Chaos' Heir

Khan had just come out of his last training session with the toxic pool. His mindset was still unstable and carried the chaos element's unreasonable influence. He managed to get through the meeting without causing a mess, but Bruno's presence and words quickly affected that sliver of self-control.

The issue went beyond the heavy, constant threat Bruno radiated. The evolved warrior seemed aware of Khan's troubling thoughts. He knew what Khan dreaded about his future, and his answers only deepened his worry.

"Follow me," Khan eventually announced, revealing part of his real speed as he stormed out of the training hall.

Bruno remained in his position, faintly smiling while closing his eyes. He didn't move, but his figure suddenly disappeared.

Convoluted thoughts raged in Khan's brain as he reached the nearest balcony and flew outside. The chaos element's unreasonable drives fueled them, adding violence to each desire.

Khan wanted to get stronger to protect what he loved and fend off any potential danger. He didn't care about what he could become as long as no one dared to threaten his freedom or friends.

At the same time, Khan wasn't willing to lose Monica, the other people close to him, and the domain he had built through blood and sweat. Even if he were a walking calamity, he still wanted to preserve his love and keep it in his grasp.

Nevertheless, the more Khan learned about his element and the path toward the higher levels, the more disillusioned he became. He was no human. Khan lived and experienced a different world from everyone else. Those two sides of his life had no common trait, but he wanted to retain both anyway.

Khan's unwillingness and apparent dead end only intensified the violent aspects of the chaos element. His mana embodied unreasonable freedom. If a path to fuse those two sides didn't exist, he would create it in the only way he knew.

"[Be it planting countless flowers]," Khan muttered in the Nele language while gracefully landing in an open desert area in the quadrant, "[Or creating bloody rivers]."

"Was that the Nele language, young Prince?" Bruno's voice resounded in the area while his figure reappeared a few meters from Khan. "I don't know the language myself, but the accent I recognize."

Bruno's sudden appearance didn't surprise Khan. He wasn't even shocked he had managed to keep up with him. Still, Khan's senses noticed the same odd detail as before. In his mind, Bruno didn't move at all.

"You were already here," Khan commented, his voice barely a whisper.

"Truly incredible, young Prince," Bruno praised. "Your understanding of mana is terrific. I wish we could discuss it instead of resorting to such barbaric methods."

"I don't work like that," Khan announced, glancing at the evolved warrior. "What's your element?"

Bruno revealed his usual, genuine smile before speaking. "I'm a mountain, young Prince. I existed millennia ago and will exist millennia in the future. That's why I'll always be here."

Philosophy wasn't Khan's strong point. In many ways, he was a simple person. He liked his spicy chicken, his booze, and Monica's butt. He would feel more than fulfilled with those three things. Yet, Khan had also learned the profound ways of talking with the mana so he could think of a rebuke.

"Water pierces the mountain," Khan said. "Chaos shatters it. How many planets did humankind's missiles level, too?"

"But a mountain will always exist," Bruno declared. "Somewhere, sometimes, a mountain will exist."

Khan's eyes inspected Bruno from head to toe before his hand snapped forward. A purple-red needle flew toward the evolved warrior, slamming at the center of his chest and exploding. The violence of the chaos element unfolded, ripping off Bruno's military uniform, but once everything ended, his chest only showed a small crack.

The symphony around Bruno trembled, seemingly echoing the crack's appearance. Still, everything soon returned peaceful and silent. Khan had diverted his eyes for only an instant, but bringing them back to Bruno showed the absence of any injury.

"The chaos element is indeed terrifying," Bruno commented, inspecting his now-intact chest. "Such destructive power. However, chaos alone shouldn't be able to do this."

Bruno looked at Khan, his aura expanding through the symphony. The entire area went silent and invisible, but Khan could feel it inspecting him. His mana grew wilder, ready to burst out, but Bruno promptly retracted his influence.

"Incredible," Bruno exclaimed. "You are almost an evolved warrior while in the fourth level. That's unheard of, young Prince."

Khan didn't immediately answer. He knew his understanding of mana had already surpassed the fifth level, and the same went for his senses. Adding his alien skills to the equation made his spells and abilities far stronger than the average warrior.

Nevertheless, Khan also knew his body wasn't up to par yet. The transformation and the training with the toxic pool had improved it, but he still needed to complete the process and finish filling it. In other words, he was pushing the container toward that superior realm but still needed to load it with mana afterward.

"Do you know what I'm becoming?" Khan asked.

"Yourself, young Prince," Bruno explained. "Your body will gradually start reflecting your element's properties. The evolution will be complete once it becomes one with it and is full of mana."

"Are you saying your skin is rock?" Khan wondered. Explore new worlds at m,v l'e-m|p y r

"Hilarious," Bruno laughed. "I'm afraid it isn't, young Prince. You must know that mana isn't quite literal. We describe it through words we invented, but they can't encompass its true meaning."

That was an issue Khan had encountered when trying to share his knowledge with people with no understanding of alien arts. Simple words fell short of the true meaning he wanted to convey, making them flawed channels for explanations and teaching.

"Why did you mention the price?" Khan questioned. "Was that concern from a senior?"

"I only wish the best for the Nognes family, young Prince," Bruno chuckled. "You are part of it."

"So," Khan muttered, "I should throw everything away and focus on getting stronger or halt my training and stick to politics."

"As sad as it sounds," Bruno responded. "In my experience, those roads don't meet."

"But I want to be stronger," Khan announced, "Stronger than you, stronger than anyone else. I also want my Fiancée and everyone else at my side."

"Reality often can't match such conflicting desires," Bruno declared. "I understand your youthful drive, but it will pass. Give it a few decades, and your mind will be clear again."

'Two decades,' Khan mocked in his mind. 'I've barely been alive for two decades.'

Bruno's words carried heavy truths. He was right, and Khan had long since started experiencing those effects. However, Bruno couldn't possibly imagine that Khan didn't have much of a choice. Also, he underestimated how unreasonable his element was.

"If reality can't accept my desires," Khan stated, "I'll break it."

"What's breaking it going to solve, young Prince?" Bruno asked, amused by that childish reaction. Still, what followed forced him to take the answer seriously.

"I don't know," Khan admitted, his aura intensifying to invade the symphony closely around him. "I don't care. I only know what I want."

Bruno watched as tinges of violent mana invaded the silent symphony in the area. That wild energy never managed to go too far and only lingered around Khan's figure. Yet, that was enough to create a series of purple-red orbs that quickly morphed into needles.

"I respect your experience," Khan announced. "I welcome it, even. Yet, I'll live how I want and destroy anything getting in my way."

"Anything you want, young Prince," Bruno sighed, smiling. Truth be told, he didn't blame Khan for wanting to pursue that path. Youth aside, his element was also bound to push him into those unreasonable demands.

Still, Khan had said it himself. He would destroy anything in his way, and the universe had many things stronger than him. Bruno was part of it, and proving it to Khan could help him understand the unavoidable reality of the situation.

Bruno merely slid his foot forward, and sandy pillars grew from the ground, converging around Khan to lock him into a dome. That barely was a spell, but Bruno knew it would be more than enough to block the bright needles.

Nevertheless, a wave of invisible mana suddenly burst forward, touching the pillars and awakening an unstoppable reaction. The soil solidified by Bruno's influence crumbled, shattering into piles of sand too brittle to remain in one piece.

A dusty cloud formed in the area, but a strange wind quickly dispersed it, revealing the blinding blue light from Khan's eyes. His face was cold, but Bruno could see he was livid.

"Don't insult me, old man," Khan declared, his anger fueling his aura's intensity, expanding his influence a bit more. "Take me seriously, or don't fight me at all."

"As you wish-" Bruno began to say, but the needles around Khan suddenly shot forward, converging toward the evolved soldier's position.

Bruno paid the attack no heed. The needles slowed down on their own, stopping a few meters from his figure. Khan tried to detonate them, but something suddenly crushed them, flattening their ethereal shape before their energy dispersed.

"Prince Khan," Bruno finished his previous line. "I'm afraid until you leave marks on this old man, your desires will be nothing more than a child's whining."