Despite obtaining multiple Soultrait Symbols from Michael years ago, the Nest had lost. "It's like Hesta said. After realizing how much our combat prowess increased, the Supreme Human Alliance focused its forces on the Curse Users. They failed to adapt quickly enough and lost five stellar systems to us, but that's nothing in the grand scheme of the cosmic wars," Selena sighed." Selena explained

"The Supreme Human Alliance stalled enough time by sacrificing five stellar systems and the forces protecting two large resource deposits to plan and counterattack. The first counterattacks failed, but once they removed their stronger forces from the frontlines with the Altors Union, it was impossible to block their attacks."

The Nest Leader was the least injured. She was already a Tier-9 powerhouse, a Demi-God with a powerful Curse and a combi of several useful Soultraits. She wasn't that easy to take out. Unfortunately, not every Curse User could fight against several Demi Gods simultaneously.

Selena sighed deeply, "The Altors Union is still on the losing side, but they have taken advantage of the Supreme Human Alliance's diverted focus. The Altors Union claimed a dwarven galaxy while the SHA was out there slaughtering the Nest. They could have helped us but decided against it."

A growl escaped her lips, "That's why we chose to terminate our contracts with them. They sacrificed half of the Nest to claim a dwarven galaxy. If their reinforcement had come to help us, we would have killed several powerhouses of the SHA without taking that many losses. Butit is how it is."

Selena's hyperactive and nonchalant nature was no longer present. Maybe it was shrouded by the seriousness of war, but Michael had a bad feeling about that.

"We're not fighting by the Altors Union's side anymore?" He asked Selena, who cursed softly.

"These motherfuckers can fight for themselves. We are going to attack the Supreme Human Alliance since they're the worst enemy to keep alive, but the Nest won't put any trust or loyalty into the Altors Union from this day onward."

'That is a little problematic,' Michael tilted his head. He had heard about the destruction of a few planets and the chaos some stronger Divine Lifeforms had swept across several stellar systems. One stellar system had been torn apart, and the dozen planets with billions of residents had each been destroyed and turned into smithereens.

Michael didn't like this. The War of Titan, as some called it, didn't have any winners. Everyone was on the losing side, sacrificing good people to gain a minor advantage. Some of them would gain anything from sacrificing several stellar systems, either.

The Nest transformed into the chess pieces of the Altors Union, only to be sacrificed by pawns to move their knights to a better position. They might have reclaimed a dwarven galaxy, but the Altors Union lost more by abandoning the Nest. They lost one of the few Demi Gods on their side and the only beings who could easily transform the power-up of the Blood Incursion into a power-corrupting substance. The Curse Users had those means on Hyumans infected by Blood Incursion.

Michael was unsure if the Altors Union was aware of their actions, but he was certain the Supreme Human Alliance knew what they did when they gave up on one of their dwarven galaxies to eradicate half of the Nest while injuring the rest severally. "If you had been a little later, five Nest Elders would have died. Thank you for helping usIt's just unfortunate that your Soultrait Symbols didn't generate the desired effect," The Nest Leader said, but Michael shrugged.

"My Soultraits worked better than expected. The deaths of so many Curse Users weren't something I had put into calculations, but I was surprised the SHA took so long to retaliate against the Nest. I didn't expect to be given several years to complete my Divine Ascension and push my Soultrait Symbols to a higher level. Or that I could progress deeper down the path of a Divine Lifeform."

Michael could have said that he'd anticipated the Nest's extinction in the next few years, but he remained silent. There was no need to say anything like that. It was a bit surprising that the SHA sacrificed an entire galaxy, but given their actions in the past, something like that shouldn't have been considered surprising.

"I think my peaceful era will end now," Michael sighed deeply. He had a nice time with Alice and Lucia, but the Nest needed him now.

Michael had always accumulated more Soul Power in his Soultrait Symbols and Curse Power in the hundreds of unsealed Seals. At the end of the day, Michael had been out hunting a few times, killing Divine Lifeforms and small armies of Higher Lifeforms whenever he was out with other Curse Users. The SoulStar Fragments came into use, nurturing and growing his souls while pushing his Soultrait Symbols to 8-Star.

It was expensive to nurture his soul while also accumulating enough SoulStar Fragments to upgrade his Soultrait Symbols, but it was worth upgrading all Soultrait Symbols to 8-Star before his Divine Ascension.

He might have had a Divine Shell already, but Michael received the same benefits as other Awakened during his Divine Ascension. His foundation received a massive boost, further strengthening and expanding his soul, which had already been strengthened under the constant pressure of SoulStar Fragments, three God Curses, and 13 8-Star Soultraits.

The four Soultrait Symbols in the core of the Soul Sphere affected him the most. Extraction, bound to Insert, didn't receive any enhancement, but since Michael had to push Insert to 8-Star, Extraction also claimed some benefits. Sacred Constitution and Death Call, on the other hand, were already 8-Star Soultrait and didn't receive any major benefits.

But the same couldn't be said about the Soultraits in the Soul Sphere's Inner Area. Seer was already a 8-Star Soultrait, but he upgraded Greater Enhancement, Qi, Cosmic Stride and River of Vigor without hesitation. Greater Enhancement grew more powerful. The Symbol for Greater Enhancement expanded drastically, allowing Michael to accumulate more Soul Power to use Soullife Arts like Unlimited Enhancement more often. Qi evolved into Emperor Qi once upgraded to 8-Star. Emperor Qi was several times more potent than his Qi had been. Activated Emperor Qi transformed Michael's presence and scared most weaker enemies shitless. That was funny at times, but more interesting was the potency of Emperor Qi. He gained a much higher threshold of control over Emperor Qi and managed to unleash a fury of attacks just like he did with Qi, only that he had to use much less energy.

Cosmic Stride didn't evolve when it ranked up to an 8-Star Soultrait. It didn't change much either, but that wasn't needed for Cosmic Stride in the first place. In Michael's opinion, Cosmic Stride was already close to perfection. However, by upgrading it, Michael gained a much higher understanding of the Laws of Space, pushing Cosmic Stride's proficiency to a different level.

Michael could do ungodly things with Cosmic Stride at this point. It was a miraculous Soultrait A Soultrait perfect for Michael to use.

River of Vigor didn't evolve into another Soultrait Symbol, but the amount of advanced healing serum he could produce and store increased drastically. He could overclock River of Vigor and produce even stronger healing serum, which he could then store in the serum storage. That was one of the many things Michael had done in the last few years. He stored enough healing serum to bring him back from the verge of deathlots of times if necessary.

Upgrading the Soultraits in the Soul Sphere's middle area was slightly more complicated. Taming was still easy to upgrade, but it didn't evolveand if Michael was to be truly honest, he wasn't sure if he needed Taming in the first place. Still, he upgraded the Soultrait Symbols because he was in need of the Soultrait Symbol's pressure. It put enough pressure on Michael's Soul to pain him right before his Divine Ascension. Maybe Taming would be useful in the future. It was an 8-Star Soultrait and had more than enough space to submit a bunch of Divine Beasts.

Michael considered removing Taming, but he chose to keep it because he feared he might need it at some point.

Meanwhile, Sphere of Elements was a truly powerful Soultrait. It cost the most to upgrade this mish-mash of a Soultrait Symbol to 8-Star, but Sphere of Elements, which evolved into Galaxy of Elements at 8-Star, was truly worth it. Galaxy of Elements granted Michael a better understanding of the elemental laws of the universe and access to much more power than most natural Elemental Awakened would use in their entire lifetime.

Meanwhile, Sphere of Elements was a truly powerful Soultrait. It cost the most to upgrade this mish-mash of a Soultrait Symbol to 8-Star, but Sphere of Elements, which evolved into Galaxy of Elements at 8-Star, was truly worth it. Galaxy of Elements granted Michael a better understanding of the elemental laws of the universe and access to much more power than most natural Elemental Awakened would use in their entire lifetime.

Upgrading Mind Watcher and Soul Grimoire was rather boring. Soul Grimoire had some interesting abilities, but its main selling point was connected to Death Call, which didn't change even after Soul Grimoire upgraded to 8-Star.

All in all, Michael's combat prowess increased drastically. Upgrading his Soultrait Symbols hadn't been simple, especially given the amount of space each Soultrait Symbol and God Curse occupies in his soul. It was bothersome to postpone his Divine Ascension until all Soultrait Symbols were pushed to 8-Star, but the result was worth it.

Michael's Soul was big enough to establish Links of Loyalty with several thousand powerful Awakened, and he could easily push one or even two Soultrait Symbols to 9-Star.

All he needed was enough SoulStar Fragments, but that could be solved easily.

After all, it was time for Michael to join the war against the Supreme Human Alliance for real.