Chaos Heir

Chapter 1570: Illusions

The missing limb featured no blood or injuries. Anything below Lord Enforcer’s right shoulder was simply gone, as if it had never existed in the first place.

The Royal Guard only saw a stump with no scars or cauterized tissue. A healthy layer of his red skin hid his shoulder’s insides, but that wasn’t how amputations worked. His eyes had to be lying to him.

Knowing the kid-like King’s ability, that conclusion was quite easy to reach. The missing arm had to be another illusion, just like the lake, the labyrinth-like barrier, and the current pitch-black environment were. The problem was that Lord Enforcer couldn’t tell the difference now.

Earlier, Lord Enforcer had always been able to sense the world and its rules, feeling how they had been altered or hidden. That allowed him to force them to work correctly again, basically negating his opponent’s ability.

Yet, now, Lord Enforcer couldn’t sense the real world anymore. Even his unique connection to the environment’s rules was useless since he only felt what the surrounding illusions wanted him to feel.

That fake reality was unbelievably real, featuring a set of separate rules that Lord Enforcer’s element could only empower.

The tables had turned. Lord Enforcer had chosen to fight that King due to his element’s value in that specific fight, but the opposite had become true now. That innate advantage seemed to be gone. Actually, it had become a glaring weakness.

Yet, Lord Enforcer experienced no disappointment or shock. He felt no hesitation or dread in front of that suddenly unfavorable battlefield. Even the apparent loss of his right arm couldn’t make his machine-like emotional spectrum waver.

That firmness could look like confidence, but Lord Enforcer had no need for such trivial emotions. He only acknowledged the Empire’s pride and his Emperor’s order. His leader had told him to bring honor to the Empire, and that was exactly what he planned to do.

The pitch-black environment gave Lord Enforcer the impression of floating, but he knew that was another trick. He was neither standing nor flying, but his figure remained straight and still as if either of those things were happening.

That wasn’t an illusion. It was a rule of that deception, which Lord Enforcer could easily test. He could still see, so his eyes had to be an exception, and he pointed them down to look at one of his thumbs.

The Royal Guard moved his thumb, only for the entire finger to disappear, leaving behind a fake stump similar to what had replaced his right arm.

Usually, Lord Enforcer would try to gather more data before reaching a conclusion, but his predicament seemed quite obvious. Somehow, that illusory world forced everything that moved to disappear.

Nevertheless, as if to deny what Lord Enforcer had just discovered, something moved all around the Thilku. Waves of energy as black as his surroundings converged in different spots, quickly forming various figures he could recognize.

The kid-like King joined the Royal Guard in that illusory dimension. However, there were twelve of them, all identical and forming a spherical encirclement around the Thilku, surrounding him from every direction.

The King, or Kings, didn’t feature his new wings, but his two horns were long and made of smoke, depicting his ascension. Yet, all twelve copies smirked playfully while showing their hands, which now featured fuming claws instead of fingers.

Being trapped in such a strange environment while surrounded by so many copies of a formidable opponent could be utterly terrifying, especially since moving would lead to disappearance.

However, Lord Enforcer showed no emotions at all. He also remained utterly still, even when the twelve copies shot at him, lunging forward with their clawed hands.

And those claws pierced the defenseless Lord Enforcer, stabbing him all over, sending genuine pain through his synapses. Warm blood even flowed down those injuries, telling the Thilku how real all that was.

Yet, Lord Enforcer didn’t react and remained completely still.

That stillness disappointed the King. His twelve copies all pouted and started stabbing again, their claws digging deeper every time, only for Lord Enforcer to remain unresponsive.

The King’s assault turned into a tantrum that left Lord Enforcer bleeding all over. Still, his continuous unresponsiveness eventually made the King sigh in disappointment, and one of his copies finally slashed at the Thilku’s head, severing it in one move.

Lord Enforcer should have died. The many injuries that littered him were enough to kill him, let alone losing his head. His vision also went dark for a second, but life didn’t abandon him yet.

The world in the Thilku’s eyes lit up pretty soon. The complete darkness from before was no more, replaced by a glowing and quite bright blackness. He found himself on a lake similar to what had once covered the area. Yet, its surface was far from calm.

Lord Enforcer somehow stood on that liquid, undulating surface, brought up and down by the rising and crashing waves. Moreover, he wasn’t alone. The kid-like King was at some distance in front of him, this time displaying his broad, rectangular, fuming wings.

The King looked quite displeased, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. Lord Enforcer had overcome the previous illusion without any effort. He didn’t even flinch, making the experience quite a letdown.

On top of that, Lord Enforcer didn’t even bother checking himself after the environment transformed. His right arm and left thumb had returned, and his injuries had also disappeared, but he took that development for granted, as if he had always known things would end like that.

That wasn’t fun at all for the King, but a happy smile soon returned on his face. The first layer was always the easiest to overcome, but the others wouldn’t be so kind to the Thilku. His element was bound to get more and more in the way.

Nevertheless, to the King’s surprise, Lord Enforcer’s aura rose, finally conveying a trace of emotion. He closed his eyes and lifted his head to the sky, his presence seemingly morphing due to the change in his mindset, which culminated in a calm but powerful statement.

"[For the Emperor]," Lord Enforcer declared in his native language, reopening his eyes and lowering his head, wearing a smile identical to his opponent’s.