Chapter 1526: Curtain
The scene was nothing short of inexplicable to outsiders. Actually, almost everyone inside the Leviathan-class ship couldn’t explain the scene depicted on the vessel’s many screens.
The lingering, crackling, and massive horizontal lightning bolt was hardly surprising, especially considering that Khan was involved. Many of the soldiers inside the giant vessel had seen him do far crazier stuff. A big, oddly oriented spell was basically ordinary at that point.
Instead, the cracks expanding from the lightning bolt did manage to shock the audience since they didn’t exactly break anything. There was nothing to shatter up there in the air, only the sky itself.
The cracks on that invisible surface even bent the sunlight, refracting it as if passing through water or a layer of thick glass. The untouchable had just gained a physical form. The sky wasn’t mere air anymore. It was a proper film that could be peeled off.
Of course, Khan’s element didn’t do peeling. It broke, shattering the matter down to its most fundamental level. Under his influence, the cracks deepened and expanded, rising in every direction, turning a massive chunk of the sky into a glassy, cracked door.
Nevertheless, the glassy door didn’t break. No shards fell out due to its cracked state. That curtain that separated the two worlds remained in its place, resisting the force trying to pierce it.
To Khan’s dismay, the universe’s natural tendency toward entropy was far weaker when it came to the barrier between dimensions. That innate trend still existed, but he felt as if reality itself opposed it, wanting to keep those realities separated.
Experiencing that resistance first-hand gave Khan a better idea of the True Chaos’ God’s fearsome strength. Even with the help of technology, Khan couldn’t create a gap in that dimensional layer. Meanwhile, that superior existence had opened hundreds of those simultaneously and seemingly effortlessly.
That new awareness could make anyone reconsider the current plan. Khan couldn’t even imagine accomplishing such a feat on his own, let alone defeating the being that seemed to have mastered that skill.
However, Khan didn’t change his mind. As hopeless as it sounded, he had already gotten as strong as he could. Additional preparations or strategies wouldn’t improve his odds, so he had no reason to delay that invasion.
Moreover, the scientific division and Khan himself had already predicted that his power alone wouldn’t have been enough to reopen that dimensional gap. Most of the tanks were still full for that exact reason.
’Break,’ Khan thought, sharing a silent order through his mana, sending a tremor toward the tall, cylindrical tanks arranged alongside the array of machines.
That single mental world unleashed pure mayhem. Tens of huge tanks saw their smooth tops explode at the same time, releasing dense, azure clouds of synthetic mana.
That energy was different from the one flowing into the circular platform. It had no programming and, as such, its first instinct was to start dispersing into the sky. However, an overbearing presence soon weighed on it, freezing it on the spot and altering its ethereal fabric.
A purple-red glow began spreading inside those clouds, taking over their azure shades and giving birth to flashing sparks. That energy’s shape also changed, condensing and stretching toward the horizontal lightning bolt, fusing with it to enhance its power.
Another thunder resounded, even lower and more distant than the previous one. The lightning bolt brightened, expanding, acting as the source of more raging sparks that filled those ethereal cracks with its light.
As more of the tainted mana from the containers joined the horizontal lightning bolt, the cracked curtain in the sky grew brighter and more solid, becoming completely visible and detailed without needing scanners or special machines.
The ethereal sky was literally shattering, but nothing fell just yet. Despite the massive amount of energy employed, that dimensional barrier held strong, unwilling to crumble under that inferior assault.
The progress was more detailed in Khan’s mind. His broader perspective, understanding of that field, and direct connection to the dimensional curtain told him what was missing. He was the problem there. His existence was lacking, unable to touch upon those higher states.
That gap consisted of a tiny but simultaneously immense step that Khan couldn’t close on the spot. No sudden enlightenment could solve the issue, either. That simply wasn’t a feat that someone at his level should accomplish.
Yet, that awareness didn’t lead to despair. Khan still had one obvious option at his disposal. He could resort to the most basic solution known to living beings. Khan could brute-force his way in.
Khan’s cells came alive as his eyes snapped open, pointing at the massive, cracked piece of the sky. Mana and might fused inside him, amassing in his throat, crackling until it reached the boiling point.
Khan’s lips abruptly parted, releasing a roar-like thunder accompanied by a blinding flash. The sudden light blinded the scanners and any onlooker, preventing anyone from inspecting the scene, which culminated in a shattering crash.
As the light subsided, the scanners caught a tiny shard of that now-solid curtain falling from the sky, disappearing into nothingness.
The event triggered a chain reaction. Little by little, more pieces of the cracked sky fell, eventually involving the largest shards. The very fabric of the world was coming undone, creating a darker-than-black, elliptical hole the sunlight couldn’t illuminate.
The horizontal lightning bolt still hovered before the elliptical hole, splitting it in half. Still, tendrils of a black but glowing energy seeped past its edge, clashing with the spell, ultimately starting to annihilate it.
If that darker-than-black darkness wasn’t enough to confirm it, those tendrils of pith-black energy were. As that dark light devoured the lightning bolt, everyone understood that Khan had succeeded. He had opened a passage for the True Chaos’ home world.
The scene was enough to trigger general hesitation. After all, that was a whole different universe, and entering it would mark the beginning of the final battle for the allied front’s survival.
Yet, the scanners inside the Leviathan-class ship soon revealed something else, zooming in on Khan’s figure, who had landed on the vessel’s tip, his red cape fluttering in the wind while his arm pointed at the massive gate in the sky.