Chapter 731: Supreme Soldier II
They were equally fast now that the Supreme Soldier changed something about his tactic, but Michael didn't understand how the Supreme Soldier was doing it.
The Serpent Seals were active, Heavenly Beast Physique was triggered, and several Enhancement layers enhanced Sacred Constitution. It shouldn't be possible for a Lesser Lifeform to be as fast as Michael. Yet, that was precisely what happened.
Michael frowned deeply and manifested the Soul Grimoire to use several Soul Tears to amplify Enhancement, Sacred Constitution, and Cosmic Stride.
His top speed increased by a notch the moment the Soul Tears' power came into effect. The Supreme Tekur screeched and clawed at Michael several times in quick succession, but he evaded most attacks. His superior speed, combined with Spirit Eyes' Prognosis, was enough to block most attacks. However, Michael didn't evade all attacks.
He allowed two attacks to hit to insert a massive amount of Extraction's power inside the Supreme Soldier.
Michael had noticed that most beings wouldn't notice Extraction taking root inside them when one of their attacks struck. After struggling to hit Michael, the Supreme Soldier was overjoyed that multiple attacks struck his arms. His claws inflicted severe injuries. They cut deep into Michael's flesh.
'His physical strength is not on par with mine, but he is as strong as Hiraku. Maybe he is even stronger than Hiraku!' Michael noted. He had already guessed that, but it was weird that the Supreme Soldier's speed and strength doubled suddenly.
At least Michael had Soultraits that explained his power. The Supreme Soldier didn't have any Soultraits that enhanced his physical strength. Otherwise, Michael would have sensed that.
[What if it's a Soul Technique?] Danny guessed.
The Tekur race was superior to the Tritan Alliance. They had Soul Techniques and several Divine Lifeforms. It wouldn't be a surprise if they had some technique that increased their physical powers temporarily. However, such techniques usually come with a big drawback.
'What is your drawback? How long can you keep this up?' Michael asked himself while activating the Cursed Seals to drastically increase Extraction's potency. He shrouded his body in a thick membrane of True Extraction and devoured the surrounding energy instantaneously, leaving no trace for the Supreme Soldier to absorb.
Michael enhanced Extraction's power and willed the golden roots inside the Supreme Soldiers to spread out and do their work.
The Supreme Soldier tried to resist the roots of extraction inside him upon noticing them, but Michael unleashed Spiritual Domination with 10 Enhancement layers. That wasn't enough to knock out the Supreme Soldier, but it shattered his resistance for several seconds.
The Supreme Soldier couldn't resist True Extraction's roots and suffered the aftereffect. His origin energy was drained rapidly, and the same happened to the bits of lifeforce left inside his body.
'He has so little lifeforce left. Why does it feel like he's already on the verge of death?' Michael asked inwardly, even though he could already guess the answer.
[The technique he'd used to grow stronger must have drained his lifeforce!]
That was the same Michael guessed. However, it was hard to imagine that lifeforce was enough to amplify one's physical prowess to such a high degree. Once he used that technique, the Supreme Soldier easily surpassed the threshold of a Higher Lifeform. Was such an extraordinary technique truly this easy to use? Michael doubted that.
'The drawbacks have to be really harsh.'
Michael focused on devouring the Supreme Soldier's lifeforce. He used Enhancement layers configured to concentrate on Extraction's efficiency. The Supreme Soldier noticed that his lifeforce was being drained faster than before. It desperately attacked Michael, executing an onslaught of claw strikes and energy blasts.
Michael noticed quickly that the incoming attacks grew weaker. Their power deteriorated as the lifeforce inside the Tekur decreased.
Meanwhile, Michael grew more accustomed to fighting someone similarly powerful and fast. It had been a while since he dealt with someone truly powerful. The last enemies who were either equally strong or stronger were Oliver Zeus and the Peak Tier-4 High Lionhearts from more than half a year ago.
Michael was probably stronger than the Commanders of the Heart of the Blazing Lion army, but that hardly mattered. These days, the Zentika Empire barely occupied Michael's mind.
'I should have challenged Oliver and the other Professors more often,' Michael reminded himself as he appeared beside the Supreme Tekur. Qi enhanced the Aethyr Blade, and Enhancement flashed in his hand. Simultaneously, a massive amount of soil shot out of the ground. The earth buried the Tekur's lower body up to his thighs inside the ground near- instantly, giving Michael a quarter of a second to severe one of the Supreme Tekur's wings.
The severed spot bled severely, which was enough to cast a faint smile on Michael's face as he manifested several Qi Bullets. They pierced through the open wound and exploded inside the Supreme Tekur, unleashing the compressed Qi in all directions. The Qi ravaged throughout the Tekur's body like there was no tomorrow, but it was not enough to kill the Supreme Tekur.
However, the damage was considerable. The Tekur screamed and lost control of his power for a moment. His physical prowess skyrocketed, draining his lifeforce even faster. He broke out of the earthen prison and charged at Michael, who smiled lightly as he teleported high into the air. Hundreds of azure fireballs were already waiting to dive down and destroy everything obstructing their path.
A deadly barrage ensued, with Michael observing the Supreme Soldier's final struggles. The azure fireballs impacted heavily, while the True Extraction inside the Tekur continued to drain the last remnants of lifeforce.
The fireballs exploded upon impact, wreaking havoc in the surroundings while also causing a loud commotion, but Michael didn't mind. He watched the Supreme Soldier as the Tekur jumped high into the air in an attempt to reach him. However, the Tekur missed half of his pair of wings. He crashed to the ground, where the azure fireballs greeted him.
**
"What do you think about this technique?" Michael asked his brother.
[Since there should only be Lesser Lifeforms in this dimension, it's pretty good. If every Tekur had such a technique, the Tritan Alliance's prodigies would have been eradicated in this year's Flag War. It was a good decision to enter alone.]
Michael nodded slowly. His brother was right. None of the Tritan Alliance's prodigies could survive against the Supreme Soldiers. After all, the Flag War was a battle of Lesser Lifeforms. At least, that's what it was supposed to be.
"I think that technique is pretty good if you want to surprise your enemy or if you fight someone stronger than you. It's just a little bit problematic once you're out of lifeforce. You're literally betting your whole life on winning."
[Everyone does that in a life-or-death battle. You either kill your enemy with all you have, resulting in a drawback, or you will die. If you're dead, it doesn't matter what happens to your body. Dead is dead.]
The Supreme Tekur writhed weakly in pain. His carapace was crumbling, and his insides twisted and twitched. The Tekur was not yet dead, but his condition was really bad. Unleashing the technique that had drained his lifeforce had been too much for his body. The Tekur used the technique for too long and with too few lifeforce reserves.
His current condition was the result.
Michael approached the dying Tekur and unleashed True Extraction upon it. He drained the Tekur's SoulStar Fragments, slowly tearing them out of the dying Awakened's soul.
Several minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Michael finished extracting all Spirit Star Shards and was about to tear the Spirit Trait Symbol out of Tekur's body when he thought about something else.
He used Mind Reader on the Tekur for the next few minutes. The minutes felt like eons for the dying Tekur, but they were over shortly for Michael. It was too short. He found out some crucial information about the Tekur race, yet he missed some intel that would have helped him in the following battles.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Tekur died before Michael could find out everything. His life energy was exhausted.
"Well. Whatever," he shrugged before proceeding to use Drain again.
He extracted the Tekur's Soultrait, three Memory Orbs, and a portion of the Tekur's War Rune storage.
The stuff he found attracted Michael's interest. However, before organizing everything, he was the most curious about the Memory Orbs. If the Elite Tekur's Recall Spheres were already helpful then the Supreme Tekur's memories must be even better.
"Show me everything!"