?Once everyone was dead, they looted and destroyed the spaceship as well. They even traveled through the asteroid belt to search for three secret vaults, which they looted, of course.
Michael had swallowed Memory Orbs en masse, providing him the memories to find the vaults and procure a wide variety of useful information. Michael retrieved the Needle of Lost Memories, removing the strands of memories he wouldn’t need. Some memories of the Dark Heavens members were grotesque, similar to the memories of the Kitsun, and Michael was unwilling to keep them in his mind.
Since he had an item to remove the memories he didn’t want to keep, Michael made full use of that function.
The Memory Orbs helped him find the location of a few smaller outposts and news of other traitor organizations who were either subordinate to Dark Heavens or connected to them through various strings. The memories were detailed enough to get moving right away.
They didn’t take a break since nobody had to use their full power to defeat the Dark Heavens members in the spaceship. Michael and others moved on at full speed.
Their cozy group of 16 people spent the next 24 hours traveling around the Lumina Stellar System. Their sole means of transportation was Michael using the Compass Relic’s energy and unique power to empower Cosmic Stride. That way, they could easily travel around the Lumina Stellar System with Michael as pilot, corpse collector, and treasurer. In contrast, the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs wreaked havoc in the well-hidden outposts and headquarters of nearly a dozen smaller traitor organizations.
They defeated a few more outposts of Dark Heavens, but it was fairly obvious that they were not yet extinct. Following the addition of memories Michael procured from every Awakened he’d slain in the last 24 hours, they could conduct that the most troublesome places were the solar system and Kelta – the Saphirelake Military Academy, to be precise.
Michael dealt the finishing blow to many traitorous humans, but the number wasn’t as high as he would have liked. That was still fine because he should have made up for his investment into the Berserkers and Walorck Centaurs at this point, but his greed told him otherwise.
“We should clear Kelta of traitors now. I don’t think there will be anymore traitors in the Lumina Stellar System after that. We killed so many already,” Palika shook his head at the thought of the 100+ High Awakened they’d killed in the last 24 hours. Most were Tier-4 Awakened, but the number of Tier-5 Awakened among the traitors was unusually high.
It was a shame that so many human powerhouses were traitors. Palika and the others couldn’t understand it. If they worked together with these powerhouses, they could transform the Tritan Alliance into a better place for everyone. Yet, they ended up in this miserable situation, not knowing which humans they could trust and unsure what would happen if the Supreme Human Alliance members were to return.
‘There are only a few rays of hope at the end of the tunnel of our future,’ Palika thought, his eyes traveling to Michael.
Michael and the people around him were unlike most. They were the reason Palika and his people were trying to mend things with the Tritan Alliance. If not for Michael, they would have declared war on all humans at this point, Palika was certain of that.
“It’s about time we clear the Saphirelake Military Academy,” Michael nodded, filled with impatience. If Alice were still at the Saphirelake Military Academy, Michael would have rushed everyone to clear that place first. However, in one of Michael’s last conversations with Alice via the Expanse Prism, Michael found out that Alice, Kaleb, and many other powerful Descendants were brought back to the solar system.
Some human powerhouses feared that they would catch Lepodya from being around the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs residing in the Saphirelake Military Academy.
‘Still, there are Frederik, Hiraku, and the others. Even Lokai and Thoar should be over there, protecting their kin from the devious powers of fear and the traitors in the Saphirelake Military Academy.
Due to the Compass Relic and Cosmic Stride, they moved toward Kelta and reached the Saphirelake Military Academy in no time.
At last, they could cleanse the corruption in the Lumina Stellar System.
The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs spread upon arriving above the academy grounds. They could sense the congregated energies around them and hear the commotion of the battlefields everywhere. Michael was alone, not even two seconds after they arrived.
He kept Spirit Eyes active and hovered above the academy, inspecting everything from a bird’s view.
‘Have they been fighting for the last few weeks? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Maybe the traitors only reached Kelta now? That might not be the point, either. Evee said that Eren killed a bunch of traitor outposts in Kelta and the solar system. Maybe the traitors in Kelta were afraid that someone like Eren would appear. Or more High Awakened were ‘convinced’ that Lepodya was the fault of the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs. It’s not unlikely to consider that the Blaze Patriarch and his people might have created more rumors around the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs to tarnish their reputation further.’
Michael couldn’t say for certain what was going on, but from his point of view, it looked like the battlefields were rather fresh. They couldn’t have started fighting more than half an hour ago. Michael inspected the fights all over the battlefield and watched Palika and his people join, only to obliterate their enemies with simple attacks.
The Saphirelake Military Academy might be a prestigious place with powerful professors and the best training resources, but its residents were mainly Lesser Lifeforms—
Students. Of course, there were also Higher Lifeforms among the students, but there weren’t many left.
‘Am I missing something, or is the academy more resemble a dead town? There are many corpses of humans, but I cannot see the most talented students anywhere. Were they all brought back to the solar system, and not only a few like Alice had said?’
Michael was unsure, but he could tell one thing for certain: Far more corpses sprawled all over the Saphirelake Military Academy than he would have liked to see. It was a disaster.
‘So many rotting corpses, yet nobody is taking care of them,’ Michael exhaled deeply, only for his focus to be pulled to the side. A smaller battle erupted on the academy’s parkour park outskirts. ‘Looks resemble you made it back quite fast, Frederik!’
Michael found Frederik in a fierce exchange with a High Awakened. Unfortunately, the fiercest part was that Frederik was getting beaten into a pulp. He used his Wind Mastery and Enhanced Wind to full power to change the trajectory of the incoming attacks. His control of the surrounding winds and the additional wind he summoned around him permitted Frederik to move faster than the norm, but he faced a Higher Lifeform.
The High Awakened seemed injured. His pants were drenched in blood, and he travelled a bit sluggish every time he attacked. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. Frederik was still slower than the High Awakened. Or maybe not? Michael saw something that attracted his interest.
‘He is trying to protect the Berserkers!’
At first, Michael had been certain that the bodies behind Frederik were corpses, but they were still moving, though weakly. Three Berserkers, two using their bodies to protect the Berserker at the bottom of the pile, were piled up and on the verge of death. They were too weak to move and would probably bleed to death in a few minutes. Yet, Frederik gave his utmost to protect the Berserkers from certain death.
Frederik was at a gross disadvantage against any Higher Lifeform, but he put his life in even more danger to protect the weak and injured.
‘I knew that you would come to help them. Who cares that you’re not yet a Higher Lifeform?’ Michael asked in his mind, his gaze filled with pride. ‘You stalled enough time.’
“I am content of you!” He said as he appeared next to Frederik. His gaze glowed golden as he used Spiritual Domination, forcing the High Awakened to his knees.
Frederik glanced at Michael, his face beaten black and blue, but he flashed a grin upon seeing him nonetheless.
“You acquired way too long, dude!”