W

C502 Side

Gasps and cries tried to resound, but the audience felt unable to breathe. A monster had come out of the smoke, and they feared what it could do.

Khan stood on his left leg, with his right slightly bent to prevent his broken foot from touching the floor. The [Blood Shield]'s full power had been unable to protect his entire body, so some areas were worse than others. The alien technique didn't do anything to the superficial layer of skin either, so burns covered him all over.

The worst burns still let out tinges of smoke, with the most hideous one being on the left side of Khan's head. His ear had survived that assault, but a third of his hair had disappeared, replaced by charred skin.

The smoke enhanced Khan's monstrous appearance, and the retreat of the clotted blood vessels helped even further. Everyone could see the [Blood Shield] disappearing inside Khan's body. It seemed he could control systems no ordinary human should be able to affect.

As for Khan, he struggled to retain a sane mind. Pain invaded him from every direction while wild feelings pushed against that. A proper war had started inside his mind, and his element was winning, granting him the necessary clarity to keep fighting.

'What is that stupid cloud doing?' Khan cursed. The spell was ignoring him to satisfy its desires. It was still helpful for attracting part of the crowd away, but Khan would have better uses for it if he could control it.

A buzzing noise distracted Khan from the symphony, and the appearance of holograms made a few people move aside. It turned out that the swordsman's holographic device had survived the cloud's assault, and new images came out while it rested on the ground.

"Why do you struggle so much?" Mister Chares' voice came out of the device before the holograms could stabilize. "All this killing is pointless. We are on the same side, Captain."

"There is only one side," Khan spoke in a hoarse voice. "My side."

Khan straightened his position, uncaring of his injuries or the single leg keeping him standing. He appeared ready to crumble, but his eyes were completely open, and he pointed them at the holograms before throwing the spears upward.

Explosions resounded while Mister Chares' flickering face and Khan stared at each other. The ceiling could support the entire underground structure, but Khan's spears were beginning to affect its stability. Cracks and holes had already opened, and a single fatal flaw would be enough to start a chain reaction and make everything crumble.

"The cameras are still recording," Mister Chares continued in his cold voice. "How do you think the Global Army will take your actions?"

"Go ahead," Khan stated, joining his palms to create another spear. "Release the footage and show everyone how I respond to threats."

Mister Chares fell silent and watched as Khan threw his new spear to the ceiling. Clearly, Khan was beyond threats. He had also killed, so there was no point in trying to talk reason into him. He had already crossed the line.

"We could have been good allies," Mister Chares commented.

"Next time, send a bottle," Khan scoffed, generating another chaos spear.

"If there is a next time," Mister Chares stated, and the holograms disappeared.

Khan launched the new spear upward, uncaring of the conversation. He had only one goal, and destroying the ceiling was the way to achieve it.

Instead, the audience didn't take Mister Chares' words too well. In their minds, Mister Chares had left them on their own, and noticing another stunning detail intensified their panic.

Khan didn't even wait for the spear to explode before generating another one. That was his eighth big spell, and he had cast it after suffering injuries and intense fighting. In theory, he should be almost exhausted, but the surprises for the audience were far from over.

The audience saw Khan throwing the spear at the ceiling and summoning another without bothering to catch his breath. His resilience and appearance had already entered the realms of monsters, but his mana pool seemed to surpass that.

"S-shoot him down!" One worker stammered in her panic, and the rest of the audience snapped awake. All their fears fused into a single goal. They had to kill Khan before he made the ceiling crumble.

Khan threw the spear at the ceiling while a barrage of attacks converged on him. He could feel them getting closer and threatening to turn his injured body into a charred pulp, but no fear existed in his mind. He only felt anger.

"I told you to evacuate!" Khan shouted, and a clicking cry fused with his voice as flares of mana shot out of his body.

The defensive spell took care of the bullets, but the third-level warriors' attacks were too much for it. Yellow flames had gathered around Khan to create a dangerous vortex that grew stronger with each rotation, and a dense dark sword had materialized above him.

The flames and sword drew closer, piercing the purple-red flares in an attempt to crash on Khan at the same time. Meanwhile, a clicking cry continued to escape his mouth, sending more power to his mana and conveying something that only his ally could understand.

A second cry joined Khan's shout while the spells made their way through the defensive technique. The cloud heard Khan's anger and echoed it while flying at full speed toward him.

The cloud didn't abide by common sense. Shelves, boxes, and people stood in its way, but it flew straight through them, leaving a trail of destruction behind.

When the attacks grew too close, the spherical version of the Wave spell expanded from Khan's body, pushing away the flares still lingering around him. The yellow flames couldn't hope to fight the chaos element's destructive power, and only the blade survived for a bit before crumbling under Khan's offensive.

Khan sent mana to his right hand while the Wave spell expanded. A blade grew from his fingers, and he didn't hesitate to point it at his side.

Wayne had charged forward, uncaring of his broken skin or threatening mana before him. He had slammed head-on on the Wave spell, using his bare hands to carve a path through its destruction, but his eyes widened in surprise when he found the glowing blade pointed at his face.

Khan couldn't really move in that situation, but Wayne didn't have it any easier in the middle of the Wave spell. The blade had made him stop his advance, dispersing his accumulated momentum and forcing him to give in to the chaos element's push.

Wayne flew away, and the Wave spell dispersed. Only the glowing blade in Khan's hand was still bright when the cloud reached his side.

"Took you long enough," Khan said in a hoarse voice before stabbing the blade into the cloud. His gesture carried no ill intentions, and the spell suffered no damage. Instead, it absorbed that bright mana to grow even stronger.

As soon as the cloud sucked the blade dry, Khan joined his palms to summon another spear. The action brought all the attention back on him and almost led to another barrage of attacks, but his ally managed to distract his opponents.

The cloud released a deafening cry while its surface grew unstable. The spell seemed on the verge of exploding, and bumps that looked like bubbles ready to burst rose on it.

The bumps grew while the cloud's cry continued to echo through the hall. The event made the crowd step back and lose their grip on the weapons, but the spell attacked before they could retreat.

The bumps transformed into spikes that stretched from the cloud to reach the audience. There were less than ten of them, but their destructive power appeared immense since they pierced metal, flesh, and bones without meeting any resistance.

The spikes didn't stop at the first opponent. They stretched for many meters, reaching deep parts of the crowd before moving in multiple directions. People got cut left and right without ever getting a chance to defend themselves.

Khan's position didn't allow the cloud to cover the entirety of his surroundings with those spikes, but his focus was elsewhere. No one was attacking him, so he threw the spear at the ceiling before preparing another.

However, when Khan completely summoned his new spear, a peculiar tremor ran through the symphony and made him lift his gaze. The detonation of his previous spell was still unfolding, but a crack soon peeked past the purple-red radiance and spread through the rest of the ceiling.

The crack's edges bent, and new fissures spread from them as the ground above pressed on the ceiling. The metal screamed, and the hall began to tremble. Then, a small chunk of bluish ice fell, causing a chain reaction that made everyone forget about the battle.

More ice fell as the ceiling bent in different spots before breaking altogether. Many artificial lights went dark as the small debris transformed into proper boulders. Chaos was descending into the hall, but Khan only saw a path toward the outside world.

The cloud shared Khan's feelings and didn't hesitate to interrupt its offensive to shoot upward. After all, freedom was its deepest desire, and Khan exploited it to create the path he needed.

Khan jumped with one leg and repeatedly stomped it after ending in the air. He chased right behind the cloud, ready to support it with his mana if its power faltered. Yet, he wasn't the only one with similar intentions. Wayne had never once panicked, and seeing Khan fly away made him follow him.

Wayne obviously couldn't fly. He had to jump on a shelf and a falling boulder to hope to reach Khan's broken ankle. However, a blinding glow filled his vision when he was almost about to arrive at his destination. Khan had let go of his last spear, which exploded in Wayne's face and pushed him back to the floor.

Khan didn't turn even once during the climb. He kicked and kicked, sending mana in every direction whenever the cloud created a path too narrow for him.

Ice, rocks, and chaos element filled Khan's vision. Sometimes, debris managed to land on his body and rekindled the pain in his injuries, but nothing reached his mind. He existed for a single purpose now, so he kept looking up and kicking the air.

The cloud seemed unable to lose power. Its unreasonable desires increased the might of the energy in its insides, and mere ground couldn't hope to oppose it. Yet, that mana had limits, and the spell eventually shrunk during its mindless digging.

Khan didn't miss the event, but his right hand had long since been ready. A sword had covered his fingers, and he stabbed it at the center of the cloud to help with the digging.

The cloud drained some of the sword's power before ignoring it. Meanwhile, Khan kept his arm straight, working with his spell to escape that dangerous situation.

The climb didn't last long but felt like an eternity in Khan's mind. He almost couldn't believe his eyes when a new light source appeared above him, but those emotions didn't affect his digging. Actually, the cloud grew even wilder now that the outside world was in sight.

Natural mana, cold, and clean air invaded Khan's senses while he and the cloud crossed the last chunk of ice to reappear in the plain. The ground around them was still crumbling, and new cracks appeared as more space opened below. Still, neither cared while continuing to fly through the snow.

Khan and the cloud flew higher and higher before separating. The spell shot to its left, completely ignoring Khan. Meanwhile, Khan remained in his position as the incredible strength of his wild feelings began to leave room for his pain.

'I can't stop here,' Khan thought as information flowed through his mind. Mister Chares would have never brought him to a place the Global Army could track. The plain must have had jammers or similar items, meaning that no one would be able to find Khan there.

The symphony didn't carry anything unique, and Khan only saw snow in his surroundings. He was stranded, so he picked a random direction and flew in a straight line to put as much distance from the crumbling plain as possible.

Khan had become basically naked after the battle and climb. The last surviving rag had long since slid through his leg, hanging on his knee. Nothing protected him from the snow, but he found some reassurance in that cold due to the many injuries on his body.

Eventually, the pain became too intense, making Khan unable to advance. He could only slow down his descent before ultimately crashing on the side of a snowy peak.

Khan tried to straighten his position before giving up and lying on the snow. He instinctively reached for his pocket before remembering that his clothes were no more. His phone was under the debris with all the illegal equipment and corpses.

'I need to get a new one,' Khan sighed, immersing his head in the snow and letting the cold overtake him. His faint connection with the cloud even disappeared, signaling its dispersion.

Minutes went by, in which Khan went in and out of the meditative state. The cold was helping him with the pain, but he feared falling asleep while he was so weak.

A tremor eventually ran through the symphony, and Khan forced himself to sit down. He didn't know if Mister Chares had another illegal hangar nearby, so he prepared for a second battle even if he was in no condition to fight.

Still, the object that appeared in the distance reassured Khan. He even smiled at that white figure flying through the snowy and cold environment.

'White is the right color,' Khan nodded in satisfaction as his ship grew closer to the snowy peak.

To be continued