Chapter 259: Trump Card
"Since I arrived," Jack confird. "Every building I entered, every corridor I walked, every room I scouted. I left presents for you." His grin widened.
"Thousands of them."
Another series of detonations rocked the fortress, these coming from the lower levels where the slave pits sprawled.
The already-bound demons weren’t targeted, the orbs only detonated near those who hadn’t signed contracts.
But that still left thousands of guards, overseers, and staff who Pho relied on to maintain his operations.
All of them were caught in electrical blasts that couldn’t be seen.
Near the throne room entrance, Rynath and Loryn watched the exchange with carefully neutral expressions.
But their eyes tracked the continuing explosions, calculated the scope of the destruction, and reached the sa conclusion simultaneously.
"He’s destroying the entire fortress," Rynath murmured. "Everything Master Pho built."
"Except the contracted demons," Loryn observed, his skeletal fingers tapping against his chains. "The orbs are only killing those who haven’t signed."
"Which ans he’s securing his army while eliminating Master Pho’s."
They exchanged a glance, then returned their attention to the two combatants facing each other in the ruined throne room.
Pho’s hands tightened on his black frost axe, the weapon’s surface beginning to accumulate more ice as his rage built. "You dare..."
"I dare," Jack interrupted, his flat voice sohow cutting through Pho’s building fury. "You thought you won. You thought Black Ice Soul gave you victory. You thought I was finished."
Thunder Mantle’s blue lightning intensified around Jack’s form, the crackling energy painting serpentine patterns across his armor and skin.
His red eyes blazed brighter, reflecting the electrical discharge.
"But I still haven’t used my trump card yet."
Pho’s blank white eyes narrowed. "Trump card? What...."
He stopped mid-sentence as Jack’s body began to change.
It started at Jack’s chest, a transformation that spread outward. Black demonic scales erupted across his armor.
The scales spread from his torso to his arms, each one gleaming with an oily darkness that seed to absorb the blue lightning.
They crawled up his neck, across his jaw, spreading toward his face with an inexorable progression.
Jack’s body expanded.
The sound of scales forming was the only noise that could be heard despite all the explosions around.
His muscles began to swell.
His shoulders broadened and his chest deepened.
His entire physique transford into sothing more massive.
{Oh. Oh no. You’re using THAT. Pho isn’t going to like this.}
’Yeah, he’s going to be speechless. When I rip his spine out of his back.’
Pho didn’t attack imdiately.
The Deathfrost Demon stood frozen, his black form radiating cold but his movents stilled by shock at what he was witnessing.
"What are you?" Pho’s voice carried genuine confusion rather than his usual confidence.
Jack’s hands elongated, fingers becoming tipped with claws that looked capable of tearing through tal.
The scales on his arms thickened, creating natural armor that layered over Cho’s crafted plating. His height continued increasing.
And on his scaled face, that savage smile appeared, not his usual emotionless expression but sothing primal and thrilled.
"Infernal Conversion," Jack said, his voice deeper now, carrying an edge that hadn’t been there before.
Pho’s shock crystallized into action.
The Deathfrost Demon launched forward, the black frost axe swinging in a horizontal arc aid at separating Jack’s transforming head from his shoulders.
The sa attack that had nearly killed the Soul Warden monts ago.
But Jack was faster now.
The boost in strength and agility made Jack faster and a whole lot stronger than Pho.
Jack ducked under the axe, scales on his back rippling as he moved. He ca up inside Pho’s guard, Oscar thrusting forward toward the Deathfrost Demon’s exposed midsection.
Pho twisted, bringing his black ice armor around to intercept. The spear struck the armored surface and, for the first ti since Black Ice Soul activated, the armor cracked.
They separated, Pho backpedaling to create distance.
Jack advanced slowly. Not caring who he was facing.
"You thought I was finished," Jack said, his deeper voice carrying satisfaction that bordered on joy. "You thought your transformation gave you victory."
Scales covered his entire body now, black demonic armor that glead in the blue lightning still crackling around him.
His muscles had swelled beneath the scales, his fra broadening to accommodate the enhanced physique.
His claws flexed, testing their sharpness, finding them satisfactory.
[Infernal Conversion: 85% Complete]
"But here’s the thing about Soul Wardens," Jack continued, taking another step forward as his height reached six-eleven and three-quarters. "We don’t lose. We destroy and claim the soul of those who try to resist."
Another explosion echoed through the fortress, this one closer than the others. The Static Orbs continued their work, spreading destruction through Pho’s domain with thodical efficiency.
More demons died, more souls were claid, and though Jack’s health was already full, his ring kept pulsing with each death.
The kill count was climbing into triple digits now. Hundreds of Pho’s demons, dead or dying from electrical blasts they never saw coming.
Pho’s blank white eyes tracked Jack’s transforming form with growing concern.
The confidence that Black Ice Soul had restored was crumbling again, replaced by the realization that this fight wasn’t over.
It wasn’t even close.
"You’re insane," Pho said, his black form tensing for another attack. "Completely insane."
Jack’s savage smile widened, scales crinkling around his mouth as his face completed its transformation.
His eyes blazed red, brighter than before, reflecting both the blue lightning of Thunder Mantle and the dark power of Infernal Conversion.
[Infernal Conversion: 95% Complete]
"No," Jack said, his voice now fully transford into sothing deeper, carrying an edge of violence that made even Pho hesitate. "I’m just better prepared."
His height reached the final mark, exactly seven feet tall.
His scaled body radiated power that made the air itself seem heavier.
His claws flexed one final ti as he stared at Pho.
Near the throne room entrance, Rynath and Loryn exchanged another glance.
"That’s not normal demon transformation," Rynath observed quietly. "That’s sothing else."
"I don’t know what that is. But I’ve seen him use it once."
"When?"
"Shortly after he...." Loryn continued. But paused for a mont.
Jack took another step forward, his scaled feet cracking the frozen floor beneath them.
Oscar felt lighter in his enhanced grip, the spear’s weight becoming negligible compared to his increased strength.
Blue lightning still crackled across his form, wreathing his scales in electrical discharge.
"Now," Jack said, his deep voice carrying absolute certainty despite its flat tone, "we fight for real."
Pho’s black form tensed, black frost axe raising defensively.
His blank white eyes tracked Jack’s scaled form with the focus of soone who’d just realized his opponent was far more dangerous than initially assessed.
The Deathfrost Demon’s confidence had shattered and reford twice now.
First when Jack reduced him to half health, then when Black Ice Soul restored everything and seed to secure victory, and now again as the Soul Warden stood transford and fully healed.
"Aargh!!!!"
Without giving him a chance, Pho launched his ace at Jack’s head again.
This ti, he didn’t try to move or dodge.
Jack reached for the axe and caught it with one hand.
"I told you, I will not let a lowly demon toss
around." Jack’s gaze intensified as he stared down Pho.
Slowly, the axe began to crack beneath his grip.
"Why not call for your generals, maybe they can help you."
Pho’s gaze t Loryn and Rynath’s gaze. And in that mont he learned sothing valuable.
Both generals had chains around their hands, but we’re covered in cloaks to cover them.
"Those are my generals now Pho..."
Jack said with a nacing grin as the axe cracked more and dust began to fall on the floor.
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