Various colors shone, shattered, and reformed in Khan's vision. The symphony above the gorge was a mess of wild and intense battles. Tens of casualties happened every few seconds, but the armies' fury never waned.
The symphony enveloped Khan's senses, invading his brain and updating him on the environment's state. However, his mind wasn't empty anymore. Intense urges filled it and stretched in his surroundings, affecting the natural mana with their whims.
That state was the opposite of what Khan had grown used to deploy during battles. He could listen to every detail in the symphony, but raging desires also resounded among his thoughts, creating a new force in charge of his actions.
The natural pressure radiated by Khan's urges thickened the mana around him, making it easier to manipulate. That energy slowly became an extension of himself, gaining power and becoming more submissive.
Khan didn't even need to talk to send requests. He stretched his right arm to his side, and a gale blew behind him. The wind lifted a piece of cloth that had previously belonged to his pants, and his fingers closed when it reached his palm.
The piece of cloth featured a half-broken pocket that Khan explored. He pulled out his phone from it before letting go of the rags. The screen lit up, confirming that the device still worked, and Khan stored it in his underwear before looking at the gorge again.
A warm feeling expanded from Khan's abdomen. He hurt in many places, too, but his mind didn't allow him to care about his injuries. He wanted to let loose, and nothing could make him change his mind. He was past the tipping point, and there was no turning back.
The twenty humanoid wolves had changed position as the massive battle continued. Both armies had fused by then, making the monsters' bullets less effective. Those creatures had joined the fray, leaving the path to the gorge open.
Nevertheless, the humanoid wolves were brighter than their weaker underlings. Khan could see them clearly from his position, and his legs moved toward the closer ones.
The battlefield gained more details as Khan flew above the gorge. Thilku and monsters were locked in bloody and messy battles that often left both parties deadly injured. Spells flew left and right, but the purple-red color reigned supreme due to all the creatures aligned with the chaos element.
The stench of chaos invaded Khan's nostrils. His presence could affect environments, but the gorge was different. The symphony had already become a perfect cradle for his element. Even if the natural mana didn't know it, that was his home.
A pair of humanoid wolves stood in the back of the battlefield, using the gorge's elevated surfaces to get a better sight of both armies. Scorching beams also shot out of their eyes, sniping any Thilku they saw. At times, monsters died in the crossfire, but those creatures didn't care.
The humanoid wolves' senses suddenly warned them about imminent danger. They retracted their beams and lifted their heads only for a figure to appear among them. A few meters separated those creatures, and Khan fit perfectly between them.
Khan had been one step ahead of the humanoid wolves. Those monsters had yet to lower their heads when the first slash unfolded. Khan swung his glowing knife to his left, and the blade didn't meet any resistance while digging through the creature's throat.
One humanoid wolf instantly lost its head, but the attack gave its companion a chance to react. The second monster lowered its head, and its eyes lit up as new beams shot out.
Khan had gotten faster than before, but the humanoid wolves were no weak opponents. The beams risked hitting his back if his evasive maneuver was any slower. However, Khan didn't even try to dodge.
Mana flowed toward Khan, allowing him to spin on himself while swinging his knife. His glowing blade hit the incoming beams, cutting through them before escaping their edges.
Normally, that would have been the end of it. Khan's knife would have merely cut the beams' initial part without destroying them altogether.
However, something very different happened. Both beams continued to split from the opening created by the knife. An invisible force cut through them, advancing until it reached the wolf's eyes.
A horizontal injury opened on the wolf's face, cutting its eyes and going deeper into its skull. The upper part of its head eventually split from the rest of its body, flying away to reveal its gory insides.
Of course, the invisible force had a proper shape in Khan's vision. He had seen the natural mana echoing his attack's effects, applying it to the symphony between his weapon's tip and the wolf.
The natural mana alone couldn't retain the Divine Reaper's power, but Khan could fix that with his influence and energy. The symphony followed his commands, allowing him to stretch his attack's effects.
Khan landed on the ground while both humanoid wolves fell dead around him. He didn't deign them with a single glance while focusing on his knife. His new stance toward the symphony had made the Divine Reaper evolve, bringing it to the advanced mastery level.
That wasn't the only change. Khan's emotions raged wildly, but no clicking growl resounded in his mind. He was himself, unrestrained and unapologetic, and the monsters had created an environment he could rule with little to no effort.
Khan swept the battlefield with his eyes as annoyance built-up. Mere animals were using spells he had paid a steep price to master, which was unacceptable. Those were his techniques, and imitations couldn't exist.
The desire to claim monopoly over the chaos element filled Khan, and mana leaked from his figure to invade the symphony. The natural energy in the gorge couldn't even try to ignore his intense will, and the similarities with his power quickly turned it into an extension of his mind.
Khan sprinted forward, and flares of mana shot out of his figure when he landed in a spot occupied by wolves. Those creatures either retreated or let that scorching energy burn them, but Khan was far from done.
"Fall," Khan said, his gaze fixed ahead. He didn't look at the creatures in his surroundings, but they all lost their balance, risking tumbling to the ground.
The wolves became unable to address the new threat among them, and Khan used that window to launch needles all around him. His spells flew everywhere, hitting fur and open mouths before exploding.
Blood spurted everywhere as wolves suffered serious injuries or directly died. Still, no fear appeared in the survivors' eyes, and the explosions attracted more attention. Many monsters turned toward Khan before running at him.
Khan sensed that attention and the incoming threats, but his gaze was on his hands. That deep control of the mana in his surroundings was telling something directly to his brain, opening paths and options he had previously believed impossible.
'I see,' Khan thought while closing his right hand.
A wolf jumped at Khan while he was still immersed in his thoughts. The creature was about to land on him, but he calmly opened his hand, sending mana that ran through the symphony to activate precise effects.
The natural mana under the descending wolf churned and screamed before giving birth to a purple-red sphere. The attack expanded, creating a Wave spell that engulfed the creature, pushing it away while burning it to a crisp.
A burning sensation invaded the back of Khan's mind. He was using muscles he wasn't aware of having, but forgetting about their existence was impossible now. He brought his right hand to his face to relax his frown, but his other arm pointed at two incoming wolves to his left.
The natural mana gathered among the incoming wolves, creating a small version of the chaos spear before them. The spell immediately exploded, giving birth to a pillar that engulfed the monsters and killed them on the spot.
The burning sensation in Khan's brain intensified, but he didn't even think about suppressing it. He actually found some pleasure in it, and lowering his right hand revealed his fiery gaze. That feeling was addictive, and he wanted more of it.
"I see," Khan repeated, using actual words while spreading his arms. The wolves had filled the gorge with chaos, turning it into a weapon for Khan. He only needed to give the order, and spells would appear.
The other wolves had almost reached Khan, but needles materialized around him. Those spells exploded, creating a scorching wall that caught the monsters by surprise. Many died under those sudden attacks, while others felt forced to retreat after suffering serious burns.
Khan lowered his arms and ran his fiery gaze across the area. The explosions quickly dispersed, opening the path toward him, but no wolf dared to advance. Khan was radiating a pressure they could recognize and acknowledge. A bigger monster had appeared, triggering instinctive fear.
The event stretched past Khan's surroundings. Wolves relatively distant from him stopped fighting to study the source of that terrifying pressure. The situation was so strange that many nearby Thilku took the chance to look in Khan's direction, and what they found shocked them.
Khan had blood flowing out of his mouth, a shallow hole on his forehead, and spider-web-like wounds across his body. Yet, his stern face radiated pure power, and his eyes seemed to glow due to the feelings that filled them.
"I see," Khan repeated for the third time while all his suppressed and unreasonable emotions fused with his thoughts. "You breathe because I allow it."
Somehow, everyone in the area could hear Khan's words. The air itself echoed them and brought all the available eyes on him. Wolves and Thilku alike saw him lifting his right arm, and explosions resounded everywhere when he lowered it.
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