Chapter 872 Beating  

Seeing the familiar appearance of the man whose power was the reason they failed to conquer the Tritan Alliance, Olivia felt something surface from the depths of her body. She hardly ever lost herself in emotions, but the raw fury spreading through every cell in her body overwhelmed her. Her body began smoking, and flickering flames erupted all over it.

"MICHAEL!!!" Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs, unleashing her Soultrait, Pyromancer's Cannon, to conjure a highly compressed, fire-elemental cannonball in her palms. The Minor Typhoon Roc screeched in fear when it sensed the terrifying power compressed into the cannonball, but it didn't move. Instead, it heeded Michael's command and supported the Lord.

Michael observed the fire-elemental cannonball in intrigue, but he didn't move to evade the attack. Instead, he responded with a counterattack.

A quarter of a second before the fiery cannonball was released, Olivia found herself screaming in pain. In a fury, Olivia didn't even notice the earth spikes shooting from the wall. They pierced her feet and calves before shifting, slightly altering the young Blaze's position. The projectile in Olivia's hand was unleashed, yet it didn't hit Michael. Not even the Minor Typhoon Roc was struck by the projectile. It missed the monster by more than half a meter. Michael's attention followed the high-velocity cannonball, and his expression soured.

'I shouldn't let this hit anyone.' He thought upon analyzing the destructive power of Olivia's Soultrait.

Although the cannonball was only a single projectile, it was much faster than most projectiles Michael had seen until now. Its destructive power was also nothing to take lightly. The fiery cannonball was like a high-velocity explosive with enough power to blow apart an area of five meters in radius.

Michael lowered his body, pressed his palm against the Minor Typhoon Roc, and used Cosmic Stride to teleport the monster further away. He didn't force the monster to leave the battlefield, but by pulling it away from Olivia Blaze's attention, it could participate in the siege at ease.

Michael created a small platform with compressed wind underfoot and faced Olivia while his subjects initiated the first wave. They bombarded the settlement with crystal-headed arrows – empowered with the elemental might of the Elementals –, highly energy-dense javelins with above-average destructive power, elemental projectiles, and massive stones – created by the Gaia Elementals, and thrown across the settlement with catapults.

The bombardment worked better than intended. However, that was not because the crystal-headed arrows contained more destructive power than estimated or owed to the massive, highly-compressed stone projectiles that destroyed the eastern wall.

No, the bombardment succeeded because the eastern walls weren't as resilient as they looked. The Blaze household didn't focus too much on establishing a proper defense. "How arrogant!" Michael snorted when he received the energy shares from several thousand slain enemies. The Blaze household was so focused on expanding their territories and settlements and crushing their enemies that it never occurred to them that someone else would attack them. They were sure to have claimed the Sacred Desert after slaying the last Lords less than a day ago.

That was funny. Michael laughed and appeared next to Olivia. The tattoo of the Elemental Empress shone brightly, but instead of coating him in a vibrant armor of azure flames, Michael commanded to take care of Olivia Blaze instead.

The Elemental Empress' body expanded rapidly. Her vigorous azure flames shot in all directions until she found her target. Once Zeroa found Olivia, she burst into action. Her fiery body shrouded the young Blaze and tightened around her like the Elemental Empress would have done with Michael. However, instead of creating skin-tight blazing armor, Zeroa's current move was more like a prison in hell.

The Elemental Empress focused on two things while shrouding Olivia Blaze. First, Zeroa drained the heat Olivia exuded naturally. She drained the High Awakened's heat and used the heat to do the second thing. The Elemental Empress amplified the head she'd just absorbed, added traces of the azure flames the closest to her essence to the heat, and unleashed the fury of her azure flames upon the shivering woman.

Michael could have stayed idle, watching Zeroa as she burned the shivering Olivia Blaze alive. However, he joined Zeroa and used Insert to insert several things inside the young Blaze's body.

Michael used Insert to spread several droplets of his blood as a Curse User, and some blood from Mekhaz, Thaor, and the others in Olivia Blaze system. Even if she could still use Primordial Bloodline, the technique's potency would be nowhere as powerful as it used to be.

However, that was not all. Michael inserted some of Zeroa's essence and traces of True Extraction into Olivia. Olivia's mind wasn't as weak as others, granting her the mental fortitude to block most attacks. But after Michael unleashed a flurry of attacks onto her soul using Spiritual Domination, amplified with Enhancement, Olivia suffered a momentary backlash. Olivia's focus shattered, creating a tiny opening.

That opening was minuscule, but was the opportunity he needed to succeed. Zeroa's essence infiltrated Olivia's body alongside Michael's blood and traces of True Extraction.

"Logno'vsh is stronger than you," Michael mumbled, unleashing Curse Fusion at its fullest. He used Foundation Break, Heavenly Beast Physique, and Curse Fusion together before manifesting Aethyr to coat his claws and the serpent fang growing from his knuckles. Michael went further and used ten layers of Enhancement on his body. Michael struggled a little despite spreading the potency of ten Enhancement Layers across his body. Foundation Break, Heavenly Beast Physique, and Curse Fusion were enough to amplify his physical strength drastically. By adding ten Enhancement layers, Michael's physique didn't lack in comparison to Tier-5 powerhouses anymore.

He was no longer inferior to Olivia Blaze. A chortling noise escaped Michael's lips as his eyes shifted. They glowed brightly like the sun and unleashed enough pressure to stun Olivia momentarily as Spiritual Domination – combined with the World Serpent's serpentine eye powers – crashed down upon her.

Michael's claws pierced through Olivia's chest, missing her chest by a few centimeters. He would have punctured her heart if Olivia hadn't started moving all of a sudden. She screamed at the top of her lungs and grasped the skin-tight blazing armor. Michael didn't think Olivia would manage to touch the blazing armor, let alone that she would successfully regain freedom.

It was even more terrifying to see Olivia move even though a serpent fang and several claws – all shrouded by Qi, True Extraction, and Aethyr. Olivia Blaze continued moving, worsening the wound. It was already a lethal wound and would kill her if she didn't treat it soon. However, Olivia didn't seem to care. Her iron-tight grip around the Elemental Empress tightened, and she…put Zeroa into her mouth.

Michael wasn't sure how Olivia did it, but she managed to suppress Zeroa's flames and compress them forcefully into a small fist-sized ball. The Elemental Empress was still alive. That was great, yet Michael had a bad feeling about this.

He reacted instinctively when Olivia put Zeroa into her mouth. First, he released the Qi, shrouding his right claw inside her chest. Her shoulder and a good portion of her chest were blown apart from the inside, but the attack wasn't strong enough to kill her. Nonetheless, the attack slowed Olivia, allowing Michael to smash her face with his left. But instead of relying on his claws and the serpent fang, Michael transformed the claws and fang into several layers of thick serpent scales. He augmented the scales with knuckles of Aethyr and a second layer of armor coating the serpent scales individually.

The change was sudden and took Olivia by surprise. However, she didn't hesitate to swallow the Elemental Empress even after Michael's fist smashed into her face, breaking her teeth and jaw in one go.

Michael's clenched fist shot open when his hand reached inside her mouth. He reached out for the desperately screaming Elemental Empress and…reached her.

His energy reserves were already drained by a fair amount, but Michael didn't mind. He used ten Enhancement Layers and a Soul Tear to augment Taming before unleashing Taming's storage function to its fullest. The Elemental Empress reacted immediately. A strand of her blazing flames escaped the tremendous pressure that forced her into the compressed state.

She reached out to Michael, reached him, and disappeared into the safety of her master's vessel.

In the meantime, Michael resonated with the influence of the World Serpent and the Wolf Curse.

He accepted them this time and didn't even think about holding back.

Olivia nearly took one of the people he held dear. She deserved to die.