Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1433: Problems

Khan’s casual mood waned as his body relaxed, making room for the more serious topics that battle had highlighted.

The wild bursts of mana caused by the clash of different strands of energy exited Khan’s body, behaving like purple-red steam that blew out of his figure.

Khan’s cells also relaxed, his muscles losing their burlier state to return him to his still muscular but leaner form. Even the lightning bolt in his hand disappeared as he flexed his arms and stretched left and right, holding back a groan at the faint soreness he experienced.

That slight discomfort was short-lived, but Khan didn’t ignore it. Despite his incredible body, enforcing that full and powerful state had consequences he had to account for.

On the outside, the technique had looked easy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Khan had basically forced his body to reach its physical limits while also replacing his mana with the wilder energy released by applying the Transcendent Step’s theory.

Anyone but Khan would have exploded, suffered crippling injuries, or gone mad at the level of mental control required to keep the technique active, let alone actually using it as the foundation of attacks.

Yet, Khan had come out of it with virtually no side effects, knowing he would need that improvised technique again. He couldn’t use his martial arts’ new proficiency level without it, and that ability would probably be necessary in the battles to come.

The reason for that obviously had something to do with the empty spot at the gargantuan cavity’s bottom that Khan’s eyes had never stopped shining upon.

Khan had more in store and planned to get even stronger, but the King had indeed forced him to fight seriously, at least partially. That didn’t bode well at all, especially since that single victory didn’t speak for the entirety of the invasion.

The Scarlet Eyes’ Kings were stronger than Khan could have predicted, and that problem had no solution. The mutagen could smooth out some details, but no magical fixes existed. The regulated universe had to fight fire with fire, and Khan wasn’t sure it had enough evolved warriors at that level.

Of course, the Thilku’s Emperor was a nice silver lining, but the math still looked grim. Khan didn’t know how big the Scarlet Eyes’ army was, but something told him his side was outnumbered, especially when it came to those superior evolved warriors.

The invasion as a whole was about to vouch for that point. Khan had yet to reconnect with his forces and receive a proper briefing, but could guess how the other attacks had gone. Except for his specific fight, all the other assaults must have ended in his side’s defeat.

‘If I kill the God,’ Khan considered, ‘Will the True Chaos lose power, or will one of the Kings rise to replace him?’

Khan temporarily ignored what killing the True Chaos’ God actually entailed to review his previous guess. Theoretically, if the God were that energy, killing him would remove it, or at least significantly weaken it.

However, the God might have a failsafe in place, especially with the King’s claims about his partial divinity. Something told Khan that going for the head to get the war done quickly wouldn’t be easy or straightforward, and that even before accounting for the God’s actual strength.

The crackling, bright clouds in the middle of the gargantuan cavity kept raging. At the same time, Khan disappeared from the bedrock, reappearing above it and the quadrant’s surface, his gaze inevitably sweeping over the damage he had caused.

What had once been a vast, radioactive desert had now gained a bottomless, immense gorge that expanded as far as the eye could see. Khan had even partially held back to allow Liiza to set up proper defenses, and because he didn’t need to go all-out, but the quadrant’s topography had still drastically changed forever.

That was the level of power that war demanded, and Khan knew no planet could endure it. The catastrophic consequences would be on par with or worse than what the First Impact had caused, making finding a suitable battlefield a problem Khan didn’t know how to solve.

Khan then managed to divert his gaze from the gargantuan cavity, looking in the opposite direction, only to spot more problems of a different nature.

Aynor was pretty much gone. The reinforcements seemed to have finished vanquishing those strange, fuming monsters, but the damage was done. The casualties were uncountable, and that battle was bound to become a permanent scar in Earth’s history.

Also, Khan couldn’t exactly ignore some of the survivors. He still had to hear George’s briefing, question Rodney, who had surprisingly joined the fight for some reason, and address Monica properly. She deserved far more than that brief greeting, no matter how guilty Khan felt.

Colonel Norrett and Major General Arngan would be easy enough to handle, but Khan needed to see where they stood. After all, they were his force’s first evolved warriors, and they had the potential to grow even stronger. Khan actually believed the latter could touch upon the King’s realm, too.

Khan also couldn’t forget how he had left a monster and his four eccentric guards in orbit. The King’s defeat had probably quelled the Emperor’s eagerness to land, but he would have to get down eventually. His presence would be necessary in the unavoidable and impending political meeting.

Because a political meeting was bound to happen, now more than ever. The regulated universe could turn a blind eye to distant, vague threats, but the invasion had occurred within its borders.

Every species had been hit. The Scarlet Eyes couldn’t be more real, so the time for proper interspecies alliances had arrived.

Still, among all that, Khan could only think about reuniting with his daughter and getting a decent night of sleep. He could finally do that. He had spent twenty-three years fighting for that, but the universe prevented him from enjoying that victory.

In response to Khan’s sour mental state, the distant, ethereal dome vanished, only for a white light to shine at his side. Liiza materialized in the air, standing on ice crystals, but limiting herself to an understanding, slightly chilling look.

Liiza was willing to take Khan away if he really needed that break. After all, her loyalty lay with her family. The universe would wait if she said so.

Yet, Khan stretched his right arm toward Liiza, and she shot a helpless glance at him before taking his hand, making their tattoos match as they headed back to what was left of Aynor.