Chaos' Heir

The sight was shocking on many levels. Khan had never seen such a big structure, let alone a living being. The gargantuan snake could contend with Zedekiel's immense buildings and probably swallow the giant Leviathan-class ships in a single bite.

However, there were worse aspects to the scene.

Khan had learned to hear the universe's entropy's call. His evolution had put him closer to that fundamental aspect of the world, allowing him to enhance, exploit, and draw power from it.

Everything wanted to fall apart, and the same went for living beings. Yet, the latter had wills that could oppose that fundamental law, and some even had the power to overcome it.

So, Khan only needed to draw upon his element's core nature to gauge how destructible something was. It wasn't a precise evaluation and didn't even follow typical measurements. It was closer to an instinctive feeling, a vibe Khan could smell with a decent degree of precision.

That told Khan much about his opponents, enabling him to focus on structural weaknesses. However, it could also cause shock, and the snake almost pushed that feeling further, turning it into despair.

There was no denying it. The Great Old One was the toughest thing Khan had ever inspected, and that feeling came solely from its body. The only being Khan could compare it to was the Thilku Emperor, but he understood the vast but unclear difference between them.

At first sight, the Thilku Emperor felt stronger than the snake, but that evaluation originated from a flawed perspective. Truthfully, Khan couldn't study the Great Old One's entire existence. The ancient creature had mana that could be inspected, but it also relied on something Khan couldn't see or understand.

After a lifetime spent in the world of mana, Khan finally set his sights on something that escaped its system. He had already witnessed something similar on Ecoruta, but that incomplete project was nothing compared with what hovered at some distance from him.

However, that discovery didn't shake Khan as much as it should have. His nightmare had already taught him about the mana's enemy, which most likely wielded a different kind of energy. Those alternative powers did exist and were strong enough to survive the Nak's genocidal and suicidal expansion, and Khan had just met one of them.

Now, Khan just had to kill it.

"Let it shake," Khan responded. "The galaxy can burn for all I care."

Khan stretched his arms to his sides, and thunderous noises raged through the clear sky. Unreasonable, wild urges condensed in his palms, taking the shape of lightning bolts he wielded like spears. His skin broke under their crackling violence, but he didn't feel any of it.

Instead, Khan worried more about his surroundings. His glowing eyes remained fixed ahead, but his attention inevitably shifted to the symphony around him.

Usually, Khan's presence would be enough to affect the symphony's nature, transforming it into something that could echo his mana's effects. He had even summoned his spears now, so his influence should be greater by many levels.

Nevertheless, the symphony looked unaffected. It broke under the chaos element's destructive influence but refused to transform, preventing Khan from using some of his best techniques.

The ancient snake did nothing to block that ability but remained the sole culprit behind that terrible situation. The Great Old One had resided on Coravis for millennia, filling its not-waters and atmosphere with its pale green mana. The planet was its home and domain, and a mere ant couldn't change that. Not easily, at least.

That was precisely how Khan was compared to the Great Old One. He was an ant that dared invade an overlord older than humankind's domain. Khan was no more than a foolish child but a bloodthirsty one.

The ancient snake embodied vitality, and the cursed knife's will inside Khan's brain cheered at its sight. The desire to sever it apart and extinguish that seemingly endless life source invaded Khan's brain, and he let it guide his steps.

Khan disappeared, deploying his top speed to appear above the immense serpent. The scaled, coiled body of that ancient monstrosity filled his vision, hiding the raging sea below, but he barely absorbed the sight while throwing the spears at it.

The lightning bolts thundered again, accelerating on their own to shoot toward the gargantuan shape. They didn't care about hitting a specific target, and Khan didn't, either. Missing the giant snake was impossible anyway, so he opted to destroy everything and anything.

The Great Old One's powers surpassed Khan's comprehension but still had to abide by specific laws. Its body was too big to dodge the attack, especially one as fast as Khan's, so the lightning bolts crashed onto its scales and exploded, generating a spectacular explosion.

Two horizontal blinding lines stretched through the sky, reaching both horizons before spheres of purple-red crackling light expanded from their centers.

The air broke, disappearing from existence. The symphony also changed, finally caving in to Khan's influence. The pale green color in Khan's eyes receded, giving birth to areas that carried his influence.

The scene was reassuring for Khan, but what followed wasn't. His element had proven itself capable of piercing that millennia-old domain, but the snake could do the same.

Gales formed and raged through the sky, pushing away the symphony affected by Khan's mana. The Great Old One moved, and the world moved with it, triggering catastrophic events over the simplest gesture.

Khan's hair fluttered in the wind as the reptilian head pierced the lingering, crackling sparks, destroying them as a mere side effect of its rise. The Great Old One didn't bother about the explosion and pointed its mouth at Khan, opening its immense mouth and revealing its two curved, dull fangs, as well as the blinding light at the bottom of its throat.

A thick array of clotted blood vessels covered Khan's body before a pillar of green light enveloped him. The attack had been so vast that even his top speed would have failed to dodge it, prompting him to pour everything he had into his defensive abilities.

Luckily, the attack's destructive properties were relatively low. Khan's skin burned, but the [Blood Shield] held strong, saving him from serious injuries.

However, when the pillar dispersed and Khan became able to study his surroundings, he found no symphony whatsoever. He didn't even find breathable air. Khan only saw a blue planet standing right under him, as well as the deadly dark expanse around him.