Chaos' Heir Chapter 998: Summon

Chapter 998: Summon

The Scalqa's iconic smell invaded Monica's nostrils as soon as she exited the ship. The battalion was still arranged into a battle formation, but the tension it exuded had intensified by many levels.

Monica's nose twitched, but she refrained herself from scratching it. She had never liked the Scalqa's smell, and that battalion had spent a prolonged period inside the Leviathan. Monica was also unaffected by those imposing, muscular figures, mentally labeling them as alien, but the Scalqa still had her affection. One had given his life to save Khan, so she accepted them.

Instead, the Thilku were different, and crossing the lines of alien soldiers put Monica before details she hated.

A circular ship had landed on the crowd's left side, releasing a team of stern Thilku. Anyone could see that those aliens weren't playing around and that their visit wasn't out of pleasure. Lord Rsi was also in their lead, adding weight to the situation's seriousness.

The Thilku team didn't care about the Scalqa's defensive line. Lord Rsi walked forward as if those taller aliens didn't exist, and his behavior led to some friction.

A couple of Scalqa tried to step forward to stop Lord Rsi's advance, but two Thilku soldiers rushed ahead, preventing that hindrance. The Scalqa's simpleminded approach seemed about to lead to a fight, but Lieutenant Dyester's order promptly defused it.

There, Monica saw what she loathed about the Thilku. Their arrogant, domineering behavior was fine on its own. They acted as if the universe belonged to them, but that was acceptable, too. The Empire was a majestic species, but Monica couldn't help but hate how all of that came down to one of the dumbest reasons in the world.

After dealing with the Thilku for years, Monica had come to understand their definition of pride, finding it completely hypocritical. The Thilku seemed to slap that word randomly before hiding behind it to justify their actions.

Sure, the Thilku were incredible in many ways, but choosing to avoid using missiles against an inferior species wasn't exactly honorable. It was arrogant, dumb, and misguided, sacrificing valuable lives over a war game. Besides, the Thilku's deep acc.u.mulation of techniques and experience would still give them a stark advantage in any battle.

Monica also saw the Empire's management of its domain as brainless. That constant, endless expansion was idiotic from every perspective, and the Thilku only chased it due to their blind pride.

The Thilku's sole redeeming quality was that they already considered Monica as Khan's fated wife, which admittedly significantly improved her impression of that species. Yet, they also forced Khan to join many battles, so the two sides almost negated each other.

Monica kept advancing, keeping her eyes on Khan's back. The partially burned red cape covered it, and the clothing almost fell when Khan reached Lord Rsi and performed the traditional Thilku salute. The other party didn't immediately show similar respect, and things grew tenser.

The tension mostly came from the audience. The apparent stand-off between Khan and the Thilku Lord intrigued the crowd, who did its best to peek at the scene past the Scalqa's defensive line. Those important people felt Khan's drastic and reckless choices had finally earned him some rightful retribution, but Monica saw a very different truth.

Lord Rsi's soldiers looked serious, but that feeling seemed to have nothing to do with Khan. Lord Rsi himself didn't engage in any overbearing reprimand, and his hesitation in matching Khan's traditional bow came from the inspection of his burned red cape.

As Monica had expected, Lord Rsi soon performed a traditional salute, and his team imitated him. Part of the atmosphere's tension dispersed, but the stern, loud, and clear tone of Lord Rsi's following words rekindled it.

"[Blue Shaman]," Lord Rsi called. "[We have received words and pictures of your battle. Your performance brought honor to the Empire once again]."

Monica held back a frown. Lord Rsi usually used human language in public contexts to support Khan's political status inside the Global Army. Still, his words seemed to have nothing to do with politics now, the human ones at least. His seriousness involved something deeper that Monica couldn't pinpoint.

Reaching Khan's side confirmed that Monica wasn't alone in that confusion. His face didn't show it, but he was also trying to understand the real purpose behind Lord Rsi's visit.

Of course, that invisible confusion quickly disappeared from Khan's face. After all, Khan was Khan. His glowing eyes saw entire worlds more than his peers, and nothing could escape them.

"Miss Solodrey," Lord Rsi saluted shortly before refocusing on Khan, making his voice even louder. "[We have orders to bring you to the Empire's domain. The trip will be long, but we must leave immediately]."

Monica had long since learned the Thilku language and those lines finally shed light on that mysterious development. Lord Rsi's seriousness, loud voice, and uncompromising stance could only mean one thing. After all, the Empire didn't have many figures who could make him behave like that.

To Monica's surprise, Khan didn't immediately agree. He stared at Lord Rsi deep in thought, considering countless options. Many details about the situation rea.s.sured him about the Thilku Empire's candid intentions, and he was bound to spot more of those.

However, Khan couldn't take his recent declaration lightly. The Empire respected him, and many Thilku worshipped his name, but his unique authority was mainly founded on his connection to the Global Army, which he had just severed.

Monica almost felt proud watching her idiot consider the intricate political environment. Choosing which parties to prioritize wasn't easy at that critical point, but Lord Rsi seemed to have predicted that.

"[Blue Shaman]," Lord Rsi continued, his voice even louder and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with pride. "[The order comes directly from the Emperor. He requests your presence in the Empire's Capital]." Lord Rsi's voice echoed past the audience, reaching every corner of the landing area. Many of those important guests couldn't speak the Thilku language but understood what [Emperor] meant, and shock inevitably unfolded.

Monica shared that shock and glanced at Khan. Somehow, his face had grown colder, hiding his true feelings. He remained silent for a few seconds before uttering a simple: "[The Empire and the Emperor honor me]."

Then, Khan disregarded Lord Rsi to face Monica. She felt his lips on hers before she had time to realize what was happening, but the words whispered into her ear brought her back to

reality.

"I'm sorry," Khan whispered. "I might miss your birthday."

Monica felt Khan's tender caress on her cheek before watching him depart. He and Lord Rsi walked side by side inside the circular ship, disappearing inside with the rest of the Thilku

team.

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Author's notes: It's my pleasure to announce that Birth of the Demonic Sword's audiobook adaptation is out. You can find it on Kokoro Audio, Audiobooks.com, and Spotify! YouTube also has a 1-hour-long free sample on KokoroAudio's channel.