Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1538: Paranoia

The elite group hadn’t created a proper battle strategy. Its only goal was to deliver Khan and the Emperor safely to the True Chaos’ God.

Actually, that goal was implied, too. The God had to die, but no one had appointed Khan or the Emperor for the job publicly. They were the obvious choice, but some things were better left unsaid among that rowdy bunch of eccentric characters.

The lack of strategy led to quite a messy arrangement. The group had never decided on an order for the possible battles, so Ilman and Lord Mighty had ended up intervening together.

Still, that prompt response couldn’t have had a worse combination, which the two evolved warriors’ mutual stance showcased. Both Ilman and Lord Mighty had their arms crossed, inspecting each other, seemingly having a mental contest to decide who would handle that threat.

Khan was in quite the terrible mood to begin with due to that familiar scene, and that embodiment of a splitting headache only pushed his attention elsewhere. He hadn’t forgotten how those twisted woods had launched an attack, and their lingering power placed them in the evolved realm.

Everything else was about uncovering the source of that power, which couldn’t be easier. Stressing the woods was bound to drive out the evolved warrior behind the attack, but nothing of the sort ended up being necessary.

The black and grey trees moved again while Ilman and Lord Mighty were still busy frowning at each other. However, their branches didn’t crack at the group now. Instead, a tremor ran through the woods, making some of the vegetation converge.

A few trees slid over the black ground to fuse, twisting themselves even further and condensing into a humanoid form. An elderly-looking King with short hair appeared before the group, calmly standing on its path.

Typically, the arrival of a True Chaos’ King would put the elite group on its best behavior. After all, that wasn’t an expert anyone could underestimate.

Nevertheless, the elite group had a far bigger problem at hand. Despite the King’s manifestation, Ilman and Lord Mighty were still glaring at each other, not backing down on wanting to be the ones to face that new challenge.

As always, the humans among the elite group didn’t quite follow that dynamic, but only helpless expressions unfolded in their vision when they inspected their more knowledgeable companions.

Luckily, a solution arrived, albeit in a form that few would consider welcome. The uncharacteristic white sky dimmed, its brighter shades condensing into a single spot that descended toward the woods.

The descent split something, creating a noticeable difference between the sky and the incoming presence. A bald King wearing an intense glare arrived in the area, stopping above the woods while revealing the full extent of his mighty presence.

The newcomer looked angry for no real reason, and the bright white area that surrounded him made him stand out from the previous Kings. Still, his arrival only caused smirks to appear on the two idiots who wouldn’t step aside.

"[My Emperor, Lord Mighty will take care of this]!" Lord Mighty promised, shouting.

"My friends, go ahead!" Ilman added, finding instinctive complicity with his fellow idiot. "We’ll handle these two."

Ilman and Lord Mighty had their respective training session to handle in the past weeks. The former also had his pregnant girlfriend to pay attention to, so the two evolved warriors never had a real chance to bond.

Still, Khan knew without a shadow of a doubt that he didn’t want to witness that inevitably idiotic spectacle. The event promised to cause a lifetime of headaches, and he would have no part in it.

"[I’m not telling Jenna about your death]," Khan warned in the Niqols’ language. "[So, don’t die]."

Strangely enough, Ilman didn’t respond with one of his stupid statements. Instead, his expression grew serious, knowing what the stakes for the universe and himself were. He had a family to return to, so he couldn’t take the threat lightly.

Meanwhile, the Emperor didn’t say anything, his silence acting as a show of confidence in his Royal Guard. Actually, it was Lord Blind Sword who broke character, approaching Lord Mighty to bump his sword’s handle on his muscular back.

The gesture put a broader grin on Lord Mighty’s face, but the group didn’t linger in additional exchanges. Khan and the others rushed away, leaving that battlefield to their companions.

The environment didn’t follow any rational or coherent rule. Even a heightened perception felt useless there. The woods seemed to work as a separate space, no different from the pocket universe as a whole, albeit not as perfectly.

The place had no real, striking landmarks that the group could chase to find special paths. Actually, it only had one. The odd white sky was too strange not to mean anything, and a peculiar, unclear aura did accompany its light.

The simple solution would be to cause a mess. Something would have to give if Khan or the Emperor started to unleash attacks on the sky.

However, Liiza and Lord Envoy had already shown a particular proclivity for those space-adjacent fields, so the group instinctively let them continue their inspection while running through the woods.

If anything, that lack of pressing duties gave Khan time to worry about something else. The first time could have been a case, but the second showed a pattern, and Khan could even see a third instance if he chose to listen to his paranoia.

The True Chaos didn’t have to engage in a fair fight. It didn’t need to condense its celestial bodies into a single, big planet. It didn’t even have to entertain the regulated universe’s army, especially with a force that seemed to match it.

The same went for the Kings. Khan could accept that one of them was eccentric enough to prioritize his personal fight over his duty. However, four of those had let the group go now, making it a pattern.

Arrogance could explain that behavior, but Khan didn’t feel like believing that. He actually started to wonder whether his strategy was working or if he was playing in the enemy’s hands.

The companions left behind to buy time would gain a different meaning in that paranoia-fueled version of the story. They wouldn’t be clearing the path for Khan and the Emperor. It would be the Kings splitting the group so that the God could be alone with those experts.