Celebi: "Magearna is such a foreign-sounding name, mine sounds way better."
Celebi sat on top of Magearna's body, tapping it lightly with its tiny hands, a smug look on its face.
Julian chuckled, and just as he was about to place Magearna back into the system space, the Pokémon suddenly flickered with a faint light.
Celebi: "Did it just flash?"
Celebi instinctively flew up, staring down at Magearna.
Julian nodded: "I think it did."
If he had been the only one to notice, he might have thought it was a trick of the eye, but Celebi had seen it too.
The two of them froze in place, keeping their eyes locked on Magearna, for a full three minutes, nothing happened—until it flickered again.
"It really did flash."
This time, Julian saw it clearly.
Magearna had definitely flickered, though the light was brief. Still, both he and Celebi had caught it.
Another three minutes passed, and Magearna flashed once more.
Celebi: "Is it a light bulb?"
Celebi eyed Magearna curiously.
"The flashing... it may be because of the Soul-Heart."
Julian suddenly stood up from the bed, looking at Magearna with a piercing gaze.
There was no way the flickering was random—it had to mean something, and the most likely explanation was that Magearna was reacting to the Soul-Heart's presence.
It was highly possible that the flashes were a form of signal—Magearna might be sensing the location of its missing Soul-Heart.
This made Julian, who was planning to leave the ruins tomorrow, see a glimmer of hope again.
"Metagross!"
Hearing Julian's call, Metagross, who had been taking a nap beside him, opened its eyes immediately.
"Fly that way!"
Without hesitation, Julian grabbed Magearna and mounted Metagross. He pointed in a random direction and started the stopwatch on his phone.
As Metagross soared through the air for ten minutes, Magearna's flashing slowed. The frequency dropped from once every three minutes to once every five.
"Just as I thought," Julian said, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
The flickering seemed to be tied to the distance between Magearna and its Soul-Heart. The farther away they were, the slower the flashes became.
"Metagross, turn back!"
There were roughly eight possible directions to search. Since the flashing frequency had slowed while flying west, Julian instructed Metagross to head east this time.
After flying for a while, the flashes indeed became more frequent. The interval shortened to about once every two minutes.
As they continued, the frequency increased further—until it was flashing once every minute.
However, as they continued flying east, the flashing frequency started to slow again.
This meant they were heading in the wrong direction. Still, Julian was able to confirm the general location—it had to be somewhere to the east.
The eastern direction could be divided into two possibilities: southeast and northeast.
Julian tried flying northeast first, but the flashing frequency didn't increase.
"It must be in the southeast, then."
He quickly changed course, guiding Metagross toward the southeast. As they flew, Magearna's flashing became more frequent. It was now flickering once every forty seconds.
"The castle."
Up ahead was the castle Julian had visited on his first day.
As they soared over it, Magearna's flashing grew even faster. However, once they flew past the castle, the frequency began to slow again.
"The Soul-Heart really is in the castle."
The castle was massive, and Julian hadn't thoroughly searched it before. He also doubted that the Drakorian officials who had explored the ruins so many times had left anything behind.
But now, it was highly likely that the Soul-Heart was hidden somewhere within the castle.
After landing on the castle's roof, Julian turned to Metagross. "Metagross, carry Magearna and explore the entire castle, find the spot where its flashing is the fastest."
"Meta~"
Metagross nodded and left with Magearna in its arms.
With its four supercomputer-like brains, Metagross was unmatched in terms of calculation ability. Determining the Soul-Heart's location based on Magearna's flashing frequency was nothing more than a simple math problem for it.
You couldn't go wrong with Metagross.
It didn't take long for Metagross to return.
"Did you find it?" Julian asked.
"Meta~"
Metagross nodded.
"Excellent."
In the next instant, Metagross teleported them both to the location.
Magearna's flashing was now rapid and intense—almost once per second, bright and urgent.
"This is... the library?"
Julian looked around, taking in the surroundings. Rows of wooden bookshelves lined the room, and a spiral staircase stretched upward. Although the shelves were completely empty, the decor made it clear that this place had once been a library.
As for why there weren't any books, it was obvious—they had been taken by Drakorian officials long ago.
Whether they had successfully translated them was anyone's guess.
After all, the Pokémon world's language was entirely different from this one. Furthermore, these ruins were from an ancient kingdom, written in a long-forgotten script, making translation even more difficult.
"Do you know the approximate location?" Julian asked.
Finding the Soul-Heart in such a large library wouldn't be easy.
Metagross floated over to an empty bookshelf and stopped. The moment they reached it, Magearna's flashing intensified—it entered a steady glow, shining constantly. The Soul-Heart had to be nearby.
However—
Julian frowned as he stared at the completely empty bookshelf. It was immediately clear that there was nothing on it.
"Could it be hidden inside the bookshelf?"
Julian muttered to himself before signaling Metagross to move the bookshelf away.
If the Soul-Heart really was hidden inside the shelf, then as the shelf was carried farther away, Magearna's constant glow should revert to flashing.
However, as Metagross floated the bookshelf all the way to the edge of the room, Magearna remained glowing steadily. This meant that the Soul-Heart wasn't inside the shelf.
That could only mean—
Julian glanced down at the floor and noticed something he had overlooked before. The stone tiles covering the library's floor each had a circular marking in the center—the shape of a Poké Ball.
Crouching down, he ran his fingers over the stone tiles one by one, hoping to find some kind of mechanism. Yet, after touching every nearby tile, he came up empty-handed—there was nothing unusual about them.
There was no hidden switch or trapdoor.
"Metagross, pull up the stone tiles."
Julian hadn't intended to damage the library, but at this point, he had no other choice.
Without hesitation, Metagross drove its claw into the floor and yanked out a tile. To Julian's surprise, the tile was much thicker than he had expected—about twenty centimeters deep.
"Keep going."
As Metagross pulled up the second tile, Julian's eyes lit up. Embedded in the stone was a circular object, roughly the size of a fist.
[Soul-Heart: Magearna's true core. Activating it requires the blood of the Azoth royal family.]
Looking at the feedback from the Probing Eyes, Julian was thrilled. However, his excitement quickly turned into frustration the very next second.
"What the hell?! Are you kidding me?"
Julian was outraged.
'First, I had to find Magearna. Then, I had to find the Soul-Heart. Now, I need royal blood to activate it?'
One step after another, a never-ending chain of tasks.
"I'm done with this nonsense..." Julian grumbled.
*****
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