The arrival of John instantly deflated the three Celestrian trainers—they didn't even dare breathe too loudly. As for Babath's Noda? He immediately turtled up like a frightened Squirtle.
The few other countries that were friendly with Celestria also fell silent. They didn't even dare to look at John.
It couldn't be helped. John's reputation abroad was far more fearsome than it was at home.
Which country present hadn't been "disciplined" by John at some point? Even those on friendly terms with Drakoria had their moments of rebellion—until a few deaths reminded them to behave.
John's infamy was carved in blood.
Though he played the role of a doting grandfather in front of Julian, to his enemies, he was a god of slaughter—a demon incarnate.
Seeing how his grandfather's mere presence had cowed those who'd been hostile toward him, Julian grinned and pointed at the three Celestrian trainers.
"Grandpa, these three were bullying me just now!"
The Celestrian trio: 'For f**k's sake, can you at least pretend to be human?'
John's face instantly darkened. 'How dare they bully my precious grandson? Are they tired of living?'
"Champion Walker, that's—that's not true at all!"
The three Celestrian trainers shook their heads so hard their necks nearly snapped.
'This Julian is shameless! Not only did he kill our Pokémon, but now he's flipping the script and accusing us of bullying him?'
And John must be blind—'hello, Rhyperior's corpse is still warm on the ground!'
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"Still lying to me?"
John delivered three brutal slaps across their faces.
"Oh, and him too, Grandpa."
Julian pointed at Noda.
Noda: ⊙﹏⊙∥
SMACK!
Noda only felt a sharp pain before everything went black—he fainted on the spot.
"Pathetic. Can't even take one hit."
John looked at Noda in disdain. He hadn't even used full force—'is this guy faking it?'
THUD!
Julian kicked Noda square in the stomach, but the man didn't so much as twitch.
"Grandpa, I think he's really out cold."
The surrounding crowd watched in horrified silence, their fear of this grandfather-grandson duo deepening. 'These two have completely abandoned any pretense of humanity, huh?
The three Celestrian Elites wept internally. 'Why didn't our Champion come? If he were here, John would at least pretend to behave.'
But now, the other side was completely overpowering them, and even if they were angry, they had no choice but to endure it. Who knew what crazy thing John might do next?
He might even "demonstrate" how to break someone's legs for his grandson's entertainment.
With his grandfather backing him, Julian was sorely tempted to announce: 'Every single one of you here is trash.'
"Alright, my dear grandson, have you vented enough? If not, kick them a few more times, give them a few more slaps," John said casually.
The three Celestrian trainers couldn't help but shiver involuntarily.
"That's enough, Grandpa."
Julian nodded.
With that, the group departed.
Drakoria's warship had been anchored off the western side of the island ever since Julian and the others entered the secret realm. Now that they had finally emerged, the warship could set sail for home.
As Julian walked along the deck of the warship, he willed the remaining trainers still alive inside the Top-tier secret realm to be forcibly ejected.
With John and his group gone, trainers from many nations inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
The three Celestrian trainers, in particular, suddenly felt their confidence return. Since there were no more Drakorian trainers around. That meant they were now the ones in charge here.
"Someone else is coming out!"
Someone shouted.
Then, near the entrance of the secret realm, a large number of people abruptly appeared. As the last person emerged, to everyone's astonishment, the secret realm's portal itself vanished without a trace.
"The secret realm… disappeared?"
An Elite trainer from one of the nations stared dumbfounded at the spot where the portal had just been.
"That shouldn't be possible… Top-tier secret realms are supposed to be extremely stable."
Beginner-level and Intermediate-level secret realms were known for their instability—especially Beginner-level ones, which could disappear within a few years. When they did, they would expel any humans still inside.
In contrast, Advanced-level secret realms were far more stable, often lasting decades or even centuries without vanishing.
As for Top-tier secret realms? None of the discovered ones had ever disappeared—at least, not until now.
This Top-tier secret realm, which had only appeared for a little over half a year, had unexpectedly vanished. This was the first time something like this had happened.
How could they be so sure it had disappeared? Because a large number of trainers had been expelled at once—a clear sign of a collapsing realm ejecting its occupants.
'Hmm... about twenty of them.'
'Wait—only twenty?'
There had been a hundred trainers who entered, and counting the five from Drakoria who had come out earlier, that meant only twenty-five had survived.
"Where's Phil and the others?"
"Where are our trainers from Wyvernia?"
"What about the Anglian team?"
"Why haven't we seen anyone from Gallia?"
The Elite trainers from nations aligned with Celestria felt their hearts drop when they realized none of their country's trainers were among the survivors.
If they hadn't emerged, then they were probably—
"Hahaha! Sophia, I knew you could do it!"
The Volkarian Elite trainer was overjoyed. All five of their nation's genius trainers had survived—while the Celestrian team had been completely wiped out.
Could anything be more satisfying?
'I'm definitely celebrating with four or five bottles of vodka when I get back.'
"Annis, thank goodness…"
Annis ignored her aunt and scanned the crowd of trainers who had emerged with her, but she didn't see the person who had saved her. Her heart skipped a beat—'could they have…?'
But then she thought again, and it seemed impossible. After all, that person had tamed a Moltres.
As her aunt hugged her tightly, Annis asked, "Auntie, have the Drakorian trainers already come out?"
"Yes, they left just before you came out. Do you know Julian from Drakoria? He actually tamed a Moltres! And—"
She cut herself off, noticing the grim expressions on the faces of the Celestrian and Babath trainers nearby.
'Julian? Moltres?'
'Wait, Julian is a man, isn't he?'
Annis was instantly confused. The one who had saved her was clearly a "woman".
'Does that mean two Drakorian trainers tamed Moltres?'
That was the only explanation that made sense.
The thought that the person who saved her might have been male never crossed her mind—after all, that person was so pretty, who would have guessed they were a guy?
"Impossible! How did you worthless trash survive while Phil and the others didn't?!"
One of the Celestrian trainers suddenly roared in fury.
He had just realized that most of the survivors were from small or mid-tier nations—Volkaria was the only major nation among them.
'These nobodies made it out alive, while all five of our elite trainers died in there?!'
And it wasn't just them. The trainers from Anglia and Gallia were also missing.
A chilling realization struck the Celestrian delegation: Not a single trainer from any of their allied nations had survived.
*****
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