Chaos Heir

Chapter 1367: Overboard

Liiza was hardly recognizable on that bed of shards. Her cross-legged figure was entirely white, matching the ice around her, and that color didn’t stop at her mere skin.

The clothes Liiza wore had frozen, becoming one with her. The same went for her hair, turning her entire figure into an ice statue no different from the mana beasts she had vanquished.

However, Liiza was undoubtedly alive. A cold aura surrounded her figure, seemingly making her exist beyond her mere physical shape. Her energy was also more piercing and invasive than before, lowering the temperature around her, attempting to freeze the air blowing toward her now that the mountains had shattered.

The resemblance to the frozen Nak was uncanny, but differences existed. Liiza had only sealed the alien’s existence in space, ignoring its body and leaving it with no aura or agency, cursing it to be a powerless bystander while the world changed around it.

Meanwhile, Liiza seemed to have retained her agency, power, and body, albeit with similar curses. She looked stuck in place, forever imprisoned in a body made of ice that couldn’t move, breathe, or probably even feel.

That was a perfect depiction of what Liiza had described during her vows. Her fate was to be pure, unreachable, untouchable, and incorruptible, destined to become an eternal corpse, to watch the flow of the years in complete stillness, solitude, and darkness.

Elements didn’t care for the primitive wishes of the living beings. As Khan was learning, the mana existed on a superior, broader, and inhuman perspective, not minding what singular, simpler creatures saw as necessary functions at the core of their understanding of life.

Evolved beings were also beyond mortals, so they had to overcome their attachment to the trivial features they saw as important. Reaching a superior state of existence meant leaving something behind, and that rule was absolute.

Yet, Liiza’s future wasn’t hers anymore. She had given it to Khan, just like he had done with his. A Niqols’ marriage was no trivial event, especially in the way the couple had performed it. It left deep marks in people’s existence, affecting their beings as a whole and displaying some hidden functions when necessary.

Khan was so trapped in his perspective switches that he almost missed when the tattoos on his right arm and shoulder lit up, glowing with a dim blue light.

The event didn’t affect Khan but triggered a reaction on the other end of his tattoos. White light began to shine on Liiza’s frozen left arm and chest, brightening to scar her figure with the same marks, forcing her body out of that cursed stillness.

The tattoos brightened until cracks opened inside those marks, expanding to litter the entirety of Liiza’s frozen figure. Her structural integrity eventually gave in, making her crumble into a rain of ice shards that joined the others on the ground.

Liiza was no more, but her existence still occupied the bed of ice shards, and white lights even shone among it. Her aura was still releasing its chilling cold, which intensified when it stirred into action.

The bed of shards suddenly came to life, rising into the sky and reassembling its many pieces, seemingly turning back time to recreate the white mountain peaks.

The process didn’t end once the mountain peaks reappeared in the area. Those structures shrunk, seemingly growing backward to restore the initial, single pillar Liiza had created.

Yet, the pillar also suffered from the same fate, shrinking until it disappeared out of existence, only leaving the same frozen, cross-legged statue from before. Liiza as a whole was still made of ice, but that soon changed.

The frozen clothes remained unaffected while the ice on Liiza’s body darkened, reverting her fabric to its dark-blue color. Even her hair lost its stillness, falling over her shoulders and face.

The last part to unfreeze was Liiza’s eyes, which remained closed for a few more seconds before abruptly snapping open, unleashing waves of her chilling aura everywhere.

The frozen clothes blew up into shards that flew all over Liiza’s surroundings, leaving frozen trails in their flight and freezing the spots where they landed, their ice expanding to create new white mountains.

The environment immediately changed, gaining a proper mountain chain while everything else fell prey to Khan’s technique. Still, Liiza ignored those transformations while her gaze slowly regained focus.

Liiza’s glowing eyes fell on the strands of hair before her face first. She reached for them with her right hand, studying their white color and sorting through them, noticing the lack of red shades.

The dark-blue hand attracted Liiza’s attention next. She moved her hair away before stretching her arm, tilting her head while inspecting her flesh.

At last, Liiza glanced at her left side, where her tattoos still glowed, albeit growing dimmer by the second. She heaved a sigh of relief once their light completely disappeared, turning them back to mere marks of love.

Afterward, Liiza’s mouth twisted into a sweet smile that she didn’t hesitate to point at the figure in the sky. Khan was still immersed in his training technique, absorbing the world of mana and trapped in his switch of perspectives, unable to meet that loving gaze.

Liiza didn’t mind that, but also didn’t plan to stay still. She slowly stood up, unfazed by her naked state. The mountain chain she had created moved, shrinking to release its frozen mana, letting it fall prey to Khan’s suction force, which she gladly accompanied.

Liiza’s figure grew more ethereal until it completely disappeared. A pale white light suddenly materialized behind Khan, solidifying into Liiza. Her change of position had been instantaneous, acting as a proper teleport, but her following gestures were slower and more caring.

"[I’m here now]," Liiza whispered, calmly wrapping her arms around Khan’s neck, hugging him from behind. "[You can go overboard]."

Khan didn’t react to Liiza’s hug or words. He looked completely unaware of her arrival, his gaze lost on the horizon while his mind explored topics too broad and profound for simpler beings.

Nevertheless, Khan’s mana did act, escaping his figure to amass on the reptilian head’s sides, instantly creating nine more of those that started releasing their own suction force.