Michael went in for the kill. After all, the element of surprise was his biggest advantage. He wouldn't have even been able to get this close to Platinum if the guy knew about the true capabilities of his Unity beams.
He deliberately put his Drone in the line of danger, flaunting its capabilities and therefore catching Platinum's ire. And just like he expected, his Drone became the priority target.
Of course, if Platinum knew that his Drone's shield was even more powerful than his own, then he would have gone straight for Michael.
But he didn't. And that caused him the entire fight.
Platinum staggered, falling to his knees as the Unity Saber continuously burned his insides.
An outpour of ice cold mist bursted out of the Artifice as it tried to fight the destructive heat of the Unity.
But it was in vain. The Unity incessantly destroyed any alleviation that his own Artifice tried to give him.
"What… what the hell is this," Platinum muttered, blood rushing out of his mouth.
He was no longer the graceful, suave, debonair that he portrayed himself to be. With veiny red streaks coursing through his eyes, blood dripping down his mouth, and the Unity Saber ravaging his chest, Platinum looked like a feral cat cornered and on the brink of ruin.
His countenance was that of complete and utter disbelief, with a healthy dose of regret.
With the difference in cultivation, he thought defeating Michael would be a sure win, albeit a little bit laborious.
Michael was only in the 7th stage of Body Formation, while he was half-step into the Nascent Spirit realm itself.
The boy's powers shouldn't even affect him in the slightest bit.
Yet, those piercing beams seemingly ignored all of Platinum's natural Aubility defenses, destroying them as if it was a piece of paper.
He shouldn't have underestimated him.
Unfortunately for him, that realization dawned on him a little bit too late.
Michael pushed the Unity Saber deeper into Platinum's chest, its end piercing through the other side.
Platinum winced, his hands subconsciously grabbing at the Unity Saber to try and pull it out of him. However, his palms and fingers incurred third degree burns instantly as he tried.
"What did she tell you… did she say that we were causing ruin… to the world?"
Michael furrowed his brows.
"She… wasn't telling you everything. We want the exact opposite… we wish to save humanity… from an inevitable destruction… we are its zealous protectors… while they… while you are stuck in your ways, saying that we…"
And in the middle of Platinum's tirade about the strife plaguing the two sides, he suddenly stopped and stared at Michael, a realization slowly dawning onto him.
"Ha… haha… you don't even know… You're not… you're not with them, are you?... hahahaha."
This realization brought amusement in the debonair young man's misery. Michael twisted the Unity Saber, causing Platinum to cough out blood.
"Kaghh!"
"Who are you? What organization are you talking about?!"
But Platinum refused to answer, continuing to laugh in irony despite causing even more harm to himself.
"I'll tell you this… forget you even know about us… this is not your fight… you'll only be throwing away your own life fighting a lost cause… we are inevitable."
Michael grabbed him by the cuff of his collars. "I'm not afraid. I'll hunt every single one of you till the end of the earth. I don't doubt at least one of them will tell me the truth."
"Haha.. hahaha… you know nothing, child…"
Platinum's eyes were starting to turn grey, his body slowly tensing taut. The cold, misty energy from his Artifice was turning feeble and insipid as the Unity Saber continued to wreak havoc in his chest.
Michael vigorously shook him awake. He was adamant in getting an answer. This Platinum was no ordinary pawn in their enigmatic organization. If he wanted to get answers about them and the Artifice, there was no better source of information.
This was his only chance, and he wasn't going to let go of it.
"TELL ME!"
Platinum weakly opened his quivering mouth, about to say something. But all of a sudden, his right hand briefly surged with activity, startling Michael.
A prismatic shield manifested around Michael as he braced himself against a last burst of attack.
But it never came.
Instead, Platinum used the last of his strength to reach down into his opened tunic, taking out a gold pendant necklace hidden inside.
Platinum yanked at his own necklace and threw it at Michael at an intense speed.
Michael watched the gold pendant stumbling in the air as it arced towards him.
Upon a cursory glance, its gold chain looked opulent, but was unremarkable and devoid of anything special imbued inside.
But as his eyes focused on the jewel hooked at its center, his heart briefly skipped a beat.
That midnight, sparkling, starry gem emanated a kind of power that made his GodForge pieces tense in trepidation.
It discharged an invisible pressure that exacted obeisance and submission from anyone in its immediate vicinity.
Michael braced himself, a foreboding guess flashing through his mind.
He only felt this kind of pressure from one other person before:
Katarina.
And before he could even react, the midnight gem suddenly shattered into a million pieces as it raced through the air, releasing copious amounts of dark, tenebrous mist.
A shockwave of wind exploded outwards, causing Michael's feet to slew across the ground, his back crashing into a convoluted staircase protruding from the wall.
His prismatic shield shattered, causing him to feel the full extent of the explosive force.
Coughing up a spat of blood, Michael picked himself up from the ground and turned towards the source of that insidious, dark mist.
"I didn't want to use this… but you've forced my hand," Platinum weakly grumbled, forcing himself to sit up.
In front of him, the cloud of gaseous black mist began to condense, creating sharp edges of a humanoid figure donning a fully tenebrous black medieval armor.
"Bow down… to the piece of Nascent Spirit borne from the Grandmaster!"