Chapter 1525: Ready
The following week saw a complete overhaul of the allied front’s priorities.
The scientific division put aside the many studies, assigning the available resources to what was achievable in that short period, focusing on mass production of whatever the allied front had managed to devise.
The various leaders issued general orders to assemble the troops appointed for the task. Usually, they would gather as many soldiers as possible, hoping to compensate for a lack of preparation through sheer numbers. However, they ended up limiting themselves to far fewer but elite battalions.
That was due to a simple lack of space. Since the counterattack involved the invasion of a pocket universe, the army needed ships to traverse it safely, which was easier said than done due to the True Chaos’ presence.
The experimental fuel had been perfected, but even the joint effort of the allied front couldn’t repurpose hundreds of years of technological development in mere weeks. Sacrifices had to be made, forcing the scientific division to compromise.
Instead of aiming to build an entire fleet of ships that could rely on the experimental fuel without frying themselves up, the scientific division opted to repurpose a single, massive ship for the task.
That strategy came to life in the shape of one of the Global Army’s Leviathan-class ships thoroughly modified by the technologically savvy species in the allied front.
The special vessel could hold up to ten thousand soldiers and a wide array of heavy weaponry, which the various leaders had fully loaded by the time the last week of preparation was over.
Typically, Leviathan-class ships never landed on planets. They were too big for inhabited quadrants, and their size made fellow space vessels more suited for working on their hulls.
Nevertheless, the regulated universe was caught in nothing short of extraordinary circumstances, leading to unorthodox practices. That gargantuan, modified ship rested on the cleared, white desert now that the dimensional invasion was imminent, and it wasn’t alone.
Opening a path for the True Chaos’ pocked universe required relying on the passages the Scarlet Eyes had created and used. The attack on Earth had happened right in the middle of the desert, so that was where Khan would find and affect the traces of that enemy.
Of course, Khan couldn’t accomplish that task on his own. He was suitable for it, but wasn’t a God. Khan needed help, which the area featured in the form of massive machines.
The vast, seemingly endless white desert had the gargantuan Leviathan-class ship on one side and a vast array of huge, heavy machinery on the other, featuring a circular platform at its center with Khan standing alone on it.
Tubes of all sizes connected that circular platform to the extensive number of giant machines. Most of those were simple tanks filled to the brim with synthetic mana, while others were scanner-like devices meant to enhance Khan’s perception, allowing him to sense what his mind alone couldn’t reach.
Obviously, the scientific division had already tested the perception aspect of that array of machines, but the project remained highly experimental.
That would be Khan’s first time actually attempting to reopen the elliptical gate, and failing to do so would spell doom for the regulated universe. After all, missing that opportunity would mean having to wait for the True Chaos to attack again.
Khan ignored the scorching star high in the sky and glanced at the Leviathan-class ship behind him. Liiza was already inside, as well as everyone else from his special team. They were all waiting for him, so he didn’t hesitate any longer.
After taking a deep breath, Khan brought his hand to the device in his ear, closing his eyes to confirm he was ready before giving the required order. "Boot it."
No answer resounded in Khan’s ear. That came from the surrounding machines, which started circulating the synthetic mana in their tanks, illuminating the circular platform Khan was standing on.
The azure light shining under Khan’s feet had no real purpose. Instead, the invisible mana the circular platform released did, immersing him in a terrible stench his body instinctively despised while striving to fulfill its programming.
The task was rooted in deeply unscientific theories. Garret and the others couldn’t program that synthetic mana to open the passage on its own. It actually couldn’t even spot what it needed to affect in its current form.
Nevertheless, that was where Khan came in. His existence infected that synthetic mana, tainting it with his overbearing control without altering its nature, empowering its programming by adding a deeper layer the scientists couldn’t possibly quantify.
By relying and resonating with Khan’s perception, the synthetic mana rose toward the sky to find something impossibly faint but undeniably present. That channel also went both ways, allowing Khan to sense that strange disturbance in the very fabric of reality.
It was a strange finding, like inspecting the smoothest surface in the world, only to gain access to a microscope and discovering its jagged, fractured nature.
The sky had an invisible, tiny, and fading crack, something that the best senses in the universe would have overlooked, but that Khan could perceive through the empowerment of that specific synthetic mana.
And perceiving it was all Khan needed to start influencing it.
"Get ready," Khan communicated through the device in his ear while his mind cut away everything else, solely focusing on that impossibly faint crack.
Meanwhile, the Leviathan-class ship behind got into action. Its engines remained dormant, but its hull opened in countless spots, releasing giant barrels and heavy weaponry that started to accumulate synthetic mana.
No one actually knew what would happen once Khan reopened the gate. The pocked universe and its fearsome army could very well retaliate instantly, so the allied front’s army had to be ready.
Still, defending against the possible retaliation wasn’t Khan’s job. His mind kept focusing on that fading crack, attuning to the faint layer of reality it affected, searching for its desperate desire to fall apart.
Then, a thunderous noise resounded in the area, low but muffled as if belonging to a distant storm. Still, its light flashed right above the area, dimming into a horizontal lightning bolt that dug cracks into the very fabric of the sky.