Chapter 1307: Mountain
The ability to imitate other warriorsâ spells was uncommon but not exactly unheard of. Khan could do that, too, to a certain extent.
However, the taller alienâs lightning bolt wasnât just similar to Khanâs spell. It wasnât an improvised imitation created through a different element. It was a near-perfect replica that carried almost all the originalâs features.
The black lightning bolt crackled exactly like Khanâs spell did. It also shared its instability and effects on its surroundings, destroying the very air that dared to exist in its presence.
Even the thundering noises were the same. The only difference was in the actual energy inside the lightning bolt. Somehow, it was eerily similar to Khanâs chaos but also featured something else inside it, something that made it slightly stronger.
The taller alien studied the lightning bolt for a few seconds before replicating Khanâs attack, throwing it at him. The spell headed directly for his figure, and some pettiness made him lift his arm.
Khan did exactly what the taller alien did. He didnât create any black ellipse but let the lightning bolt crash into his palm.
That decision was to prove a point, but Khan also had other goals. Those aliens possessed a strange energy that seemed able to negate Khanâs chaos and Liizaâs ice, and he wanted to study it up close.
The black lightning boltâs destructive power was incredible. Khan had suffered multiple times due to his element and still did, but that clash was akin to facing the full brunt of his might, with something mysterious on top of it.
Khan sensed how the black lightning bolt not only tried to pierce his skin. Its very presence also weakened his fleshâs structural integrity, pushing it toward its critical point.
That was the true version of Khanâs chaos, an energy that called upon the worldâs entropy, and the taller alien had forced him to face it for the first time.
Nevertheless, Khan wasnât mere blood and flesh. His journey had also awarded him with more than the final aspect of his chaos. The Nak had told him to evolve past the mana, and that ability finally had the chance to show its power.
Khanâs aura intensified, invaded by an overbearing, unreasonable, violent will that carried all the weight of his current anger and life experiences.
The black lightning bolt wanted to explode, but the pressure exerted by Khanâs aura shrunk it, suppressing its unstable fabric and preventing any kind of detonation.
Also, that near-perfect imitation wasnât the only energy capable of affecting the worldâs entropy. Khanâs mana raged at that insulting challenge toward its iconic power, ravaging the black spellâs influence until it affected its very fabric.
Cracks began to open over the suppressed lightning boltâs unstable surfaces until it covered its entire structure. The spell then crumbled, dispersing into a dark cloud of energy that shattered even further due to Khanâs lingering destructive influence.
That destruction brought some enlightenment. Khanâs senses gathered information while the dark cloud vanished out of existence, updating him on many of its features and leading to conclusions he struggled to believe.
Nevertheless, that wasnât the time for realizations and studies. The anger from the previous predicament was still the most intense emotion in Khanâs mind by far, making him lift his fuming hand, stretching his scarred arm above his head.
The grey smoke instantly disappeared, revealing a retracting black patch on Khanâs intact palm. Meanwhile, the symphony in his surroundings shook, condensing to give birth to a series of smaller lightning bolts.
The lightning bolts quickly multiplied as Khanâs influence affected more of the symphony. They went from five to ten, quickly crossing the number twenty to head toward thirty. The process didnât even stop there. Khan seemed ready to fill the entire sky with his spells.
However, someone ended up acting before Khan could.
Khan sensed it before the two aliens could, and most of that was due to the mental connection and his familiarity with that cold sensation.
The temperature had dropped ever since Liiza had stepped onto the landmass of her own creation. The latter even spread her influence, which didnât clash with Khanâs aura, while creating a chain reaction.
Anything that Liizaâs cold touched started to echo her aura, stretching her influence far and wide as it rose through the sky. The temperature didnât drop any further, but that was a calculated decision meant for that exact moment.
The taller alien seemed to sense that something was off before his companion. He turned his head, but that gesture unfolded in slow motion, seemingly hindered by something in his surroundings.
That something revealed itself in the shape of minuscule ice crystals that gathered on the right side of the alienâs face, the same side where he had turned his head. His black gaze finally ended up on Liiza, but it was already too late by then.
The event defied the concept of instantaneous. In the previous moment, the sky was devoid of any obstruction, only featuring the two black aliens.
Instead, in the next moment, a massive pillar had appeared in the area, using the frozen landmass as its foundation while towering high above it. That gargantuan mass of ice couldnât be considered a mountain due to its perfectly rectangular shape, but its size still placed it into that category.
The immense white structure didnât grow or appear. It simply came into existence as if it had always been there. It was an unavoidable attack once its preparations were complete, and the aliens couldnât even attempt to dodge it, ending up trapped inside.
Khan had always known Liiza was strong, but most of those confirmations had come from their intimate moments, when she put him down to climb on him.
Every other confirmation had mostly come from hunches that couldnât be tested. After all, the couple had spent a large part of their time together in space and brittle environments, which prevented Liiza from showing her real skills.
However, now that Liiza was on an actual planet, she didnât have to hold back anymore, and the results were quite shocking. That mountain-sized pillar that had appeared out of nowhere was impressive, to say the least, and Khan knew it wasnât even close to the full extent of her power.
Nevertheless, Khan never had the chance to praise Liiza or consider the dangers of having such a powerful wife because something moved inside the mountain-sized white pillar. Liiza should have turned anything inside into a world of stillness, but the black aliens had the power to negate those effects.
Gaps appeared all over the gargantuan pillar. Pieces of its ice simply vanished, and those holes expanded at high speed, stretching their effects everywhere.
The rectangular mountain that had manifested itself into existence came undone right before Liiza and Khanâs eyes, as if something invisible was erasing its fabric, leaving no trace of it.
The process only lasted half a minute, stopping at the frozen landmass below and revealing the two black aliens. They were virtually unharmed, without a single ice crystal lingering on their figures.
Yet, the black aliensâ stances seemed to have grown more serious. Even the shorter oneâs grin had shrunk, becoming more curious than excited and betraying a trace of sharp intellect.
Khan and Liiza were in a similar situation, albeit for a different reason. They didnât need to talk to reach the same conclusion, especially after so many clues. Clearly, the two aliens had a way of countering the very mana.