I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 407: [Strength: 1261]

The weapon weighed at least four hundred pounds. Pho hefted it one-handed, as if it were made of paper.

He moved toward the Champion, who had been watching Jack’s display with those glowing white eyes, calculating, adapting, preparing to evolve again if necessary.

The warrior saw Pho coming and raised his massive sword defensively....

The Lightning Web collapsed.

All across the Colosseum, the red lightning that had been spreading in geometric patterns suddenly contracted.

Every branch, every thread, every connection snapped inward like elastic released.

The web converged on a single point.

He had perhaps a tenth of a second to register what was happening before thousands of pounds of electrical force slammed into him from every direction simultaneously.

The lightning didn’t just strike him. It wrapped around his limbs, torso, and throat. The energy formed chains, a prison of pure, crackling power that slammed into his skin as smoke began to rise from his body.

The Champion was driven to his knees, his enhanced strength meaningless against the combined weight of the entire web.

The sand beneath him cracked, then shattered as he was pressed down, until his face hit the ground.

The black ice axe came down in a devastating overhead chop that would have split a mountain.

The Champion, pinned by lightning and unable to dodge, could only watch as four hundred pounds of enchanted ice drove toward his spine.

The impact was beyond sound. It was a physical shockwave that rippled outward, shattering already broken sand into powder, creating a pressure wave that made demons in the stands stumble, despite being a hundred feet away.

[-135,000 HP]

[Black Ice Soul: 45% True Damage]

The Champion’s body convulsed. His Adaptive Regeneration tried to kick in. His body tried to heal the massive damage, but Pho didn’t give him the chance.

The Deathfrost Demon raised his axe and brought it down again. And again. And again.

Each strike dealt devastating damage that bypassed most of the Champion’s defensive abilities.

True Damage didn’t care about armor, resistance, or any special skill.

[-135,000 HP]

[-135,000 HP]

Jack’s Judgment Bolts were ready now, both spheres compressed to maximum density. He drew his arms back, targeting the pinned Champion, and threw them down, transforming them into lightning bolts.

The bolts crossed the distance in less than a second, moving faster than most eyes could track.

They hit the Champion’s back simultaneously, one between the shoulder blades, the other at the base of the spine.

The explosion dwarfed the previous one. Red light consumed everything, the thunder so loud it cracked the ice dome overhead.

When the light cleared, the Champion’s body was a smoking ruin, with most of the flesh having vanished, leaving a blackened skeleton held together by some miracle.

[HP: 0/300,000]

[Critical State: Adaptive Evolution attempting emergency resurrection]

[Time until revival: 3 seconds]

Jack teleported.

[Abyssal Steps]

He materialized directly over the Champion’s ruined body, both hands transforming mid-transit. Black scales erupted across his arms as Demonhand activated.

The Champion’s chest cavity was exposed, ribs shattered, and his sternum broken.

And in the center, somehow still intact despite everything, the heart continued to beat.

Jack’s transformed hand plunged into the cavity.

His claws closed around the heart. A massive, still warm, pulsing with the Champion’s desperate attempt to trigger evolution.

The heart came free with a wet, tearing sound, arterial connections snapping, the last vestiges of the Champion’s life literally ripped away.

Blood poured from the cavity, but it didn’t matter. Without the heart, evolution had nothing to work with.

[Enemy Defeated: The Undefeated Champion - EVOLVED]

[Death Tokens Acquired: 45,000]

[Experience Gained: 150,000 EXP]

Jack held the heart high, blood running down his arm, dripping from his elbow. Then he reached up with his free hand and ripped his helmet off.

His face was spattered with blood, red eyes blazing with something menacing. The way his eyes and the way his lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile.

He brought the heart to his mouth and bit down on it.

The heart tasted like a soft-baked pie. Jack tore a chunk free, chewed on it, and swallowed. The heart was still warm, still technically alive for these last few seconds, and consuming it was like drinking concentrated essence.

[Devour Activated]

[Consuming: Champion’s Heart (Disaster-class)]

[Devour has reached Level 8!]

[+5 to all stats.]

Jack ignored the notifications. They were meaningless right now, just noise in the background of the blood frenzy that had taken hold.

All that mattered was the fight, the violence, and the screaming chaos around him.

He took another bite, and another, methodically consuming the Champion’s heart while standing over the warrior’s corpse.

Blood ran down his chin, stained his armor, and pooled at his feet.

The Colosseum had gone silent again, the slaughter pausing as Jack’s army waited for further orders.

Thousands of demons lay dead in the stands, blood painting the once-pristine seats.

The survivors huddled together, too terrified to move, trapped by Pho’s ice dome with nowhere to run.

In the announcer’s booth, Valdoren finally found his voice.

”SKELETONS!” The lich’s amplified command cracked with desperation. ”RISE! KILL THE SOUL WARDEN! TEAR HIM APART!”

The floor erupted again. More skeletal hands, more undead warriors pulling themselves from whatever necromantic hell Valdoren had access to.

But these weren’t the rusted ancient warriors from before. These were fresh, armored in black plate, wielding proper weapons that gleamed with enchantments.

Death Knights.

Easily three hundred of them, each one radiating power that marked them as elite troops.

They formed ranks with military precision, shields locked, weapons ready, preparing to charge Jack’s position in a formation designed to overwhelm through sheer disciplined force.

Jack finished consuming the heart, let the last remnants fall from his clawed hand, and smiled as he licked his finger clean.

”Finally,” he said, his voice carrying across the arena despite not being amplified. ”Something to play with.”

[Infernal Conversion Activated]

[Convert all Magic stat points into Strength at a 1:1.5 ratio]

[Magic: 340 → 0]

[Strength gain: 510]

[Strength increased by 25%]

[Agility increased by 25%]

[Fear status chance increased by 15%]

[All physical damage doubled]

[Duration: 60 seconds]

[Cooldown: 5 minutes]

Jack’s frame towered over his human form. The presence he radiated intensified a hundredfold. Every demon in the Colosseum, every skeleton, every surviving spectator felt it. A weight pressing down on their souls, terror that bypassed rational thought.

His stats recalculated in real-time:

[Strength: 305 (base) + 612 (Infernal Conversion) = 917]

[+25% Strength from Demon Mastery]

[+10% Strength from Demon’s Rage]

[Physical Damage: ×2]

[Strength: 1261]

Jack’s red eyes swept across the Death Knight formation, and several of the skeletons actually took involuntary steps backward despite having no fear response programmed into their necromantic animation.

”Rhys,” Loryn’s voice cut through the tension, calm despite everything happening below. ”Watch carefully. This is why you serve the young master.”

Rhys couldn’t speak, he could barely breathe. His winter-ice eyes were fixed on Jack, watching his master stand covered in blood, surrounded by corpses, facing an army of undead knights without a trace of concern.

”Everything’s going to be fine,” Loryn continued, his purple eyes gleaming. ”It’ll all be over in a matter of minutes.”