It didn’t take long before Palika and the others appeared next to Michael with more injured people, Berserkers, Warlock Centaurs, and Humans.
Michael wasn’t familiar with most of the injured humans, but he doubted Palika and his people would rescue any traitorous humans. They would kill them instead.
Michael retrieved more corpses, used Swallowed Domain and Permute with a significant amount of curse power, and created enough healing serum to heal all of them. By distributing the healing serum equally, Michael could use River of Vigor actively. The healing serum’s potency skyrocketed, resulting in drastic patient reactions. Some writhed in pain for a second before the soothing sensation of the healing serum reached them, while the others smiled silently, enjoying the healing serum’s sensation.
“We interrupted all fights and killed everyone who attacked us. Some students and professors tried to protect our people,” Niechol said, pointing at the human patients, “They’re good people, and I think it was a good decision not to jump to conclusions in a rushed manner.”
Michael smiled. He heard from Palika that Niechol had been the most impatient among the supporters of an all-out war. It made sense, to a certain degree. Niechol lost his mother to the Bloodhound, one of the Supreme Human Alliance’s members, only for the same SHA to corrupt the entire human race. More Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs died due to the Supreme Human Alliance’s actions, and Niechol wanted to end it.
It was good that Michael’s offer to kill all traitors came at the right time and that Niechol found a trace of hope in humanity’s rows. Not all of them were bad. Most of them weren’t.
“How can we be sure that every traitor has been taken care of?” Palika asked Michael, his eyes trailing through the ruins of the Saphirelake Military Academy. It would be a hassle to rebuild the academy, but it should be possible with enough resources. It was only questionable whether anyone would want to return to the Saphirelake Military Academy or if it was better to demolish the academy and rebuild another academy somewhere else.
An academy with blank slates.
For now, that didn’t matter. It was something the heads of the Tritan Alliance would have to decide once the mess was taken care of.
“Frederik has a list of families who betrayed the Tritan Alliance. Not every member of their families joined the Supreme Human Alliance, but we can capture everyone and interrogate them using Soultraits like my Mind Reader. If they resist and resort to violence, we can consider them enemies and take care of them.” Michael explained before forwarding the list his friend had created.
“Are you sure about that?” One of the older Warlock Centaurs asked, “Do you think we have the time to search and capture everyone? If we’re wasting time searching for everyone, we might miss the real perpetrators. They can flee into the Origin Expanse and stay there for a few years until the situation has calmed down. We should be decisive and remove the root of our problems.”
Fleeing into the Origin Expanse was a good point. It was a valid possibility and something nobody could prevent. Of course, they could stop them if they tried entering the Origin Expanse in the middle of a fierce battle, but there weren’t many other possibilities.
“What if you split up? Some of you continue hunting the traitors’ strongest foes while the others capture the remaining members of the families to interrogate them?” Frederik proposed, raising his hand into the air, “I can help with the latter. The faces of all traitors and their family members are engraved in my mind. I spent quite some time researching them. I wouldn’t forget their faces easily!” 𝔣𝔯𝖜𝔟𝖓𝖔𝔳𝖑.𝔠𝖔𝔪
While Frederik’s proposal sounded feasible, Michael didn’t like the idea of splitting up the Warlock Centaurs and Berserkers. They had yet to take care of the Blaze Patriarch and his underlings. Michael couldn’t be certain about that, but he had the feeling the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs needed as much strength as possible to deal with the Blaze Patriarch. Splitting their forces would lower their chance to emerge victorious.
“Is Kraft Viton still in the academy?” Michael asked Frederik, but it was Palika who answered instead.
“I saw the old man. He killed a few traitors while protecting the students. I didn’t bring him here because he wasn’t injured. He looked busy as well.”
Michael nodded slowly.
It was good that Kraft Viton was still alive and that he didn’t abandon the Saphirelake Military Academy. Michael was certain Kraft Viton had better things to do than be at the military academy, but he returned even though Michael wasn’t there anymore.
Shortly after, Michael searched for familiar energy fluctuations via Spirit Eyes and found Kraft Viton. He used Cosmic Stride to teleport to the old man and found himself in a tight embrace a few seconds later.
“Brat, you’re still alive!” Kraft Viton exclaimed.
Michael smiled at the old man, “Of course, I’m still alive. I’m better than ever!”
Kraft Viton nodded, realizing what Michael meant “You ascended.”
“That’s not all, but yeah. I ascended to a Higher Lifeform,” Michael affirmed, “But let’s not talk about this. I think we have more important things to take care of.”
He explained to Kraft Viton everything about the list of traitors prepared by Frederik and the plan he had up to his sleeves. Michael retrieved a bunch of Soultrait Symbols, upgraded them to 4-Star, and offered them to the old man, who stared at them with twinkling eyes.
There were more than enough 4-Star Soultrait Symbols to bestow to a few people and create a small unit of powerhouses.
“Give them to the people you trust with your life on the line, and take Frederik with you to capture everyone on the list. The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs will come with me to kill the strongest powerhouses and remove the root of all problems, but we may miss some traitors. The Soultraits ensured you and the others won’t die.”
Kraft Viton continued staring at the Soultrait Symbols for a while. His attention returned to Michael, his confusion apparent.
Michael sighed deeply, “We already lost too many good people. If I can ensure that no more powerhouses on our side die, I should do that. Handing out a few Soultrait Symbols is exactly what you need to increase your survivability.”
Kraft Viton nodded slowly, but Michael was not done speaking.
“There is also a 4-Star Interrogation-type Soultrait among the batch I gave you. You can use them on the captives to find out who’s innocent and who has decided to betray us and the Tritan Alliance. That way, Palika, Niechol, and their people can come with me to get rid of the powerhouses.”
“Alright, let’s do that.” Kraft Viton nodded before disappearing into the Origin Expanse.
Less than an hour later, Kraft Viton returned with four old men and women. They were the old man’s long-trusted allies and also his Subordinates in the Origin Expanse.
That was reassuring.
Michael trusted Kraft Viton, and since the old men and women were his subordinates, giving them Soultrait Symbols was still within the acceptable range.
Kraft Viton disappeared in the Saphirelake Miltiary Academy’s ruins for another 20 minutes, handing over the duty to take care of the academy and its students to others.
Then, he and his subordinates retreated to Palika and the rest.
Michael collected the Compass Relic, and they made their proceed back to the solar system.