Chapter 860: Fake It Until You Make It
Supreme Lord: I can extract everything!
Michael had only one droplet of Selena's curse-infused blood, but that should have been more than enough.
'What did she think when she gave me the blood vial? Did she know what I was going to do or that the Supreme Human Alliance would deploy one of their young elites to govern the Tritan Alliance now that the torn firmament would restrict Divine Lifeforms from entering? Or did she want me to use it on Divine Lifeforms if I were to encounter them?'
Michael had no idea what the Nest Leader's true intention was, but her blood came in handy.
"The Supreme Human Alliance won't accept you anymore. Not like this." He smiled at the Hyuman, who'd broken into tears.
There was no mercy in Michael's eyes as he inspected the Hyuman. Palika and the others came, ready to eliminate the Hyuman once and for all, but Michael stopped them. He raised his hand and nodded toward the Hyuman.
"He cannot harm the Tritan Alliance anymore. Killing him won't help us."
"That bastard killed Zeke!!" One of the human powerhouses roared, "I'm going to kill him!"
Michael's emotions were already unstable because he lost Alice and his friends to the Supreme Human Alliance. It was no surprise to him when his Curses' influence reached him. They nudged him ever so slightly while granting Michael access to their power. He was given access to unlimited power. However, the price was steep. The more he absorbed, the more he would have to give back in return.
Michael transformed, large black scales growing out of his skin. A long tail burst out of his tailbone. It grew rapidly and smashed heavily on the ground, spreading curse power in all directions. Michael's hair grew quickly, and his fingers cracked, changed, and transformed into elongated curved claws mixed with the massive fangs of a colossal serpent.
"We are not going to kill him if you don't want to sacrifice the entire Tritan Alliance for your petty revenge!" Michael growled, his curse power erupting alongside True Extraction, Qi, Heavenly Beast Physique, Foundation Break, Spirit Eyes, Sphere of Elements, and Soul Grimoire.
The human powerhouse swallowed. He retreated subconsciously, his hair standing up to its end. His eyes widened in terror, and he nearly stumbled and fell if Giuliana Seraph didn't catch him.
"There is no need to threaten anyone, Michael. You should explain the situation properly and make sure to convince everyone that enslaving and using this bastard," Giuliana pointed at the Peak Tier-6 Hyuman, "Is better than openly showing the Supreme Human Alliance that we managed to defeat one of their little elites."
Michael growled again but dismissed Curse Fusion after struggling for a few seconds. He sighed deeply and retracted his curse power while also halting the use of his Soultraits.
"You're right," He nodded.
Explaining what was on his mind should come before threatening idiots.
He looked at the human powerhouse and bowed lightly, "I apologize for my behavior, but I was afraid you would do something stupid."
The man looked at him for a few seconds. He cleared his throat and pulled on his clothes to straighten them before responding, "It's okay. Nobody was harmed."
Michael could tell from the man's gaze that it wasn't okay, but he didn't care too much. He turned to everyone and explained his plan.
"The Hyuman was poisoned and will die when he betrays the Tritan Alliance. I infused that intent into the poison and managed to ensure how it worked when he tried attacking me."
The Hyuman continued struggling but lost the power to curse his fate. Michael merely smiled at that.
"He was writhing in pain when he tried attacking me, and the same will happen if he tries attacking any other good citizen of the Tritan Alliance. Keep in mind that he is allowed to defend himself. It is merely a taboo for him to attack someone. That may include killing someone while defending himself against the good citizens of the Tritan Alliance, but I wouldn't try attacking him nonetheless. He is still a Peak Tier-6 Hyuman."
"Either way, he cannot betray the Tritan Alliance anymore, and it is a fact that the Supreme Human Alliance wouldn't accept him into their rows after the potent blood of a Divine Lifeform – a Curse User – circulates through his body. His blood is altered, and he will be exiled or even killed by the Supreme Human Alliance if he returns."
The Hyuman shuddered but didn't say anything. He knew that Michael was saying the truth.
"But how does that help us?" One of the less intelligent human powerhouses asked.
Kraft Viton stepped forward, "You want to use him to hide everyone. The Supreme Human Alliance might not be able to deploy anymore Divine Lifeforms, but they are very interested in us. You told me about their interest before, and if it's true what you said – which I think – they would deploy more Peak Tier-6 Elites to conquer the Tritan Alliance if that's what is needed to achieve their goal."
"So you want to fake everything?" Giuliana asked, slowly getting what Kraft Viton and Michael were getting at, "He can say that he claimed and subdued the Tritan Alliance to ensure that the Supreme Human ALliance won't bother to deploying more powerhouses. That way, we can stall some time… may be enough time to grow stronger – strong enough to defeat Peak TIer-6 Elites of the Supreme Human Alliance by the time they find out that they have been played."
Michael nodded, a smile blossoming, "We cannot say how long the farce will work, but a few years should be enough to train a bunch of powerful Tier-6 powerhouses with my support. A few Soultraits to a bunch of the strongest Awakened will help everyone grow stronger. As long as the Tritan Alliance starts working together properly, we shouldn't have any issues pushing a few Awakened close to the Peak of Tier-6 in a decade or two. After that, we have several centuries before the torn firmament disappears. By that time, we will have a few Divine Lifeforms."
Even though Michael was the weakest in the encirclement of Higher Lifeforms – according to his Tier – nobody doubted his words. He was only 20 years old, but the power he unleashed was strong enough to kill Tier-5 powerhouses. His War Rune manifested two years ago. How strong would he be if given another decade or two to develop? What about several centuries?
But that was not all. Michael's individual combat prowess was scary, but his ability to create more powerhouses and to turn ordinary people into mighty Awakened was even scarier.
It was only obvious, but Michael had the means to make his words come true.
Everyone's attention drifted to the Hyuman.
"As long as this dude is not tired of living, he won't betray us. The Supreme Human Alliance won't take him back – like I said – and he doesn't look like he wants to die," Michael studied the man, his ice-cold eyes piercing the Hyuman's, "Will you help us trick the SHA to survive, or do you wish to end your life to warn the Supreme Human Alliance about us?"
The others didn't like the way Michael gave the Hyuman a choice, but Michael continued smiling.
"Keep in mind that I can procure more of the blood I've infused into you. If you don't accept our condition, I will force the next batch of Elites to surrender and help us trick the Supreme Human Alliance instead. Don't even think that you have a trump up to your sleeves. If anything, your death will help us deal with anything the SHA throws at us. I will rip you apart while you're still alive and take everything right in front of your eyes." Michael's eyes glimmered dangerously. They glowed golden and pierced into the deepest parts of the Hyuman's soul.
The Hyuman had often encountered Divine Lifeforms as he had been trained by multiple, but only the minority could scare him like Michael… the strongest…
"I…don't want to die… Don't kill me. I…won't tell the Parliat about anything."
Kraft Viton and Michael smiled at each other. This worked better than expected. However, Michael was nowhere done. Now that he had the means to change something, he was just getting started.
"How about we get started then? We need to transform you into a fake Dictator for the Supreme Human Alliance," Michael said, clasping his hands. He looked at the other powerhouses, waiting for someone to say something against his plan, but nobody rejected his idea. If anything, the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs supported him.
Even though they hated the Supreme Human Alliance after pinpointing them as the root of all evil, the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs were also aware of their inadequate power. They were still too weak to deal with the Supreme Human Alliance. Thus, a strategy to stall the SHA was perfect to trick them and grant them enough time to prepare for an all-out war.
Michael was not sure if the Tritan Alliance would get as far as transforming their fights against the Supreme Human Alliance into an all-out war, given that the SHA controlled multiple galaxies, but Michael chose to remain silent. The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs were exhilarated to combine their forces with humans – surprising Michael a little – to grow stronger than ever.
Everyone jumped into action without hesitation. It was time to start planning how to transform the enslaved Hyuman into a fake Dictator and how to ensure the Supreme Human Alliance wouldn't notice anything once they paged him. Simultaneously, the Tritan Alliance had to repair everything damaged in the last few months. That included several provinces in Elyra and the relationship between the Humans, Berserkers, and Warlock Centaurs.
Mending their relationship wasn't too difficult with the common threat of knocking on their doors, but it would require some effort nonetheless.
The first thing they did to solve all issues was to expose the truth behind Lepodya. They spread the truth and ensured everyone listened intently while ensuring Lepodya, which had been applied to some resources imported by the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs, would be cleansed once and for all.
After that, Michael chose to freshen up his information about the Supreme Human Alliance. He used Mind Reader with Enhancement and a Soul Tear on the Hyuman. It was only obvious that the Hyuman tried resisting Michael's attempts to infiltrate his mind and peruse his memories and thoughts since nobody liked having someone in their mind, but Michael was persistent. He spent several days procuring information from the Hyuman.
Michael learned a lot about the Supreme Human Alliance, the Parliar, their power…how fucking strong the Supreme Human Alliance was at its core, and a lot more.
Unfortunately, there was not a single piece of information about Alice and the others. It was endlessly frustrating, but the Hyuman had no clue where they could be. The Hyuman knew about thousands of academies, camps, and other places where the children of the SHA were trained. Still, nothing related to the children from places outside the Supreme Human Alliance's controlled regions came to his mind. He didn't even know what would happen to the children of other regions – like Quinn Karta, who'd betrayed the Tritan Alliance a while ago.
The only thing he realized about outside regions was that their Elites were often deployed to places to conquer and kill their enemies to prove that they were worthy of the Divine Injection – a resource that increased the potency of their bloodline during their Divine Ascension.
That was why the Hyuman had been deployed to the Tritan Alliance, to earn the Divine Injection before his Divine Ascension.
To his misfortune, his scheme failed. He wouldn't ascend anytime soon.