Batches of energy influx reached Michael in bursts. They invigorated him just enough to let him keep an eye on the battlefield. The Tekur tried to flee, their actions filled with desperation and pure fear.
After witnessing the death of their leaders and how easily Michael could deal with their comrades, the remaining Tekur could only think about running away. Michael would have pursued them if his legs weren't about to cave in. His body was still being damaged, layer after layer removed. Archangel's Grace managed to heal him, but Extraction's true power had yet to disperse.
Energy fluctuations entered Michael's view from the left. The Undead Skeleton, Raven, and two dozen masked Awakened appeared where Quinn had been standing. They surrounded Quinn and protected the young Awakened. Michael frowned deeply and waved his hand with True Extraction activated.
The head of the Undead Skeleton was extracted in a single go. However, Raven continued to move even without his head. Dense, deadly fog shrouded everyone, hiding their appearance. In the next moment, their bodies seemed to disappear. Michael hadn't used Extraction on them but Raven and the others seemed to disappear all of a sudden. Did they leave the isolated dimension before the Flag War ended? Was that possible?
Michael smiled smugly as he pinpointed a few masked Awakened within the dense deadly fog, and extracted their hearts with a burst of True Extraction. The masked men didn't collapse immediately. Instead, they were pulled out of the isolated dimension. Several seconds later, four bursts of energy influx reached him.
Once Raven and his followers were not there anymore, Michael noticed that Quinn had disappeared as well. In the next moment, his legs caved in.
He lost the strength in his legs as most of his skin, flesh and muscles had been extracted when he used the True Power of Extraction, combined with ten-layered Enhancement. Michael was not sure what had overcome him, but he felt like a suicidal maniac. He could have died.
Fortunately, he didn't. That was mostly thanks to the great power of Archangel's Grace, which he had stolen from Maria. At least, that was what Michael presumed because Archangel's Grace felt much stronger when he used it in the last few minutes compared to the usual power he could unravel from the Shard.
His arms had regrown and his skin was healing rapidly. The intricate golden pattern all over his body stopped spreading, and the War Rune on his chest traveled to the back of his right hand. It was a weird feeling to sense the War Rune's anchor move through his body, but he could live with it.
Michael was beyond exhausted. He had to retrieve three Apex Nutrition Serums and swallow their content whole before he felt a little bit better. His energy storage was filled to the brim since Extraction devoured the surrounding energy at all times. However, his nutrition had been used up to the point until there was almost nothing left. That was why he ended up feeling so weak…and probably because he unleashed Extraction's true power temporarily.
Michael was still not sure what happened to him, but something in the depth of his being had been revolting against the pain and potential threat to his life. He was not sure if that was his Soultrait's natural defenses kicking in, granting him access to Extraction's hidden potential for a short moment, or if it was something else. One way or another, Michael hadn't been ready for the power he obtained. His body couldn't resist the power and he was removed as well, just like everyone else. Even though Extraction gave him natural resistance against its power, just like all Soultraits did, Michael was certain that he could have died. It was an eerie thought, and certainly not something he wanted to experience again.
Maria regained control over her Soultrait. She was even more confused than everyone else about what happened just now. But one thing was certain; Michael gained full control of Archangel's Grace, even if it was just for a few minutes. Something like that never happened, not as far as Maria knew, at least.
Maria saw Michael's miserable appearance. She instinctively knew how bad her Primal Amplifier's condition was and rushed up to him, using Archangel's Grace to restore Michael as swiftly as possible.
She grasped his right hand to activate the full power of the Mark of Fate. The projection of a miniature angel manifested above their hands as Maria began to restore Michael. He recovered rapidly, his natural regeneration further amplified by Superior Constitution.
"What did you just do? Do you know that you almost killed yourself…well, and everyone around you?! And how did you steal Archangel's Grace?? That's my Soultrait!!" Maria was nervous and tensed up, resulting in a flood of words to escape her lips. She didn't stop talking until her eyes locked with Michael's.
"Calm down a little, will you?" Michael mumbled, the exhaustion in his eyes visible.
"I have no idea what happened either. I can make some guesses, but they won't be better than wild theories," He revealed in all honesty.
Michael really had no clue what happened. All he knew was that Extraction had been exposed – in its full glory, and in front of hundreds of Descendants, and the prodigious Warriors of the Warlock Centaur and Berserker race.
That was definitely not how he imagined the Flag War to end.
As Maria focused her attention on Michael's body, the others pursued the remaining Tekur. That was not further difficult, given how terrorized the Tekur were. They fled with all their might after Michael's display of power. In fact, everyone was horrified. However, the Tekur were afraid of Michael and shocked to the core. The alliance members, on the other hand, knew that Michael didn't want to kill them.
The Tekur didn't care about fighting anymore. The Flag War didn't matter to them at this point. All they wanted was to escape Michael's grasp.
Descendants like Killian, the Blazing Sun team, and hundreds of Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs made use of that. They assaulted the Tekur when they were at their weakest, and killed them all.
They won against the group of 150ish Tekur and three Elite Soldiers with merely 600 Alliance members. But that was not all. They survived the attacks of human traitors as well! Of course, that didn't mean everyone survived. Close to 100 Alliance members fell victim to the traitors' attacks and the tremendous power of the Tekur's Soul Techniques. The losses were much greater than they could have hoped for, but it was already a wonder that most of them survived. After all, the Elite Soldiers were several times stronger than the Tekur Soldiers.
They won the battle and didn't have to flee, all thanks to Michael Fang.
Once the battle at the fallen Dimensional Pillar ended, Michael was given the loot he deserved. He received the corpses of the Tekur he'd killed, including the three Elite Soldiers. Nobody uttered anything to Michael, but he noticed a drastic change in everyone's attitude toward him.
The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs treated him like he was one of their greatest warriors, whereas the Descendants had no idea how to talk to him. Everyone was curious about what had just happened, but not even Kaleb or Lincoln dared to come near him.
As for Zeke, he was a poor fella. He lost his biggest ally in the fight against the Supreme Human Alliance and Dark Heavens. Michael couldn't even imagine how Zeke must be feeling.
A few hours passed before Michael's condition was back to its peak. He consumed a few more Apex Nutrition Serums to maintain his condition. Their price was hefty, but it was not as if Michael lacked resources right now. Every Tekur would reward him with a decent-sized pile of Inferior Energy Stones upon getting extracted. As for the human traitors, their War Rune storages were filled with various treasures – including Elite Class Soul Techniques.
Michael noticed that nobody dared to come near him right now. Therefore, he decided to concentrate his attention on…himself. He tried to sense the thing that had trembled in the deepest parts of his being. However, there was nothing. It was like that 'thing' never existed in the first place.
What was that thing, either way? Was it a part of Michael, his Soultrait, or did it belong neither to his being or his Soultrait? Various questions flashed through his mind but there was not a single answer.
All Michael could tell was that the sudden power-up saved him from dying against Quinn.
'I never expected him to be a traitor. Using Enhancement on him nearly killed me…'
Michael shook his head lightly. The Interdimensional Flag War ended vastly differently than he, and everyone else, could have anticipated.
He gained a lot. Spirit Gaze and Eagle Eyes were upgraded to 6-Star Soultraits and fused, creating a 6-Star Soultrait that was much stronger than the vast majority of 6-Star Soultraits. He obtained Constitution and upgraded it to 6-Star near-instantly, and he procured new powers.
Michael learned about Soul Techniques, procured some, and he gained the experience of dozens of Tekur, allowing him to become a master in using and altering Common Soul Techniques.
His combat power increased tremendously, and so did his net worth. He gained several mountains of Inferior Energy Stones, various Artifacts, and other treasures that could be sold for a fortune.
All of that was great.
It was even better that he had yet to extract dozens of corpses to procure their Soultrait Symbols, SoulStar Fragments, Artifacts, and great fortunes.
There was only one downside. A pretty big one, at that.
Extraction had been exposed. Not just a little bit. EVERYONE present was now aware of Extraction's existence.
[End of Volume]
