Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1373: Teleport

The cloud had opened a hole in the dense asteroid field, annihilating celestial bodies, storms, and mana in the path it had crossed, leaving a vast, empty gap in that defensive measure that stretched until the center of that isolated environment.

Nevertheless, despite the gap, the defensive measure had remained active. The asteroids were still in place, and the same went for the azure lightning bolts ricocheting among them. The storm simply stopped at the wide cavity’s edge, releasing sparks into the void, which dispersed since they had lost their following nodes.

Still, once the last of the central azure planet disappeared, the storm stopped raging. Each of its lightning bolts froze in place, halting their destructive crackling to brighten, seemingly accumulating all the energy they were capable of.

The asteroids and the very center of the isolated environment followed the same trend, gaining azure light which instantly brightened until it became blinding. It took less than a second to reach the critical point, leading to a catastrophic explosion.

The explosion’s light dispersed the entire quadrant’s darkness, illuminating as far as its most distant corners. A surge of energy that was bound to be captured by scanners in the far reaches of the regulated universe flared for a few seconds, only to disappear as quickly as it had spread.

The darkness of space returned, revealing its almost complete emptiness. Only a blacker patch had remained inside the quadrant, its seemingly frozen trails of smoke unaffected by the explosion.

The explosion didn’t affect the huge eyes inside the cloud, either. Its scarlet irises remained pointed at where the azure planet had once been, seeing nothing but emptiness. Both the previous celestial body and its occupants had disappeared, leaving no trace of their presence.

The huge scarlet eyes quickly lost interest in that emptiness, its black, gaseous eyelids closing, fusing, and disappearing from the cloud before the latter resumed its flickering.

The black, powerful figures inside the cloud shared that awakening, resuming to function independently but with a singular goal. They all studied their newly empty surroundings, noticing how every trace of the mana had disappeared.

However, that only applied to the Nak’s mana. More traces of that energy existed in the distance, as well as a bright but hidden landmark somewhere.

All the beings inside that blackness ended up turning toward the regulated universe, and the cloud moved toward it, resuming the assault that wouldn’t end until every trace of the mana was gone for good.

At the same time, on a planet inside the regulated universe where the sky was always red due to its light pollution, its heavy air started to shake as space itself twisted and broke down.

The tremors tried to affect the brown ground, but that dense soil resisted that influence, remaining still even when a tiny azure light appeared in the red sky.

The foreign light expanded, taking over the planet’s polluted sky, pushing away its redness until an azure flash spread in the area.

The azure light quickly vanished, revealing a dark, clean patch of the sky and two figures standing at its center. Needless to say, the planet’s powerful gravity immediately made them fall, but they had their ways to counter that pulling force.

Khan obviously recognized the planet and its heavy, unfriendly atmosphere, but his mind was too strained to dwell on those topics. He couldn’t even control his body since his cells were still busy devouring the energy stored under his skin, leaving him to free-fall toward that brown surface.

Liiza was aware of her husband’s state, so she intervened. Khan’s body seemed to slow down on its own, its natural descent crawling to a halt to allow Liiza to step toward him, her feet standing on ice crystals while she put one of his arms around her shoulders.

Khan’s body moved again, attracted by the planet’s gravity, supported by Liiza as she carefully lowered him down. The two soon reached the surface, and Liiza let Khan fall to his knees, only to join him on the brown ground.

That foreign environment tried to claim Liiza’s attention. The couple had teleported to an empty, barren area, but she could sense the immense structures everywhere in the distance. The same went for the raging storms, which couldn’t do anything to disperse the thick stench of synthetic mana.

Nevertheless, those peculiar, unfriendly features never distracted Liiza from the man between her arms. She adjusted herself on the ground, letting Khan lean on her, keeping him steady while his gaze remained unfocused.

Khan had gone overboard during the last stretch of his training session and was now paying the price.

Still, despite teleporting to an empty area, the couple’s arrival didn’t go unnoticed, preventing any necessary break from the previous predicament.

Liiza’s evolution had made her existence somewhat sensitive to space, and her perception had always been incredible, so she didn’t miss how something started to happen above her, claiming her glowing gaze.

The air in a seemingly random spot above the couple twisted, only to be replaced by redder light that seemed to come from a different location. A tall, bald alien also stood at the center of that displaced space, looking down at Khan and Liiza with his red eyes.

Liiza didn’t need to think to identify the newcomer. That was her first meeting with a Thilku, which had ended up featuring an evolved warrior. The latter didn’t even look too friendly, but his stance grew more hesitant and confused when he looked at Khan.

Liiza knew she had to do something. She was no political mastermind, but was aware that her husband was friendly with the Thilku Empire. He was a member and Lord of that fearsome force, but she wasn’t sure which words would work with that evolved alien, especially since Khan wouldn’t be able to corroborate them.

Yet, as Liiza was about to default to her aloof and proud stance, a warm hand clung to her naked thigh, pushing on it. Khan straightened himself up, his focused gaze looking up at the alien, conveying part of the new power he had gained.

"[Old Envoy]," Khan called, employing his perfect Thilku accent. "[I will need my cape and crown]."

Khan wavered, his mind fighting against his awareness to make him lose consciousness. Still, Liiza supported him, placing his back on her chest as he used all his remaining mental strength to muster one last line.

"[And]," Khan continued, "[Tell the Emperor that I brought the war I promised]."