Khan's uncompromising behavior set the army's hierarchy straight. No one loudly declared it, but everyone knew. Khan was the strongest and most important piece of the battlefield.
Naoo and Khan continued that domineering advance until they crossed all the soldiers. Naoo retook the lead, walking until the two reached the appointed location. The Thilku had to gain ground that day, so their starting point was beyond the gorge the previous big battle created.
The army slowly accumulated behind Khan and Naoo while the entire area darkened. The night was arriving, clearing doubts Khan didn't need to question anymore. The previous call had happened during the afternoon to limit the number of opponents, but the Empire was ready to go all-out now.
Troops eventually filled the front. Khan found Naoo's team at his sides, but his eyes remained on the horizon. He focused on the call echoing from his mana core, trying to pinpoint an actual direction. However, things were still too unclear.
'Am I too far away?' Khan wondered before his gaze fell to the ground.
There was a high chance Cegnore hid its secrets in its underground world. Khan didn't know the exact depths of that environment, but that could be the reason behind the lack of clarity.
'I might need to dig rather than advance,' Khan considered, but the huge deployment eventually distracted him. The Empire had sent four thousand Thilku forward at that time, seemingly expecting to face a bigger army.
Those expectations weren't wrong. Khan had planned to push his call deeper into Cegnore with his new skills, and the matter reminded him of a specific topic. There would definitely be mutated Thilku again, and the gap in his knowledge began to feel annoying.
"[Say]," Khan suddenly announced, turning all the eyes in his surroundings on him. "[You never explained why you are going easy on the monsters]."
Khan didn't mention any name, but Naoo knew the question was for her. She inspected Khan, but he didn't reply to her gaze. He kept staring at the horizon, unfazed by that general attention.
"[That's Thilku's business]," Naoo snorted, crossing her arms to express her defensiveness about the topic.
"[I'm curious]," Khan replied, finally looking at Naoo. "[I see your respect during the fights. I want to know it, too]."
Khan was expressing his true feelings. As merciless and harsh the Thilku could be, they still respected the wishes of companions that had long since lost their minds. Moreover, none of them complained. Each soldier was willing to fight and die to stick to the Empire's pride.
Naoo didn't want to share those secrets, but Khan's curiosity and faint praise had been genuine. He had worn the mantle of an unreasonable monster just a few minutes ago, but humility had replaced it now.
"[The commander sent to colonize Cegnore was Lord Exr's friend]," Naoo explained. "[He served well, too. It would be demeaning for the Empire to forsake his dying wish]."
'He's connected to Lord Exr,' Khan understood, moving to a different question. "[Does Lord Exr have special orders in case we meet him]?"
"[We must kill him]," Naoo scoffed. "[That's all]."
The cold remark toward someone the Empire respected so much could leave humans speechless, but not Khan. That was the Thilku way, and Khan accepted it. He didn't approve of it in its entirety, but it carried a certain type of beauty a soldier could recognize.
"[If he appears]," Khan exclaimed, bringing his gaze back to the horizon, "[I'll kill him]."
Khan's boldness kept the attention on him, but no one complained. The Thilku in his surroundings didn't only agree with Naoo's decision to share that info. They also knew Khan was their best shot at killing the commander.
The lack of orders and clearance forced the massive army to remain still. The troops exchanged murmurs, prepared battle stances, or waited for Cegnore's star to set. Even Khan could understand the night was a key element of today's plan, so he remained silent, waiting for its arrival.
As darkness unfolded, a red halo enveloped the army and stretched past it. The Thilku had parked vehicles near the gorge, allowing them to illuminate the area. The building probably had better tools, but the Thilku didn't want to rely on technology to win their battles.
Once the night fully descended, Naoo exchanged nods with the other team leaders at the frontlines before looking at Khan. The latter understood the meaning of that silent gesture, so he lifted his hand and released a flare of mana that grew toward the sky.
That display of power was different from what the Thilku had witnessed before, and Khan was in the same situation. That was his first time trying that technique, but the theory was on his side, so he didn't hesitate.
The flare of harmless mana affected the symphony, turning it into an extension of Khan's mind. The world became ready for his orders, and he retracted his energy before blowing on his palm.
Once the mana disappeared, the Thilku became unable to see the effects of Khan's technique. They had no way of noticing the bigger gale forming before them. Khan had merely used his presence to create a more powerful call, and chances were it would reach deeper areas of the planet.
Khan closed his eyes after the call flew into the distance. He couldn't do anything more than that, so he focused on meditating. Instead, his surroundings experienced very opposite reactions. Khan's relaxed mood told the Thilku the bait was set, so the battle was upon them.
A silent hour had to pass before familiar tremors took control of the ground. An earthquake unfolded, warning the army that their opponents were coming.
The event had different forms in Khan's eyes. He didn't only see the changes in the symphony. He also spotted the brighter shades among the distant mess of colors. He had already met some of them, so he could instantly recognize the structure of the incoming army.
Soon, patches of azure fur stepped into the area illuminated by the red halo, showing their true form. A sea of monsters advanced rhythmically, kept under control by the thirty humanoid wolves behind them. The enemy army was far bigger at that time, but the threats weren't over.
Two huge figures towered from behind the sea of fur. Cegnore had sent two mutated Thilku forward after Khan's call, and their tall frames allowed everyone to notice them. Their sight was almost scary, but many soldiers instinctively looked in Khan's direction. Something told them he would be their opponent.
"[Do we have to wait for them to be ready]?" Khan wondered, his desire to fight intensifying as the enemy army continued to advance.
"[The enemy is facing us head-on]," Naoo stated. "[The Thilku won't shame themselves into launching a pre-emptive strike]."
Khan understood the reasoning behind that statement, but the issue remained. Many Thilku would die if they gave the monster army the time to prepare. Naoo and the others were basically willing to risk their lives to stick to their pride.
"[I'm no Thilku]," Khan declared, shooting into the sky to fly past the red halo's edges.
Gasps resounded among the Thilku standing in Khan's previous position. His sudden disappearance could mean only one thing, and their gazes instinctively moved to the monster army. They knew what was coming, and the purple-red explosion that unfolded behind the Tainted animals proved them right.
"[Charge]!" Naoo cried as soon as the explosion rang, and battle cries followed. Khan had already gone against their pride, so there was no point in holding back.
Khan had used his top speed to fly through the dark sky and cross the enemy army, placing himself above the two mutated Thilku managing it. No one could follow his movements since he was too far away from the ground, but things changed once he started to descend.
The full-speed dive made the two mutated Thilku lift their heads, but Khan acted before they had the chance to seize the initiative. A spear materialized in his hand, and he threw it at his opponents to catch them by surprise.
The Thilku reacted as quickly as Khan's past opponent. The two mutated leaders opened their mouths at the sky as soon as they noticed the falling spear, and clicking cries escaped their throats as spells unfolded.
Two conical versions of the Wave spell shot upward, engulfing the spear and its following explosion. The chaos element brightened the area, suppressing the red halo and sending gales everywhere. A star had appeared in the middle of the night, and a figure flew past it.
An uneven mass of flares pierced the destructive force released by the Wave spells while depleting its energy. The defensive technique disappeared, revealing Khan's fuming figure. A few burns had appeared on his body, and the Thilku promptly moved their mouths toward him.
"Fall!" Khan ordered, and the Thilku immediately lost their balance, preventing them from pointing their spells at Khan. The Nele technique only created a small delay since the Thilku quickly straightened their backs, but Khan had already disappeared by then.
Khan materialized between the two mutated Thilku, who shut their mouths and waved their arms. However, the symphony trembled again, destabilizing their balance and draining power from those blows.
Purple-red light flashed in the next second. Multiple attacks happened in an instant, creating a shocking scene. Khan had his left foot pointed at one Thilku's arm, blocking its advance. He had also bent forward, dodging the second attack. He was basically trapped in that situation, but one of the aliens' heads suddenly fell.
The second Thilku had tried to deliver a descending blow only to miss Khan. Luckily, the knife didn't aim at its head, but it still found two fingers pointed at its right eye. The [Blood Shield] had covered them, but blood followed, preventing the alien from inspecting them any longer.
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