Creating Primordial Vessel pushed Michael's combat prowess to another level, but so did adding more Soul Sockets to his Soul Sphere. He already owned 13 Soultrait Symbols but pushed further and added two Empty Soul Sockets to the Soul Sphere, which he filled right away.
Since he'd killed many enemies, Michael procured a ton of Soultrait Symbols. Using Extraction and Insert in the most disgusting ways, Michael created two Apex Soultrait Symbols to fill the Empty Soul Sockets.
Both Soultrait Symbols were upgraded to 8-Star with millions of SoulStar Fragments, evolving them twice in quick succession.
Imperial Barrier and Beast Halo were fused into his Soul and seamlessly integrated into his Soul Sphere.
One of the Soultraits, Imperial Barrier, was a 'perfect' barrier, strong enough to block the attacks of Divine Lifeforms even at its lowest usage. It consumed a considerable amount of energy at the lowest stage, but that was to be expected from a powerful barrier. Imperial Barrier could block attacks stronger than Michael's Tier at the strongest level. Thus, he could block full-blown K.O. attacks from a Tier-8 Divine Lifeform. That was without using Soul Tears, Greater Enhancement, or even Unlimited Enhancement.
Michael wasn't quite sure how overpowered the Soultrait was at its strongest but the God Curses were satisfied with his choice and creation. That was even more true so for the Beast Halo. Michael created the Soultrait Symbols not for himself but for the God Curses. Since his encounter with the Cosmos Queen Beast, Michael had been wondering what it would feel like to manifest the God Curses and use their presence and power in different ways than by channeling them through his body.
Beast Halo might not be the strongest Soultrait Symbol as it required a beast bound to Michael, but not only did Michael have multiple God Curses to use Beast Halo with, but also the Elemental Empress, Sun Demos, and the Red Dragon.
Michael could experiment a lot with Beast Halo, which he did for a while. He used Beast Halo to manifest a replica of his tamed monsters to fight for him on the battlefield. By applying Greater Enhancement and Soul Tears on the Soultrait Symbol, Michael could unleash more than 75% of the original's combat prowess. Unfortunately, the same wasn't the case when he used Beast Halo on the God Curses.
Fenrir pointed out that Michael would have to use his entire energy reserves with Unlimited Enhancement at full power, draining most of Michael's Soul Power and Lifeforce reserves, to summon a Halo of him at 25% of its full powerfor a second.
Michael wasn't so sure about that, but even without Unlimited Enhancement, Beast God was powerful. If he used his energy reserves, Michael could summon a Halo with the prowess of a Divine Lifeform. That was more than enough for Michael, who saw countless opportunities to summon the God Curses and have them use their Divinities through the Beast Halo.
Maybe the Beast Halo would be destroyed it probably would end up melting from the tremendous potency of the Divinity wreaking havoc within the Halo but at least the God Curses wouldn't have to waste their Divinity by channeling it through him. Furthermore, Michael could implement many more strategies involving the utility of different Divinities all across the galaxies to confuse the Supreme Human Alliance and push them to tap into more extreme means to attack the Altors Union and 'locate' the unknown God or Gods as they must have sensed the Divinities of Jormungandr and Fenrir already. Hel's Divinity would join the battle soon. From that point onward, the Supreme Human Alliance would search for three Divinities, and Michael would gladly lead them around like mice with cheese.
That was exactly what Michael did in the next few months, alongside hunting more enemies. The reinforcement of the Hyumans attacked Michael more often than he could count, which was expected given how deep he had traveled into the Supreme Human Alliance's territory, but only a few attackers were at the 8th Tier. Most Divine Lifeforms were required at the frontlines, especially at the 8th Tier.
Even more interesting was how easily Michael could jump planetary systems with Cosmic Stride once Unlimited Enhancement augmented it. Michael jumped planetary systems, killed the strongest beings in the planetary system, and released Beast Halos of the God Curses everywhere.
The Awakened corpses were caught, collected, and sucked dry. Their Soultrait Symbols and SoulStar Fragments were stored while the Artifacts and other resources they dropped from their storages were combined.
Michael was under lots of stress as he gave his utmost to conquer the Novix Galaxy and push deeper to enter the Genox Galaxy, which he'd planned to conquer initially. Once two galaxies were fully conquered, the Altors Union, the Nest, and other forces would have a much easier time getting rid of the Supreme Human Alliance. Unfortunately, the Supreme Human Alliance was not that easy to deal with. The forces of the Altors Union were repelled at some point, and the Cosmos Beasts were killed. Not all were killed, but some of the strongest Cosmos Beasts were tricked. Their movements using spatial powers were restrained, obstructing their retreat paths and diminishing the Cosmos Beast's prowess. The Supreme Human Alliance did do something to obliterate half of the Altors Union's reinforcement Michael had no clue what they did, but it worked fairly well, pushing the Altors Union away. Everything Michael had worked for was crushed. At least, that was what he would have said if the last few months' efforts hadn't drastically increased his combat prowess.
Death Call was still an 8-Star Soultrait, but the deaths in the Novix Galaxy and everything happening in the Sacred Desert and Untamed Jungle pushed his Energy Vortex closer to the next rank. Michael acquired two new Soultraits, upgraded them to 8-Star, and had two Soultrait Symbols, which would soon turn into proper Divinity Seeds. He might not have his own Divinity Seed, but Michael was not concerned about that.
He did not need his own Divinity if the God Curses and the Nature Heart could transform into four proper Divinities.
'What are those idiots doing? I thought they had a plan to deal with the Supreme Human Alliance when they abandoned the Nest. Are they fighting more seriously on different frontlines, or are they planning to get everyone killed to avoid the humiliation of getting the whole cosmos obliterated?' Michael cursed in his mind when he returned to the backlines of the Novix Galaxy, where he forced some Commanders of the Altors Army to report to him.
He didn't say much but forced his way into their minds using Mind Watcher. Michael gave no damn whether they considered him an ally or a foe At this point, he considered attacking them, obliterating a few planetary systems to upgrade all of his Soultrait Symbols to 9-Star maybe even further.
The Altors Union was supposed to be a helpful chess piece, not a crippled pawn. What were they doing? Michael had no clue, but what he knew was that other organizations stopped depending on the Altors Union's survival as well.
The news about the Altors Union abandoning the Nest had spread already, but that wasn't enough to ignite the spark of independence within the other organizations. Michael's appearance and the way he handled the Novix Galaxy how he easily removed the Texorian Meteorite Streams, obliterated dozens of Hyuman Fortresses, and killed tens of thousands of powerful Hyumans, serving the Altors Union a perfectly cooked meal, only for the Altors Union to trip and throw the meticulously prepared ingredients to the ground, was what pushed the other organizations to change their mind.
The Thorn Merchandise, among the tens of Demons working with the Altors Union, messaged Michael. They recognized his power and the rumors around the Novix Galaxy and decided it was time to deepen their relationship again.
[Sylth Thorn: We have heard about your tales, Michael Fang. I hope you are interested in trading Soultrait Symbols. The Supreme Human Alliance has to fall, and we want to contribute to its destruction.]
Michael was a little surprised when Sylth messaged him first after not talking for years. He would have forgotten about his deals with the Thorn Merchandise if not for the massive gains he made. The Thorn Merchandise was part of why Michael's territories expanded so quickly. He didn't owe them anything, but they deserved his respect.
[Michael Fang: I am unsure if I can deliver what you desire, but I would love to watch the Supreme Human Alliance's fall. The Altors Union is not doingwhat I expected. I am not sure if the Thorn Merchandise is up to replace the Altors Union or fill the gap they leave behind.]
[Sylth Thorn: We are not strong enough to replace the Altors Union, but with your support, we can create Demon Units powerful enough to infiltrate the Supreme Human Alliance's lands and kill higher authorities. Their training camps, Divine Academies, and other places have to be removed. The Titan War with the Supreme Human Alliance will not end in a year or two. This is a war that will last several decades if not centuries. Destroying their educational institutions while slowly building our forces and empowering them with every single death from their side, we will gain the upper hand. That's why I wish to make a 'fair' trade. I am not sure if you will like it, but we prepared a vial of 5 ml of Liquid Origin. In exchange, we would like to acquire two 7-Star Soultraits of our choice!]
When Michael reached the end of the message he forget about the rest. The last sentence was all that remained in his mind.
5ml of Liquid Origin might not sound like a lot, but a quick calculation made clear that Sylth offered 100 droplets from the Origin. Michael had used one droplet for his High Ascension, and most would never have had the pleasure of using a single droplet.
Michael fell deep in thoughts at this offer. One hundred droplets of the cosmos' finest energy would be extraordinary. However, he wasn't in need of anymore Origin droplets. Michael was already fully purified and had undergone a perfect High Ascension. High Divine Ascension was thus also perfect as his Divine Shell had already formed, and his body was void of impurities. The Origin Liquid didn't give him any benefits other than the massive amount of pure origin energy. The amount of energy he could gain from the Origin Liquid was tremendous, but it wasn't worth the effort or payment. Two 7-Star Soultraits in the wrong hands would be disastrous.
'But what if I used the Origin Liquid to start with the Super Awakened program for real. One hundred of my strongest Awakened would grow stronger rapidly, have their bodies, minds, and souls purified, and their next Ascension would be much smoother.'
While that was true, the danger of selling two custom 7-Star Soultraits was high. Did he trust the Thorn Merchandise enough? Michael was unsure about that, but he figured it might not be necessary to trust them.
'So what if they use the 7-Star Soultraits for bad things once the Supreme Human Alliance ceases to exist? I can hunt them down and take back what rightfully belongs to me.' Michael licked his lips. Hirakus and the others told him a long time ago how eager they were about joining the Titan War and that they desired to beat the shit out of the Supreme Human Alliance.
He'd rejected their pleas until now, but maybe that wasn't necessary anymore.