The vast expanse around him was barren, as it used to be. Nothing had changed over the last year, as expected.
Michael would have been worried sick if the barren lands of the isolated dimension had changed over the last year.
Strong gusts shrouded him right before he teleported high into the air.
The gusts kept Michael mid-air. He exposed his position while levitating high, but that didn't matter. Michael's head flicked left and right, and his Spirit Eyes activated with several Enhancement layers focused on enhancing his eyesight. At his position, he could see several dozen kilometers in all directions. It was no surprise when he discovered a small group of Tekur. They moved swiftly across the barren lands, their eyes moving in all directions to discover their prey before they could be discovered.
Unfortunately, Michael was the only possible prey…and certainly wasn't going to be preyed upon.
He unleashed Cosmic Stride a few times to shorten the distance before diving to the ground. He crashed heavily, and deep fissures spread through the hard soil, forming a small crater where he landed.
Michael wasn't hurt. He brushed the dirt from his clothes using the surrounding winds and kicked the ground hard to accelerate again. He didn't use any techniques. Michael just charged ahead, approaching the group of Tekur.
It wasn't long before the Tekur discovered him. They noticed that Michael was alone but didn't think much about it. He was fast and might be strong since he was confident enough to run around alone, but the small group members were all Elite Tekur. Each of them was stronger than several powerhouses of the Tritan Alliance ought to be.
At least, that was what they were still certain about. They had taken countermeasurements to ensure that they wouldn't lose as many Soldiers and Elite Soldiers as the year before. However, the Elite Tekur were still confident of their tremendous prowess. Their confidence surpassed their vigilance by leaps and bounds.
All Elite Tekur manifested their Artifacts and unleashed their Soultraits. However, none of them used their Soul Technique right away. Their Soul Power replenished rapidly but that didn't mean they could waste it needlessly. It was wasteful if everyone used their Elite Class Soul Technique against a single enemy.
Michael's eyes narrowed to a slit when he noticed that the Tekur weren't going all out.
[I would probably be like them in their situation…but they're stupid to think that you're going to die just like that. Underestimating your enemy is never a good move.]
Michael couldn't agree more, but he kept silent. He wasn't expecting much from the Tekur either. How could he blame them for thinking lowly about him when his thoughts about them were the same? He wasn't that much of a hypocrite…most of the time.
Michael used Cosmic Stride to teleport above them once the distance to the Tekur was short enough. He used Spiritual Domination on each Elite Tekur and manifested a few dozen Qi Bullets. Qi Bullets were one of the creations he created when he upgraded Kaleb's Ice Bullet Soul Technique. He wanted to adjust Ice Bullet to fit Kaleb's Frozen Nova better. After that, he customized Ice Bullet for Alice.
Researching Kaleb's Frozen Nova and Alice's Frozen Kingdom Soultrait took a while, but it was worth it. Michael learned about the similarities of the siblings' Soultraits and how different they were despite being so similar.
Michael used that knowledge, in addition to Danny's incredible compatibility with the Qi Soultrait, to unleash more of Qi's potential. One of the masterpieces Michael had managed to create was the Qi Bullet – a massive amount of Qi compressed until it formed into a small bullet.
He didn't bother applying Enhancement to the Qi Bullets. They were fast enough already. A burst of Qi unleashed their velocity near-instantly. The Qi Bullets whizzed through the air at top speed and cut through the chests of four Tekur before they realized that Michael was above them. They exploded right after the Qi Bullets cracked their thick carapace and invaded their insides.
The compressed Qi spread in all directions, ravaging their insides before cutting their energy veins, crippling them. Two Tekur were faster than the rest. They twisted their bodies and used their Soul Techniques instinctive, evading the worst fate. The Qi Bullets impacted heavily, hitting their shoulders instead of their chests. The cracking sounds of their carapace and shoulders shattering rang through their ears, but they weren't crippled.
Michael knew that they wouldn't be crippled even before the two Elite Tekur made their move. Spirit Eyes' Prognosis was precise enough to show what would happen in the next moment. Therefore, Michael appeared before the first Tekur with an azure fireball flickering in his left palm. Michael released the fireball in the Elite Tekur's face, instantly bursting half of his face.
The Tekur screamed for a second before the sound was drowned in the fireball's explosion.
Meanwhile, Michael was already next to the other Tekur. He unleashed the five Cursed Seals and triggered True Extraction. Dozens of golden tendrils burst out of Michael. They coiled around the Tekur and invaded his body via Insert. Michael released a compressed ice shard, which he released into the Tekur's mouth as his mandibles parted for a scream. The ice shard shattered in the Tekur's mouth and released the freezing mist that had been compressed inside it.
The extraction tendrils entered the Tekur's body and rapidly sapped his lifeforce and origin energy reserves. Michael only stopped extracting more lifeforce when only little was left. After all, the Tekur had to be alive to extract as many SoulStar Fragments as possible. That was what Michael started with.
He drained the Tekur's SoulStar Fragments, ignoring the miserably Elite Solider's muffled screams until no more SoulStar Fragments could be extracted. Then, Michael extracted the Tekur's Soultrait, which killed the weakened Elite Soldier. Last but not least, Michael extracted the Tekur's Memories.
Even if Michael was certain that the Tekur weren't going to be a problem in the Interdimensional Flag War, he was not foolish enough to believe that everything would go according to his plan. He sapped the Tekur's Memory Orb and consumed it before turning to the others.
The other Elite Tekur stared at him, their eyes overflowing with fear and disbelief. The crippled Tekur tried to escape, but Michael appeared behind them before they could get out of his sight. He sapped their energy and lifeforce before tearing their SoulStar Fragments and Soultriats out of their bodies. Like before, he obtained their Memory Orbs as well.
Michael didn't pay much attention to the SoulStar Fragments and the Soultrait Symbols. He stored the Fragments in his War Rune while the Soultraits were stored in the sealed container. Only the Memory Orbs were devoured and digested right away.
He used Wisdom Breaker to break down the Memory Orbs faster. They were systemized rapidly in his mind thanks to Sacred Constitution, giving Michael a much better view on every memory fragment.
'900 Elite Tekur. Damn. They've gone all out, didn't they?' Michael chuckled, only for Danny to interfere.
[And 100 Supreme Soldiers. Even the Elite Tekur terror them. Maybe this Flag War will be a bit more fun than you expected!]
Michael tilted his head, the memories of the Supreme Soldiers of the Tekur race appearing in his mind.
"I'm not sure. Hiraku and Jason are probably stronger than them."
[There is only one way to find out!] Danny announced, causing a faint grin to blossom on Michael's face.
"You're right."
