1058 Split and Pierced
The Soul Wraiths weren't immortal, but they weren't easy to kill. Defeating them wasn't as easy as Primal Xerx expected when he faced them first. They traveled swiftly through space and inflicted considerable damage whenever their Pure Aether-coated claws struck the Primal or his creations. The Primal was faster than the Soul Wraiths but evading and attacking the Soul Wraiths didn't help him much either. Even after a few Essence Spears had pierced the Soul Wraiths, they didn't die. Their bodies might have been pierced, but the Primal's Essence inflicted insignificant damage to the soul.
Instead of tearing the Soul Wraiths' bodies apart with Essences, the Soul Wraiths' bodies acted as the Primal's natural enemy. It corrupted the Primal's Essence.
The Soul Wraiths didn't even need Pure Aether to destroy Essences. That was how they could kill gods even though they weren't considered more powerful than gods under normal circumstances. Their attacks damaged the enemies' Essences and killed them like that. There was no need to inflict any physical injuries if the enemy could be eliminated much easier.
Still, the Pure Aehter coating their claws augmented the Soul Wraiths' power and the damage inflicted to the Primal.
Slowly but steadily, the injuries all over the Primal's body grew. Their numbers skyrocketed, and it was only a matter of minutes before Primal Xerx was covered in thousands of tiny scratches inflicted by Pure Aether, only to worsen through the use of Death Afflictions, Poison of the Poison Law, and Extraction.
Not even one-quarter of the Primal's Essences had been drained and damaged, but his expression contorted in pain, confusion, and anger. Michael was growing stronger while Xerx's power diminished. If things turned out slower than expected, it wouldn't take longer than a few hours, maybe a few days. Still, Xerx was on the losing side. The Soul Wraiths were the worst enemies, too. The universe had only been tormented by a few Soul Wraiths since the beginning of time, yet here they were with more than 500 artificially-created Soul Wraiths.
Michael controlled them easily and ushered them to take revenge on the monster who'd killed them. Xerx couldn't accept his fate and changed his tactic.
If he wasn't strong enough to defeat Michael alone, why shouldn't he ask for help? Maybe the Primal couldn't come to him, but who said Xerx was out of options when it came to returning to the weave?
He turned to the Rebels circling the planetary system and charged one of them. The Rebel, who was closest to Xerx, fell victim to his sudden charge. Xerx appeared before the Rebel and tore him apart.
The Rebels groaned in unison as their comrade died. The Weave Seal wavered and nearly collapsed, but the remaining Rebels regained composure. They had to fill the gap left behind by their dead comrade, which was taxing but still possible. Michael's eyes widened in surprise, and he teleported to the Primal, but Xerx was already in front of the next target. Michael manifested a tenfold Imperial Barrier enhanced by Perfect Enhancement and the Power Authority to block the Primal's attack. That worked out better than expected, but instead of falling into a state of fear and despair, Primal Xerx smiled.
"Can you protect everyone simultaneously?" Primal Xerx asked, with a glint of insanity in his eyes.
Michael's eyes narrowed, but he quickly realized what Primal Xerx was doing. He split his body into ten Doppelgangers and shot in ten directions.
Even though the Doppelgangers had only one-tenth of Primal Xerx's Essence, he still possessed enough to kill the Rebels maintaining the Weave Seal. 'Maybe I can reach one of them and kill him, but the others will kill nine Rebels a moment later. The Weave Seal won't survive that!' Michael concluded instantly, using Slipstream to teleport the 500 Soul Wraiths across the planetary system to protect the Rebels and attack the Primal Doppelgangers without hesitation.
"Sacrificing one of them to kill you doesn't seem like a bad exchange, does it?" He asked, his eyes trailing to something – someone – behind Michael.
[The Doppelgangers disappeared!]
[Be careful!]
[Behind you!!!] The God Curses called out the instant they noticed what was happening, but it was already too late.
Nine Primal Doppelgangers appeared behind Michael and merged into Primal Xerx while the 10th Doppelganger was killed.
The Pure Aether Sabers cut deep into the 10th Doppelganger, and the Laws and Authorities also did their work. They drained the 10th Doppelganger's Essence, corroded it, and inflicted hundreds of Death Afflictions.
The 10th Doppelganger was dead, but the price was too high.
Tens of thousands of Essence Blades manifested around Michael and the 10th Doppelganger, and as if everything had been accounted for, Primal Xerx used his Essence to seal the fabric of space all over the planetary system. Even if it was only for a few seconds, Slipstream couldn't be accessed.
"Fuck." Michael cursed, only for Primal Xerx's smile to widened as he added.
"Fuck, yeah!"
A moment later, the Essence Blades burst forward, piercing Michael from all sides, not missing a single inch of his body.
The Blades penetrated him thoroughly and exploded, tearing Michael Fang apart.
This time, he couldn't block the attacks.
He was dead.