Supreme Paragon Reborn: Humanity's Rise To Galactic Supremacy-Chapter 353: Fair Exchange

"Far... we are unbelievably far from our home planet."

The Echo answered calmly.

"As for why... My current goal is to cause havoc across the universe and draw the attention of the alien races away from my real self. Since my existence is apparently bound to your spirit and solely depends on your life, I will have to request that you accompany me on my journey in order to ensure your safety... Hopefully, you don’t have anyone on Earth that you care about."

Although his tone was heavy and ragged, there wasn’t a trace of ill intent to be found.

Queen Seer’s lips parted, but no voice came out. She needed a few seconds to regain her composure.

Her mind raced. She had succeeded in summoning Michael’s Echo? The man she had set her sights on really was a Regressor, just as she had suspected? Somebody that powerful really exists?

"An oracle is a lonely existence. Usually, any family ties are shattered by fate, while the rest regard us as abnormals... so I’m not really going to miss anyone there, anyhow."

Nodding, the Echo diverted his attention back to the alien in his grasp.

Upon closer inspection, Seer concluded that the being was, or at least had once been, of the Titan tier, only to have lost a great amount of its spiritual energy, leaving it helpless.

Deliberately, the Echo took one of its claws, broke it painfully, and threw it into the fire, causing more muffled screams to escape from the tormented alien.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Seer didn’t feel pity for the alien, of course. She was a soldier of humanity and despised their existence like any other. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

What she couldn’t comprehend was why a being as fearsome as the Echo would bother to torture the creature.

Michael’s Echo halted once more.

"We will be spending a lot of time together from now on, so there is no point in keeping secrets, I suppose... During my original life, I got into a relationship with a woman. Supreme Lord Nicole, you know her, no doubt."

He sighed, or at least attempted to, yet his chest didn’t appear to move.

"One thing led to another, and long story short, she was to conceive our child. Until a certain being killed her along with my daughter. I don’t think humanity has yet learned about the Gros’fag race... not that there is any point now. With not much to do, I reckoned I could make a short trip and genocide them."

Tearing off the Titan’s left limb, he threw it into the fire.

"Funnily enough, I realized something that had eluded me the first time I exterminated them. The one who slew my beloved had an offspring of its own. So, in what I deemed a fair exchange, after erasing their race, I condemned its child to an eternity of suffering beneath the grey flames. While its parent was forced to watch helplessly as I tore it apart piece by piece, casting its remains into the very same inferno as its child."

The Echo paused briefly.

"My real self has certainly been looking forward to eradicating these creatures himself, but I am not willing to compromise on this. He may view it as payment for me keeping the alien gods away from him in the meantime."

With his explanation finished, he continued. The muffled screams and the sound of fractures as the Titan was being torn apart resumed.

Fortunately, the Titans were resilient creatures, clinging to life with unrelenting desperation. Meaning the creature could endure an unreasonable amount of abuse and still remain, in some twisted capacity, alive.

Eventually, only its head remained. Its single central eye had dimmed, a gash torn open at the back of its skull, brain marrow spilling out. Rendering it far too helpless to use its well-known psychological attacks that had tormented the human troops in the Echo’s memoirs.

"I didn’t expect to feel good, but..." The Echo admitted, throwing the last remains into the fire. "I had hoped the numbness would disappear... If only for a few short moments."

Seer was still in disbelief. She could more or less conclude that she had lost consciousness for no more than a week. In that short period of time, the Echo had genocided an entire race and traveled far beyond the solar system, perhaps even beyond the Milky Way Galaxy, while keeping her utterly unharmed?

"There is a reason for the fire besides the torture." The Echo interpreted her thoughts.

"In addition to vengeance, agonizing a Titan is meant to provoke and draw any nearby aliens toward us. It’s easier if they come out themselves and don’t try to hide."

The Echo leaned backward.

"I may be back, but I am too weak at the moment. I command only a fraction of my original power. It will take time to accumulate it back up."

Seer’s upper lip trembled as she observed the wave of destruction and the Titans slain with a single attack.

"This is considered... weak?" She gulped.

Michael’s Echo nodded soberly.

"It is. There’s no point in sugarcoating it. Every understanding you might have held until now is irrelevant. Up until now, you’ve been nothing more than a big fish in a small puddle. Right now, you’re about to take a plunge into the vast ocean for the first time."

She took a deep breath.

"O—Okay, I understand." Acceptance finally began to settle in.

"What are we going to be doing from now on?"

It was an ironic question coming from an oracle, yet considering the being she spoke to, she didn’t delude herself that she knew more about the future than the Echo.

He leaned forward, the grey flames casting a fearsome shadow over his dark armor.

"I may be weak, but you are powerless... Utterly helpless. To the point that if the wrong being merely looks at you, it will seal your demise and, by extension, mine."

The Echo let the words sink in.

"So, I will ensure that you ascend to an Empress... The first humanity has ever known."