Chaos' Heir

Chapter 893: Regression



Abraham's concern was evident, but he didn't reject the order. He didn't even complain, limiting himself to nodding before descending into the tunnel and closing the trapdoor above him.

Khan closed his eyes, performing the last mental and physical check-ups. He was about to jump into something life-threatening and life-changing, and taking it lightly could very well destroy him.

Khan didn't lack resolve or determination. The meeting with the descendants had only reinforced his desire to grow stronger to silence any attempt to destabilize his authority. That had always been the most efficient way to protect his domain and allies, and he had never feared hurting himself to pursue it.

As for the body, Khan had held back on drinking too much that night, and his glasses always had the plants' toxic substance in them. He wasn't even tipsy, so the risk of lack of concentration or intoxication was non-existent.

The previous day, Khan had also performed a long training session with the new version of the [Blood Vortex]. His body was almost bursting with mana he had yet to absorb but didn't plan to. The imminent dangerous procedure needed that fuel, and Khan could only hope he had gathered enough.

'I can't prepare any better,' Khan eventually concluded, opening his eyes and filling the area with their light.

"Let's begin," Khan announced, undressing and knowing the people in the underground lab could hear him.

The chair moved in response to the order. Its tubes opened, allowing Khan to sit among them without risking touching the needles at their end. A cup also came out of its right armrest, and the plants' toxic substance quickly filled it from the cavity at its bottom.

"Do you need to review the procedure's details again, Prince Khan?" Garret's slightly robotic voice came out from the other armrest.

"No," Khan reassured, seizing the cup. "Begin."

The tubes moved, pointing their needles at different parts of Khan's body. He also felt sharp tips poking at his back, but nothing pierced him yet. The scientists below were waiting for Khan to fulfill the last requirements, and he didn't hesitate anymore.

Khan emptied the cup in his mouth, forcefully gulping down the toxic substance before throwing the container away and resting his arm on the specific spot. He closed his eyes, and pain immediately arrived. The dark green liquid had begun to burn his insides, and the needles had also shot forward.

A more intense pain soon invaded Khan. The tubes injected the toxic substance into his body, attacking almost all of his flesh. Sweat quickly accumulated on his forehead as his whole being took fire, cutting his connection to the outside world and making him miss the pushing force that fell on him.

Garret and Abraham had studied every aspect of the procedure. They knew Khan needed to get in the pool but would have been indisposed after the injection. So, they added a mechanism to the chair to push Khan into the toxic liquid once the needles came out of his body.

Khan's awareness had long since become hazy, but ending in the pool generated another wave of pain, startling him awake. He regained control in time to stop his nostrils from breathing the dark green liquid, but his prompt reaction barely helped.

The three different assumptions of the toxic substance joined forces to become a single, unbearable assault. Khan felt scorching lava flowing through his very blood vessels, digging through his skin, muscles, and bones. He screamed in pain, sending bubbles to the pool's surface, but his condition didn't improve.

Nothing could have prepared Khan for that intense suffering. The process went beyond torture. Everything about him hurt and burned. His body had become a curse, and his fingers dug into his chest, seemingly attempting to rip that poisonous flesh off.

Khan's fingers succeeded in piercing his skin, but he didn't feel anything. Nothing could cross the wave of suffering that had enveloped him. Only pain existed in the full scope of his senses. Nevertheless, Khan's survival instincts gave birth to a solution. A technique he hadn't relied on since learning the Niqols' ways returned, rearranged by his brain in that difficult situation.

Khan's initial training to control the chaos element involved placing a barrier on his brain to keep his emotions away. He had also done extensive mental exercises, so he had the tools to push away that unbearable pain and make some room for his reasonable side.

A tinge of clarity suddenly sparked inside Khan. He recalled everything and regained some control of his body and senses. He still hurt deeply, but the temporary clarity gave him the chance to force his mana to flow.

Usually, Khan would need entire, if not multiple, meditation sessions to absorb the mana accumulated with the [Blood Vortex]. Yet, his flesh greedily absorbed that additional energy now, depleting it at an unfathomable rate.

Khan had never witnessed a similar behavior but pushed forward, forcing his mana to flow while his flesh broke and absorbed that energy. His unreliable and occasional clarity prevented him from studying the process. Still, his brain soon went on auto-pilot, performing the familiar training until it couldn't find any more available fuel.

The makeshift metal barrier broke at that point. The unbearable pain destroyed Khan's lingering clarity, threatening to make him faint on the spot. However, his survival instincts kicked in, and a simple ankle movement flung him out of the pool.

The following moments, minutes, and hours were a fog of unclear events. Khan felt himself slamming on something before blackness filled his mind. Then, he sensed someone picking him up, but the darkness of unconsciousness soon arrived.

That process repeated itself multiple times. Khan experienced rare sparks of awareness interrupted by long blank periods. His senses occasionally picked something up, updating him on his surroundings and situation, but his brain always failed to process that information.

It took hours for Khan's condition to stabilize and his brain to resume its normal functioning. Khan suddenly regained complete awareness, finding himself lying on a bed in a dark grey room. White light shone everywhere, but his bright eyes quickly changed those shades. Khan soon discovered he wasn't alone, but more surprises arrived. His senses noticed the bandages covering him from head to toe and the general feeling of weakness that permeated him. He also struggled to move, but his throat seemed good enough to speak.

"What happened?" Khan asked, only a faint, hoarse voice escaping his mouth.

"Much happened, Prince Khan," Garret's voice reached Khan's ears, but a buzzing noise dampened it, almost covering it in its entirety.

"Update me," Khan forced himself to say, closing his eyes to focus on the imminent sounds.

"We had to delay our first-aid attempt, My Prince," Abraham explained. "You started releasing dangerous mana as soon as you left the pool. I'm afraid the cave didn't survive."

"Did anyone get hurt?" Khan questioned.

"No," Abraham promptly reassured. "The security measures you set were perfect, too perfect, I'd say. You endangered your safety to prioritize ours, My Prince."

Khan had to take a break from the conversation since the enduring buzzing noise had triggered a piercing headache. Still, a few deep breaths later, his condition started to improve, and the same went for the feeling of weakness.

"What time is it?" Khan asked once he felt good enough to speak again.

"The battles in the arena have already started, Prince Khan," Garret revealed. "Your absence

was noticed, but I'm told Miss Solodrey has everything handled."

"Did she see me like this?" Khan wondered, and the slight hesitation in the two scientists'

mana gave him an answer.

"She was quite worried, My Prince," Abraham stated, avoiding going into details.

"She cried, didn't she?" Khan questioned.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"I apologize," Abraham uttered, confirming Khan's doubts.

"Well," Khan exclaimed, lifting an arm from under the blanket to experience his returning

strength. "Was it worth it?"

"That's hard to say, Prince Khan," Garret responded, "Especially after only one session."

"What did you find?" Khan asked, understanding that the two scientists had found something

worth noting.

"Your attunement with mana was at eighty-eight points," Garret announced. "Am I correct?" "You tested it before the procedure," Khan nodded. "I remember."

"Surprisingly," Garret continued, "Your attunement with mana is now at eighty-six points."

Khan finally turned to look at the scientists. The rest of the vast room and its equipment filled his vision, but he ignored those details to focus on his trusted men. Their faces didn't carry

lies, but the discovery remained shocking.

"Did I become weaker?" Khan questioned. "Like it happened with my father?"

Garret widened his eyes and looked at Abraham in confusion, but the latter ignored him to address Khan's concerns. Khan had told him how his father had saved his life, but the two

issues were unrelated.

"My Prince," Abraham called. "We would lose attunement after every decent injury if it were that easy. Instead, we regrow skin and flesh at our current level every time. Those improvements are quite resilient."

"So," Khan said, "Did the procedure interfere with the scanner? I don't understand."

"I have a hypothesis, Prince Khan," Garret announced, "But only additional sessions can

confirm it."

"Get to the point," Khan ordered.

"You are forcing a transformation before achieving complete attunement with mana," Garret explained. "Your previous score with your previous flesh was eighty-eight. With your current flesh, it's eighty-six."