Previously, there had never been a Top-tier Secret Realm that could be closed—let alone moved. Yet now, this very thing had happened to Julian.
Pierce didn't doubt Julian's words for a second, but the sheer impossibility of it all left him stunned.
Another thought struck him: The fact that the token was in Julian's hands essentially meant that Julian now owned this Top-tier secret realm outright.
After all, if he didn't want anyone entering, he could just shut the entire thing down.
The Walker family already had John, and now with Julian's monstrous talent, the likelihood of the country wanting to control this Top-tier Secret Realm wasn't very high—they'd most likely have to negotiate with the Walker family.
Of course, matters of this scale were far beyond Pierce's pay grade.
But considering his relationship with Julian, he figured he would still be able to retain access to this Secret Realm.
Once the four of them had processed the bombshell, Julian casually added, "Oh, and one more thing."
"THERE'S MORE?!" x4
"Would you relax? It's not that big a deal."
Julian rubbed his ears, scowling at their over-the-top reactions. How come they couldn't even handle this bit of news?
"Alright, hit us. I can take it."
Asher took a deep breath. Julian had already taken control of this Secret Realm; whatever this second piece of news was, it couldn't possibly be more shocking.
'Unless… he's figured out how to befriend the two First-class Legendaries slumbering in this secret realm?'
"Now that I've cleared all four trials, anyone can come and go from the islands freely—no more guardian battles. Well, except the central island," Julian said.
Hearing this, the four of them actually breathed a collective sigh of relief. Thankfully, it wasn't another piece of world-shaking revelation that would leave them envious to the point of madness.
"So that means we can leave right now?" Ember asked with delight.
The Secret Realm's exit was back on Poni Island, where they'd originally arrived. If they hadn't left the island, they could choose to exit at any time.
However, since they'd left Poni Island, if the old rule was still in place, they would have to challenge the Guardian Deity of their current island to return to Poni Island—and only after defeating it could they leave.
Previously, they'd managed to defeat Tapu Fini, Poni Island's Guardian Deity, only because it had gone easy on them after Julian gave it a gift.
But here on Melemele Island? Its guardian, Tapu Koko, was the strongest of the four—a peak pseudo-Champion. If it didn't go easy on them, they could be stuck in this Secret Realm for who knew how many years before managing to defeat it.
Now, however, with Julian having cleared the four islands, this rule had officially disappeared, and they could leave the island whenever they wished.
"I plan to leave tomorrow. What about you guys?" Julian asked.
He'd already spent more than half a year in this Secret Realm, obtained three of the four Ultimate treasures, and captured several powerful Pokémon.
And now, with this secret realm entirely under his control. Julian could come and go whenever he wanted.
He had never stayed inside a secret realm for so long before, so now that he could leave, of course he wanted to get out.
"Then we'll leave with you."
Pierce nodded. He had too much intel to report to the military.
Ember, Asher, and Rowan also agreed.
---
Outside the Secret Realm;
Half a year had passed since trainers from various nations entered the secret realm—though in the grand scheme of things, that wasn't long at all.
For a newly discovered Top-tier secret realm, the first exploration phase could last anywhere from several months to over a decade, depending on how quickly they found the exit portal.
Near the portal, every major nation had stationed Elite trainers—some even sent pseudo-Champions—to await their returning explorers.
Drakoria had dispatched a pseudo-Champion and two Elites, and they had already been waiting here for three months. In a few days, three other trainers would come to take over their positions.
The reason for waiting at the portal was, of course, to prevent their returning trainers from being targeted by people from other countries and potentially losing the treasures they brought back from the secret realm.
Perhaps no one would dare to make a move against the Drakorian trainers, but trainers from smaller nations might not be so lucky.
Still, Drakoria wasn't taking any chances.
The pseudo-Champion present was from the Willow family, and was actually Rowan's great-grandfather—the former Ice-type Elite from two generations ago, long retired.
Many in the outside world had assumed he was already dead.
In terms of age, he should be around 150 years old by now.
Although he looked frail, he still carried an unshakable vitality, his silver hair gleaming under the sunlight.
The two Elite trainers with him were ranked within the top 50 nationally.
Together, the three of them could easily crush a small nation's entire military force.
---
Over on the Celestrian side, their team consisted of three peak Elite trainers, surrounded by their usual entourage of allies and "adopted little brothers."
"I wonder how much progress Phil and the others have made inside…" mused one of their Elites.
"Phil might even break through to pseudo-Champion by now."
Before entering, Phil had been at the late-stage of Elite. With the opportunities a Top-tier secret realm offered, it wasn't impossible for him to advance.
Of course, what they didn't know was that Phil's corpse was already fertilizing the local flora.
"I just hope more of those Drakorian trainers die inside. The fewer that come back, the better."
One of the Babath trainers shot a venomous glare toward the Drakorian camp before giving a fawning smile at his own "godfather": "With Celestria's brilliant plans, there's no way they'll get away."
"If everything went according to our arrangements, the Drakorian team should already be wiped out," the Celestrian trainer said with a sneer of triumph.
Although Celestria and Drakoria were both superpowers, with Drakoria holding a slight edge in overall strength.
The Celestrians enjoyed a significant advantage in terms of allies and subordinate nations. This gave them a bigger edge within this secret realm.
Their plan was simple: upon entering the secret realm, immediately locate their allies, unite with any forces they could, and then gang up to eliminate the Drakorian trainers.
Their ultimate goal? Seizing the Silver Metagross—ensuring it wouldn't remain an exclusive asset of the Walker family in Drakoria. If successful, the Celestrians would have their own pseudo-legendary Steel/Psychic powerhouse in the future.
A solid plan, in theory.
But they hadn't accounted for one critical detail: this secret realm was different.
It was divided into four isolated islands, and without defeating the guardian deity of each island, no one could leave their starting zone.
This meant their forces couldn't be effectively combined. And the consequences of being scattered were clear: they were picked off one by one and systematically crushed by Julian's team.
Ironically, Drakoria's plan was quite similar to Celestria's—find allies, strengthen their forces, and then take down the Celestrians.
Had things gone according to plan—with multiple nations joining forces—Julian and his team might have been the ones running for their lives.
But reality had other ideas.
If these nations knew that their most promising young trainers had all fallen to Julian's hands, they'd probably be furious enough to cough up blood.
Especially Celestria—after all, Phil was a young prodigy with the potential to become a Champion. If he fell they would definitely be distressed for a long time.
*****
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