The stronger Radola crossed the weaker specimens before flapping its wings to stop its advance. It lifted its long neck and pointed its big beak at the sky to launch another loud screech, and the Tainted animals behind it echoed it.
Khan was genuinely bewildered. That behavior went against everything he knew about the Radola. According to the reports, they hunted in packs, and their aggression was impossible to keep in check. Yet, the very opposite was happening.
The weaker specimens' cries and the main Radola's stance gave clues that quickly built a hypothesis inside Khan's mind. Those Tainted animals hunted in packs, but that wasn't a hunt. It was a formal challenge from one king of the sky to another.
Everything Khan knew about the Radola and the information captured in those seconds fused to give him an idea of his opponent's strength. Those creatures had frail bodies, and their packs were their biggest advantage. Still, the monster looked anything but weak when Khan inspected it.
The Radola was seven meters long, with a wide body and wider wings. Its beak was bigger than Khan's torso, and its feathers shone bright red in the middle of that blue sky.
The mana inside the Radola didn't only grant Khan an understanding of its level. It also allowed him to notice the differences with the other specimens. He couldn't be sure when all he had were reports and holograms, but now he knew. His opponent was a fighter.
Khan kept his gaze straight and tapped the air to remain in his position, but his senses spread elsewhere. The island was big, but the turrets had landed near its shores. The sea was close enough for the Radola to use its spells.
In theory, Khan didn't have to face the Radola. Time was still flowing, bringing the activation of the turrets closer. His opponent also belonged to the slower family. Khan could probably run circles around it until the countdown reached zero.
However, more inconsistencies became clear as Khan studied the situation. It didn't make sense for such a strong specimen to have joined the scouts so soon. The Radola must have decided to fly toward the turrets for a specific reason, and Khan only found himself as an explanation.
'I won't get another chance like this anytime soon,' Khan thought as his gaze tried to wander toward the ship in the distance. He knew what was waiting for him after the mission. He didn't hate it, but it couldn't satisfy him completely.
Khan closed his eyes, and his senses rejoiced. The natural mana had finally replaced the missile's synthetic energy, his knife felt weightless, and the sky was his playground. He had nothing to fear.
The Radola eventually screeched, flapping its wings to fling itself toward Khan. He opened his eyes at the same time, and a tinge of mana left his body while he sprinted ahead.
Khan's face burned when he touched levels of speed that his body couldn't endure properly. Maban's technique pushed him beyond his limits and made him reach the incoming Radola instantly. A frontal clash seemed inevitable, but that idea had never crossed his mind.
Milia 222's events had granted Khan experience hard to find elsewhere. He had already faced someone stronger than him, so he knew the dangers of the battle. The Radola probably didn't have the Orlats' superior spells, but its reflexes were bound to be powerful, so Khan couldn't challenge it head-on.
Khan stomped a foot in the air before he could crash on the Radola, and the mana in the environment enhanced his move. The monster didn't expect that sudden acceleration but reacted in time and tried to throw its beak after him. However, its neck couldn't keep up with Khan's speed.
Khan crossed the Radola, reaching its left side before performing a third acceleration. Another stomp unfolded, making Khan spin in the air and deliver a descending kick on the base of the monster's wing.
Surprisingly enough, the Radola felt the attack. That was Khan's most powerful kick, executed after relying on Maban's technique three times in a row, and the monster bent under it.
Khan's knife lit up at that sight. He had attacked the first pairs of wings in an attempt to limit the Radola's movements, but another reason existed. Aiming directly for the monster's neck would have been dangerous due to its reflexes and flexibility. Instead, if Khan forced the Radola to lose the initiative, he could seize the upper hand.
The Radola's neck was long enough to reach the first pairs of wings. Khan was still in its beak's range, so it made sense to expect that type of attack. He also had his knife ready for the event, but the Radola resorted to a different tactic.
An immense and seemingly unstoppable force fell on Khan's leg. The Radola was lifting its wing to fling him away, and the sheer physical strength carried by the move made him unable to counterattack.
Khan found himself rolling away before he could even realize what had happened. The Radola had unleashed enough strength to send him flying and even flapped its wings to chase after him. However, one of them failed to work correctly.
A gentle tap on the air dispersed the momentum and made Khan stop. He was upside down, but that stance didn't hinder his inspection. The Radola had tried to reach him during that moment of weakness, but the damage suffered by the wing turned a dangerous acceleration into something he could notice before it was too late.
Khan hurriedly kicked the air to fling himself downward, and the Radola crossed his previous spot in the next second. An angry screech followed that miss, but the Radola kept track of Khan's movements and folded its wings to follow after him.
No thoughts ran through Khan's mind, but a realization arrived anyway. His kicks could hurt the Radola but left him too exposed. He couldn't give the monster a chance to make him lose his balance again, and a new plan formed.
The island's surface grew dangerously close during the descent, but Khan didn't change course. He slightly held back to bait the Radola into accelerating, and his plan worked.
Two bodies fell at high speed toward the rocky surface while the distance between them shortened. The Radola almost caught up with Khan, but he threw a powerful kick to his right to change his direction at the last second. The Radola tried to do the same by unfolding its wings, but the damage suffered by one of them turned that attempt into a violent landing.
The Radola crashed on the rocks, and Khan pushed himself upward before joining his palms and turning toward his opponent. A chaos spear took form when he stopped mid-air, and he instantly threw it toward the monster.
Being accurate while flying was hard, but the chaos spear didn't need to be too precise. The spell's explosion engulfed the landing area, filling everything with a blinding purple-red light. The symphony shook in the aftermath of the attack, but Khan remained still and waited for his senses to capture anything.
A huge and fuming figure came out of the bright pillar before it could lose power, and a screech followed. The Radola had survived Khan's best attack but had suffered injuries.
That damage didn't stop the Radola from unleashing a fearsome speed, which Khan welcomed with open arms. His knife lit up as he waited for the perfect opportunity to move, but his mind grew cold when he noticed a familiar scene.
The Radola wasn't as fast as before, but more was at work during that flight. Mana left its figure and stretched toward the nearby shore in an attempt to create a connection with the water. The sea wasn't too close, but the Radola's energy found and reached it easily.
Khan was already aware of that ability. The Radola belonging to the fighters' family could easily contact the sea, but seeing their methods with his own eyes reminded him of the Niqols. There were heavy differences, but Khan couldn't control how his mind worked.
The Radola soon reached Khan, making him jump to his right again while swinging his knife. He dodged the attack, and the monster did the same by retracting its wings and escaping his reach. The two crossed each other without inflicting any injury.
Khan only needed a few steps to turn and prepare for the next attack, but the Radola continued to fly straight. Burned feathers also left its body and removed the smoke hiding its figure. Khan became able to see exposed flesh as well as bloodied wounds.
The Radola shortened the distance from the sea, reinforcing the mana channel connecting the two. Its energy also spread through the water, giving it control of that liquid, which began to freeze.
Khan was too distant to see all of that, but his senses generated that image in his mind. He knew what was happening because Liiza did something similar.
In that situation, a smart soldier would put as much distance from the shore as possible. After all, fighting a stronger opponent in its element was simply mental. Khan had no reason to chase after the Radola, but his body moved on its own.
Khan's emotions went wild while his mind remained cold. The Radola had Liiza's element, similar methods, and even resembled the monster that cut her arm. That was a perfect cocktail to stir Khan's anger, and he fell prey to it almost willingly.
Maban's technique activated almost on its own. The mana in the environment reacted to Khan's intentions and helped his sprint to push him beyond his natural limits.
Khan ran toward the shore, disregarding that more Tainted animals had gathered above him. Those specimens respected the one versus one battle, and he did the same. His focus never moved from the powerful Radola.
The wounded Radola turned to face Khan once it reached the shore. Its wings flapped weakly to keep it in position, but its screech continued to retain immense power, and figures soon surged from the water below.
Three icy pillars grew from the shallow waters and left the shore to fly toward Khan. Those structures weren't big, but they shattered mid-air to turn into a rain of sharp shards.
Khan had continued to fly toward the Radola in the meantime, so the rain of shards unfolded right before him. His speed made dodging the entirety of the attack troublesome but not impossible. Yet, the symphony warned him about a second spell brewing the sea, and that wasn't the end of it.
The frozen rain was fast. Each shard didn't contain much mana, but the entire attack was fearsome enough to put the turrets behind Khan in danger. He didn't know if the spell could reach them, but facing that risk was pointless, especially since his feelings had other plans.
Khan opened his mouth, and his wild feelings took the form of a clicking growl that echoed in the area. A seemingly random release of mana accompanied the monstrous cry, enveloping Khan into a purple-red mass that expanded from his figure.
Many shards survived the impact with the wild mana but crumbled before they could reach Khan. That type of attack was perfect for his new spell, and its performance didn't disappoint.
Khan could continue to sprint freely and without worrying about the turrets. However, the Radola's second spell had taken form by then, and a giant pillar left the shore to fly toward Khan.
The Radola didn't stay still anymore either. It flew after the pillar, which was only a few seconds from crashing on Khan. The amount of mana it carried almost forced him to dodge, but the monster behind it was a problem he couldn't ignore.
Destroying the pillar was a possibility. The Radola's spell wasn't too strong when performed without a pack. Khan felt sure that his knife could pierce it. Yet, that would leave him defenseless, creating an opportunity for the monster.
Dodging also featured similar issues. The Radola could follow Khan's movements, so it would most likely intercept him on his escape route.
Instead, retreating could be a wise choice since it would give Khan the time to deal with the Radola, but he didn't opt for that path. When the pillar was about to reach his chest, he dodged to the right and unleashed the spherical version of the Wave spell.
The expanding purple-red sphere pushed the pillar away and opened cracks in its structure, but the Radola didn't care. It dived straight into the spell and pointed its big beak at Khan.
The glowing knife stabbed the beak before it could reach its target. However, Khan couldn't complete the slash, which left his weapon stuck inside that tough body part.
Time slowed down in Khan's vision. He saw his spell eroding the Radola's already damaged tissues, but the monster's angry eyes told him nothing would stop that assault. The hand on the knife's handle even gave him an idea of how strong that impact would be if he let it happen, and he wasn't sure his rib cage would survive that.
During that desperate situation, Khan held strong on the knife and kicked the air with both feet to match the Radola's momentum. He began to fly backward, using the monster's tough body part to remain outside of its reach.
The Radola didn't initially understand what was happening. It continued to fly forward, but Khan didn't grow any closer. He remained right in front of it without ever entering its range.
Khan acted before the Radola could come up with another plan. He used the knife as a handhold and slammed his knees on the beak's lower part. The monster didn't like that and began to struggle, but Khan summoned his strength to remain attached to its head and keep hammering it.
Cracks eventually opened on the beak, and a last attack with both knees shattered it. Khan had planned to destroy only its lower part, but his legs broke the upper side too due to the damage already inflicted by the knife.
The knife became free and took away Khan's handhold, allowing the monster to get closer. Khan had just completed an attack and didn't have the time to perform a sprint, so he summoned the [Blood Shield] and waited for the inevitable impact.
The Radola had slowed down during its struggles and had even tilted its head. What remained of its beak had gained many sharp edges after shattering, but only its smooth side crashed on the clotted blood vessels on Khan's torso.
The impact made Khan's internal organs shake. He felt the urge to puke as his body flew toward the ground. His senses also became unreliable, but he managed to hear a beeping noise accompanied by a series of clanging sounds.
Khan crashed on the rocky surface while more noises filled his ears. Hell seemed to have broken loose around him, and he forced himself to straighten his back to understand what was happening.
A huge figure fell in front of Khan as soon as he managed to sit, and blood splashed on his face. His senses stabilized while he wiped his eyes, and the scene became clear once his vision returned. Bullets were flying everywhere, and the many Radola in the area were powerless against them.
Khan looked past his shoulders to inspect the scene. The four metal pillars had opened, revealing sixteen rotating cannons that automatically targeted and fired at the enemies in the area. Soon, no Radola would dare to approach the island.
A sigh escaped Khan before a cough forced him to cover his mouth. Blood fell on his palm due to his internal injuries, but the corpse in front of him claimed his attention anyway.
The strong Radola had been the first to die under the cannons' assault. Bullets had pierced its head, wings, and torso, killing it on the spot. The turrets had taken care of something so strong in the short seconds that Khan had needed to recover, showing once again how strong the Global Army's weapons were.
The barrage of bullets continued for entire minutes, and Khan watched everything unfold. He probably had to meditate and see a doctor, but the scene was too captivating for him. That abundance of screams, blood, and death was his home, at least one of them.
The Radola's aggressive behavior made many dive toward the turrets, but none survived. Corpses filled the rocky surface, and large puddles of blood expanded, creating something resembling small rivers.
'[Be it planting countless flowers],' Khan repeated Jenna's words, '[Or creating bloody rivers].'
Khan reached for the dead Radola before him and patted its head. Their battle had been good, and the monster had even shown him how part of his feelings would never change.
The insanity that Khan labeled as "dark sides" would never leave his character. It could only grow deeper, especially after inheriting the Nak's fear. His desperation would always make him extreme in ways humans couldn't understand.
Still, that wasn't the end of the matter. The anger experienced during the battle confirmed Khan's remaining affection for Liiza. Loving another woman didn't make him forget her, which he found strangely reassuring.
'I guess I can be happy without cutting you away from my life,' Khan smiled before his intense feelings made him curse in his mind. 'I can't wait to see Monica.'
That introspection didn't last long since familiar tremors spread through the symphony and made Khan lift his gaze. The cannons had stopped firing by then. The area was clear, so a square outpost with four engines had left the leviathan class to reach the island.
'He didn't waste time,' Khan snickered and closed his eyes to perform the check-up technique. There didn't seem to be any internal bleeding, but he meditated anyway.
The outpost took a few minutes to reach the island, and its landing raised a cloud of smoke that Lauter's winds needed a while to disperse. An earthquake also spread, but nothing could disturb Khan's meditation.
When everything calmed down, Khan opened his eyes to look at the new structure. The outpost was nothing more than a short metal building with a square base that had fused perfectly with the turrets. The latter stood at its corners and would protect it throughout the following operations.
The outpost's door opened, and the presence that joined the symphony made Khan stand up to approach it. Lucian left the structure, and a broad smile bloomed when he noticed Khan walking toward him.
"Captain, I must say," Lucian announced. "You surpassed yourself."
"Did we stay within the budget?" Khan questioned.
"You saved me more money than you think," Lucian stated. "Now, come inside. I brought doctors for you."
Khan nodded and began to follow Lucian, but two soldiers left the outpost before they could enter. The two men were third-level warriors who reeked of battle experience, and Lucian didn't hesitate to address them.
"Start cleaning the area," Lucian ordered. "Gather the corpses and deploy the equipment."
"Yes, sir," The two soldiers responded and began to inspect the scene, but Khan didn't let that continue.
"On that matter," Khan called. "I'd like to take these corpses."
The statement brought some tension, forcing the two soldiers to focus on Khan. Even Lucian had to turn to inspect his face, and the scene surprised him a bit.
Khan's appearance was a mess. His military uniform had holes everywhere, and its upper part had almost turned into mere rags. Blood had also fallen all over him, and he didn't bother to wipe it.
Moreover, the wild feelings from before still ran through Khan's mind, which added a certain intensity to his presence. His words almost sounded like threats because of that and his bloodied face.
"Captain, this area belongs to the Hencus family now," Lucian pointed out.
"So, will you stop me if I take them?" Khan wondered in a tone that gained mocking features when it reached Lucian. The statement definitely wasn't ideal in a political environment, but Khan felt especially uncaring at the moment.
The two soldiers stepped forward to reach Lucian's sides. Their stance told Khan they were ready to fight, potentially putting three third-level warriors against him. Yet, no fear appeared inside Khan. Actually, those guards' mana showed the hesitation they felt in front of such a fearsome opponent.
"You have good guards," Khan admitted before sighing and opting for a calmer approach. "Look, just see it as a favor if you really need to."
Lucian's eyes lit up at those words. He read between the lines and understood that Khan was ready to join the political game with him. He only wanted those Tainted animals in exchange.
"In that case, how could I refuse?" Lucian chuckled before boasting his deep knowledge. "Make sure to convey my regards to Professor Nickton when you deliver them."
"Since you are already here," Khan ignored the boast while a shameless smile appeared on his face. "Can you pack and deliver them for me? The leviathan class should have all the equipment ready."
"No problem at all, Captain," Lucian promptly replied, showing no hesitation.
"Right," Khan pretended to recall something and turned to point at the stronger Radola. "Don't send that specimen to Professor Nickton. Leave it in a private area for me."
