday.

A sleek exoskeleton, having a glossy, black appearance, covered him entirely.

Even his face was hidden behind a glossy, black mask, with a big "0" written over it, flashing black and red.

Not only that, but the tall Contestant seemed to have gained a massive boost in height as well, towering over 9 ft.

Red Sun could have ignored the height increment.

But he couldn’t ignore the fact that Zeus seemed to have gained all his HP and... gone beyond that, experiencing at least a 25% boost in Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Perception, the core Stats that could decide a battle in a place like this.

Red Sun had feared it the moment he had learned the identity of the assassin sent by Quasi Cipher Pol.

It was this ability that made Zeus so... ridiculous, allowing the 12th Floor Contestant to even survive against a 13th Floor one.

Critical Mass!

By consuming Brawlers, the mutated lifeforms infected by Blacklight Virus, Zeus could use this ability to experience a massive buff on the battlefield momentarily.

The only drawback to this ability was that Zeus could only use Critical Mass on the freshly created Brawlers.

However, if he had an ample supply of such creatures, then he could keep consuming them and maintain the Critical Mass Buff continuously.

And, as Red Sun’s eyes landed on the army of mutated Pokemon and people around Zeus, he knew that the assassin wouldn’t be hitting a wall in that area anytime soon.

In the distance, a bang rang out as Beelzemon tried to fight Darkrai off to help Red Sun against Zeus. But the Mythical Pokemon easily dodged them, attacking the Mega Digimon with a bolt of lightning. Such an attack would have never worked on Beelzemon, had he not put his all into that first shot against Zeus.

The attack landed and made the Digimon falter.

Darkrai’s eyes glowed cyan, following up the previous attack with a massive blob of blackness that hit Beelzemon right in the chest... trapping him in a nightmare.

On the other side, ShineGreymon had just stumbled back to his feet when Palkia and Dialga appeared on his either side.

The two Pokemon ignored the Digimon’s very existence for a moment, their hate for each other brimming out of their eyes, becoming madness.

An insane amount of magical energy gathered toward the Space and Time Pokemon.

Palkia’s right hand glowed pink as he slashed, using Spatial Rend.

In reply, Dialga let out a roar, attacking with his Roar of Time.

And the two attacks met where ShineGreymon stood.

The BOOM was deafening, the entire Alamos Town shaking in the aftermath.

Starting from the edge of the town, the earth, buildings, and even plants began crumbling in a mass of purple flakes.

The clash of Spatial Rend and Roar of Time was like a dying star going supernova. The laws of the timeline wouldn’t let that happen here, but it still exacted a heavy toll, erasing the entire town’s existence... little by little.

Red Sun had already planned to delay Ash and the others’ efforts in calming down the two Pokemon, making Darkrai weaken even more, as per his official and unofficial Mission.

With the assassin’s appearance, the official part of that mission was already over.

However, there was no joy on Red Sun’s face. In fact, he couldn’t have cared less for the Missions right now. Even as Beelzemon fell into Darkrai’s nightmare and ShineGreymon fell under the might of Spatial Rend and Roar of Time, he... couldn’t do anything.

And it was all because Red Sun had a feeling that if he looked away from the enemy, he would drop dead in the next moment.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t been Red Sun’s gaze on him that had prevented Zeus from making a move. It was him confirming that the man he was looking at right now was indeed Red Sun, not a decoy.

The moment he confirmed that, Zeus lifted his right foot.

And a glossy, metallic hand punctured right through Red Sun’s heart in the next moment.

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