Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1372: Late

As always, Liiza had sensed it before seeing it, but there was hardly any point in that preemptive awareness now.

An all-devouring darkness expanded high in the sky, standing far past the celestial body’s orbit, but being powerful enough to affect that place at the center of the isolated environment.

Despite Khan having absorbed an untold amount of mana, the planet remained bright. Actually, all the energy in various shapes that reached Khan made that area shining, but the distant, expanding blackness seemed able to darken it, too.

The very air around Liiza dimmed, but she didn’t waver. Her arms remained clung to Khan’s neck while she watched the distant darkness expand even further, absorbing as much information as possible.

Numbers didn’t really matter in the evolved realm. One warrior at that level was worth entire armies of mortals. Unless exceptional people like Khan or unique weapons were involved, the superior being would win against the sea of ants.

However, what would happen if an opponent had a sea of superior beings at its disposal?

Liiza didn’t need to consider that question since the answer was unfolding before her very eyes. Khan had been able to alter the weather, giving birth to a catastrophic storm, but the incoming army could affect a quadrant of space.

The universe was powerless to retain its natural shades against that fearsome force. The space itself seemed to shrink back as that army advanced, tainting anything in its surroundings with their blackness.

The distance was still too great for Liiza to capture clear details, but her senses had already updated her on a dreadful truth. The number of evolved warriors in the expanding darkness above was uncountable, and she guessed each one of them had to be equal if not stronger than the scouts she had fought.

Liiza had always had utmost trust in Khan, his potential, and what he could make the regulated universe accomplish, but her resolve tried to waver now. There were simply too many evolved warriors to contend with, and the problems didn’t stop there.

If that was the Scarlet Eyes’ main force, the regulated universe still had hope. The many species inside it probably had an overall similar number of evolved warriors, making those two opposing forces somewhat equal.

However, one force was united under a single banner and wielded an energy that could annihilate and devour the mana.

Meanwhile, the other force was fragmented, plagued by infighting, petty political ploys, and self-preservation strategies. It wasn’t even clear whether it would send all its evolved warriors to fight, and that potential initial loss could have a snowball effect on the entire future war.

There was also the infamous God to take into consideration. Liiza believed she could face one of the Scarlet Eyes’ Kings by herself, even a few of those if she went all-out, but the True Chaos’s God would be for Khan to defeat.

Still, the war was upon the regulated universe, and Khan wasn’t ready. He wouldn’t be even after completing that hurried training session. He didn’t explain in detail, but Liiza had always been able to see his heart, so she knew that sad truth.

“[Don’t even think about it],” Khan warned, fighting against the confusion the white-azure strands he absorbed enforced in his mind. “[Our daughter needs her Mama].”

Of course, Liiza had never considered giving up, especially since running away didn’t seem to be an option. Yet, with Khan being key to the regulated universe’s survival, she had started to have selfless thoughts.

Actually, those thoughts barely managed to form before Khan forced himself out of his unawareness to destroy them.

The deadly situation prevented Liiza from indulging in any teasing, and she believed she didn’t need to update Khan on what was happening. He probably sensed it better than her while absorbing that planet’s energy, but some words of encouragement couldn’t hurt.

“[Hurry up],” Liiza whispered. “[They are almost here, and I’m naked].”

“[Ah]!” Khan cried. “[Don’t you think I know]!”

Liiza had to suppress her smile since she knew Khan wasn’t talking about the incoming army. Still, her words hit the mark since the new [Blood Vortex] somehow managed to pick up even more speed.

More mana flowed into the ten snake heads, adding details to their ethereal bodies. Proper tails finally took shape near Khan, coiled all around his figure, unbothered by his presence.

The technique’s absorption pace intensified, seemingly reaching its peak, and the planet reflected that effect. The horizon quickly grew close enough for Liiza to see its edge. The celestial body had regressed to less than a small moon, almost becoming an asteroid, and the spinning sphere suffered from a similar fate.

Khan had never stopped attracting the white-azure strands of energy, so the spinning sphere had shrunk throughout his training. It was barely head-sized now, and more mana abandoned its rotating shape to fly toward Khan.

Meanwhile, the Nak frozen in space had also seized part of that energy and the surrounding mana. Its figure had become azure again, seemingly ready to use itself as the catalyst for the spell. It was only waiting for Khan, but the opponent arrived first.

The planet’s atmosphere had pretty much disappeared by then. Liiza’s new state allowed her to handle space better, but the visible, approaching darkness it contained promised not to be as kind.

A black cloud that expanded as wide as the eye could see and that sent trails of flickering smoke everywhere flew at high speed through space, crossing the desolate environment inside the barrage of asteroids to reach the azure celestial body.

It was as if a black star was in a crash course toward the shrinking planet, gradually revealing its actual, unfathomable size as it grew closer.

Liiza could spot countless, vague figures among that immense cloud. Despite looking like a singular organism, it contained many powerful lives, and some of those were probably her match.

Once the cloud became close enough, Liiza couldn’t see anything else but darkness. That pitch-black structure had covered the entirety of space above her and looked ready to envelop anything below.

The sky had turned black and was about to fall. Yet, it suddenly stopped right outside what used to be the planet’s atmosphere. Its countless lives all projected their attention on Khan, sending untold heaviness on him, but something even worse followed.

Something darker appeared among the cloud. The entirety of its gargantuan gaseous shape froze. All its smoke stopped flickering while two horizontal lines that seemed able to negate the very existence of light cut through it and began to open.

Liiza had already seen a similar scene. Except that the lines’ opening didn’t give birth to portals into a different universe. They didn’t even become ellipses.

Instead, the lines’ opening revealed white sclera and two massive, scarlet irises. They didn’t look at Liiza, but she felt unable to breathe under their peripheral gaze.

Besides, Liiza also caught a sense of what those huge scarlet eyes represented. They shared the captivating, profoundly wise pull of the white-azure sphere but also carried an oppressive, domineering presence that threatened to squash her very being with its mere existence.

Nevertheless, the last of the surrounding azure light suddenly disappeared, and two new ones arrived. Khan opened his glowing eyes, his snake heads dispersing while he met the oppressive, gigantic gaze above him.

“Too late,” Khan said, his words conveying meanings the frozen Nak understood, instantly turning it into a blue star, exploding with a blinding radiance that reached the very edges of the quadrant.