Michael struggled a little bit against the strongest Kitsun before he swapped places with Stinger. Most of the energy he obtained from Extraction was sent right to the Elemental Empress, allowing her to kill more than 400 Kitsun in half a minute.
Her fire spear charges had been successful and the kill count would continue to increase as time passed. But while the Elemental Empress could attack her enemies freely, Michael had been forced to block the advance of five Low Tier-3 Guards and Awakened. Fortunately, that worked out somewhat fine since he possessed enough energy to create a resilient defense and use his reliable firepower to inflict some damage as well.
His energy level was more or less on par with a Tier-4 Awakened. However, he could replenish his energy as well.