The group continued their trek through the cavern, heading toward the source of the light deeper within.
They hadn't walked for more than two hours when the light ahead grew noticeably brighter, guiding them into an expansive, vast chamber.
"Hahaha! I knew it would be here!" Archie let out a crazed laugh, his lifelong ambition finally within reach.
He wasn't the only one stunned. Matt and the rest of the Team Aqua members who had followed them in were equally shocked.
The cave was enormous, adorned with glowing coral and vibrant plant life. At its center lay a tranquil lake, glowing with an endless lapis-lazuli blue light.
And in the middle of that lake… was the mythical Pokémon revered as the Emperor of the Ocean—Kyogre.
Archie's throat tightened. The very objective that Team Aqua had pursued for years now lay within their grasp.
But along with his elation came a flicker of unease.
This location had been provided by the Hive, which meant that Hive had long known the resting place of Kyogre. That revelation sent a chill down his spine.
According to the original plan, Archie was supposed to use the Blue Orb to awaken Kyogre, ignoring Matt's attempt to stop him. Once awakened, Kyogre would enter its Primal Reversion, erupting from the ocean and unleashing a cataclysm of torrential rain, hurricane winds, and devastating tsunamis—natural forces powerful enough to nearly flood the entire Hoenn region.
But that wasn't what Lucius wanted.
After countless years of slumber, Kyogre's massive body was now encased in a thick shell of stone.
Lucius hovered into the air and landed directly atop the sleeping Kyogre. Like a Terminator, his hand morphed into a pointed spike, and he drove it into Kyogre's forehead, piercing the stone crust.
This wasn't ordinary power—it was the ability Lucius had inherited from Deoxys after devouring the meteorite fragment.
Now, even without activating Protean Morph, Lucius could freely alter his form at will.
Chunks of stone crumbled away, revealing patches of Kyogre's majestic ocean-blue and white skin beneath.
A legendary Pokémon lay defenseless before him—there was no way Lucius would pass up this chance.
Though Kyogre's mouth remained shut, it made no difference to the microscopic Veronica virus. Lucius controlled a swarm of the virus, guiding them through Kyogre's pores and into its body.
Billions of viral agents infiltrated the sleeping Emperor of the Ocean, attempting infection.
But Kyogre wasn't like any host Lucius had faced before. Unlike humans or regular Pokémon, this mythical Pokémon possessed cells of extraordinary complexity.
Each of its organs had evolved to perfection. Its DNA wasn't structured in the usual double-helix, but rather in six intertwined strands—an evolutionary masterpiece, nearly invincible. Not even the Veronica virus could identify a weak point to begin the infection.
Lucius frowned. The virus couldn't penetrate.
And worse… Kyogre's immune system was already responding. A current of lapis-colored energy began circulating through its body, annihilating every last viral agent.
Within a few breaths, the entire swarm of Veronica virus inside Kyogre had been eradicated.
That… wasn't expected.
Typically, the virus could infect a host because its mutation ability overpowered the cell's natural integrity. Stronger Pokémon took longer to infect simply because their cells contained greater energy.
But mythical Pokémon were a different story altogether.
If a regular Pokémon's cells were like sandcastles, then a mythical Pokémon's cells were fortresses of steel.
Even at Level 7 with the Veronica strain, Lucius couldn't even begin to invade Kyogre's cellular structure.
That's when a realization struck him.
Giratina hadn't chased him into the real world after being scratched by Houndoom in the Distortion World. Could it be… it hadn't been infected at all?
Lucius had fled the moment Giratina was wounded. He never had the chance to verify if the infection took hold.
And now… it seemed likely that it didn't.
But Kyogre was right in front of him. Could he really afford to leave now just to level up and come back later?
No. That wasn't an option.
The system's mission was clear—infect a mythical Pokémon. It would never assign an impossible task.
As Lucius was deep in thought, an overwhelming and incredibly dangerous aura surged from above, circling in the upper atmosphere, scanning—searching for something.
Rayquaza…
Lucius immediately recognized that immense, oppressive killing intent.
He had felt this before—through the Deoxys fragment. Three years ago, Rayquaza had battled another Deoxys, and the fragment remembered that encounter vividly.
Lucius quickly pieced it together: his reactivation of the meteorite had emitted a unique aurora. That aurora had drawn Rayquaza here, following Deoxys' trace.
Thankfully, this underwater cavern had formidable energy barriers. Rayquaza had reached the skies above but hadn't pinpointed Lucius's location.
As expected of a mythical Pokémon's chosen resting place—even Rayquaza's perception couldn't penetrate it.
Still, with the sky guardian blocking the exit, the moment Lucius tried to leave, he would be intercepted.
The others—Archie, Matt, and the rest—weren't as attuned to energy as Lucius, but they too felt the atmosphere shift. The oppressive aura made their hearts pound, their blood tremble.
Lucius hesitated for a moment… then navigated his system menu.
He allocated his evolution points to Veronica: Mindworm Form.
Instantly, his Emperor Strain began to phase out of reality, transforming into a hybrid state—part physical, part mental.
In this form, he could connect to his infected hosts with far greater clarity, drawing strength and synchronization from the entire network.
So that was it—the Infected didn't just empower the Emperor Strain physically; they enhanced its psychic force. Now that the virus had mutated into its Mindworm Form, its psychic properties were far more pronounced, making the boost in mental power even more evident.
Now that he had absorbed the Team Rocket, Team Aqua, high-ranking officials from various Pokémon Leagues, and thousands of Pokémon—several times the number of humans—Lucius commanded over ten thousand Infected hosts. Among them, over four thousand were Rattata used by Team Rocket in their last ruins excavation mission.
The feedback of energy from these ten thousand-plus Infected caused Lucius's psychic force to swell to its absolute limit—so much so that it was beginning to exceed the capacity of the meteorite that once contained it.
Had it not been for the presence of a Mythical Pokémon resistant to infection reminding him of his limits, Lucius might have inflated with power so much that he'd forget who he even was.
To have the thoughts and consciousness of tens of thousands of living beings within his grasp… the sensation was divine.
It was the feeling of a god—a god with dominion over all sentient life.
Once again, Lucius released a strand of the virus—but this time, it no longer resembled a swarm. This virus army had taken on the form of a mental parasite.
The virus infiltrated Kyogre's body—not by invading its cells, but by intertwining with its consciousness.
This time, Kyogre's immune system didn't react.
Its mind resembled a vast, cerulean ocean—and Lucius's virus, mere droplets scattered across the endless tide.
But even the smallest ripple can stir the currents beneath…
At that moment, Lucius projected his own consciousness directly into Kyogre's mental sea.
He was not the same as before. With the psychic reinforcement from thousands of Infected, his mental strength now surpassed that of Deoxys.
And in Kyogre's sea of awareness, he stirred a tidal wave.
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