C501 Ankle
'Playing with other people's lives,' Khan thought. 'I've had enough of this shit.'
Unreasonable desires invaded Khan's mind. The cloud was in the open now, and Khan experienced its feelings. A faint connection between the spell and him had appeared, which affected them both.
Khan's restraints quickly waned. He felt as if he had held himself back for multiple lifetimes. No matter how much he pushed himself, people still attempted to threaten the important parts of his life, be it his girlfriend or his goal to find the Nak.
The situation felt beyond unfair, and the cloud enhanced that feeling. Khan knew he had jumped head-on into that trap. He knew he could have been more careful. He knew the place had innocent people who had ended up there due to equally sad coincidences. Yet, none of that mattered anymore.
The gust of wind released by the complete appearance of the cloud had put fear into the crowd. After all, the chaos element was deadly in everyone's mind. However, the spell stood still after its creation, partially reassuring the audience.
"What is that?" Wayne asked without hiding his excitement.
"An attempt to find my place in the world," Khan whispered vague words that made sense only to him.
Mister Chares remained silent. His cold eyes moved from Khan to the cloud before returning to him. Ideally, he would avoid a battle, but something told him the negotiations were over.
"Seize him," Mister Chares coldly ordered, and something clicked inside Khan's mind. His wild feelings exploded, and the cloud reacted accordingly.
A deafening clicking cry escaped the cloud, almost covering the last part of Mister Chares' order. The spell dived toward the floor, destroying its metal before making its way toward the swordsman with the holographic device.
Meanwhile, Khan resorted to Maban's technique to sprint forward and jump. Wayne brought his arms to his sides, preparing for the imminent attack, but his eyes widened in excitement when he realized what was about to arrive.
Khan spun twice mid-air before stretching his right leg. The entirety of his momentum converged on his heel as it descended toward the unprepared Wayne.
Wayne's arms snapped upward to intercept the descending kick. He crossed them before the impact, but the attack still made his knees bend. However, he didn't fall.
Khan couldn't help but be surprised once again. Wayne's physical strength was off the charts. He had endured two of his best kicks with his bare hands, and his body had barely wavered in the process.
A cry suddenly spread through the hall. The cloud had dug a channel through the metal floor before reaching the swordsman, who dropped the device to draw his weapon. He even retreated to create some space, but a spike stretched from the spell to catch up with him.
The spike touched the swordsman's arm, and its tip became the new center of the spell. The cloud almost teleported on the third-level warrior, enveloping his limb in its destructive properties.
The swordsman didn't know what to do. Pain spread from his entire arm as his skin broke and shattered. Every inch of the cloud had destruction as its sole purpose, and the third-level warrior's flesh was experiencing its full power.
The event made most of the hall panic. No matter what Mister Chares claimed, many workers weren't warriors. Some had actually never fought in their lives, so seeing one of their strongest members struggling against that strange spell rekindled the fear.
Khan and Wayne were the only ones completely unaffected by that descent into a panic. They stared at each other without letting anything distract them, and Wayne ended up being the first to make a move.
Wayne's right hand opened and turned to stretch his fingers toward Khan's ankle, but he kicked the air to push himself away. Khan flew backward, and the ceiling filled his vision while he joined his palms.
The chaos spear took form, and Khan didn't hesitate to throw it at the ceiling before turning toward the floor. Many had searched for a hiding place, some had reached for the gear on the shelves, and only a handful had converged toward the cloud, but Khan knew all of that even before laying his eyes on it.
The spear exploded on the ceiling while six glowing needles materialized in Khan's hands. Theoretically, he could pursue a more pacifistic approach and focus on escaping, but his mind had rejected reason. He wanted to deal a blow to his enemies and leave, even if pursuing both paths simultaneously wasn't wise.
Khan swung his arms to send the needles downward. He had targeted the third-level warriors and a couple of shelves, but his aim felt off. Four of his spells ended up on empty spots on the floor, one only scraped one of his prey, and another hit a weak worker right in her chest.
The needle expanded inside the young woman's chest, becoming a spherical force that destroyed her insides. She was only a first-level warrior, so her heart crumbled right away, killing her on the spot.
Khan didn't miss a single detail. He had just killed an innocent woman who had no intention to fight. She probably didn't even know about Mister Chares' ploy. Her only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
'Is this what I must be ready to do to achieve my goals?' Khan wondered while lowering his head to peek at Wayne. The poor aim was probably his fault, but Khan didn't feel right blaming that kill on him.
'Bloody rivers,' Khan thought as his unreasonable sides took over.
Another chaos spear materialized between Khan's palms while he was still mid-air. He promptly spun on himself to throw it on the ceiling before kicking the air above him.
The last kick flung Khan on the floor. He landed in the middle of a crowded area that had the previously-scraped third-level warrior. Weaker warriors were all around Khan, and he forced himself to look at them before summoning his mana.
The spherical version of the Wave spell expanded from Khan's figure and reached the unlucky bystanders before stretching even further. Retreating wasn't an option since many people fell or hindered their companions. Only the third-level warrior reacted fast enough to jump, but Khan's attack hit him anyway.
The decision to hit a crowded area had multiple purposes. The main was to sow chaos and turn the battlefield into something that Khan could manipulate and traverse more easily. Instead, the others had a deeper connection to Khan's state.
Flowing wasn't enough anymore. The wild feelings wanted Khan to be one with the symphony while leaving his mark on it. The chaos element had basically tainted Khan's battle style with its aggression, leading to that deadly attack.
The last and most important purpose of Khan's attack was connected to his mindset. He would do anything to protect his situation, even killing innocents, and that decision required a declaration.
Khan remained unfazed while the Wave spell destroyed skin, flesh, muscles, and bones, revealing the clueless bystanders' insides. That was different from the lake on Nitis. He could have avoided killing so much now. Yet, he needed that gory declaration to silence his hesitation once and for all.
The spell cleared the area, pushing everyone away and killing those stuck in its range. The third-level warrior was one of the survivors, but his previous jump turned out to be a fatal mistake.
The third-level warrior was still flying when Khan appeared in front of him. His arrival had also been too fast, and the lack of footholds made the soldier unable to react to the precise kick aimed at his neck.
Khan diverted his attention when the soldier's neck released a cracking noise. The attack had only paralyzed him, but Khan had more important business to attend to.
Another spear appeared between Khan's palms while he kicked the air to push himself toward the ceiling. He threw the spell upward and prepared himself to return to the battlefield, but something surprising attracted his attention.
Khan's ability to fly gave him a stark advantage against anyone stuck on the ground. He was unreachable by martial arts, and no one could focus on aiming spells at him with the cloud and the general mess.
However, Wayne wasn't anyone. He couldn't keep up with Khan's speed, but the latter had to slow down when throwing his spears at the ceiling.
Wayne had done his best to follow Khan until he found his opportunity. Right after Khan paralyzed the third-level warrior, Wayne climbed on a shelf nearby and threw himself at Khan.
Khan's senses had noticed the entire event. Wayne's leap had been quite incredible. Even Khan would struggle to jump that high without relying on his martial art. Yet, the sky was his reign, and only people with wings could try to dethrone him.
Khan lightly pressed on the air, intending to side-stepping Wayne's leap. Yet, his foothold suddenly grew unstable. He didn't fail his technique, but the mana under his feet shook, forcing him to waste one second to retrieve his balance.
Wayne managed to reach Khan's right foot during that window. He wrapped his hands around his ankle and applied a force that threatened to crush his bones.
Khan held back a curse while delivering a stomp with his free leg. His attack hit Wayne at the center of his face, but he didn't budge. Wayne continued to smile even as blood flowed out of his nose.
Mana immediately flowed through Khan's body to prepare a spell, but a crack eventually resounded, filling him with pain. Wayne had broken his ankle, making his right foot hang powerlessly from his leg.
Wayne didn't hesitate to exploit that second window. He began to climb Khan's leg, but a purple-red spere expanded on his face. Wayne's skin began to break under the effects of the Wave spell, but his grip remained firm. It took another kick from Khan to make him fall.
Khan tried to fly with one leg, but the floor had grown too close during the struggle, granting some bystanders a clear line of sight. Before he could realize what was happening, two metal spheres landed on his back and released lightning bolts that made him lose control of his body.
The spheres' stunning properties finally brought Khan to the floor. He crashed violently, but the pain released by his broken ankle kept him awake.
More lightning bolts came out of the spheres, but a clicking growl spread inside Khan's mind, sending new strength to his body. A tinge of clarity spread, allowing him to unleash flares of mana that destroyed the weapons on his back and the new incoming bullets.
A buzzing noise filled Khan's ears once his mana dispersed, but he struggled to his knees to point his intact foot at the floor. He could fly with one leg if he had enough space, but the bystanders wouldn't give him time.
The cloud had successfully killed the swordsman and had proceeded to pursue anything in its range. Its assault was random, so the two remaining third-level warriors could ignore it to focus on Khan. The weaker workers who had managed to grab a weapon did the same, and a series of bullets and spells flew toward him during that moment of weakness.
Khan sensed everything coming his way. A giant snake made of yellow flames and tens of bullets converged toward him, making a mess out of the symphony. Moreover, mana gathered around him, giving birth to dark water that took the shape of a sphere and trapped him.
Escaping was impossible in that situation. The bullets and giant fiery snake crashed on the dark sphere, destroying a good chunk of the metal floor and turning the spot into a fuming mess.
Silence tried to spread. The audience held their breath as they waited to see the result of their attacks, but painful cries filled the hall. The cloud was still going wild, chasing after anything that moved, and its aggression attracted a lot of attention.
Nevertheless, the arrival of a blinding purple-red color forced everyone to focus on the column of smoke. That grey gas quickly dispersed, and a monstrous sight reached the audience's eyes.
Khan reappeared, showing his burned body covered with clotted blood vessels. His coat, shirt, and most of his pants had disappeared, granting a full view of his charred flesh. Still, he was standing, even without the help of his right leg, wielding two blinding spears in his hands.
To be continued