Chaos' Heir
Chapter 1532: Connection

The ship went dark once again, but its artificial illumination didn’t return at that time. Even the mana barrier around the hull failed, turning the vessel into an unresponsive metal prison.

The troops deployed on the battlefield and the heavy weaponry had it far worse than the ship. Their colorless barriers and tanks stopped providing protection, exposing them to the world made of True Chaos.

That dark but glowing energy started devouring the soldiers’ and weapons’ mana as soon as their defenses vanished, weakening them or halting their functions altogether.

Even the Kros’ mainframe stopped working, landing on the black ground, its enneagram losing its brightness.

The defensive measure the allied front had focused on perfecting had failed it immediately, removing that safer method of surviving the True Chaos’ annihilation and turning that grand display of technological might into nothing more than dead metal.

Of course, the allied front had prepared for that eventuality. It simply was something it had wanted to avoid, no matter what, due to the immense disadvantage it brought.

Technology was the regulated universe’s only real edge against that opponent, so losing it before the fight could even break out was a decisive blow to the army’s morale.

Nevertheless, it was too late to turn back, and the odds had never been favorable anyway. The soldiers were also elites, so they promptly switched to their backup plans under their leaders’ orders, and the same went for the ship.

The scientific division had improved the experimental fuel and the channels where it flowed. Yet, stability and safety had opened the path for weaknesses that the initial, wilder version lacked.

As long as the scientists were willing to fry the ship, they could turn it back on and force it to function again, albeit for a far more limited time.

The soldiers had a similar backup plan. The artificial organ was indeed the safer and better option, but a direct injection of the mutagen was still a viable strategy, which their predicament made mandatory.

However, before the scientists and soldiers could resort to those dangerous backup plans, everything resumed working. The colorless membranes lit up again, the Kros’ sphere and the weapons it had connected itself to came back to life, and artificial illumination returned inside the ship.

Initially, most of the evolved warriors inside the reinforced room believed that development was the result of the backup plans. Yet, they soon noticed that something was off.

Ilman and the Emperor had remained unaffected by the sudden return of the artificial illumination. They were also ignoring the holographic screens, glancing at a third figure even more distracted than they were.

Liiza was alone, her eyes closed while her fingers pressed on her mouth, committing the fading warmth on her lips to memory. She had already memorized it long ago, but wanted to cling to it a little longer since it could be her last time experiencing it.

Of course, rather than Liiza’s curious stance, Khan’s absence was what stood out the most. He wasn’t anywhere inside that reinforced room, but his presence soon returned, albeit in the form of images on the holographic screens.

’I really didn’t want to do this,’ Khan cursed, walking in the air above the arrangement of weapons and troops, his mind assaulted by countless external connections.

Khan felt everything, from the experimental fuel running through the Leviathan-class ship to each of the soldiers’ individual auras. He experienced their nature and power, knowing he had a certain level of authority over all that.

After all, that was what Khan had trained toward before heading for the Nak’s home world. He could affect other people’s mana and that energy in general through sheer strength of will.

Needless to say, that ability had only deepened after inheriting the mana’s legacy. Actually, Khan had lost the chance of making it reach its full potential when he rejected the Nak’s offer, but even that weaker version still had its uses.

Khan hadn’t lied when he claimed that he was the mana. His status as sole heir of the original version of that energy made that statement factually accurate, and the troops finally experienced what it meant for them.

The colorless barriers, the blue illumination, and the Kros’ sphere enneagram had resumed shining, but purple-red colors gradually joined them.

The soldiers saw a similar event unfolding on their own bodies, despite the differences in species, equipment, and elements. Traces of Khan’s iconic chaos started shining from them, eventually solidifying into something they could recognize.

Tiny, harmless sparks materialized over the soldiers, the colorless membranes, the firing line, the Kros’ sphere, and the Leviathan-class ship, seamlessly fusing with their energy.

That fusion brought a degree of empowerment, but its main difference lay elsewhere. Everyone soon noticed how the surrounding True Chaos failed to affect them any longer. If anything, it took the soldiers and equipment less energy to resist its annihilating influence.

As for Khan, he had to close his eyes to endure the assault of those hundreds of external connections while delivering precisely the amount of empowerment they could withstand. He even raised a hand, using that unnecessary gesture to help him in the process.

Lifting and lowering the hand altered the sparks’ intensity, occasionally pushing them toward the hosts’ critical point, putting their lives or structural integrity in danger.

Khan felt that, too, and pushed aside the annoyingly strange comfort he experienced when delving deeper into that ability to find the right balance and fix it in place.

Eventually, Khan closed his hand, and the various sparks flashed once before severing their connection with him, becoming part of the beings or technology they had attached themselves to.

Khan heaved a deep sigh as those external connections finally receded, leaving his mind alone. He honestly didn’t like that innate authority, but it did come in handy, and his preferences couldn’t matter when lives were at stake.

It was also annoying that the surrounding True Chaos ruined Khan’s following deep breath. He wanted to steady his mind and forget about the recent experience, but that antithetical energy prevented him from relaxing, making him stare ominously at the distant veil of smoke.

However, something else caught Khan’s attention. He looked down, finding all the soldiers staring up at him. Even the Kros’ sphere had pointed its enneagram at him, too shocked to have any words scrolling to it.

"Well?" Khan wondered, spreading his arms, nodding toward the distant enemy shrouded in darker-than-black smoke. "Universal threat? Go fight it?"

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