It was obvious that Michael’s patience was worn out after several days of trying to break through Selena’s defense. It wouldn’t have been that bad if the Nest Leader had remained silent, but she provoked him tirelessly. It was almost like the Nest Leader initiated the ‘training’ session solely to provoke him.
“Is that all you got? I expected more from you when I watched you fight Ligno’vsh. Maybe I was mistaken about you,” Selena mocked in a light tone. Her comment wasn’t anything special, but combined with the other comments and her promise to never let him enter the Origin Expanse if he didn’t break her defense, were enough to anger him ever so slightly.
[You’re humiliating us…] The World Serpent declared at some point. Michael was about to respond to that when the Wolf Curse growled in agreement.
However, the Wolf Curse was also annoyed at Selena. It was obvious that she was stronger. She was an old granny who’d lived longer than most members of the Nest together. How was someone like Michael supposed to injure her?
Humiliated and annoyed at both Michael and Selena, the Wolf Curse and World Serpent chose to help a little. They aided Michael.
Michael sensed his access to the Major Seals improved dramatically. He didn’t have any issues controlling the Major Seals in the first place, but the Wolf Curse and World Serpent’s approval improved every aspect of the Major Seals. The improvements were significant as well.
Michael tapped into the power of the Major Seals while retrieving a few hundred Imperial Coins from the War Rune storage. Once the Imperial Coins spread out before him, Michael executed Swallow Domain. The Major Seal manifested as a massive, shadowy serpent maw that swallowed everything in its surroundings with one bite. The Imperial Coins disappeared alongside the surrounding energy and a big chunk of the arena ground.
Swallow Domain would have devoured Selena as well if she wasn’t as overwhelmingly powerful as she was. The Nest Leader blocked Swallow Domain, and Michael could have sworn that Selena considered breaking the powers unleashed by Swallow Domain the instance he’d released them. But instead of doing so, Selena watched Michael. She didn’t move an inch and observed the scenario that unfolded before her.
Everything Swallow Domain consumed could be instantly destroyed, but that wasn’t what Michael had planned. He utilized Permute alongside Swallow Domain to consume the Imperial Coins and everything that Swallow Domain had devoured as well.
He transformed half of the Imperial Coins and the purified origin energy they contained into a massive boost in his physical strength. His body fumed and expanded as the raw force of his body skyrocketed. His skin stretched, his muscles expanded, and his senses improved drastically. However, Michael was still not done. He was just getting started.
Permute transformed the remaining Imperial Coins into Soul Power. Meanwhile, the origin energy stored within the Imperial coins was purified using Permute. Michael deactivated Swallow Domain and Permute right after to release the Cursed Seals and Serpent Seals, forming the Major Seals’ constellation. He activated the Cursed Seals and Serpent Seals, manifesting them all over his body to gain their basic effect.
The Serpent Seals enhanced Michael’s physical strength even further. He reached a point far beyond anything he had ever been. The power coursing through his body was exhilirating. It was far more power than he would have needed to eliminate Ligno’vsh.
‘I should spar with her again now that I’m more used to my new powers!’ Michael told himself while transforming a significant portion of his purified origin energy and Soul Power into Soul Energy.
Even though he never managed to create a high-ranked Soul Technique for Extraction, Michael’s understanding of Extraction was deep enough to create a decently Elite Class Soul Technique on the spot. He wasn’t alone, either.
Despite being petty enough to laugh at Michael’s misfortune to encounter Selena, the Wolf Curse decided to help Michael. It gained a lot from helping him. A lot more than Michael realized.
The Wolf Curse unleashed a portion of its power to spread through Michael, which made it much easier to guide Soul Energy through the correct pathways. His Soul Energy was divided into two dozen small streams circulated through his body simultaneously. It was only a few seconds, but dividing his mind to control two dozen Soul Energy streams simultaneously wasn’t that easy. Fortunately, Selena never attacked. All she did was block his attacks.
That was one of the few advantages on Michael’s side. The Soul Energy streams circulated through his body and pulled back to Extraction’s Soultrait Symbol. Michael infused them into the Soultrait Symbol in proper order, while also manifesting a spear made of Qi. The javelin wasn’t anything special. The only thing making it special was that Michael compressed a decent amount of Qi to form it. Other than that, it wasn’t too special.
Michael didn’t pay much attention to the Qi javelin. He focused on the empowerment of True Extraction. The Soul Energy formed from devouring a few hundred Imperial Coins was churned rapidly, dramatically augmenting True Extraction. Michael couldn’t even tell how powerful True Extraction was. All he could tell was that the Soul Energy would be drained in ten seconds. The energy most wouldn’t be able to absorb and digest within weeks was used up within seconds. If anyone knew about Michael’s massive waste of precious resources, they would flock to him before scolding him for days.
Fortunately, only Selena and Eren were present. They were more focused on the massive power surging out from Michael as he filled the Qi javelin with True Extraction’s Essence. The Qi javelin shattered after a few seconds, revealing the vibrant golden glow of True Extraction’s Essence. Controlling the Essence formed from the Soul Technique and the Wolf Curse’s aid was far from easy, but Michael did his best nonetheless.
He formed a javelin from Extraction’s essence, a single javelin, vibrant golden in color. It was brighter than the sun, in Michael’s opinion. At least, for a quarter of a second, it felt like True Extraction’s Essence had transformed into the sun, desiring to devour everything in its path.
Michael took a deep breath and unleashed Foundation Break at the highest stage he’d mastered, for a second, alongside ten Enhancement layers on Sacred Constitution, as well as Heavenly Beast Physique. Of course, Soul Grimoire’s Soul Tears were also used on his Soultraits and Soul, further boosting his power.
Finally, Michael used as many enhancement layers on the True Extraction Essence javelin as he could handle. His arm started dissecting at some point. Even though the Wolf Cursed and the World Serpent used bits of their power to ensure that Michael wouldn’t suffer major side effects from True Extraction’s Essence, Michael was still injured.
However, he ignored his dissecting arm as much as possible. It was no problem.
If anything, Michael could use the pain to assault without hesitation. He grasped the Essence spear tightly, gathered every bit of strength and momentum in his body, and attacked.
He threw the Essence spear at Selena.
The fabric of reality distorted as the golden spear cut through the air with horrifying velocity. It reached the Nest Leader instantly and impacted heavily upon the finger she’d lifted to block the attack.
Eren’s eyes widened from the outside. He swallowed hard, a quiet scream escaping his mind.
‘You can do it!’