The lives of all subjects continued in Michael’s absence. The Lords and Monster Overlords in the Untamed Jungle and the Sacred Desert still respected Michael for his tremendous power, but most of them didn’t see Michael for years. Some hadn’t seen him for more than a decade.
His absence in the re-negotiation meetings of various deals and businesses was easy to see. In fact, they didn’t see anything – or Michael – at all. Some Lords and Monster Overlords recalled Michael’s actions and heard from others how powerful he had grown, but other Lords didn’t hear anything. They didn’t think Michael was dead. His territories were still present, and his subjects never acted disloyally toward him. Still, something must have happened for Michael to disappear. That was what many Lords and Monster Overlords thought.
They rallied their forces, angry after everything Michael had done to them, and established an Union to move against Michael and his people. They wanted to reclaim what was supposed to be theirs. Or what they presumed to belong to them. This scenario did not only occur in the Untamed Jungle, but the rebellion in the Sacred Desert wasn’t as bad. Still, the Desert Rebels were annoying as they considered the Mana Vein of the Sacred Desert as their property. They claimed the Mana Vein and moved against the Sacred Desert forces to kill everyone. Michael didn’t expect the surrounding Lords and Monster Overlords to be this stupid, but he was always prepared for battle.
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He ordered some Super Awakened to return to the Sacred Desert – the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs – and allowed them to wreak havoc.
That was exactly what they did.
The Warlock Centaurs gathered their forces and acted as the cavalry of the Sacred Desert. Equipped with powerful Artifacts, the combat experience of fighting Divine Lifeforms, which none of the Desert Rebels was, and powerful Soultrait Symbols, the Undying Cavalry of the Sacred Desert bulldozed their enemies.
Mekhaz and his closest subordinates used their powers to pull the attention of all foes in their direction. Mekhaz unleashed Living Armor after upgrading it, followed by Repel and Energy Absorption to their fullest before adding his other Soultraits. Mekhaz was a Super Awakened and had thus received five new Soultrait Symbols from Michael more than a year ago. Given the additional rewards he’d been given from killing hundreds of High Hyumans and his partial contribution to the death of a handful of Divine Lifeforms, Mekhaz managed to upgrade his strongest Soultrait Symbols as well.
Repel and Energy Absorption were upgraded to 5-Star while Living Armor was pushed to 6-Star with enough SoulStar Fragments infused to form the 7th Star. Living Armor was not yet a full-fledged 7-Star Soultrait, but it was only a matter of one or two years before he would have enough SoulStar Fragments to seal the deal.
But Mekhaz wasn’t in a rush. He had five more Soultrait Symbols, each of them incredibly useful. One of them was a Last Rope Soultrait, a 5-Star Soultrait ought to protect the Super Awakened from enemies even they couldn’t defeat. But until now, none of the Super Awakened had to use their Last Rope Soultrait in a last-ditch effort to survive. That was great since it meant no Super Awakened’s life had been in so much danger that their Last Rope Soultrait activated. However, that might also transform into a problem in the future.
Michael mentioned that being pushed to the brink of death and surviving by sheer luck – or the Last Rope Soultrait, in the Super Awakened’s case – teaches you to be more humble and appreciate your life more often. Dying was easy. A single mistake, maybe even arrogance pushing you to believe you could do something others will never, was enough to end your life. Forever.
Michael didn’t want the Super Awakened to die, but he was scared to lose them by being stingy as well. Thus, his generosity created 199 overly confident Super Awakened, each of them capable of fighting an enemy above their ranks.
Mekhaz, one of the few who retained a portion of his humble attitude, was still exhilarated whenever he jumped into a battle. He used his Soultrait Gigantification to expand in size, transforming into a massive armor-coated creature, which inflicted fear and terror in the hearts of his enemies. But that was not all. One Man Army was the second Soultrait he had been given from Michael. The more enemies attacked Mekhaz, the sturdier and stronger his body would grow.
Combining One Man Army, Gigantification, Living Armor, and his other combination of Soultraits, Repel, and Energy Absorption with each other, Mekhaz transformed into a massive shield protecting his allies from all foes. That was even more true, so once his other pair of newly acquired Soultraits, Attract Projectiles and Taunting Grimace, jumped into effect.
Attract Projectiles was a Soultrait that did exactly what the name suggested. It attracted the projectiles in the Soultrait’s range and forcefully altered their trajectory, pulling them toward Mekhaz, whose Energy Absorption and Repel would either block or absorb the attacks. If the projectiles were too strong for Energy Absorption and Repel, Living Armor, enhanced by One Many Army would be enough to protect Mekhaz.
Mekhaz didn’t bother acquiring any Soultraits with tremendous attack power. Gigantification could be used for offense, and if Mekhaz were to be honest to himself, defending and protecting his allies was much more important than attacking. That, of course, didn’t mean Mekhaz had no means of attack. Since nobody could injure the six-meter-tall Warlock Centaur, Mekhaz could bulldoze the enemies in the Sacred Desert easily.
He attracted all the attention of the surrounding enemies, which was quite easy thanks to the 6-Star Soultrait Taunting Grimace. Taunting Grimace was a powerful Soultrait that affected all enemies feeling bloodlust. Every trace of bloodlust was grasped tightly, amplified by Taunting Grimace, and diverted toward Mekhaz if he wasn’t already their target.
Sometimes, the combined efforts and Soultraits of dozens of High Awakened managed to create a killing blow, which was to take out Mekhaz with one deadly attack, but it failed. Only once was it possible for a Peak Tier-6 High Awakened to strike him hard enough to break the Living Armor. Unfortunately, the Living Armor regenerated and the attack piercing the Living Armor wasn’t strong enough to kill Mekhaz anymore.
The Desert Rebels were numerous and everywhere, spread alongside the borders to the Sacred Desert, but once Michael told them to bulldoze everyone going against their will, it was easy to defeat the Lords and Monster Overlords. The Lords’ main settlements were crushed, throwing their territories into chaos, while the Monster Overlords were hunted and killed. Many Awakened survived as the Undying Cavalry focused on bulldozing the main settlements, but that didn’t mean the Berserkers were going to spare them.
All the Awakened could do was to surrender, die, or escape the Origin Expanse and never return. It was interesting how many subjects and Awakened surrendered after witnessing the prowess of the Undying Cavalry. Most were shocked to the core, especially about Mekhaz’s horrifying appearance as a 6-meter-tall Warlock Centaur mantled in massive silver-shining armor and coated in various Repel and Energy Absorption runes.
Still, the situation was not all sunny. Some city-states were under attack, and too many good men and women died trying to protect the settlements. Since there were only 200 Super Awakened, less than half of which were Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs since they didn’t meet the requirements, and there were only a few thousand High Awakened in Michael’s army – many being busy with the Fae Union in the Untamed Jungle – the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs ended up splitting their forces to fight on multiple frontlines.
Some enemies squeezed through the defensive lines and attacked the settlements, but most could be repelled. Overall, the warfare with the Desert Rebels was a pleasant time for the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs. They enjoyed fighting until death, and if one thing was certain, it was one thing: The Desert Rebels gave their utmost to kill the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs.
Michael didn’t intervene in their battles. He let the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs fight in ecstasy and only came over when it was time to clean up. That was all the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs wanted. After all, cleaning up wasn’t something they enjoyed. At least, not as much as fighting ’till death.
The Desert Rebels’ territories were claimed by the Super Awakened, their Summoning Gates destroyed, and their treasury plundered. The Sacred Desert expanded after obliterating the Rebels and conquering their lands.
The situation in the Untamed Jungle was a little bit more tricky to deal with. Fortunately, Michael had trusted allies such as the Silverfang Tigerfolk and the Forest Elves. Of course, the jungle monsters did their fair share of work as well. They didn’t stay idle while the Silverfangs and Forest Elves moved against the Fae Union.
The chaos in the Untamed Jungle didn’t escape Michael’s attention, but he decided against moving out. Michael could have solved all issues with the Fae Union and act like always, yet he didn’t.
Michael wasn’t supposed to solve all problems of his territory. Maybe some would think it was his task as the Lord of the Untamed Jungle, but his military forces, the Super Awakened and the Untamed Armies existed for a reason. Slipstream allowed him to fight in multiple places without any breaks to cross the distance between two places, but the Soultrait didn’t allow him to split up and transform into millions of Mini Michaels.
The whole reason he created the Super Awakened and nourished his forces was to protect his territories from unwelcome guests and to fight the fights he couldn’t fight. In this case, the Fae Union had only a handful of Divine Lifeforms, with countless Higher Awakened following their commands. Michael could have killed the Divine Lifeforms, transforming the disciplined armies of the Fae Union into headless chickens, but he hoped his people would learn to fight without him as well.
That would have been helpful in the past, it is useful in the present, and is it going to be incredibly valuable in the future. After all, Michael didn’t know how much longer he was allowed to stay in the Origin Expanse.
Gods were expelled from the Origin Expanse.
Nobody knew why – not even the God Curses – but the connection to the Will and War Rune was severed once one attained the power of a full-fledged God. Some said, the Primal forced the Will to expel all Gods from the Origin Expanse for them to hunt, others were certain the Will of the Origin Expanse had another task for the Gods. But, at the end of the day, nobody had ever spoken to the Will itself. Even the God Curses couldn’t be certain the Will existed in the way Michael and many others imagined.
One way or another, Michael was growing stronger and he couldn’t be certain to be there for all of his subjects at all times. Maybe the Will would consider him as a full-fledged God soon since he had one Divinity Fragment and three blossomed Divinity Seeds from a trio of God Curses inside him. Or the Will wouldn’t consider him a God until he created his own Divinity. Michael didn’t know and he was not eager to find out.