“How did they die?” Michael frowned deeply, his attention lingering on Rebecca.
“The Blaze family and their supporter say that Lepodya caused the deaths, but I don’t believe that’s the truth,” She sighed heavily, “I used my Soultrait to analyze the situation and all given clues, and there is a high chance that the Blaze family’s supporters assassinated them.”
Even though Michael was busy in the Origin Expanse, he didn’t forget to ask for news about changes in and around the Tritan Alliance. Nothing much happened for a while, but sudden ‘Incidents’ started two weeks ago. Some of those incidents resulted in casualties. The dead were mostly important merchants who’d been seen supporting Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs.
Simultaneously, many powerhouses started dying. More than ten powerhouses died in the last ten days. The official cause of their death was Lepodya, but that was hard to believe. They researched Lepodya and knew that the mortality rate was low and the deaths would come crawling slowly. A few weeks weren’t enough for Lepodya to kill the powerhouses of High Society. Yet, they died.
That was bad, and it was even worse that the Nest didn’t seem to care about the things happening in the Tritan Alliance. Michael was emotional and approached Evee more often than he wanted to acknowledge. However, the Curse User kept telling him that the anchoring of the bridges could not be rushed. A single mistake and the deaths of a few powerhouses would be their smallest issue.
But Michael didn’t believe Evee. Not after she acted weird one time, but he went to her. Interrogating Evee wasn’t a good option. She ignored his questions and cursed him whenever he started annoying her. Michael had to retreat, giving Evee the personal space she deserved.
Usually, he would call Alice quite often. He tried talking to her often and hoped to find her in the Origin Expanse to exchange news without an annoying pest clinging to his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Olivia was always present. It was like Olivia Blaze lived with Alice and did everything together.
Michael had no clue what was happening with Alice, Olivia, or the rest of the Zenovia family, but the situation didn’t improve. If anything, Alice got to talk less and less. It reached a low point only a few days ago when Michael saw Olivia conjure a fireball in the reflection of Alice’s eyes. Alice frowned deeply but didn’t pay much attention to Olivia until the youngest member of the Blaze family released the fireball.
Alice was ready to evade the fireball. The fireball was slow and didn’t bother her in the slightest. Unfortunately, the fireball wasn’t aimed at her. The Expanse Prism was Olivia’s target. She hit her target and destroyed it easily. The Expanse Prism shattered like glass, fragments of various sizes blasting in all directions. The last Michael saw was Alice’s shocked expression lingering on Olivia.
Her expression was imprinted in his mind, and it haunted him whenever he thought about the Tritan Alliance’s issues and that he couldn’t rush over to help them. Even though he was strong enough to deal with most issues in the Tritan Alliance, Michael wasn’t present to help. That was even more frustrating than being too weak to beat the crap out of the High Society’s members.
The only good thing was that the bridges should be completed in a few weeks. Maybe the situation in the Tritan Alliance would worsen, but the Blaze family and their supporters haven’t yet revealed their affiliation with the Supreme Human Alliance. That could only mean that the Supreme Human Alliance wasn’t confident it would conquer the Tritan Alliance yet. At least, Michael and Rebecca presumed that.
‘Take your sweet time, you fuckers. Don’t even think about returning to the Tritan Alliance,’ Michael cursed in his mind. He knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to deal with Divine Lifeforms, but he had the means to command Divine Lifeforms to a certain extent.
Offering a bunch of Soultrait Symbols and Soultrait Upgrades should motivate some Curse Users to risk their lives for the Tritan Alliance. That was Michael’s only hope to kill Divine Hyumans – Hyumans who’ve ascended to Divine Lifeforms.
“Mind Reader can solve so many issues. All I have is to get back to High Society, beat the shit out of some traitors while rallying all allies to start a large-scale war… Well, we can also put the large-scale war side. It’s not like I want civilians to suffer,” Michael murmured, “Still, something has to be done. We cannot let the Supreme Human Alliance spread distrust like this!”
He and Rebecca discussed plans to win the public’s support. They had to expose Lapodya and the Blaze family’s relationship to the Supreme Human Alliance. Not all humans would be on their side, but the masses should be with them…for now. That would be enough.
As long as the masses were on their side, they could easily deal with the Blaze family and other mighty households. The easiest way to push the public against the traitors would be to use a Mind Reader to read their memories and thoughts, which Michael would then transfer into a Memory Crystal. Again, Michael would have to be in the Tritan Alliance to do that.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips. Michael returned to the Nest, where he hoped to procure a bunch of techniques to learn. Neutral Cursed Arts were the easiest to learn. They were, in fact, the only techniques Michael could learn for the time being. He didn’t have Fenrir’s Cursed Arts and doubted the World Serpent would help him out with Cursed Arts. It would be great, but it wasn’t like the World Serpent was easy to handle.
The Wolf Curse wasn’t easy to deal with, but Michael could predict it. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be uttered about the World Serpent…or Selena, who appeared out of nowhere when Michael stumbled through the library.
“I perceived that you’ve returned,” Selena uttered knowingly. She stared intently at him, almost like she was waiting for something.
“Evee told you?” Michael asked, and Selena’s smile widened in response.
“Of course, she did. She has been telling me to spar with you so you would be silent for a few days,” Selena responded nonchalantly.
“But that’s not what you’ll do, right?” Michael inquired.
“You’re right. I was waiting for you, but not to beat you up,” Selena nodded, “That’s something I can do later.”
“Later?” Michael ignored the eerie feeling that crawled up his spine.
“You and I will be going somewhere,” Selena announced.
Michael’s lips parted to say something, but Selena gestured for him to stay silent and listen carefully.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s probably the only chance you will be given. Hmm. No, that’s not it,” She shook her head, “It is the only chance your brother has to create a perfect vessel.”
Michael’s eyes widened in surprise. His heart palpated like crazy, and he couldn’t find the right words. His mind went blank.
“I grant you the opportunity to learn more about Curse Transformation,” Selena said, her smile widening as Michael continued staring at her, his eyes both blank and filled with hope.
“And to transform your brother’s Living Soul into a perfect vessel.”
“He will grow a body through his Living Soul!”