Michael struggled a little bit against the strongest Kitsun before he swapped places with Stinger. Most of the energy he obtained from Extraction was sent right to the Elemental Empress, allowing her to kill more than 400 Kitsun in half a minute.
Her fire spear charges had been successful and the kill count would continue to increase as time passed. But while the Elemental Empress could attack her enemies freely, Michael had been forced to block the advance of five Low Tier-3 Guards and Awakened. Fortunately, that worked out somewhat fine since he possessed enough energy to create a resilient defense and use his reliable firepower to inflict some damage as well.
His energy level was more or less at par with a Tier-4 Awakened. However, he could replenish his energy as well.
Unfortunately, he was only a single individual fighting against thousands. It was only obvious to see him struggle under the pressure of enemies at and above his rank, especially when they had a numerical advantage.
But with the Elemental Empress by his side, his struggles turned into an opportunity.
As he and the Elemental Empress fought together, their taming bond grew stronger. It grew strong enough for Michael to feel the uncontrollable wrath and fury that was coursing through the Elemental Empress once he and Stinger switched places.
"Not so fast, you disgusting bastards," Michael growled deeply, the Elemental Empress' conscious slowly seeping into the taming bond, rage filling his entire being.
"We're just getting started."
In the next moment, a small part of his consciousness drifted inside the taming bond with the Elemental Empress as well. The Elemental Empress flinched subconsciously as she sensed what was about to happen. She glanced over to Michael, who smiled lightly as he looked at her.
"Trust me."
These two words were all the Elemental Empress had to hear. They carried a much deeper meaning that could only be understood by the Elemental Empress.
The Elemental Empress accepted the minuscule part of Michael's consciousness that drifted into hers. Simultaneously, the portion of her consciousness that had unknowingly entered the taming bond moved toward Michael.
Their consciousness overlapped in response to their actions, and their powers were shared equally. But that was not everything. There was another point, a factor that hadn't been taken into consideration when Sun Demos used Power Share for the first time.
Michael and the Elemental Empress were drawn to each other. A powerful suctioning force existed between the two of them, pulling Michael and the Empress closer.
As they moved closer the energy consumption of Power Share decreased drastically. It was incomparably lower than the massive consumption of energy Sun Demos had required. The distance increased the energy consumption.
Filled with rage and fury equally, and pulled towards each other, the Elemental Empress didn't even realize what was happening as her body expanded naturally. She grew as tall as Michael and her blazing flames began to flicker violently as her form began to change.
The Elemental Empress began to turn into a living torch as she moved closer to Michael until her blazing flames touched him. Her blazing flames engulfed Michael's fingers. The flames slowly traveled to his hand, and up his arm before they shrouded his entire upper body.
The flames continued to move around Michael, engulfing his body like a tight armor; an armor made of fire. Despite the blazing flames all over his body, Michael didn't feel hot. On the contrary, there was a cooling feeling to the flames all over his body. It was a good feeling…a great feeling.
By sharing his power with the Elemental Empress, Michael naturally gained access to her fire element. However, the sensation he felt right now didn't feel like mere access. It was not the same as his control of Soultraits either…but it was weirdly similar.
He gained control of the Elemental Empress' elemental affinities, and his control continued to increase as her blazing body engulfed him like a second skin.
Her form slowly dispersed as the blazing armor set around Michael was compressed. However, she didn't disappear. It was more like the Elemental Empress' consciousness drifted deeper into Michael's mind, fusing their minds and bodies simultaneously.
Michael could feel whatever the Elemental Empress felt, and he could read her mind naturally. The two of them had become one. They had fused into one entity.
Despite the fusion, Michael could tell that he was still in full control of his body. He was the dominant force of the fusion, allowing him to do whatever he pleased as long as the fusion was intact. The Elemental Empress allowed Michael to gain full control of her body. She decided to trust him and allow him to do whatever he wanted under the condition that he would eradicate the Kitsun.
The rage and wrath filling her was enough to temporarily give Michael control of her mind and body. She could tell that Micheal was much stronger than her and that he was more capable of achieving what she desired. If she hesitated only for a moment, or if she didn't trust Michael enough the fusion would be dissolved forcefully. However, the Elemental Empress didn't even think about distrusting Michael right now.
All she desired was the death of the Kitsun Lord and his subjects.
Micheal gained control of the Elemental Empress' elemental attributes. Most were not powerful other than her major attribute, fire, and his understanding of the elements was not that high either. That changed gradually as a wisp of knowledge entered his mind through the Elemental Empress' consciousness. The wisp of knowledge provided Michael with enough information about the elements to control them to a certain degree.
The Elemental Empress' experience would guide him further, allowing him complete control as if he manifested them inside his body months before.
All of a sudden, the Elemental Empress used Enhancement on herself. The blazing armor set expanded and compressed further around Michael, who had to tap into the golden threads of Extraction to accelerate the energy drainage of the injured Kitsun around him.
He then conjured dozens of blazing swords and added a layer of Reinforced Swords Qi to increase the destructive power of the blazing swords, only to further enhance them via Enhancement.
The Elemental Empress' fire affinity grew stronger through Enhancement and so did her outburst. Her power output increased rapidly, only to reach a whole different level as the combined forces of Michael's Soultraits and the Elemental Empress' elements met.
The temperature of the blazing swords increased just before Michael released them with a burst of energy. Sizzling through the air, the blazing swords increased the temperature in the surroundings all while altering the ambient energy ever so slightly. The ambient energy changed slowly into fire-attributed energy that nourished the surroundings.
It was drawn to the Elemental Empress after being altered, who absorbed the attributed energy naturally. With more energy in their fused body, Michael could conjure more blazing swords. But instead of foolishly creating more and more blazing swords without a plan, Michael decided to tap into his strongest and most versatile power; the Power of Extraction.
He created hundreds of tiny golden tendrils of Extraction alongside hundreds of blazing spears. He didn't use Enhancement or Reinforced Sword Qi to enhance the blazing spears. Instead, the spears were solely used to attach the golden tendrils of extraction to it.
The tendrils of extraction were easily attached to the fire spears, and they were released without any hesitation. The fire spears shot through the air, passed the strongest Kitsun and impacted heavily on their designated targets.
The fire spears burned through the targets' armors and pierced through their bodies – without killing any of them instantly. The targets were blown back and heavily injured, but none of them died. They were left with grave injuries that would kill them in the next few minutes. In the meantime, the tendrils of extraction invaded the targets' bodies and sucked them dry until their energy was extinguished, giving them a miserable death.
Michael extracted their remaining origin energy slowly but steadily while leaving their lifeforce untouched. They should survive a little longer until their energy pool was drained completely. Once they were out of energy, their lives would lose its value. All they had left was their lifeforce to make sure that Michael would never lose his vigor mid-battle. He could devour their lifeforce with Extraction after all.
The designated targets Michael had aimed at were the remaining Tier-1 Summons, the lightly injured Guards and Awakened, and those Kitsun further in the back. Since the Kitsun in the back didn't expect to be struck heavily in the chest, they were met by surprise when a reddish-orange flash hit them. Hit off-guard, all they could do was struggle against the burning sensation as their chest was pierced.
'All my powers increased by more than 30%. Even my Soultraits are much stronger now… The Elemental Empress' mythical fire is also much stronger now that we are fused. Is that the power of the Elemental Empress, a being that could be considered a Pseudo Mythical Existence?'
Michael had never felt this powerful before. Fusing with the Elemental Empress granted him the power he yearned for; the power he needed to fight the Kitsun head-on.
The Summons and Awakened he struck with the spears conjured from the Elemental Empress' mythical fire couldn't do anything but struggle against the burning sensation that spread throughout their bodies, slowly burning them alive.
Meanwhile, the tendrils of extraction leeched on their energy storages. They were drained rapidly, creating more energy for Michael, whose body was overflowing with energy. The blazing armor set continued to expand as the energy within Michael continued to increase. It was like the blazing armor was an external energy storage that could also be used to keep most enemies at bay. After all, the armor set was also made from mythical fire.
The Elemental Empress' entire body was made of mythical fire that could burn everyone at her rank with a simple touch. Being fused with Michael, the mythical fire burned all enemies at and beneath Low Tier-2 easily. All Michael had to do was to give the flames the command to do so.
But Michael didn't.
He was in need of the Tier-2 Summons. Michael needed their energy and lifeforce to deal with the remaining enemies. Thousands of Kitsun might have died, but more than ten thousand were still left to be killed.
Furthermore, Michael had yet to deal with all Kitsun at the 3rd Tier. Many Awakened with considerable strength were left as well. And then there were still the Tier-3 Awakened who exceeded the Lowest and Low rank.
There were a handful of Peak Tier-3 Awakened, and a Peak Tier-3 Kitsun Lord to deal with.
Michael required every bit of power and energy he could use to eliminate them.
Otherwise, he would be the one who ended up dead.
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