The thought of getting his prey stolen by the other Lords didn't sit right with Michael, but he was too tired to complain about help.
He would rather accept some help in the last leg of the final battle against the Kitsun Lord instead of dying against him. His right arm was badly crushed, and his headache was getting worse. Not even absorbing the lifeforce of the Kitsun he had injured before was of much help.
The lifeforce eased the pain in his head a little bit, but it primarily focused on tending to his wounded arm. Michael's right arm was hanging down limply. He couldn't even move it at this point. But even worse was that his fusion with the Elemental Empress was about to dissolve.
It grew increasingly difficult to focus on their fused state, which was mostly caused by one particular fact; Michael was growing tired and hesitant to charge mindlessly into the masses of powerful Tier-3 Kitsun, while the Elemental Empress was willing to sacrifice her life as long as she could kill as many Kitsun as possible.
Their wavelength had matched before, but over the course of six hours of battling Michael changed his mind. The instant his right arm was crushed, Michael knew that he couldn't continue like this. He knew that he would have to retreat if he sustained any more injuries.
That was why he was glad when he first heard about the arrival of the neighboring Lords' forces. He didn't know much about the Valyr Lordess and the two other Lords, but what he had learned was more than enough to know that Michael and the three Lords were on the same side; they all hated the Kitsun Lord.
His information about the Lords and their subjects originated from the Kitsun's Memory Orbs that Michael had digested before the battle. A few battles between the Valyr and the Kitsun could be seen in the snippets of memories he had digested and they showed how much the Valyr hated the Kitsun race.
The first time Michael recalled the snippets he thought that the Valyr hated him because the Memory Orbs of the Kitsun he digested made him think that the Kitsun's memories belonged to him. It had been terrifying.
Fortunately, they hated not him but the Kitsun, whose memories he digested.
While thinking about the forces sent by the three Lords, Michael ended up getting distracted. It was only for a quarter of a second, but that was enough for the Awakened opposite him to grasp the opening and strike simultaneously.
Crimson roots shot out of the ground, locking him on the spot for a quarter of a second. Afterward, a grey dome shrouded him and everyone else in a radius of five meters. Michael couldn't use the Empress' elements in the grey dome. It felt like his access to the elements of the universe had been abruptly cut off.
The grey dome would disperse a few seconds later, but that was more than enough for the Kitsun Awakened to appear in front of Michael and brandish their blades.
Michael used seven layers of Enhancement on his body to temporarily reinforce his strength. Then he conjured a Qi Sword to cut the roots that had coiled around his legs.
Since he couldn't control any elements right now, Michael couldn't even conjure a Glacicle. Fortunately, Reinforced Sword Qi was not considered an element in that regard. The same could be said about Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze. They were no natural elements and could be used in the grey dome.
Michael continued to use Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze to observe his enemies' movements in great detail. He was pushed back but could prevent sustaining grave injuries for the time being as he dodged the rapidly incoming attacks.
He was just about to unleash the Dome of Extraction and up his game a little to initiate a counterattack as soon as he found an opening when a red flash shot past him.
A sonorous humming reverberated through the surroundings as a crimson flash cut through the air, severing the head of a nearby Kitsun Awakened.
The Awakened didn't even realize what had hit him when his head rolled over the ground.
A fountain of warm blood gushed through the surroundings, onto a young woman wielding a crimson longsword.
"Who are you?" Michael asked subconsciously even though he had already a fair inkling of who the unknown woman was. The memories of the Valyr race were still crystal clear in his mind.
The woman stared at Michael with a deep frown. Her darkish-red eyes locked with Michael's dark eyes. They widened in surprise as if she realized something.
"Wait, you're not a Valyr?" She asked.
Michael was momentarily stunned. He looked at the unknown woman and raised an eyebrow.
The woman looked quite like a human woman if not for various indicators suggesting otherwise. She had red skin that matched almost perfectly to her red steel armor. A black Morningstar tail grew out of her tailbone and blazing flames replaced most of her black hair. Two short black horns and a long purplish horn jut from her forehead, drawing lots of attention to them.
However, the most impressive was the bloody-red leathery wings that the woman spread out proudly.
"Do I look like one of you?" Michael asked after he analyzed the woman's appearance for a moment.
Now the woman observed him intently for a few seconds. Blazing flames coated Michael's body, but the skin beneath his flames was not red. He didn't have any horns either, let alone wings or a Morningstar tail.
"Not really…" The woman answered, pushing past Michael to slice through a Tier-3 Awakened with ease.
Her movements were highly efficient and pleasant to the eye. She moved gracefully without any unnecessary actions. Her actions made Michael wonder when he would be able to find a high-ranked combat technique suitable for him.
'As long as it's not the Wicked Spear Arts, I'll be fine with anything of decent quality,' Michael mused before he conjured an enhanced Qi Sword that shot past the unknown woman.
The head of three Peak Tier-2 Guards burst apart, attracting the unknown woman's attention. She looked back at Michael with a tinge of envy in her eyes.
"Looks like you have a good Soultrait, stranger," The woman said, not even trying to hide her envy, "We're also attacking the same bastard, so how about we fight together for a while?"
Michael raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't against teaming up with the unknown woman. He was already quite tired. Teaming up with someone as powerful as this young woman didn't seem like a bad idea.
"My name is Michael. You must belong to one of the three neighboring territories. Seems like you got my note," Michael said lightly as he continued conjuring enhanced Qi Swords to throw at the enemies around them.
"That was you? Interesting," The woman mused, feeling embarrassed that she hadn't figured it out sooner, "I'm Zira, the daughter of the Valyr Lordess."
"Nice meeting you. But let's stop chit-chatting for the time being. These sadistic disgusts won't wait for us to finish our chat," Michael said, pointing at the Peak Tier-3 Awakened in front of them with his unscathed arm.
The grey dome dispersed, allowing Michael to use the Elemental Empress' affinities once again. This time it hurt a lot more to use her affinities, but Michael tried to maintain his fused state with the Empress a little longer.
["Now that reinforcement has arrived we can focus on killing everyone. Calm down a little bit and follow my guidance. I will make sure that we survive and kill the Kitsun Lord. Just trust me and believe in your own power!"]
Michael tried to talk to the Elemental Empress and motivate her a little bit, but that was not as efficient as he had hoped to be. The splitting pain in his head eased a little and it was a bit easier to use the Empress' affinities once again, but the Empress was about to lose her patience.
They had to hurry, otherwise, the Elemental Empress would wreak havoc in the fused state and Michael didn't know what would happen to him then.
"I like the way you're thinking, Michael. Let's kill those disgusting bastards!" Zira applauded with a tinge of excitement in her voice.
She turned back to the enemies and changed her posture. The enchantments all over Zira's Artifacts began to glow as she activated them. In the next moment, she burst forward and turned into a flash.
Her steps were nimble and extremely fast. She left behind a trail of flames on the ground as she moved and cut through her opponents, ignoring the Soultraits that were activated and released upon her.
A weak shimmer coated Zira's red skin. It covered her entire body, but Michael couldn't pinpoint what exactly the shimmer did at first.
Only after he watched her for a few seconds did he realize what she was doing.
'Her Soultrait absorbs a portion of the incoming attacks and turns them into energy. That's great…if not for the horrible conversion rate. Is that a 2-Star Soultrait? No. It's probably a 1-Star Soultrait.'
Michael couldn't quite understand why Zira focused on her Soultrait almost obsessively. She endangered her life for the sake of using her Soultrait in battle. It didn't make sense for her to use the Soultrait and jump into her enemies' attacks. After all, she still sustained injuries and barely got any energy back in return.
Michael was pretty sure that the energy consumption to maintain her Soultrait was higher than the energy she received from the incoming attacks.
All she gained was injuries and a loss of energy. Going by her performance, Zira shouldn't even bother using her Soultrait, in the first place.
However, watching her fight desperately using her Soultrait and recalling the envy in her eyes when he used the enhanced Qi Sword, Michael realized something.
'No matter how great your innate talent is…Soultraits are still the core of your combat prowess.'
Some people grew powerful by relying on unique techniques and their tireless efforts not to fall behind the truly powerful. However, they were fated to never surpass those with excellent Soultraits. It had been their destiny to awaken a low-ranked Soultrait and to stay beneath the truly gifted.
But what if someone with the powers to change fate existed? Someone with the powers to grant and strengthen Soultraits?
'Creating my own army of hard-working Adventurers who'd been forsaken by fate….that doesn't sound too bad.'
**
