Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1628: Debt

The noise brought everyone’s gaze to the sky, where another, slightly different hole had opened in the fabric of space.

That new hole looked strangely stable, as if afraid of closing before it finished serving its purpose. The world on the other side was also dark, but that blackness was empty, not nothingness.

Of course, what followed made the audience lose any interest in the hole in the sky.

A black-haired man crossed the hole, walking in the air, straightening himself after he stepped out of its narrow edge. The sky fixed itself afterward, but something in its very nature seemed to have changed forever.

If any expert had to guess what had changed, they would think that the sky had learned to feel fear.

Khan didn’t immediately look down. He heard his daughter’s happy laugh and felt the countless awestruck gazes on him, but his obscuring vision rose above him, clouding the clear sky to inspect something far beyond it.

Even from there, Khan could somehow hear the separate universe’s last moments. He felt its final breath on his very skin, as well as its disappearance. The world had lost something meaningful, albeit not completely.

Evolved warriors weren’t inconsequential to the universe, and that feature was even greater when it came to Gods. Destroying the True Chaos’ world might have removed the threat it posed, but its sole appearance had left a permanent mark on the laws of existence.

Naturally, that applied to Khan, too, albeit in a more limited fashion. Because of his ascension, living beings now had new horizons of evolution to strive for.

As for the True Chaos, it was gone, but its foundation was forever part of the universe. Given enough time, traces of that higher energy might reappear in different shapes and iterations. Chances were that the very world of mana might be the one to produce it.

Obviously, those were problems for another time. They weren’t actually issues yet or at all. As strong as Khan had become, he couldn’t alter the natural expansion and growth of the universe. He had no interest in meddling with it anyway.

Once Khan turned to look down at the desert, the audience felt as if the sky had gone dark, as if a cloud had obscured the very Sun, depriving their surroundings of colors.

Moreover, the irrational fear the audience was already experiencing deepened. That strange, profound, and primal sensation conflicted with their evolved rationality while feeling incredibly natural, teaching them about the existence of a food chain and their position in it.

It was like everyone in the audience was nothing more than lambs who had just witnessed a wolf approaching their herd. Their only possible responses were to run away or be frozen in fear, and their minds instinctively opted for the latter.

Khan had much to say. Actually, he didn’t, but his status demanded a speech or reassuring words after everything that had unfolded. Yet, the audience couldn’t possibly take priority over the soldiers and forces who had fought in the war and had paid a steep price to win it.

Khan could move at a speed that no one in the area could keep track of, but opted for relatively slower moves. He shot down, avoiding causing a mess while landing gracefully in front of Liiza, his clawed hand already reaching for the baby in her arms.

“She clearly missed me more,” Khan teased, pleased to finally be able to use his voice, leaning forward to kiss Yeza’s head.

Liiza just smiled, doing her best to avoid biting her lower lip while watching Khan making stupid faces to entertain their daughter. Meanwhile, Yeza laughed to no end, reaching for Khan’s black strands to try to pull herself onto him.

Of course, that wasn’t the time to free the little climber. Liiza knew better than to let Yeza annoy her father before he was done dealing with the war’s consequences.

“I half-thought she’d get my hair,” Khan admitted, his sharp fingernails failing to find black strands among Yeza’s full blue head. “But she definitely smells like me.”

“She’ll embody your bloodline in her own way,” Liiza commented, not forgetting to tease her husband. “She’s also my daughter after all.”

“Your Mama is getting possessive,” Khan whispered to Yeza, kissing her head again before straightening his back to escape her grasp. “She is lucky Papa has something important to do.”

Yeza didn’t like Khan’s retreat, but Liiza turned her, rocking her in the hope of distracting her from that interruption.

Khan lingered in the inspection of his wife and daughter a bit longer before his obscuring gaze moved elsewhere. Liiza and Yeza weren’t the only ones who had detached themselves from the main groups. They weren’t alone on the scene, and it was time for Khan to address the other party.

Lord Envoy and Lord Enforcer had remained silent during the reunion out of respect and something else. Now that the war was over, it was time to think about what the fate of the Empire would be, which wasn’t exactly an easy process.

It wasn’t wrong to say that the Thilku Empire’s whole reason for existence lay in its Emperor. That fearsome force was an extension of the Emperor’s element, turning it into its very philosophy of life.

However, the Emperor was gone now.

Moreover, no species had suffered heavier losses than the Thilku. The Scarlet Eyes’ sudden invasion had hit their domain the hardest, and the war in the separate universe had deprived them of their best assets.

As things stood, the Thilku Empire risked collapsing under the weight of its vast domain. In a way, it had even lost the reason behind its endless expansion and the foundation of its core values.

Still, the two Royal Guards weren’t the only ones aware of that issue. Khan obviously understood it, too.

Khan approached the two huge Thilku, stopping in front of them, submerging them in his obscuring light, before lowering his head. He reached for the golden crown, taking it off, before looking at the Royal Guards again to offer it to them.

Then, Khan opened his mouth, and a mixture of words and mental messages resounded throughout the area, perfectly reaching every brain and ear on the vast desert, including the people still rushing to join the gathering.

“Spread the word far and wide,” Khan declared, “For many have witnessed it. A Thilku Lord defeated the God of the True Chaos. A Thilku Lord saved the universe of mana, so the universe of mana will forever owe its life to the Thilku Empire.”

And the suffocating presence somehow intensified even further, as if warning the audience about Khan’s following menacing words. “A debt I’ll make sure the universe of mana won’t forget.”