Mind Reader was not some sort of overpowered Soultrait that allowed Michael to control the target’s mind. If anything, Mind Reader was full of restrictions since it required touching the target to read his/her mind.
Even after touching the target it would be better to be as close to the brain as possible, which usually meant that the target’s movements had to be restricted to read his/her mind easily.
[“Stop touching me you filthy bastard! DON’T TOUCH ME!!!”]
[“Great Mother will tear you apart, you bastard! She will skin you alive, cut your miniature cock, cook it and feed you your own useless thing! She will starve you before plucking out your nails and layers of flesh slowly over the course of weeks. When you finally think that you’re going to die, she will send her subordinates to heal you and start from scratch. You will be fed your own meat and your piss, you fucking bastard!”]
“Great Mother? Who is that?” Michael asked, trying to ignore the intrusive thoughts that flashed through the prisoner’s mind.
Michael could only read the target’s mind. That meant all information he procured were from the man’s thoughts. However, there was one particular function that was added to Mind Reader as it advanced to a 5-Star Soultrait. Michael was able to lead the conversation, subtly switching the topics to make the target think about the information Michael wanted to know.
“Did he say Great Mother? How does he know that name?” An Elder mumbled, his eyes narrowing as he glanced over to Alice Zenovia.
“I didn’t tell him anything,” She responded without diverting her eyes from Michael.
[“He knows about the Great Mother? Of course, he knows her. Who wouldn’t know Dark Heaven’s Beauty Butcher?! Great Mother is a beauty with an otherworldly majestic figure. A single glance at her slender body can enchant every man. If you’re not entranced by her body, you are either a woman, gay, or a eunuch! Ballless bastards, how dare you say that the Great Mother is not beautiful?? Only because she wears a mask to hide her identity doesn’t mean that she is ugly!!”]
‘I don’t want you to start jerking off thinking about your Great Mother. What the fuck.’ Michael thought, shuddering before he changed the topic.
“Tell me about your mission and how you found the Tritaenus. How did you hijack the Tritaenus without letting anyone find out before it was too late?”
[“What is wrong with this bastard? Is his brain damaged, or what? Why does he think I will tell him about my mission? Who would be stupid enough to tell him about the suicide squad? After hacking the servers with my comrades, I received the honor of being the first one to be caught by the traitorous bastards. Being in the presence of these disgusting humans, who betrayed the Supreme Human Alliance to team up with these inferior existences is disgusting, but as long as I can eradicate some of you it will be worth it. Dying to liberate my kind is the greatest honor!”]
‘Suicide squad. He is the first to receive the honor of getting caught…Doesn’t that mean there are more unidentified turncoats lurking in Piloq?’ Michael’s eyes widened and he turned to Kraft Viton, whom he sent a message via Whispering Energy.
–[He is a member of some suicide squad, and he was captured intentionally. There are more turncoats in Piloq, and they’re going to eliminate themselves. I don’t know when, but they want to kill as many as possible!] –
Kraft Viton squinted his eyes. He was about to forward the knowledge when he noticed another change in Michael’s expression.
[“Elder Xerx did a good job damaging the tempered crystal chains. I can already feel a trace of energy!”] Mihal, the captive thought while his expression remained neutral.
Michael’s eyes widened as he sent another message to Kraft Viton.
–[Do you have any more tempered crystal chains? And who the hell is Elder Xerx?! I think he is a traitor. The prisoner said…] –
Michael couldn’t speak any additional when he saw sparks of purple light erupt to his left. Several tempered crystal chains shot past Michael. They coiled around the captive and flung him backward. The tempered crystal chains smashed into the wall behind, pinning the prisoner to the wall.
A moment later, Michael sensed a tremendous amount of energy pulsating next to him. A freezing chill shrouded Michael and he saw Alice appear next to him. Her body was coated in a frozen armor while a sapphire-blue glaive rested in her arms. Pillars of ice shot out of the ground to protect herself and Michael from the happenings around them.
Kraft Viton’s power erupted through the hall. A shrill, high-pitched cry resounded around them soon enough, but that died down quickly as well.
“What the hell are you doing, Kraft Viton?!? And Alice, what are you doing there?” The Dean of the Ascending Phoenix Academy demanded the veins in his forehead almost popping out.
Michael hated that guy the most. He could shout aloud, but he was the last to move to do something. The chubby dean was the perfect example of an annoying piece of shit.
Michael tried to see through the thick layers of ice that blocked his sight but Alice’s Frozen Kingdom Soultrait was not 6-Star for naught. The ice pillars she had created were extremely thick and could withstand the forces that were unleashed in front of them.
Unsure of how to help the people around him, Michael decided to do the only thing he could do with his lack of strength. He tapped into the energy streams around him and used Whispering Energy to communicate with everyone in the hall at once.
[“Elder Xerx is a traitor!”]
The commotion would muffle his voice, but the same did not happen to the message forwarded with Whispering Energy.
“Elder Xerx? That cannot be…” Olivia Blaze uttered in disbelief, but her eyes moved to the old man whom Kraft Viton attacked just a moment ago.
A black glint manifested in the old man’s eyes and dark substances began to ooze out of his pores. The Elder’s skin turned gray, almost as if his body was about to decay. His physique grew weaker and weaker, whereas the energy around him intensified. A whirlpool of energy burst from Elder Xerx’s decaying body.
“Die, you filthy traitors!” Elder Xerx bellowed right before shaping the whirlpool of energy into black stars. The stars glimmered brightly as they morphed into a singular mass. The mass looked highly volatile and unstable as it ignited, unleashing destructive power that far surpassed the Perses Missiles.
A shockwave of darkness erupted from within the mass of darkness. It expanded rapidly, ruptured through the building, and razed it to the ground before continuing to expand as quickly as before. The buildings in a radius of one kilometer were obliterated within seconds, leaving behind nothing but destruction, chaos, and debris.
However, Michael didn’t feel much about the darkness shockwave. Because he warned the others early enough about Elder Xerx’s betrayal, everyone else could react in time. It was not the first time for the powerhouses of the Tritan Alliance to end up in a tricky situation. They had to survive countless life-threatening situations to achieve their current status and power.
A surprise attack would have taken them off-guard, but Michael’s warning gave them just enough time to manifest their Artifacts and unleash their Soultraits.
Everyone disappeared from their spot and appeared near Michael and Alice Zenovia, while Alice churned through her entire energy storage to create a humongous wall of compressed ice.
The Berserker Chieftain and War Priestess appeared next to Alice, their Artifacts and Soultraits unleashed to block the darkness shockwave as it cut through the wall of compressed ice. Due to that obstacle, the darkness shockwave lost some of its force. It was just enough for the combined efforts of the Berserkers, Warlock Centaurs, and the remaining human powerhouses to block the shockwave with their Soultraits and bodies.
In order to protect the prodigies of the youngest generations from the darkness shockwave, they used their powers and techniques to the fullest. They ignored the fear of sustaining injuries because the well-being of their youngest generation was all that weighed on their minds.
The prodigies camping in front of the meeting hall were confused at first. All they sensed was tremendous energy manifesting in the meeting hall. The next thing they sensed was terror; immense terror.
In the following seconds, the buildings around them toppled down like a house of cards and the sensation of certain death shrouded them. Yet, none of them died. The powerhouses of the Tritan Alliance present in the meeting hall had blocked the darkness shockwave from cutting through the youngsters.
They couldn’t restrain the darkness shockwave in its entirety, but at least the young prodigies escaped unscathed.
The Berserker Chieftain roared in rage when the darkness shockwave dispersed. A gaping wound appeared on his chest, but Palika Mavenham didn’t care. His eyes were filled with hatred and disgust as he jumped across the remains of Alice’s ice wall. He smashed into the ground right in front of the decaying figure of Elder Xerx and grabbed him by the neck. His thick hands coiled around Elder Xerx’s neck as he growled deeply, spitting out words in disgust and hatred.
“Who do you think you are to attack me and my folk in MY city?! How dare you?”
Elder Xerx stared back at the wrathful face of the Berserker Chieftain, a slim smile plastered on his decaying face.
“We are your Supreme Rulers, you filthy beast!”
Palika’s grip around Elder Xerx tightened and the sharp sound of bones twisting and snapping under his fingers reverberated through the room.
“Don’t eliminate him!” Michael shouted loudly, “I can get some more knowledge out of him.”
The Berserker Chieftain, however, didn’t listen. He tossed the decaying body into the air and cleaved his heavy war axe downward, splitting the Elder into two halves.
Then he turned to Michael and they locked eyes.
“He didn’t deserve to live even a second longer.”
