Chaos Heir

Chapter 1624: Glare

Khan was dead by every definition of the word. His physical and mental functions had completely halted. His chest also featured a bleeding, gaping hole, which one of his most vital organs was supposed to occupy.

Nothingness was devouring the area. The spherical, cracked curtain that was the fabric of space never stopped receding, enforcing non-existence that went beyond what the laws of physics could explain.

Khan’s corpse was being pulled into that nothingness, its destination unclear. Chances were that no destination existed in the first place, but the issue hardly mattered at that point. After all, those were problems for the living.

The epilogue to Khan’s journey had finally arrived, and there were far worse ways to go. Actually, all things considered, Khan should feel proud about his performance.

Despite so much being stacked against Khan from an early age, he had still accomplished the impossible.

Khan had gone from a random nobody living in Ylaco’s slums to leading the greatest alliance among different species the universe had ever seen into the most important war of their time.

On top of that, Khan had won. Sacrifices had been made, but the True Chaos’ God was no more. The universal threat was gone. The joint front and the world as it knew it were finally safe for good, at least from dangers to its very way of life.

Sure, Liiza and the rest of the army were still in danger, but they weren’t exactly pushovers. The collapse of a universe wasn’t something they had been ready to face, but chances were they could overcome the threat.

Therefore, there was little sadness to be found in that epilogue. The odds had been so terrible that Khan’s death was almost a mathematical necessity, something he had defied by enjoying the last part of his life free from his curse and in the company of a family he had never believed possible.

That conclusion might look unfair from Khan’s perspective alone. Yet, when considering what had been at stake during the war, it was quite perfect and poetic.

The mana had been the main character, creating a champion who had ultimately achieved mutual destruction against its destined enemy, freeing the universe of beings too great for its safety.

The fact that Khan had planted seeds in the form of Yeza and his still-unborn child was already the best victory he could have hoped for.

Marks of a life that had nothing to do with that universal mission would continue to exist, forever vouching for Khan being more than the grim fate the world had enforced on him.

Khan had been a husband and a father. He had loved and had enjoyed nightmare-less nights. He had also ensured his family’s safety. His life had been fulfilling and complete in many ways despite the destiny the world had decided for him.

Nevertheless, Gods were beyond fate. They were beings outside the universe’s patterns.

The True Chaos’ God was no more. The entirety of his existence and the fuming energy that had made him had dispersed, pushing aside the cracked fabric of space to disappear into the all-devouring void.

However, be it out of luck, destiny, or some sort of poetic justice, a lump of that divine True Chaos still existed, wanting to disperse, but trapped inside something that even the universe and the nothingness couldn’t affect.

Khan’s final blow had been a simple bite. It had been an attack that had relied on his canines’ deadly properties to kill the God for good, but that gesture originally had more basic and primitive purposes.

Khan’s attack did mainly serve the purpose of killing the God, but he had also bitten off some of his True Chaos in the meantime. That divine energy had ended up in Khan’s mouth and didn’t leak outside despite his parted lips.

It seemed Khan’s mouth was a cage that kept anything from escaping. Anything that ended up between his teeth became his by right, granting it a single, specific purpose.

That lump of True Chaos dispersed into raw energy, but nothing happened. Khan’s functions were completely offline, so that process only ended up filling his mouth.

That was until a whiff of the released raw energy entered Khan’s throat, causing an instinctive twitch in his tissues that brought back online its most basic function.

The energy in Khan’s mouth instantly disappeared, not even given the time to understand that it was being devoured.

At the same time, the hole in Khan’s chest released even more blood, but with a purpose now. That red liquid didn’t simply leak from the gaping wound. It amassed inside the hole, condensing and transforming, becoming solid to give Khan what he needed.

Proper blood vessels formed inside the hole, followed by tissues, muscles, and ultimately bones. Khan’s body restored what the obscuring ray had obliterated, fixing itself completely in no time.

Nevertheless, a whole body wasn’t enough. Even with the new heart and the gaping hole closed, Khan didn’t awaken. After all, organs were pointless if they didn’t work.

But then, something crackled inside Khan. A single, short instance of redness flashed inside him, culminating in a heartbeat that somehow resounded through emptiness and nothingness.

The heartbeat was so intrusive that the entire cracked curtain shook, forgetting that it was dispersing and falling apart. Something greater than the universe’s collapse had unfolded, and the world itself had to be in awe of it.

However, the fabric of space was too far gone. The interference was short-lived since its dispersing trend had too much momentum. The collapse that had long since crossed the critical point resumed.

Still, something suffocating followed, unleashing more than a simple interference. Everything froze, seemingly too scared to move. The fabric of space was already dying, but an instinctive fear invaded its very nature nonetheless, threatening it to remain still.

Then, an obscuring light began to shine in the area, piercing through the nothingness to illuminate the motionless, cracked curtain. Khan had opened his eyes, and his silent glare was enough to compel that collapsing universe to obey him.