Everything shook. The staircases became unstable as mana traced lines that spread far beyond the square.
Cracks opened on the already damaged surfaces and expanded to create an array of large chunks. The entire city seemed ready to fall, and the audience held their breath, hoping to delay that catastrophe.
Khan, the Nele, and those able to sense the mana under them knew that nothing could prevent what was coming. The city continued to shake, and the floor screamed as its metal bent and shattered. It only took the fall of a minute piece to destroy the frail balance and cause a chain reaction.
The square caved in, and the same went for the staircases. The buildings past the area also crumbled before falling through the floor. The Nak's hand had replicated the attack unleashed in the hidden lab, but its range went far past anything Khan had ever witnessed.
Khan had been conflicted since the beginning of the joint offensive. A duality existed in his feelings. He wanted to kill the hand, but he couldn't leave the Nele alone in that unfavorable environment.
The nature of the offensive had ended up making that choice for Khan, but the crumbling of the city opened a new path. That chaos could give Khan a chance to reach the hand.
The joint offensive had stopped during the earthquake, and Caja had taken care of sending synthetic mana away. The Nak's hand had depleted its energy after the last attack and didn't have any immediate way to refill its reserves.
That could be the opportunity Khan had been looking for. The debris could create a path toward the powerless hand, giving him the chance to touch it directly.
Khan had to make his decision quickly. The city had just started to fall, but the hand could fly. He would need to start sprinting now to hope to find suitable footholds along the way.
However, familiar cries reached Khan's ears as everything began to crumble. The Nele had moved according to the traces of mana left behind by the soundwave, but they didn't share his incredible balance, so many fell off once the makeshift platforms tilted and spun.
Jenna had been close enough to Khan to share his boulder, but she lost her footing when the ground under her became unstable. She let out a faint cry when she began to slide away, and a trace of regret appeared on her face when Khan turned to look at her.
Jenna didn't know everything, but she could understand how important the Nak's hand was to Khan. The fact that her cry had distracted him from his mission made her feel guilty since she only wanted to support him.
On the other hand, Khan partially snapped out of his extreme mindset when he noticed that Jenna was about to fall. His desire to kill the Nak's hand wanted to be uncompromising, but he understood his priorities when he saw Jenna's regretful expression.
Khan had left Nitis because he needed the Global Army to fulfill his main goal, but that disaster was different. Taking care of his desperation was his priority, but he couldn't let the people he loved pay the price.
Jenna couldn't help but smile when Khan shot in her direction. Her arms instinctively opened, and she closed them around Khan's neck once he reached her.
That wasn't Khan's first time sprinting at full speed while carrying someone. He and Jenna had actually already gone through something similar together, and their trust created perfect teamwork.
Khan wrapped one arm around Jenna's waist to lift her while he immersed himself in the surrounding chaos. The situation became clear, and his thoughts grew wild as he tried to decide how to handle it.
The lower levels had a vast hole, but most of the audience had been on the staircases. The increased range of the Nak's attack played in their favor since the fall would probably lead everyone into intact areas of the intermediate floor.
Still, the fall wasn't safe. Many could remain trapped among the crumbling boulders, and the intermediate floor might also fail to withstand that additional weight.
Khan couldn't save everyone, and his thoughts never reached those topics. He worried about Monica, but she was in a different part of the square. He could only hope for the best while focusing on those within his reach.
Jenna was safely in Khan's arms, but that wasn't enough for him. The Nele had long since become his people, so he wanted to do as much as possible to keep them safe.
The symphony, the extreme mindset, and Khan's affection toward the Nele fused to create a precise path through the chaos. His sight became pointless. Khan didn't even move his eyes when he jumped to his left while stretching his free arm downward.
A Nele weaker than Khan had lost his balance as soon as the earthquake took control of the city, making him fall under the boulder he hoped to use as a foothold. In that position, the Nele would be submerged by the rubble, but Khan grabbed his stretched arm and pulled him along.
Khan felt heavy when he landed on a tilted surface. His feet threatened to slide on the smooth metal and push him under the boulder, but he jumped before he could lose his balance.
Carrying two people simultaneously was a problem, but Khan threw the Nele to his right during his leap. The alien looked at Khan in terror, but confusion replaced that feeling when he ended up in Maban's arms.
Khan didn't even bother to look at Maban. He landed on a boulder only to jump again in the direction of another Nele. The latter had leaped when her boulder fell, putting herself in a free dive that was bound to kill her once the rubble settled.
Panic had taken control of the Nele, but tears of joy fell from her eyes when Khan bumped into her. Jenna grabbed her companion, and Khan proceeded to land on a boulder ahead.
The Nele spoke, but Khan didn't hear her. He felt heavy again, but his job wasn't done, so he pulled the alien from her wrist and crouched to put her on his right shoulder.
Caja, Maban, and other strong Nele didn't let Khan do all the work. They also reached for their companions and deployed techniques or leaps to grab them. Soon, only a few Nele remained in dangerous positions, and Khan summoned the entirety of his strength to jump again to reach one of them.
The left arm had Jenna, and the right shoulder had a Nele, so Khan could only use his right arm to catch another falling alien before landing on a tilted platform. That surface was too steep even for him, but he clung his leg to its upper edge to remain latched onto it.
The situation was far from ideal. Khan was carrying three people, and he had an awful foothold. He would have to bear the weight of the fall and his baggage once his boulder hit the floor, and he couldn't disperse the momentum in that stance.
Yet, panic couldn't enter Khan's mind. He remained utterly calm and ready for his next move. He couldn't perform the Lightning-demon style perfectly with three people on him, but he could still save everyone's life.
Most of Lower Level 1 fell. The soundwave didn't affect the entirety of the city, but the damage ended up spreading on its own. The destruction of many pillars and important structures stretched the range of the disaster, almost fusing two floors during its duration.
Khan waited and waited. Clanging noises reached his ears, but he remained still. He needed the right opportunity, and that came when most of the rubble under him touched the intermediate floor.
The prediction had turned out to be on point. The hole in the intermediate floor became visible during the fall, showing how most of the audience would land on intact areas.
Khan's boulder was no different. His tilted platform was on a collision course with the rubble accumulated below, which proved how the intermediate floor had withstood the new weight.
Getting that proof pushed Khan to make his next move. When only a few meters separated his boulder from the rubble, he retracted his bent leg to make it slide over the tilted surface.
The two Nele on Khan inevitably panicked. The landing wasn't only imminent. Khan had also given up on their sole hope. However, Jenna remained calm since she knew that Khan had a plan.
Khan let his feet slide on the tilted surface until the friction with the smooth metal reached the level he needed. He could stomp on the boulder at that point, and cracks appeared under him as he performed a short jump.
"Fuck," Khan softly cursed while mid-air. He had plenty of experience with those situations, so he knew he had messed up. The weight of three people had turned out to be too much even after training on the third asteroid.
Khan flew diagonally for a single second before gravity captured him. He fell, and the ground didn't hesitate to greet him. A thudding noise welcomed his landing, but the pain that followed made him ignore it.
The rubble that had landed on the intermediate floor was unstable, and Khan was in no condition to retain his balance. His legs gave in as soon as a metal tile under him slid, making him fall on the sharp and bent mess together with the three Nele.
Jenna's companions had it easy. They merely had to push themselves away while Khan fell. Their landing remained messy, but they could avoid violent meetings with eventual sharp boulders.
Jenna was calmer than her companions, so she realized the situation Khan was in. Still, remaining on him would only worsen his landing, so she also decided to push herself away at the last second.
Instead, Khan basically crashed. His body even dived a bit into the rubble due to the momentum accumulated during the fall.
A buzzing noise resounded inside Khan's mind. The abrupt landing had shattered his coldness and dampened his thoughts. He had a hard time realizing where he was or recalling what had happened, but someone promptly lifted him out of the rubble.
Khan was still confused, but a warm sensation suddenly spread from his cheeks and brought clarity. His vision stabilized, and his sensitivity returned, allowing him to see Jenna's focused face standing right before him.
Jenna had released her mana and had voiced specific requests before sending it inside Khan. Her energy didn't have healing properties, but it brought some strength to Khan's flesh, which resulted in that new clarity.
Nevertheless, being able to sense what was happening allowed Khan to study his condition. A lot hurt, especially his legs, and the check-up technique revealed that he was far from good.
The violent landing didn't only damage his legs. His left shoulder felt odd, and the same went for his elbow. Also, his left side was a mess of small metal shards stabbed into his flesh, and one of them went pretty deep into his torso.
Khan reached for the longest shard stabbed inside him, but Jenna grabbed his wrist before he could pull it out. She even shook her head, which said enough.
Jenna wanted to go back to sending mana to Khan, but they both sensed the arrival of a bright presence at that point. The Nak's hand had descended with them, and a series of lightning-like flares shot out before they could turn.
The assault was unexpected. The hand had depleted its energy to launch the soundwave, but Khan didn't have the time to think about those matters. Jenna's face filled his vision, and he could recognize her expression. He was wearing it too.
Jenna didn't have Khan's battle experience, but she knew what could happen if a lightning bolt hit him. The environment didn't have much synthetic mana, but she was willing to use herself as a shield if the situation required it.
A lightning bolt ended up flying toward Khan and Jenna. The hand had actually targeted every survivor, and it would only take an instant for its attacks to land.
Jenna let go of Khan's face and prepared to jump ahead, but he moved before her. Khan threw himself at Jenna, and the lightning bolt landed on his back, blasting them away.
