It was interesting that the Supreme Human Alliance didn't seem to care about Awakened with High Class Soultraits. They were willing to kill them rather than making some effort to kidnap the Human Awakened with 6-Star Soultraits.
Maybe there were not yet enough traitors to kidnap that many Awakened, or they didn't have the necessary resources to control and restrain such a huge number. The latter was unlikely but it was possible that the Supreme Human Alliance was trying to wear down the Tritan Alliance slowly rather than smashing them to smithereens with a single bombardment of attacks.
None of their attacks caused tremendous damage, after all. That was until now. Since they decided to send out younger traitors, who were also Descendants and members of High Society, the Supreme Human Alliance took a great risk. If their plans failed – which happened to some of them – their plans and secrets would be exposed. That was exactly what Michael achieved. He exposed the traitorous Descendants and found out some of their names as well.
Michael felt like moving out at once. He wanted to find the traitors and get rid of them right away. KIllian was of the same opinion. Unfortunately, too many Descendants were still weakened and reeling from the aftermath of being exposed to the deadly fog. Maria would have to spend a day or two tending to all of them.
In the meantime, Michael and Killian had to protect the camp of survivors. Raven could come back at any time to kill the weakened Descendants and kidnap Maria. That was not a risk they could afford. Thus, Michael and Killian ended up bored and without anything to do other than making sure that Maria was safe and sound and that the Descendants weren't attacked by a bunch of traitors or the Tekur.
"Fight me," Killian challenged Michael after they spent a day doing nothing special.
Michael was busy altering the Soul Techniques in his possession to create his own customized Soul Techniques for each of his Soultrait. He wanted to create a technique for Spirit Eyes, Enhancement, and Extraction as soon as possible since those Soultraits elevated his combat prowess to an entirely new level.
But he was also curious about Killian's combat prowess. Michael wanted to fight Kilian as well.
"Hmm, alright."
Michael summoned Aethyr and the Spirit Armor Set at once before unleashing the Legendary Ring Artifact's dragon might. He exerted Leviathan Diffusion and began with the production of Soul Energy.
Killian was not a patient person, nor was Michael. Killian smiled when he saw that Michael was ready to fight him at once. He summoned his longsword, coated his body in the thunder armor set and compressed it tightly around his body. Thereafter several thunderbolts appeared around him.
"Try to survive, not that I bother about your survival though," Killian sneered while saying in a voice barely loud enough for Michael to hear.
Michael merely raised an eyebrow and he changed his stance at once.
He coated his body in a layer of enhanced Extraction to pull the surrounding energy toward him. The energy would be absorbed at once whereas Leviathan Diffusion would annex it within moments, turning the absorbed energy into usable energy in no time.
Michael conjured several Glacicle Swords, the tips of the blades coated in a golden hue. He released the Glacicle Swords the moment the thunderbolts zapped toward him. The Glacicle Swords clashed with the thunderbolts at once and shattered into countless pieces. The durability of Glacicle was not that high. Therefore, the thunderbolts pierced through the Glacicle Swords in one go. But the layer of Extraction used to coat the thunderbolts drained their energy rapidly.
Michael didn't enhance the Glacicle Swords because all he needed was to send the hue of Extraction toward the thunderbolts to drain their energy and to spread some freezing mist in the surroundings. The thunderbolts slowed down, but they were still extremely fast. Fortunately, Michael had already unleashed Spirit Eyes to predict Killian's attack pattern. He evaded the thunderbolts and noted Killian's next actions through the thick layer of freezing mist that separated the two combatants.
He was able to see every trace of energy within and around Killian, thus pinpointing him with ease. Meanwhile, Killian had more difficulties doing the same. Michael created three dozen Glacicle Swords in one go and released them toward Killian. The Glacicle Swords reached Killian, who evaded most of them, only to realize that the Glacicle Swords would shatter upon colliding with his thunder armor.
However, it didn't even matter whether they collided with the thunder armor or not. Michael willed them to burst into freezing mist once they reached Killian's proximity, either way.
He then unleashed the portion of Insert he'd utilized on the Glacicle Swords. The freezing mist was drawn to the thunder armor and sucked inside.
Killian raised an eyebrow when he noticed that his thunder armor was fighting a fierce battle with the freezing mist around him. His body temperature cooled down and the hair all over his body stood up on its end, resulting in Killian making a move. He charged through the freezing mist to the right while firing a few firebolts through the mist. His aim was not perfect since he couldn't see Michael through the fog. However, he could roughly perceive his current position, and the fact that Michael had yet to move far away from his earlier position.
Killian released a burst of lightning from behind him and turned into a purple flash. He made a detour around the freezing mist and continued to charge around until he had accelerated long enough to reach his maximum speed without the use of his Inheritance Technique. He circled around Michael in a wide radius and noted the young Lord.
Michael was only at the Peak of the 2nd Tier and was not supposed to be able to follow his movements. Neither should he be able to pick up his movements after he reached his max speed nor was Michael supposed to be able to respond quickly enough to turn in all directions with amazing agility as Killian circled around him.
But Michael did all of that with ease. The mark around his eyes – Spirit Eyes' stigma– shone brightly as he followed every single one of Killian's movements. His body turned around fast enough as well. It felt like his body responded instantaneously to everything Michael saw. It was confusing and definitely not something a Peak Tier-2 Lord ought to be able to do. Not against an opponent like Killian, at least.
'I heard he defeated Jirah. Seems like that was not a fluke.' Killian thought while creating several thunderbolts. He released them to bombard Michael from all directions while continuing to circle the young Lord.
Michael, however, responded even before Killian finished conjuring his thunderbolts. Glacicle Swords with golden tips appeared around Michael at once and they shot in the direction of Killian's thunderbolts even before Killian could release them.
'His reaction speed and predictions are…on a higher level than mine?' Killian realized, his eyes widening in surprise.
It was also evident that Michael utilized less energy. His Glacicle Swords diminished his thunderbolts just enough for Michael to evade them. He didn't have to spend any surplus energy to block anything. All Michael did was to weaken the attacks with the sole purpose of evading them with nimble movements.
Killian grit his teeth. It was the first time he was struggling to defeat someone at a lower rank. Usually, even the opponents at the Peak of Tier-3 were easily defeated. Most wouldn't require him to use his Inheritance Technique at this point. He could summon his thunder armor without the Inheritance technique due to his high mastery and his thunderbolts were among the most lethal attacks one could unleash with a 6-Star Soutrait.
His Soultrait allowed him to gain enormous speed and strength, yet Michael seemed to be able to counter both advantages. Michael Fang possessed far more energy than Killian expected. He was also a lot calmer and didn't panic for a single moment. His responses to the incoming attacks were well-organized and highly efficient.
It was easy to tell the reason Michael had been picked as one of the four variables in the Interdimensional Flag War. Killian had underestimated Michael as well. He didn't think much about the young Lord because he didn't come from a noble background. However, it was evident that Michael was one of the few extraordinary Awakened who had been discovered from a huge pool of ordinary folk.
Killian hated to acknowledge Michael's strength, but he was truly caught off-guard by Michael's physical strength, his body's reaction speed, and the calm and sorted way in which Michael was able to handle the situation. But the most shocking of them all was that Michael could easily predict Killian's next course of action. It was almost as if Michael could see the energy circulating through his body and manifesting around him.
'Wait? Can he see the energy around me? Is that how he predicts my thunderbolts and my next movements?' Killian wondered as he tried to figure out Michael's true strength. His movements were naturally amplified by origin energy. Killian had been taught from a young age to always use origin energy to strengthen his body and amplify his movements. That way his body would be always at its peak, and it would always exude an intimidating presence to those weaker than him.
Some called it the presence of nobility, while it was just some excessive origin energy hovering around the Awakened.
Killian's energy naturally moved through his body the moment he thought about making a different move. His energy would move first, and his body would follow suit. That was how Michael had a much easier time predicting Killian's course of action than everyone else. Killian's 'noble presence' was much more pronounced than that of everyone else.
