Cloyster fainted, its shattered shell dissolving into digital motes.
Silver Wolf recalled her partner, her hand lingering on the Poké Ball for a fraction of a second longer than usual. She looked at Fu Xuan, and for the first time in the tournament, her gaze was tinted with genuine apprehension.
In the stands, Welt Yang watched with a somber nod. He understood exactly what Silver Wolf was feeling. While he had initially blamed the "imbalance" of the Psychic-type, seeing Silver Wolf struggle made him realize that the issue was deeper. She had prepared better than he had, yet she was still being systematically dismantled. He found himself admiring both the hacker's tenacity and the Grand Diviner's terrifying foresight.
"Hahaha! I knew it! Our Grand Diviner is invincible!" Sushang cheered, nearly toppling over as she nudged Guinaifen.
Guinaifen gave a strange, conflicted smile. She was a Xianzhou resident now, and her loyalty was to the Luofu, but part of her—the part that had bonded with Silver Wolf during their clash—wanted to see the hacker pull off a miracle.
"How did I even make it to a 1-v-1 against her?" Guinaifen whispered to herself. She had tried to replicate her "zone" in ranked matches after waking up from her coma, but she could never quite touch that level of intuitive brilliance again. Looking at Fu Xuan now, she realized she had likely survived on pure, unadulterated instinct—something that logic-driven players like Silver Wolf struggled to account for.
The Architect's Observation
Julian Reed watched the feed, his chin resting on his hand. As expected of the Divination Commission... Fu Xuan wasn't just playing Pokémon; she was playing the opponent. She used her calculations to narrow Silver Wolf's choices until there was only one "logical" path left—a path that Fu Xuan had already trapped.
There is a solution to this, Julian thought. But it's almost impossible for 'smart' people to find. You have to be unpredictable. You have to be... like Guinaifen.
On the field, Silver Wolf reached for her seventh Pokémon—her secret rotation.
"Go, Gengar!"
The purple ghost materialized with a wide, jagged grin. Its presence on the field sent a clear message to the audience: the "Mutual Destruction" play was back on the table.
"You intend to use Destiny Bond against me?" Fu Xuan asked, her voice dry. "I practically standardized that tactic. Are you trying to teach a fish how to swim?"
"You'll never know if it works until you try," Silver Wolf retorted, though her heart wasn't quite in the bravado. She knew the success rate of the Gengar-trade was usually 80%, but against Fu Xuan, those odds felt plummeting.
"Gengar, use Haze!"
A thick, black mist billowed from Gengar's mouth, filling the arena. It was a non-damaging move, but its effect was vital: it reset all stat changes to zero. Fu Xuan's terrifying double-stacked Calm Mind buffs vanished.
Fu Xuan ignored the mist. "Predictable. Psychic."
"Reflect Type!"
As the mental wave surged toward Gengar, the ghost's body shimmered, its aura shifting to mirror Hypno's. By becoming a Psychic-type himself, Gengar turned a 2x weakness into a 0.5x resistance. The impact rattled him, but it wasn't the killing blow Fu Xuan had intended.
"Phantom Force! Slip away!"
Gengar vanished into the shadows of the arena floor.
"Future Sight," Fu Xuan commanded. "Perish Song!" Silver Wolf countered almost simultaneously.
The stadium went cold. Perish Song was the ultimate ticking clock—in three turns, both Pokémon would faint unless they were swapped out. Combined with Future Sight, the match had become a frantic game of musical chairs where the floor was made of dynamite.
Fu Xuan didn't panic. To win, she just had to find the ghost before the song ended.
"Dazzling Gleam!"
Fu Xuan didn't aim the light; she expanded the Fairy-type energy to cover the entire field. The intensity was lower, but it acted like a radar, flushing Gengar out of a shadow behind a rock.
"Psychic!" Fu Xuan followed up instantly.
Silver Wolf frowned. Why use Psychic when I'm resistant? She suspected a trap, but the speed of the match left no room for hesitation.
"Shadow Ball!"
If they were trading blows, the Ghost-type move would deal double damage to Hypno. It was a trade Silver Wolf was willing to take.
But as Gengar gathered the dark energy, his body suddenly twisted. The Shadow Ball shot off at a wild angle, hitting a stray rock instead of the target.
"Again?!" Silver Wolf gritted her teeth.
Fu Xuan hadn't used a mental attack; she had used a Confuse Ray masked by the shimmering particles of the Dazzling Gleam.
"The future isn't just about what I do," Fu Xuan said softly. "It's about what I make you do."
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