Michael's train of thought was pretty simple.
Since the deadly fog that drained everyone's lifeforce was connected to the death swirl in the Skeleton's chest, cleansing the deadly fog would force Raven to release more energy to keep the entire camp shrouded.
MIchael had no idea what Raven's plan was but given the little intel at his disposal, he figured that Raven had been ordered to kill as many Descendants as possible. Was that a punishment for allowing the Tritan Alliance to come to existence? Michael had no idea. All he knew was that the Skeleton focused on the deadly fog while fighting with Killian.
'Once the death energy swirl is drained, the Skeleton should collapse. It's 'kept alive' by the energy swirl, after all.' Michael concluded. The only downside was that the death energy swirl was overflowing with a tremendous amount of energy. It possessed more energy than ten thousand Inferior Energy Stones. That was bad.
The only advantage was that Raven's Skeletal structure couldn't bear the death swirl's entire energy. The death swirl could only circulate a minuscule amount of its energy through the skeletal structure of Raven to control him with great precision. It was not as if Raven's combat prowess increased by leaps and bounds. The only downside was that the death energy enveloped Raven's body as well, granting him an extraordinary defense.
Michael considered bombarding Raven with Extraction, but his Soultrait didn't remove the death energy lingering in the air. Even after he extracted the purified energy within the death energy, the essence of death would remain. That meant Maria had to do the deed. She had to cleanse the camp.
It was a relief that Michael could aid Maria. He released Extraction through the ground and exerted Insert to insert threads of Extraction everywhere in the deadly fog. The deadly fog was drained of its purified origin energy. In response to his actions, the ground shimmered in a golden hue. Extraction threads shot out of the ground for everyone to see.
Michael hated that he had to expose the Extraction threads but there was hardly anything he could do about it. He noticed the shocked expression on Maria's face and pressed his lips together in a thin line.
'Surviving is more important.' He told himself, using Insert to channel the energy that entered his body and traveled straight into Maria.
Michael had already stopped using his Soul Techniques and he was now looking straight into Maria's eyes. "Use Heaven's Descent."
He allowed Maria to tap into his Soul power and use her Inheritance Technique. The Inheritance Technique combined with the natural amplification of the Primal Amplifier ought to be enough to cleanse the camp of survivors swiftly.
Maria looked at Michael, accepted the energy that flooded her veins, and swallowed hard. She had no idea what Michael was doing, but it was apparent that he had done something. It was now time for her to do something as well. She grasped his right hand with both of her hands and channeled origin energy into Archangel's Grace.
The projection of the miniature angel manifested above her hands and knelt down in front of her. But that was only the beginning. The might of Heaven's Descent was unleashed as three pairs of majestic wings sprouted behind her and a dazzling halo conjured above Maria's head. In the blink of an eye, Michael's Soul Power was momentarily drained.
The Sphere of Light vibrated violently as if trying to revolt against Michael's decision, but he discarded his body's natural instincts to retain everything that ought to belong to him. He allowed Maria to take every bit of Soul Power within him even if he ended up feeling extremely fragile and vulnerable until his Soul Power returned.
Maria's eyes widened in shock when she realized just how much Soul Power resided within Michael. She stared at Michael in disbelief just to see the youth smiling at her cheekily.
"Quit staring and start cleansing. You can stare at me as long as you want once this is over," Michael joked, causing Maria to scoff.
"Who wants to stare…" Maria could only say before a beam of death energy shot past her head. Michael barely saw Raven initiate an attack and he instinctively pulled Maria closer to him.
"Focus hard on your fucking task, Killian!" Michael bellowed, causing Killian to glare at Michael through his thunder armor, "I'd love to swap places with you. I would much rather hug Maria than fight Raven in this bone-bastard form!"
Killian continued to curse in his mind when he saw that Maria's cheeks blushing red. Michael had pulled her into his embrace to protect her from the death beam, but that didn't mean Maria could act all flustered and shy…in front of another man at that. Killian grit his teeth, cursing himself for allowing the Skeleton to attack Maria, and hating Michael for being such a lucky bastard. Fortunately, he could redirect his anger and frustration toward the Skeleton, letting loose the turmoil of emotions in his heart to beat the shit out of the seemingly unbreakable Skeleton.
Michael glanced at Killian from the corner of his eyes, a wry smile blossoming slowly. Killian might be a jerk, and a feisty, annoying asshole, but he was straightforward and honest. Those were actually not bad traits. Michael enjoyed having a rude, but honest person around him much more than a people pleaser who talked bad about others behind their backs. Killian might be a bit too violent, yet that was something Michael did not mind.
He'd thought about challenging Killian before and now that urge increased once again.
'Once we get rid of this bastard, I will challenge you!' Michael promised himself.
Meanwhile, Maria fought in Michael's embrace. He'd pulled her close to his chest to protect her from the death beam and to keep her near him. It was much easier to protect Maria while she was right next to him rather than keeping some distance. Maria's heart beat wildly, which Michael realized once he noticed that he was embracing her like a lover. He relaxed his embrace a little but didn't let go of Maria completely.
"Trust me and focus on cleansing. I will pull you away if something happens," Michael whispered into her red, blushing ear. Maria closed her eyes shut and tried to focus with her entire being on Heaven's Descent and Archangel's Grace, but not only to ensure that the cleansing would work out. Instead, she also tried to cleanse her mind of impure thoughts.
Raven tried to attack Maria once before the remnants of his memories made him recall that he was not supposed to kill her. Maria was the only one in this group whom he was not allowed to kill. As for the rest…they had to die.
Raven switched his target back to Killian. Since he was already in a battle with Killian he might as well kill that fool. His protection layer of death energy and the non-existence of pain in his new form meant that he could fight tirelessly for days. Meanwhile, Killian's energy decreased swiftly. His breathing technique allowed him to reduce his stamina consumption and ensure that the energy in his body was distributed equally to keep him full of vigor, but it did not mean that he had infinite stamina and energy. He would run out of power soon if he continued to fight in such an extravagant manner.
By the time Killian was taken care of, Raven could deal with the remaining Descendants and Maria's Primal Amplifier. That was under the circumstances that the Descendants were still alive. He hoped that some would still be alive, otherwise, he'd transformed into the Incarnation of the Death Knight Likar for no reason.
The only issue Raven had to face was that he couldn't use his Soul Technique anymore now that he sacrificed his mortal body. He accepted the death energy inside him and transformed into a being that was neither truly dead nor alive. But that was what Raven had to do to defeat Killian.
If it had only not been for the inopportune timing of Michael and Maria, he would still be alive and Killian would have become a Death Knight. That would have been a lot better. Fortunately, Raven's emotions had been strong enough to relay several missions to his incarnation before his memories and thoughts were devoured alongside his fleshly body.
Maria got hold of her emotions and executed Heaven's Descent at full power. Pillars of light encompassed the entire survivor camp and hundreds of projections of Angels manifested all around the base. They unleashed their divine power and cleansed the proximity swiftly. The divine power first shrouded the injured Descendants. They calmed down and fell asleep soon after their skin stopped corroding. Divine power entered their bodies to expel the death energy most of them had breathed in before.
Maria's breathing grew rougher as the projected Angels used more of their divine power to tear apart the tenacious resistance of the deadly fog. The energy Michael channeled into her was rapidly drained, forcing Michael to insert more energy into her. That meant he had to expand Extraction's tendrils and tap into more of the death energy around him and purify it.
Extracting every bit of purified energy around him meant that he left the death essence behind, but Spirit Eyes revealed that Maria's Soultrait could tear apart even the essence of death. It was a terrifying Soultrait that had no limit as long as enough people around her were willing to lend their Soul Power for Maria to use.
The deadly fog dispersed slowly, forcing Raven to unleash more energy from the death swirl. Michael and Killian were slowly turning into a burden to fight against.
It was only fortunate that Raven was not alone.
At that moment, six figures emerged from Michael and Maria's shadows.
Raven's reinforcement had arrived.
