The atmosphere changed drastically as Michael appeared in the sky above the Savannah forces. Everyone was filled with fear and a sudden sensation of death as the surroundings dyed golden.
Countless golden mots stretched far across the border to the Untamed Jungle. They shrouded everything and dissected the soil, plant life, and enemies while they were still alive.
The True Extraction Domain expanded rapidly. It spread over a kilometer in all directions, eliminating thousands of Summons instantaneously.
The pressure weighing on Hiraku and the other Untamed Awakened was lifted suddenly. Hundreds of Qi Extraction Swords pierced the Summons and Awakened, who had managed to overwhelm and pin them down to the ground.
The golden mots of True Extraction prickled on their skin as the True Extraction Domain washed over them, but they didn't feel like their insides were being removed. Their skin prickled, and some of their hair was extracted, but their skin and flesh remained where they were supposed to be.
Michael altered the True Extraction Domain temporarily, switching off friendly fire to rescue his subordinates instead of killing them by accident.
However, altering the True Extraction Domain while unleashing its full power was not easy. Michael bled from the nose and eyes as the Cursed Seals crackled violently. It was almost like the Cursed Seals demonstrated their dissatisfaction with Michael's attempts to alter their effects.
Michael tried to ignore the pain inflicted by the retaliating Cursed Seals. He grunted quietly and broke into a sweat, as he tried to control whatever the Cursed Seals were trying to achieve. But that wasn't easy.
Michael sensed that a fourth Cursed Seal was trying to break free from the shackles of countless miniature seals, but it didn't manage to do so. Something was missing.
All of a sudden, Michael heard an explosion sound from within him. He wasn't injured or under the effect of an enemy's Soultrait either. The explosion within him didn't hurt him physically. It felt as if something had been ripped out of his soul.
An Oath of Loyalty broke.
Zeron Polik died.
The feeling of loss swept through Michael. It wasn't a faint feeling like it was supposed to be with Links of Loyalty when they were cut. The sensation was on a completely different level.
The loss of Zeron Polik and the termination of his Oath of Loyalty suddenly impacted him heavily. It reached every corner of his body until the sensation of loss arrived at the Cursed Seals.
As if the Cursed Seals had been waiting for this moment, they erupted with tremendous power. True Extraction was further amplified, but Michael didn't pay any attention now. He was occupied with the maelstrom of emotions that flooded his entire being at this moment.
The Cursed Seals tremored violently, breaking down the locks that restrained the 4th Cursed Seal.
Michael lost control of his body for a moment. The sudden sensation of a significant loss affected him much more than he thought it would. The Cursed Seals exploited Michael's momentary weakness to take charge of his body.
His world was shrouded in darkness as the Cursed Seals took over. Michael could not find out what was happening or how much time had passed. The only thing he could do was to retaliate against the Cursed Seals' influence. He forced his mind and soul to overcome the loss of a trusted subordinate and an Oath of Loyalty and suppressed the Cursed Seals with all his might.
His willpower was not as weak as it used to be. Clashing with the Cursed Seals' tremendous influence dozens of times strengthened Michael's willpower. It was nothing like it used to be. After all, he had sworn that he wouldn't lose control over his body again – though he failed miserably.
Once light returned to Michael's world, he immediately noticed something significant had changed. He might have regained control of his body, but the emotions that ravaged his entire being were still apparent. They influenced Michael and put him into a state of fury and uncontrollable anger.
Michael attempted to suppress the influence of emotions, but he noticed that the Cursed Seals were more substantial than they used to be. There was one more active Cursed Seal after all.
Michael's eyes narrowed to a slit as he looked down at his body. The Extraction Aura had already dissected his shirt, revealing the multitude of chains. Countless miniature seals appeared before his eyes, but Michael paid the most attention to the 4th Cursed Seal that had been unleashed when his mind and soul were at its weakest.
Instead of looking like the other Cursed Seals, the irregularly manifested Cursed Seal was different. It was golden with crimson outlines and looked like it had been etched into Michael's body.
A vibrant red shimmer passed through Michael's eyes, dying his black pupils crimson. His skin ruptured around the 4th Cursed Seal, and crimson streaks that looked like glowing veins surfaced.
Michael's breath grew rougher, and the True Extraction Domain that dominated the surrounding area grew more potent.
An ear-deafening roar escaped from the depth of Michael's being, further intensifying his presence.
It was almost like Michael had transformed into a demon. No. It was nearly as if he was about to undergo a metamorphosis into a devil.
'I don't have full control of my body,' Michael noticed as the rage and anger consumed him. He grit his teeth, but not even his willpower was strong enough to completely control his body.
All he could do until he lost control of his body was to access the remaining Links of Loyalty to force the Untamed Awakened and the Untamed Army to retreat.
[Fall back!!!] He ordered, ignoring the frustration and retaliation of his subordinates. They wanted to stay by his side to fight the Savannah forces with him. All they desired became to be helpful and to obliterate their enemies alongside their Lord.
However, Michael's command was omnipotent. His subordinates fell back, but not without cursing Michael. The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs were especially loud. However, Tiara and Frederik were even more deafening. They aimed to eliminate as many enemies as possible while protecting the Untamed Jungle from the invading forces, only to receive orders to retreat a few minutes after Michael returned from his trip into the Savannah Region.
Michael didn't care about their anger and disapproval. He allowed the four Cursed Seals to go all out and flood him with anger, disgust, and uncontrollable fury.
Every single Link of Loyalty that had been severed in today's battle, alongside the destruction of one Oath of Loyalty, impacted heavily on his mind. More than ten thousand members of the Untamed Army had died, and their numbers were about to reach 20,000. Almost half of the Untamed Army had been obliterated.
The Cursed Seals took count of that, and they flooded him with the rage and anger of the 18,536 Summons who'd fallen victim to the Savannah forces.
Michael didn't hesitate anymore. On the contrary, his focus returned to the battlefield where the True Extraction Domain wreaked havoc.
The lifeforce and origin energy, which arrived him after True Extraction drained it from tens of thousands of enemies, were used to reinforce the True Extraction Domain. Simultaneously, Michael produced Icicle Bullets infused with a tremendous amount of lifeforce. It became just enough to infuse into Tier-3 Awakened and kill them with an overdose of lifeforce.
They didn't know what was happening to them before the Icicle Bullets impacted them, infusing the massive amount of compressed lifeforce.
Michael didn't pay any attention to the enemies below Tier-3. They died like moths in a wildfire once the golden mots of the True Extraction Domain arrived them.
Michael's interest in the Tier-3 Summons decreased drastically after he summoned the Soul Grimoire to apply a few Soul Tears on True Extraction. True Extraction's power potency increased even further, only for the True Extraction Domain's efficiency to skyrocket as ten layers of Enhancement were added to the fray.
The stronger the Soultrait and the power used with the Soultrait, the higher the energy consumption of a single layer of Enhancement. The higher the energy consumption, the more Enhancement layers are applied to the same target. It increased exponentially, forcing Michael to use tremendous energy to apply ten layers of Extraction on his most potent attack. However, Michael used the origin energy nonetheless. He had more than enough to spare since his energy storages were always filled to the brim.
True Extraction's potency and efficiency arrived a new height now that ten layers of Enhancement and a Soul Tear alongside four Cursed Seals were unleashed.
The fourth Cursed Seal had the most significant impact. It allowed Michael to drain everyone's origin energy in the True Extraction Domain. Even Tier-3 and Higher Lifeforms couldn't block the True Extraction Domain's full effect.
They could decrease the amount of energy drained by the domain, but it became impossible to block the energy drain entirely – not without using specific Soultraits and techniques, at least.
The True Extraction Domain expanded rapidly. The farther it expanded, the more enemies and plant life were affected by its effect. Everything became drained of its lifeforce and origin energy, leaving Michael with an overflow of both.
The origin energy became consumed to expand the domain further, whereas the lifeforce killed thousands of Tier-3 Summons by forcing more lifeforce into them than they could handle.
Their bodies splattered in countless bits and pieces, leaving no big pieces behind.
Michael sensed great. His entire being became overflowing with satisfaction as hundreds of thousands of enemies fell victim to his overwhelming power.
A devilish smile plastered his face as the confident forces of the Savannah transformed into a flock of headless chickens.
Desperation filled their hearts, and Michael enjoyed it.
His power ruled supreme.
But it consumed him as well.
