Chaos Heir

Chapter 1391: Bloated backs

George wasn’t exactly humble, but his life had always featured examples of higher greatness ever since Istrone’s rebellion.

Khan was just too great. Impossible achievements were the norm for him, and that trend had ended up attracting similar people to his inner circle and social array, surrounding him with exceptional individuals.

Monica was a political monster. All the Niqols were incredible in their own right, with Liiza and Ilman taking the crown. Khan’s relatives wielded skills and experience that only a lifetime of efforts could create, and the same went for the scientists and soldiers who had joined his organization.

Even if George only compared himself to those in the step before extraordinary, he remained outclassed. Luke, Mark, Lucian, and the other allied descendants came from far greater and influential families. The Ildoo family was getting there, but it would take time before George gained the same political relevance and weight.

So, despite being exceptional even among the Global Army’s elites, George couldn’t see himself as great. He didn’t underestimate himself, but his life experiences had provided him with a far broader perspective on the matter.

Therefore, George failed to recognize the magnitude of his achievement when it came to his element and overall battle prowess.

The sole fact that George’s mana could exist in the black smoke’s presence vouched for his achievement, and he had pushed that one step forward.

The fuming, advancing black river had split open without needing a single swing from George’s sword. His spirit alone had been able to sever the True Chaos, the terrifying energy at the core of a universal threat.

That sheer prowess was mostly due to George’s unique combination of complementary features. Still, Liiza and Khan would be able to see deeper explanations that dealt with his very existence.

Seemingly unknowingly, George had implemented theories from the human natural induction and the Niqols’ old ways into his personal training.

The Niqols’ old ways achieved transformative mutations through sacrifice, which George had applied to his element and mind rather than body. His spirit could take countless shapes, but he had forsaken them all to focus on a singular feature to push to the extreme.

That transformation had affected George as a whole, attuning his entire being to that specific feature. His body hadn’t mutated just yet, but was already walking the path of the natural induction, getting itself ready for an eventual reagent that could start the evolution.

The result of that practice was a fifth-level warrior who possessed a unique, almost artificial element pushed to the evolved realm through a series of different factors. George had basically polished himself and his spirit to the point where he could wield superior battle prowess despite refusing to step into the higher realm.

Of course, George was hardly in the right mental state to use his showcase of strength to bolster his self-esteem. His unique element heavily depended on his mind, so his thoughts and overall mindset had to remain sharp to retain that feature.

Nevertheless, George never fell into complete unawareness. The river that had fallen into his street had stopped advancing, only leaving trails of black smoke rising from the sidewalks, but reaching its former tip revealed a peculiar detail.

George halted his slow, methodical advance upon reaching that central area. True Chaos still flickered at his sides and in the distance, but he spotted something more solid in his immediate surroundings.

The slowly dispersing smoke also gradually revealed a more solid object. The True Chaos hid the body of a strange creature that seemed to have been in charge of leading that energy’s expansion, acting as the black river’s spearhead, which George’s attack had severed in half.

George had to let more smoke disperse and check both his sides to recreate the creature’s original shape in his mind. It was vaguely humanoid, albeit carrying monstrous, hideous features that made it look anything but human.

Each severed half had two arms and one head, making their respective total numbers four and two. The creature’s legs were rather short, seemingly hinting at it being quadrupedal, or a version of that with six limbs.

The creature’s back was horribly big, bloated to almost twice its torso’s size, its severed, open insides releasing most of the black smoke dispersing in the street.

Also, both heads were utterly devoid of features. They had no hair, eyes, ears, mouths, or noses. They were nothing more than oval items attached to that monstrous torso, almost making the creature resemble an artificial puppet rather than a living being.

Still, the creature was indeed a living being. The exposed, severed organs releasing black blood vouched for that. George simply concluded that the enemy used those beings as sacrificial pawns to spread the True Chaos, which the following events seemed to confirm.

George had split the river open, but the cloud’s main body descending from the city’s defensive walls never stopped releasing trails of smoke.

More rivers were spreading throughout the city, flooding its streets, each probably led by one or more of those faceless creatures. George’s road was no exception, which soon showcased an even taller tide of smoke approaching him from a distance.

George didn’t panic in the face of the incoming smoke. He was in no state to have that reaction, but his mind churned out ideas anyway, soon bringing his calm, piercing gaze to the distant defensive wall.

Despite all the released smoke, the main cloud didn’t shrink at all. At that pace, the whole city would be submerged in True Chaos, and George probably was the only one inside it who could resist that troublesome energy.

To prevent casualties, or at least limit them, George needed to attract that energy’s attention, and a curse tried to rise through his mind when he realized that he knew exactly how.

The tide of mana-consuming fuming darkness was almost upon George, but a dark-silver light suddenly flashed in the area twice.

A cross-shaped cavity opened in the river, piercing it and splitting it into four different tides that flowed everywhere but forward. The mana-devouring smoke crashed on the sidewalk and nearby buildings but stopped advancing, leaving its center open for George to cross.