In the following days, Michael received various reports of small-scale attacks with an unusually high number of casualties. Neither he nor his people joined the battles. All they did was train and prepare goods for the upcoming battles.
Some of the preparations included the integration of powerful Artifacts. Michael fused the Artifacts he procured with Extraction and combined them using Insert. The Artifacts were then distributed to the Untamed Awakened and the Valyrs for a fair price, of course.
The reports that reached Michael were more or less interesting. They showed that only a few Lords died in the following two weeks since Michael didn't move out to hunt them. However, that didn't mean Michael was idle. He traveled through the Savannah Region to invade the settlements of the Lords he'd killed to procure their Summoning Cores and other treasures.
It wasn't that difficult to invade the deceased Lords' main settlements. The citizens were in chaos after losing their Lord, whereas the Awakened began to plunder their late Lords' treasure troves. This included the devices that created and maintained the spatial lock dome.
Michael killed the Awakened who remained in the settlement, but there weren't many. Most Awakened fled the Origin Expanse or left their late Lord's territory to become Rogues. He was fortunate enough that the Awakened didn't think about looting their late Lords' Summoning Gates. Destroying the Summoning Gate' hatched and removing the Summoning Cores without damaging them wasn't easy. It was not something most Awakened could do, in the first place, as it required considerable control over their original energy. Even then it wasn't certain that the Summoning Cores could be removed without damaging them.
Even the faintest scratch to a Summoning Core can destroy it. That was also why Michael was glad that he had Extraction. He couldn't be bothered to be careful with the Summoning Cores. Instead, he used True Extraction and extracted them with brute force – basically.
Michael learned a lot about the Council of Xylon's future, how the council ended up perishing, and a few more interesting facts he hadn't been aware of.
'Why was I so certain that only 10 Lords died after my people returned to Arx?' Michael wondered.
The reports he received over the last few weeks mentioned the death of 10 Lords. However, Michael learned about the assassination of far more Lords. Two dozen Lords died at the hands of assassinations in the last three weeks, leaving less than half of the Lords, who once colluded against the Trilance.
Only 51 Lords of the council were still alive, and they were members of three large alliances that had formed before the council broke apart.
The Westerners Alliance was patient and remained passive for now, whereas the Centrals and Southerners were more active. At least, that was what it looked like on the outside. The Southerners expanded east whereas the Centrals occupied the large pieces of land that had been abandoned after Michael killed 11 Lords in the Savannah's center.
It was quite interesting to observe the tactics of the respective alliances. The Westerners seemed boring on the outside, but Michael was fairly sure that they deployed the assassins to kill the two dozen Lords while everyone else was busy fighting their enemies head-on.
'The Westerners are problematic. If they continue scheming and playing dirty, I'll have to deal with them first. But moving to the west will be a bit difficult without anyone noticing.'
It was possible to travel to the center of the Savannah Region with the teleportation array, but it would be a little bit annoying to teleport throughout the western part of the Savannah. Michael could travel alone without many issues, but taking the Untamed Awakened and the Valyrs with him would transform any silent movement into a thunderous commotion. They would be exposed for sure.
Michael came up with some tactics to deal with the Westerners first, but the execution of his tactic was interrupted when the Centrals and Southerners decided to combine their forces. Several armies of the Westerners' Lords rallied the forces of the Centrals and Southerners with Soul Pacts, promising an entire week of peace.
That was what Michael learned from the memories of some idiots whose Memory Orbs he consumed on the D-Day of the final battle. That was what they called it. The final battle.
It was one huge battle that determined the fate of the Savannah Region. It was the grand finale.
Michael didn't expect that the Centrals and Southerners would be willing to put aside their quarrel and team up once again, but he was gravely mistaken about one thing.
The Lords of the Savannah Region feared him far more than they feared betrayal.
The Savannah's forces – Michael decided to call them that – gathered in the eastern parts of the Untamed Jungle. They kept enough distance from the Untamed Jungle to avoid any unwanted surprises, but they stayed close enough to the border to strike fast and heavy once everyone's forces were present.
Michael was in the Savannah Region, hovering in the air, when he saw the masses of Summons and Awakened gathering to invade the Untamed Jungle. He frowned deeply and retrieved the communication crystal to call Tiara and the others back in Arx.
"The Savannah's forces will assault soon. If I'm not mistaken, 42 Lords rallied most of their forces to deal with us once and for all. Each Lord brought an army of more than 80,000 Summons and Awakened to attack."
"WHAT?!" Frederik exclaimed through the communication crystal. His voice quivered, "What the hell are you talking about, Michael?!?"
Michael heard Tiara shove Frederik aside, "Are you sure that there are more than three million Soldiers on the way to the Untamed Jungle? Isn't that a little bit over the top?"
Michael chuckled, a trace of nervosity in his voice, "They're going all out."
He regained the confidence he'd missed for a moment and grinned lightly, "As far as we know the Lords of the Savannah Region have only 100,000 soldiers on average. Considering that every Lord lost thousands of combatants in the combats against the Trilance, against us, and their skirmishes against each other, their habitats must be defenseless."
"I can make use of that," Michael announced, "Stall them as long as you can. I'll take their Lord Powers while they're busy over here."
"Stalling three million soldiers? That…is not something we can do," Lilica joined the conversation, but Michael could only shrug.
"There shouldn't be more than 50 Higher Lifeforms. They might have many Tier-3 Summons, but you guys are stronger. You've got powerful Epic and Pseudo-Legendary Artifacts, and various Soultraits. The Valyrs and the Elementals are also there. Furthermore, the forces of the Savannah Region cannot invade the Untamed Jungle at once. They'll have to split up or destroy the Untamed Jungle's plant life to barge through the Untamed Jungle without slowing down. Dwindle their numbers with long-range attacks once they reach your range, and focus on small-scale attacks to kill as many as possible once they enter the Untamed Jungle."
"Yes, Master!" Tiara shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.
Even if some of them didn't like Michael's plan it was not like they had a better plan.
"In the worst case, use some overcharged elemental crystals and Chaos Pills," Michael proposed.
"But I don't think that will be necessary. I will be back soon!"
