Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1412: King

Everything had happened so suddenly that George struggled to make sense of the event for a whole second. It was rather impossible that such a strong entity could have sneaked up on his perception, appearing mere meters from him without making waves in the symphony, but that was the undeniable truth.

The King had nonchalantly descended upon the battlefield, leaving his throne of smoke and the cloud’s main body to stand at his warrior’s side.

After noticing that blinding, scorching presence, George couldn’t miss it anymore. Actually, his entire vision focused on it, becoming its center and filling it. George became unable to see anything else, and his grip on his sword and Rodney’s shoulder tensed, seemingly warning him about that terrible development.

Luckily, the King seemed to have no interest in the two human warriors. His calm, emotionless demeanor almost tried to make him appear as a harmless addition to the battlefield, but neither George nor the long-haired alien dared to take him lightly. Their very instincts prevented them from doing that.

The King was slightly shorter and more unassuming than both his underlings. Except for the second horn on his forehead, short black hair, and already scarlet eyes, he had no striking features to speak of.

Still, small tongues of True Chaos rose from the King’s cape, flickering in the air, radiating his vast presence. They were actively releasing their insidious energy into the world, but more refilled them, acting as a constant infection that automatically took over their surroundings.

Actually, that was more than a simple invasion. That denser, brighter, and impenetrable True Chaos replaced the symphony, annihilating it while filling those holes with echoes of itself.

That wasn’t a conscious action. The King wasn’t doing it on purpose. He was an existence opposite and superior to the mana, so much stronger than a whole world that his mere passage left permanent scars on it.

George had seen similar effects whenever Khan was around technology or his emotions went out of control. However, the Scarlet Eyes’ King looked stronger and subtler, like an unavoidable, inexorable, and unstoppable influence that bent the planet to his will.

There was another worrying detail to the scene, too, one that George noticed only after he managed to divert his attention from that blinding presence.

The King’s sudden appearance had shocked George, but the long-haired alien shared that reaction. His now-scarlet eyes were wide as he lowered his head at his leader, not daring to look straight at him.

As strange as it sounded, the long-haired alien appeared more scared than George, making him tense up even further. George might lack the perception level necessary to comprehend the King’s existence, but that odd reaction spoke louder than a thousand words.

The King seemed more interested in the wide streets and distant blocks than in the battlefield. Yet, its state eventually claimed his attention. He glanced at his dead underling’s severed body, lingering in its inspection for a few seconds, before moving his emotionless gaze to his companion.

The long-haired alien shuddered under that rather vague but impossibly heavy gaze, lowering his head even more. The True Chaos flickering over his figure also shrank back inside his body, and the ten worm-like creatures hovering above him followed the same trend.

George had already guessed that the bloated-backed monsters and the Scarlet Eyes’ warriors only borrowed the True Chaos’ real shape, and that scene added clues to that idea.

After all, that retraction didn’t look natural. It wasn’t the long-haired warrior’s doing. The True Chaos that overflew through him was now before its actual leader, so it abided by his silent bidding.

George held his breath, realizing that his sharp existence displayed a similar reaction. Everything he had experienced during his first inspection of the King was there in a far stronger version, but something deeply concerning joined it.

George couldn’t help but feel small before the King. At an instinctive level, he understood that he was inferior. He was standing before something far greater than him, unavoidably triggering profound awe.

That instinctive reaction more than vouched for how outclassed George was, but his partial ignorance was a bliss there. His inability to comprehend the King’s power allowed him to remain straight and ready to battle. His weakness prevented him from panicking, but made him nothing more than an ant too stupid to understand his place in the food chain.

That truth was also why the alien King never threw a single glance at George and Rodney. Only his still-alive warrior was worthy of his attention, albeit barely, and just to admonish punishment for his failure.

Something changed in the long-haired alien’s energy. He lifted his head, pointing his pleading, ashamed gaze at the King, but to no avail.

The long-haired alien’s True Chaos raged, pushing from inside his body, bloating it. His figure twisted, expanding oddly, gaining disgusting features similar to the two-headed creatures leading the black smoke’s charge, until his flesh’s structural integrity gave in.

The evolved warrior who had almost killed Rodney exploded, unleashing all the energy he possessed, releasing glowing black rivers on the spot. The event looked similar to what the bald alien had displayed after his death. Except that George found nothing harmless in it.

The rivers had no precise targets. They expanded everywhere as if a whole sea had appeared in that small location and was now planning to occupy as much space as possible.

Some of those raging waves headed for George’s position, ready to overwhelm, submerge, and annihilate him. His very existence understood that nothing would be left of him if he let that True Chaos wash over him, so his blade moved, guided by his subconscious.

George instinctively let go of Rodney, his figure shining with an ominous dark silver light as he wielded his sword with two hands and pointed it forward. He didn’t dare to perform any slashes since he knew they would be pointless. George only stood in his place, transforming into a sharp boulder, planning to split the tide.

In less than a second, the glowing black tide was upon George, splitting at the clash with his existence. Raging smoke flowed at his sides and above, but his location remained relatively safe, surviving inside those waves.

Nevertheless, the event was short-lived. George was nothing more than a pebble trying to alter a sea’s course. His sharpness receded, devoured by the black wavers’ influence. He used that pressure to purify his existence, planning to achieve a superior state once more, only for a crack to appear on his silver sword.

The trusty blade that had cleaved through an evolved warrior broke, splitting into shards that the now unhindered tide devoured. Those gaseous waves headed for George next, erasing his presence through their mere vicinity.