The day Haro Ki lost the Elemental Empress his obsessiveness overshadowed rational thinking and his gut feeling that was telling him to stop right there and to eliminate his enemy's roots before anything else.
Haro Ki could have eliminated Michael easily, however, his obsessiveness forced him to search for the Elemental Empress and pursue her to get her back no matter the cost.
But that was exactly what cost his territory a lot…and the reason why Haro Ki died at the end of the day.
**
Groaning in pain, Michael regained his senses after what felt like an eternity. It had been the first time that someone's Memory Orb had been this detailed, sharing vivid memories that spanned over a decade of someone's life.
If it had been anyone else, Michael might have been fine with that. For example, Cleave Fenrir's memories would have been worth it. Michael would have loved to see decades of his ancestor's life…but not Haro Ki's.
Michael gagged and doubled up when he recalled all the things the Kitsun Lord did to his enemies. After spending hours witnessing everything as if he were the one committing the heinous actions, Michael ended up vomiting on the ground. His breath was labored and his mind was in a big mess.
"Fucking bastard! Good thing I killed you, son of a bitch!" Michael cursed as the memories continued to torment him.
That was one of the biggest downsides of the Memory Orbs. One digested the memories and lived through them as if they belonged to that person – even though they were someone else's. If Michael's willpower had been just a tad too weak, he would have never been able to understand that the memories weren't his own. He could have ended up thinking that he was this disgusting monster, which would have played tricks with his mind and changed his kind nature drastically – forever.
Fortunately, Michael understood that the memories originated due to a villain's actions, a true psychopath at that. He understood that the Kitsun Lord's memories made him feel uneasy and were trying to overwhelm his mind. That made it easier to differentiate between his own memories and the Kitsun Lord's. Nonetheless, it would take him some time to get used to the acts of that heartless monster.
"The Kitsun have to die. It would be even better if their entire race disappeared… They should just annihilate each other. How can an entire race be so evil?!?"
Michael pitied the Elemental Empress. He couldn't believe that the Empress was still so talkative and energetic even after living through hell for a decade. Most beings would have been crushed mentally, or their personality would have taken a huge toll. However, not the Elemental Empress.
The Elemental Empress was just happy that she was finally free. It was even better that Haro Ki had been killed. The fact that she would never have to meet the Kitsun Lord again was the best. Of course, it was a little bit annoying that she was still not completely free to roam the Origin Expanse. However, the Elemental Empress was not dissatisfied with Michael, his people, the territory, or the Untamed Jungle.
If anything, Michael could clearly sense through the taming bond that the Elemental Empress was eager to eliminate the remaining Kitsun to start a new life from scratch. She was eager and looking forward to witnessing the events of the future and the Elementals society she desired to create.
"At least I found out where that bastard hides his most valuable treasures. To think that he had been hoarding a portion of his fortune every year. That's good for me, but shitty for you, dead asshole!" Michael murmured to himself. He released his origin energy to clean up the mess he made in his room.
Then Michael began to sort his thoughts and memories. He wanted to make sure that not even a snippet of the Kitsun Lord's memories would merge with the memories that ought to be his own. They had to be clearly distinguished!
Michael spent two hours sorting through his thoughts and memories until his mind was finally a little bit more organized than before. The memories of the Kitsun Lord still bothered him, and they might eventually affect his train of thought and personality a little bit, but Michael could say with certainty that he wouldn't turn into a sadist.
He would revert to his true nature soon enough. That was more than enough in exchange for a vast fortune of wealth.
Now that Michael knew about the Kitsun Lord's wealth and where it was hidden, he was ready to leave his territory and collect everything. Of course, he wouldn't tell the other Lords about this. He might not have anything against the Valyr Lordess or the two other Lords, but that didn't mean he would share the Kitsun Lord's wealth with them. His help had been far more crucial against Haro Ki than their support in the final battle to allow them a generous share of his hard-earned loot. Furthermore, their territory was about to expand quite a lot thanks to his intervention.
"If I send out my people to clear up the Untamed Jungle from Kitsun, it shouldn't be a problem for me to enter the Kitsun Lord's former territory to collect the loot as well. The Lords won't even notice that I moved from my territory!" Michael mumbled, leaving the wooden manor while informing Sun Demos about his new mission.
["I know that you want to eliminate the Kitsun. Take the Elemental Empress with you, and get rid of them. The Elemental Empress will have a spatial satchel that can be accessed by everyone. Insert your energy into it whenever you want to access it and put the corpses of the Kitsun inside it. I will harvest the loot once you're done cleaning up the Kitsun in the Untamed Jungle."] Michael ordered Sun Demos, who reacted with great vigor.
["I have been waiting for this moment, Master! Thank you for allowing us to take revenge for our fallen brethren. I will pick up the Elemental Empress at once!"]
Michael chuckled lightly before he responded to Sun Demos once again, ["Pay attention to the scouts. I will send out Blaire Tracer and her team to find the Kitsun that will flee and hide in the Untamed Jungle. Make sure to kill them all. Don't leave them the chance to reach their former glory again. It will be a hassle to fight them again. Let's do a thorough job!"]
After that was said, Michael searched for Blaire Tracer whom he gave the mission to scout the former territory of the Kitsun Lord. She was given the task of pinpointing the Kitsun's location and making sure that none of them could escape.
It was important to note that Michael didn't plan to claim the Kitsun Lord's former territory yet. He was better off with only one settlement right now. First of all, Michael didn't have enough guards to protect two settlements. The members of his military force hadn't crossed the number of 650 yet. That included the new Warriors and Archers he summoned in today's summoning session.
Even if it wouldn't take long before his military force exceeded 1,000 or even 2,000 members with Siegfried Dracoon's support, Michael wanted to make sure that each of his settlements was impossible to raid. Therefore, it was better to have only one settlement at this point.
He didn't lack space to expand his main settlement, in the first place.
Other than that, his population was not exactly high just yet. Once the population of his territory crossed a few hundred thousand it might be worth setting up a second settlement. As for now, Michael didn't see the need to do that in the next few months.
Because he didn't need the Kitsun Lord's territory anytime soon, Michael decided to give the territory back to the monsters of the Untamed Jungle. Once his territory's population was considerably high and he had enough combat prowess he would expand his territory to the western part of the Untamed Jungle. But that was something the future could tell. Michael had no idea when exactly he would expand his territory.
He was not exactly in a hurry.
It was better to develop his main settlement until no one harboring ill intentions could get close to it without being found and executed on the spot rather than spreading his forces to protect several settlements. That was one of the reasons why the Kitsun Lord ended up losing against Michael. His territory was ginormous but each settlement had only a few thousand guards and dozens of Awakened. The Kitsun Lord's entire combat force had been more than 50,000 Combat Summons and close to 1,000 Awakened, but dealing with a small portion of that at a time wasn't really a big problem – especially due to their Inferior combat prowess.
Michael approached the Elemental Empress and handed over the satchel. Sun Demos and his subordinates arrived not long after. Once all pending tasks were completed, Michael looked for Tiara, only to hear that she went out to hunt the remaining Kitsun with others.
That was not unexpected, but Michael would have felt better if Tiara had informed him before her departure. It didn't really matter much though. Tiara would be fine and she would ensure that her subordinates would survive as well.
'There is no need to worry about her. Tiara should soon reach the Mid-rank of Tier-2. Her combat prowess is ranked Superior as well now that she obtained Spirit Whip.'
Michael was a little worried but it was not as if the remaining Kitsun were powerful. If anything, the remaining Kitsun were utterly lost and probably much weaker than ever. Tiara would hunt them easily.
One way or another, Michael had to travel to the Kitsun Lord's former territory as well.
His treasures were waiting to be plundered, after all!
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