Chapter 1005: Changes

Michael collected more SoulStar Fragments, probably enough to transform his Aethyr into proper Pure Aether with a single infusion of SoulStar Fragments. But he didn't do it right away. He would wait with the creation of Pure Aether until he couldn't wait any longer. That was either until some Gods knocked on his door for a beating, or until a Primal would appear before him with ill intentions.

The God Curses approved this plan, hoping Michael could further strengthen his Divinities and maybe even increase his Tier a little. Unfortunately, the Titan War between the Altors Union and the Supreme Human Alliance didn't leave him with that much spare time. Michael was still using Slipstream to teleport the Super Awakened around in small teams to obliterate High Hyumans alongside a handful of Divine Lifeforms, but the situation grew a little bit more complicated with time.

First, the tides of the battlefield in the Novix Galaxy switched again. Many Cosmic Beasts had been attacked and killed in recent months. The Supreme Human Alliance focused their forces on the Cosmic Beasts, as the monsters had been inflicting tremendous damage by teleporting around whenever Hyumans powerful enough to harm them arrived before continuing with their relentless attacks in a less protected location.

At the end of the day, Michael had inflicted more damage to the Supreme Human Alliance than the Cosmic Beasts, but they were weaker and more numerous than Michael. Stopping Michael was difficult, but restraining the Cosmic Beasts' movements using spatial blockers was simple. Capturing a swarm of dispersed piranhas in the sea was still difficult, yet it was much more simplistic than trying to capture a whale with a small net. One task was difficult but achievable, whereas the other task required a handful of miracles to succeed.

Michael didn't intervene in the fight of the Cosmic Beasts. Even if he wanted to, Michael never knew where the Cosmic Beasts teleported. In the first place, they could only jump through space alone. Bringing someone along was not within their power. Therefore, Michael never considered using them as a mount for his Super Awakened Units. If not for that restriction, the Supreme Human Alliance would be suffering much more.

One way or another, half of the Cosmic Beast population was killed before the Cosmic Queen Beast decided to retreat. She pulled her babies back into the other dimension, where she came up with new tactics to support the enemies of the Supreme Human Alliance. The Cosmic Queen Beast didn't care who you were or with whom she had to team up. As long as they fought the Supreme Human Alliance, they were the Cosmic Queen Beast's allies.

It was that simple.

The Cosmic Beasts weren't the only ones in pain. Both the Altors Union and Divine Subordinates were slapped in the face a few more times than Michael wanted to acknowledge. More than one hundred Divine Subordinates died to stupidity, thinking they were strong enough to fight a Demi God head-on. The Heads of the Altors Union thought the same. They were certain the Divine Subordinates were strong enough.

Thus, they deployed a small army of Awakened to support the Divine Subordinates with various Support and Curse Soultraits. There were also Awakened with rare Blessing Soultraits and the like. Still, the forces were too weak to deal with one of the Demi Gods who'd been deployed to the Novix Galaxy to deal with the Divine Subordinates, Cosmic Beasts, and the bothersome forces of the Altors Union once and for all.

Two Demi Gods were all they had to deploy, forcing the Comisc Queen Beast out of her reserves while half of the Divine Subordinates were mortally injured and the forces of the Altors Union decimated.

The Divine Subordinates killed one of the Demi-Gods after the Cosmic Queen Beast unleashed her fury as a full-fledged Leviathan. She didn't want to expose her true power but was forced to do so. At last, one Demi God died while the other one escaped. It was amazing to think the Divine Subordinates killed a Demi God, but the losses were too great. They only survived, thanks to the Cosmic Queen Beast's interference.

Still, the Divine Subordinates gained more confidence from their victory. They entered the Genox Galaxy and started wreaking havoc since Michael hadn't given them a new mission for months. The Divine Subordinates conquered several planetary systems and received even more reinforcement from the Altors Union, only for more and more members of the Divine Subordinates to be killed.

That was when Michael found himself forced to intervene. He might have received enough from the Awakened killed by the Divine Subordinates. His investment and the compound interest had been paid back a long time ago, but Michael was unwilling to let one of his most valuable assets die like this.

The Divine Subordinates threw away their lives. That was too wasteful.

Thus, Michael picked up the Divine Subordinates when the time was ripe. He gathered the Divine Subordinates, redistributed them to different groups, and jumped with them through space using Slipstream. The new locations were outside the Novix Galaxy and in more secure positions where the Divine Subordinates couldn't die as easily. Demi Gods could come their way, but most would either travel too slowly to arrive in a timely manner, or they would have to be teleported to the least active battle zones.

The former was easy to achieve by actively using Slipstream to change the position of the Divine Subordinate groups, while the latter was also easy to work against. Michael could teleport the Divine Subordinates to the battle zones the Demi Gods came from, thus altering the balance on that border before fighting the Demi God head-on.

Well, it wouldn't be head-on. Michael was certain to emerge victorious in a battle against a single Demi God. Michael pursued the tactics for a little while and gained a tremendous amount of resources that way. Every Divine Lifeform killed by Michael or his people rewarded more than 100,000 SoulStar Fragments and massive other gains such as the portion of goods stored within their War Rune storages or their Divine Artifacts. Everything was of incredible value, but the most valuable bodies were the Demi Gods.

They rewarded a Soultrait Symbol, and a vastly ranging number of SoulStar Fragments. Some rewarded half a million, but most crossed the one million threshold easily. Still, the biggest gains were their bodies - used by the Untamed Jungle to expand - and their War Rune storages. Filled with treasures, Michael could easily manage and expand his territory for years...with the gains from one Demi God corpse.

Still, Michael managed to use up all the resources within weeks, not only to progress in his War Rune but also to push everyone to progress and go above and beyond their limits.

The Super Awakened were all-in and showed that quite clearly by giving their utmost, but it was obvious how displeased the Divine Subordinates were with Michael's actions. Whereas the Super Awakened received more Soultrait Symbols and Soultrait Upgrades - they received their fair portion from the Awakened they'd killed -, the Divine Subordinates received nothing. But that was only fair.

They had betrayed him. Why would he give them a reward for that?