The safety of rules didn't exist in Khan's presence. The nobles could command assets far grander than all of them put together due to the authority they wielded, but that power only existed as long as everyone played the same game.
That authority crumbled the second someone like Khan decided to ignore it. The social contract that had ruled humankind for over five hundred years would disappear in a blink, only leaving room for primitive yet pristine and actual power.
The larger and stronger army could ignore right or wrong and do as it pleased. Military might was the most ancient and factual expression of authority. It was also the most real, able to dismiss any rule or ethics.
The mana had even made armies superfluous. A single, immensely powerful being could embody that destabilizing power, making any existing law, agreement, or authority meaningless. The strong could decide what was right, while the weak could only comply or die.
