Michael was forced to regain his senses quickly. Tending to the burns inflicted by the Purgatory Flames was no problem, but the harm it did to the Living Soul and the connecting links between the Curses, World Serpent, and Michael weren't something that could be mended easily.
A few thousand SoulStar Fragments were consumed immediately, but that wasn't enough to heal everything. It was sufficient to ensure the Living Soul wouldn't sustain permanent damage. Also, Michael had to invest close to 100,000 SoulStar Fragments to reinforce the Soul Sphere.
The Curse hibernating inside him was hard to calm down, but it wasn't on the verge of tearing everything apart after the Soul Sphere had been mended and reinforced.
[Kill that bastard!] The World Serpent commanded, [I can lend you some power. Tear him apart!]
Michael would have loved to obey the World Serpent's command, but he knew that his body wouldn't be able to handle it. It was already too much for his body when he used Foundation Break, Enhancement, Heavenly Beast Physique, and the Serpent Seals combined. If his body hadn't torn apart, Michael would have added more Enhancement layers and used Soul Tears to strengthen Sacred Constitution and Enhancement.
Unfortunately, Michael was still not a Higher Lifeform. He couldn't put even more pressure on his body without actually killing himself.
[I want him dead as well~] Zeroa declared all of a sudden.
Michael had forgotten about the Elemental Empress because she hadn't been affected by the Purgatory Flames. Fortunately, nothing happened to her. She was not immune to all kinds of fires, but most flames barely harmed her, even the fire that burned through souls.
A white flame conjured around his left arm right after Zeroa exclaimed, but she extinguished the flame quickly when Michael flinched.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})[Did I hurt you?]
'That was you?' Michael's eyes narrowed to a slit. He didn't expect the Elemental Empress to be capable of manifesting Purgatory Flames. Wasn't mythical fire all she could conjure?
'Do that again.'
The Elemental Empress did as commanded. The tattoo that represented her was set on fire, flickering in white glowing flames—Crimson's Purgatory Flames!
Michael swallowed hard but couldn't focus on Zeroa's replication of the Purgatory Flames. He couldn't be sure whether the Purgatory Flames were replicated or if she gained the ability to create Purgatory Flames by devouring and analyzing Crimson's flames. One way or another, the Elemental Empress didn't sustain any harm and managed to develop Purgatory Flames.
'Good job. That will be useful in the future!' Michael praised Zeroa before his attention was pulled to the newcomers.
After so long, Michael saw his mother again. Evalynn Fang returned.
She levitated in the air, her eyes glued to Crimson. A deep scowl decorated her wrath-filled face. A dozen black Curses manifested all over her right arm. They covered her entire arm and released a dark, oozing mist that spread everywhere. The fabric of space pulled and twisted around the dark mist, but nothing else happened. Only when Evalynn willed the dark mist did the scenery around her change drastically.
The fabric of space tore apart, and the dark mist transformed into black daggers, sabers, other objects, and tentacles. The objects and tentacles disappeared into the fabric of space and appeared around Crimson. The blades pierced into his body, whereas the tentacles lunged at Crimson. They coiled around him and restrained him.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"That's cute," Crimson responded to the attack with a smile. He flexed his muscles and released a strong burst of energy to rip the blades and tentacles into shreds. He was bleeding from the cuts he'd sustained but continued smiling as the Purgatory Flames washed over him.
Crimson stopped bleeding, and the cuts healed instantly.
"I didn't expect to find another Curse User here," He said, only for his attention to pull to Micheal, "Well, I should have expected another Curse User here. That kid is not normal. It would have been weird if the Nest didn't find him yet."
He conjured hundreds of spears, daggers, and sabers from Purgatory Flames around him and shrugged lightly, "But then again. Finding a Cursed Child who hasn't lost his sanity after accessing so many Seals as a Lesser Lifeform doesn't make sense. He shouldn't have gained access to his Curses long yet. His control is insignificant."
"I can still cleanse him. The Pariat will reward me generously when they hear I removed the corruption in one of our lost children!"
The white blades around Crimson whizzed toward Evalynn Fang as he began cackling.
"I don't think you're going to be alive long enough to meet anyone from the Pariat again," An unfamiliar voice rang out beside Evalynn.
Evalynn Fang was just about to call upon her Curse's power to deal with the Purgatory Flame projectiles when the source of the unfamiliar voice manifested.
A silver sheen filled the area before and around Evalynn. It transformed into a semi-translucent shield that swallowed the Purgatory Flame projectiles before they could reach Evalynn. The shield compressed and changed shape. It transformed rapidly into something that looked like a mix of a ballistae and a medieval cannon. A massive white bolt made from the compressed Purgatory Flame projectiles formed in the barrel of the ballistae-cannon mix.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Michael's eyes widened as Spirit Eyes determined how much energy was stored inside the projectile. He swallowed hard and watched as the bolt was released upon Crimson.
Crimson's eyes narrowed to a slit, but a faint smile blossomed on his face.
A burst of energy erupted from his body. His muscles bulged, and an eerily red hue coated his entire body. The area around him decayed. It was torn apart similarly that the True Extraction Domain tore apart the surroundings when Michael went all out.
However, instead of removing everything layer by layer, the red hue compressed everything instantaneously.
The ground cracked and broke open. Nothing was safe as Crimson unleashed his power to the fullest. He grasped his blade tightly and stomped on the ground with the left, breaking everything apart.
Several deep fissures passed through the ground but neither Crimson nor the unknown man who'd appeared next to Evalynn cared about the damage their presence caused. The collateral damage of their presence was nothing new to them. After all, they were both Divine Lifeforms. An ordinary planet in a backwater galaxy was not supposed to endure the might of two Divine Lifeforms fighting with all their might.
The display of power bewitched Michael. The white bolt was released and whizzed through the air with a velocity that Michael could barely perceive after he'd used several Enhancement layers on Spirit Eyes.
Releasing the white bolt required sufficient force to create a shockwave that whipped everyone in the vicinity from their feet. Not even the Berserker Chieftain was strong enough to withstand it. And that was only the shockwave of the actual attack.
The bolt cut through the howling air and reached Crimson a quarter of a second after the assault had been released. That wouldn't have been enough time for any Higher Lifeform to move. However, Crimson continued smiling.
Everything Michael saw was a blur, and a slight change in Crimson's stance.
In the next second, the fissure in the ground tore further apart. The fissures didn't stop as they reached the nearest mountain range and city. They wreaked through the mountain range and destroyed the city.
Yet, Crimson remained where he was. He smiled and ignored the two holes that appeared to his left and right, where the split bolt had pierced after Crimson cut them in half.
[Did you see that?] Danny asked quietly.
Unfortunately, Michael couldn't answer. His mind went vacant at the exchange of the Divine Lifeforms.
How long would it take for him to grow this strong?
Michael couldn't wait anymore. His heart beat wildly. He wanted to grow stronger as promptly as possible.
But for that, he would have to survive. That was easier expressed than done with two Divine Lifeforms colliding before him.
Michael's eyes traveled next to his Mother, where he could finally make out a man.
A burly, middle-aged man with long silver hair, azure-blue eyes, and a large scar that spanned from the mid-section of his face down to his neck stood there, calmly inspecting the situation below.
He noticed Michael's gaze and graced him with a wink.
Watch and see!
