After their encounter with the two Tekur groups, the situation in the Descendants cohort changed considerably. Nobody took Michael lightly anymore. If anything, the Descendants started to respect him. Witnessing how Michael was able to challenge Killian as an equal was enough to catch them off-guard. It made them rethink their first impression of Michael.
Michael and Killian started challenging each other without speaking a word. They didn't talk about the challenges out loud but whenever they encountered one or multiple groups of Tekur they glanced at each other and charged ahead at full speed. Usually, Michael would Insert several layers of Enhancement on Killian to make sure that the Zeus' Descendant could deal with the enormous number of enemies. It might not be necessary, but Michael thought that it was better to take the safe route. After all, they had yet to encounter one of the three Elite Soldiers.
Michael was wondering where the Elite Soldiers were located, however, he was far more concerned about the situation with the traitorous human Descendants. The Descendants cohort found a group of Berserkers that was being attacked by human Descendants. Some Descendants from the cohorte knew those traitors. They were friends, or had been.
While the other Descendants hesitated to attack their friends – or former friends – Michael didn't even think about showing mercy. He used the Heavenly Beast Physique, applied several layers of Enhancement onto his body, and conjured one Soul Glacicle Bullet after another. His speed was shockingly high, allowing him to appear behind the traitorous Descendants before they could kill the Berserkers using their Soul Techniques. Using the advantage of his extraordinary speed, high reflexes, and perfect vision to advantage, Michael released one Soul Glacicle after another, bursting the traitorous Descendants' heads and chests in one go.
Only 24 hours were left before the isolated dimension would expel all of them, but it looked like the real battles were just about to begin.
"Thank you for saving us," One of the Berserkers said, recalling Michael from the team battles. He had seen Michael?around Lokai, Thaor, and Mekhaz, and knew that they were friends.
"But do you know what happened there? They attacked us out of nowhere. Aren't we a team?"
The Berserker didn't strike Michael as the smartest, but that made things easier.
"Our group was attacked by some traitors as well. It seems like the Supreme Human Alliance's influence reached us," Michael explained briefly. There was no need to go into detail. The only important thing was that some traitorous Descendants attacked them before as well.
"The Supreme Human Alliance? I think the Chieftain warned us about them before. He said that we shouldn't trust every human we encounter in the Origin Expanse. Not everyone is our ally."
Michael forced a smile and nodded, "That's basically it. The downside is that we have no idea who betrayed us. Do you want to join us on our way to the destroyed Dimensional Pillar? We want to gather as many Alliance Members as possible before the Flag War ends."
Since only 24 hours were left before the Flag War ended it was not exactly important to band together. They could sit out the next 24 hours and wait to get expelled from the isolated dimension. But Michael had a bad feeling about that.
"That sounds good. We were just about to move in the same direction. I sense death from over there."
Michael didn't know that the Berserkers could sense death, but apparently that was a thing. And it was not something he looked forward to. He bit his lower lip, stored all corpses in his storage device and gestured to the Berserkers to join them.
By now, there were corpses of roughly 30ish Tekur and nine Descendants stored in his War Rune's storage. He had yet to extract their SoulStar Fragments, Memory Orbs, a portion of their storage, and their Artifacts. It would be best if he could extract them instantaneously and use the SoulStar Fragments to strengthen his Soultraits a little bit more, but that was not possible. He would need some more time and privacy to do so.
Killian didn't love the Berserkers but he could respect their fighting spirit. They exchanged some words before departing to the destroyed Dimensional Pillar. Michael and the others expected to encounter maybe 200 to 250 Alliance Members over there. Maybe, there would be less if they had decided to change their position and search for more Dimensional Pillars to destroy.
But that was not the case. There were not only 200 to 250 Alliance Members near the destroyed Dimensional Pillar. When Michael and the others reached the pillar, they found a large camp with almost 500 Alliance Members, and they were not alone. There were also 150 Tekur, with three of them having an obsidian-colored carapace.
The Alliance members were struggling. They struggled against the tremendous power of the massive number of Tekur they had to face simultaneously.
Unfortunately, there was more they had to take into consideration. Four small groups of human Descendants raised their weapons against their allies. They stabbed their own comrades in the back, further weakening the already fragile line of defense.
Michael narrowed his eyes the moment he picked up the happenings on the chaotic battlefield with Spirit Eyes.
"150 Tekur with three Elite Soldiers attacked our people. The human traitors exposed themselves as well. We've lost more than 30 alliance members to them already," Michael revealed, barely loud enough for everyone to hear.
His head flicked to Killian, who nodded grimly. Michael then glanced at the Berserkers and the other Descendants who had mostly recuperated. It looked like everyone was ready to fight.
Michael used Insert with Enhancement on Killian and the strongest Descendants and Berserkers in the cohort. He had been accumulating the Power of Enhancement within the Legendary Ring Artifact. Therefore, he could use all of it right now. After applying five layers of Enhancement on more than a dozen Awakened, the accumulated Power of Enhancement had been used up. But that was fine. The dozen Awakened gained tremendous strength from Enhancement, even if it would only last five minutes.
These five minutes ought to be more than enough to reach their opponents and aid their comrades.
"Charge!!" Killian roared at the top of his lungs, his body turning into a humongous thunderbolt as he charged ahead.
The others charged ahead as well, including Maria, who'd executed her movement technique to reach the injured as quickly as possible.
Michael stared at the ground for a moment, a trace of uncertainty lingering in his eyes. However, this uncertainty dispersed quickly. It lasted only a mere second before the Dome of Extraction erupted from his body.
He activated the Heavenly Beast Physique, added seven layers of Enhancement onto his body and kicked the ground to catch up with the others. He passed by most of them and reached Killian just before they barged into the chaotic battlefield. Killian's gaze locked on to the Tekur right off the bat, whereas Michael decided to eliminate the human traitors first.
They split up without saying a word, however, their understanding of each other's plan was precise. Michael could easily take out the enemies within their own rows. That was not something Killian could do with his Soultrait. He would, most likely, injure his comrades in the process of hunting down the traitors. Michael did not have such a problem.
He manifested two Aethyr Daggers, coated them in several layers of Enhancement and Reinforced Sword Qi and began his dance of death. Spirit Eyes fully unleashed allowed Michael to pinpoint his enemies with ease. He moved through the rows of allies and cut down the human traitors one by one.
Simultaneously, he unleashed the Dome of Extraction to drain their lifeforce, origin energy, and to continue draining them even after they died. Extraction tendrils shot out of the Dome of Extraction and extracted their SoulStar Fragments even after the enemies were already dead. The SoulStar Fragments entered Michael's body immediately. Nobody could see them, but even if someone could, it wouldn't matter at this moment.
Michael had acknowledged that his Powers would get exposed in the next few days, or weeks. At most, it would take a few months before even the densest person around him figured out what his Soultrait was capable of. Therefore, Michael focused on the fight ahead instead of holding back just to keep Extraction a secret. He, or the people around him might face severe consequences if he was to hold back, and Michael didn't want to be responsible for the deaths of the people around him. If anything, he wanted to help them.
He extracted the SoulStar Fragments from the corpses of the human traitors and used some of the SoulStar Fragments to replenish his rapidly drained Soul Power for the Heavenly Beast Physique. Using the Heavenly Beast Physique drained the Soul Power accumulated within the 6-Star Superior Constitution quickly. It was not instantaneous, but he could only utilize the Heavenly Beast Physique for a minute before the Soul Power within the Soultrait Symbol was drained. Fortunately, that changed by using SoulStar Fragments as a fuel.
It was painful to watch his precious SoulStar Fragments getting used up the moment they were extracted, but the utility was tremendous. Michael could continue to use Heavenly Beast Physique and focus on manifesting some Soul Glacicle Bullets to deal with the more annoying human traitors.
The human traitors used Soul Techniques as well, but it was evident that they were not adept at producing Soul Energy. Their mastery of the Soul Technique in their possession was also not that great. Michael, who possessed the experience of dozens of Tekur, was on a whole different level than them.
Michael's Soul Energy production was rapid and his mastery of both Soul Glacicle Bullet and Heavenly Beast Physique were leagues above the human traitors.
This allowed him to overwhelm the traitors and kill them with a single strike, or Soul Glacicle.
Not a single trace of guilt was visible in his eyes as he reaped lives.
After their encounter with the two Tekur groups, the situation in the Descendants cohort changed considerably. Nobody took Michael lightly anymore. If anything, the Descendants started to respect him. Witnessing how Michael was able to challenge Killian as an equal was enough to catch them off-guard. It made them rethink their first impression of Michael.
Michael and Killian started challenging each other without speaking a word. They didn't talk about the challenges out loud but whenever they encountered one or multiple groups of Tekur they glanced at each other and charged ahead at full speed. Usually, Michael would Insert several layers of Enhancement on Killian to make sure that the Zeus' Descendant could deal with the enormous number of enemies. It might not be necessary, but Michael thought that it was better to take the safe route. After all, they had yet to encounter one of the three Elite Soldiers.
Michael was wondering where the Elite Soldiers were located, however, he was far more concerned about the situation with the traitorous human Descendants. The Descendants cohort found a group of Berserkers that was being attacked by human Descendants. Some Descendants from the cohorte knew those traitors. They were friends, or had been.
While the other Descendants hesitated to attack their friends – or former friends – Michael didn't even think about showing mercy. He used the Heavenly Beast Physique, applied several layers of Enhancement onto his body, and conjured one Soul Glacicle Bullet after another. His speed was shockingly high, allowing him to appear behind the traitorous Descendants before they could kill the Berserkers using their Soul Techniques. Using the advantage of his extraordinary speed, high reflexes, and perfect vision to advantage, Michael released one Soul Glacicle after another, bursting the traitorous Descendants' heads and chests in one go.
Only 24 hours were left before the isolated dimension would expel all of them, but it looked like the real battles were just about to begin.
"Thank you for saving us," One of the Berserkers said, recalling Michael from the team battles. He had seen Michael?around Lokai, Thaor, and Mekhaz, and knew that they were friends.
"But do you know what happened there? They attacked us out of nowhere. Aren't we a team?"
The Berserker didn't strike Michael as the smartest, but that made things easier.
"Our group was attacked by some traitors as well. It seems like the Supreme Human Alliance's influence reached us," Michael explained briefly. There was no need to go into detail. The only important thing was that some traitorous Descendants attacked them before as well.
"The Supreme Human Alliance? I think the Chieftain warned us about them before. He said that we shouldn't trust every human we encounter in the Origin Expanse. Not everyone is our ally."
Michael forced a smile and nodded, "That's basically it. The downside is that we have no idea who betrayed us. Do you want to join us on our way to the destroyed Dimensional Pillar? We want to gather as many Alliance Members as possible before the Flag War ends."
Since only 24 hours were left before the Flag War ended it was not exactly important to band together. They could sit out the next 24 hours and wait to get expelled from the isolated dimension. But Michael had a bad feeling about that.
"That sounds good. We were just about to move in the same direction. I sense death from over there."
Michael didn't know that the Berserkers could sense death, but apparently that was a thing. And it was not something he looked forward to. He bit his lower lip, stored all corpses in his storage device and gestured to the Berserkers to join them.
By now, there were corpses of roughly 30ish Tekur and nine Descendants stored in his War Rune's storage. He had yet to extract their SoulStar Fragments, Memory Orbs, a portion of their storage, and their Artifacts. It would be best if he could extract them instantaneously and use the SoulStar Fragments to strengthen his Soultraits a little bit more, but that was not possible. He would need some more time and privacy to do so.
Killian didn't love the Berserkers but he could respect their fighting spirit. They exchanged some words before departing to the destroyed Dimensional Pillar. Michael and the others expected to encounter maybe 200 to 250 Alliance Members over there. Maybe, there would be less if they had decided to change their position and search for more Dimensional Pillars to destroy.
But that was not the case. There were not only 200 to 250 Alliance Members near the destroyed Dimensional Pillar. When Michael and the others reached the pillar, they found a large camp with almost 500 Alliance Members, and they were not alone. There were also 150 Tekur, with three of them having an obsidian-colored carapace.
The Alliance members were struggling. They struggled against the tremendous power of the massive number of Tekur they had to face simultaneously.
Unfortunately, there was more they had to take into consideration. Four small groups of human Descendants raised their weapons against their allies. They stabbed their own comrades in the back, further weakening the already fragile line of defense.
Michael narrowed his eyes the moment he picked up the happenings on the chaotic battlefield with Spirit Eyes.
"150 Tekur with three Elite Soldiers attacked our people. The human traitors exposed themselves as well. We've lost more than 30 alliance members to them already," Michael revealed, barely loud enough for everyone to hear.
His head flicked to Killian, who nodded grimly. Michael then glanced at the Berserkers and the other Descendants who had mostly recuperated. It looked like everyone was ready to fight.
Michael used Insert with Enhancement on Killian and the strongest Descendants and Berserkers in the cohort. He had been accumulating the Power of Enhancement within the Legendary Ring Artifact. Therefore, he could use all of it right now. After applying five layers of Enhancement on more than a dozen Awakened, the accumulated Power of Enhancement had been used up. But that was fine. The dozen Awakened gained tremendous strength from Enhancement, even if it would only last five minutes.
These five minutes ought to be more than enough to reach their opponents and aid their comrades.
"Charge!!" Killian roared at the top of his lungs, his body turning into a humongous thunderbolt as he charged ahead.
The others charged ahead as well, including Maria, who'd executed her movement technique to reach the injured as quickly as possible.
Michael stared at the ground for a moment, a trace of uncertainty lingering in his eyes. However, this uncertainty dispersed quickly. It lasted only a mere second before the Dome of Extraction erupted from his body.
He activated the Heavenly Beast Physique, added seven layers of Enhancement onto his body and kicked the ground to catch up with the others. He passed by most of them and reached Killian just before they barged into the chaotic battlefield. Killian's gaze locked on to the Tekur right off the bat, whereas Michael decided to eliminate the human traitors first.
They split up without saying a word, however, their understanding of each other's plan was precise. Michael could easily take out the enemies within their own rows. That was not something Killian could do with his Soultrait. He would, most likely, injure his comrades in the process of hunting down the traitors. Michael did not have such a problem.
He manifested two Aethyr Daggers, coated them in several layers of Enhancement and Reinforced Sword Qi and began his dance of death. Spirit Eyes fully unleashed allowed Michael to pinpoint his enemies with ease. He moved through the rows of allies and cut down the human traitors one by one.
Simultaneously, he unleashed the Dome of Extraction to drain their lifeforce, origin energy, and to continue draining them even after they died. Extraction tendrils shot out of the Dome of Extraction and extracted their SoulStar Fragments even after the enemies were already dead. The SoulStar Fragments entered Michael's body immediately. Nobody could see them, but even if someone could, it wouldn't matter at this moment.
Michael had acknowledged that his Powers would get exposed in the next few days, or weeks. At most, it would take a few months before even the densest person around him figured out what his Soultrait was capable of. Therefore, Michael focused on the fight ahead instead of holding back just to keep Extraction a secret. He, or the people around him might face severe consequences if he was to hold back, and Michael didn't want to be responsible for the deaths of the people around him. If anything, he wanted to help them.
He extracted the SoulStar Fragments from the corpses of the human traitors and used some of the SoulStar Fragments to replenish his rapidly drained Soul Power for the Heavenly Beast Physique. Using the Heavenly Beast Physique drained the Soul Power accumulated within the 6-Star Superior Constitution quickly. It was not instantaneous, but he could only utilize the Heavenly Beast Physique for a minute before the Soul Power within the Soultrait Symbol was drained. Fortunately, that changed by using SoulStar Fragments as a fuel.
It was painful to watch his precious SoulStar Fragments getting used up the moment they were extracted, but the utility was tremendous. Michael could continue to use Heavenly Beast Physique and focus on manifesting some Soul Glacicle Bullets to deal with the more annoying human traitors.
The human traitors used Soul Techniques as well, but it was evident that they were not adept at producing Soul Energy. Their mastery of the Soul Technique in their possession was also not that great. Michael, who possessed the experience of dozens of Tekur, was on a whole different level than them.
Michael's Soul Energy production was rapid and his mastery of both Soul Glacicle Bullet and Heavenly Beast Physique were leagues above the human traitors.
This allowed him to overwhelm the traitors and kill them with a single strike, or Soul Glacicle.
Not a single trace of guilt was visible in his eyes as he reaped lives.
