I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 515: Supernova Palm

The bullet punched through Jack’s left shoulder.

The penetration that tore through demon armor, dragon scales, enhanced flesh, and bone before exiting out his back.

The entry wound was barely visible, a hole no larger than a fingertip. The exit wound was catastrophic, a crater the size of a fist where the bullet had expanded upon passing through Jack’s body.

[-55,000 HP]

[HP: 800/55,800]

Jack staggered, his vision blurring as his body registered damage that had brought him within inches of death.

The intense discomfort stemmed not only from the direct physical trauma but also from the disruptive impact of Warren’s hydrokinetic abilities on his internal mana pathways.

Subsequently, induced secondary damage impeded his natural healing from activating right away.

Blood poured from the wounds, front and back, painting his red armor an even darker crimson.

For a moment, Jack’s consciousness wavered. His enhanced constitution was the only thing keeping him standing, his demonic transformations preventing the shock from killing him outright.

Then the notifications began flooding his vision.

[Demonic Mastery: +2,790 HP]

His natural healing wasn’t working, but his system skills weren’t impaired.

But that was nothing compared to what followed.

[Crimson Ring Proc: Enemy Slain - Floor 11]

[Crimson Ring Proc: Enemy Slain - Floor 12]

[Crimson Ring Proc: Enemy Slain - Floor 13]

[Crimson Ring Proc: Enemy Slain - Floor 14]

[Crimson Ring Proc: Enemy Slain - Floor 15]

The notifications continued, each one representing a bound creature killing an enemy on the floors Jack had deployed them to.

His demons were slaughtering everything they encountered, and each kill triggered his ring’s special effect.

[Total Kills Registered: 95]

[+53,010 HP]

[+53,010 HP]

[+53,010 HP]

[+53,010 HP]

Jack’s shoulder wound closed, flesh knitting back together with speed that made Mira’s eyes widen. Bone reformed, muscle regenerated, skin sealed over the damage until no trace of the catastrophic injury remained.

[HP fully Restored]

Jack straightened, rolling his left shoulder to test its function.

No lingering damage, no reduced mobility, no sign he’d been moments from death.

’The demon hearts were misdirection,’ Mira comprehended, her intellect processing the ramifications.

’He made me think his regeneration came from consuming organs, but his real healing is tied to something else. Which means he’s effectively immortal in sustained combat.’

Warren maintained a neutral demeanor, yet his gaze meticulously observed Jack’s regeneration, as if he were systematically gathering data for a strategic advantage.

”Interesting,” Warren observed. ”Your healing isn’t localized to consumables. It’s tied to your bound creatures. Which means isolating you from your army becomes priority one.”

”I need no distance from my army for that. No matter where they are, I will not die. Tell me, Warren, if you’re about twenty-four right now, how old are you really?”

Warren’s brow furrowed. ”I’m the oldest human you will ever meet. That’s all you need to know.”

”So if you’re that old, you must know Malakai or Ren.”

Warren’s face darkened. Jack had hit a nerve.

”I knew it. If you know either one of them, you’re over 300 years old.”

”Tell me, how did you acquire this information?” Warren grimaced.

”It’s quite easy to deduce. A 92-year-old man suddenly turns twenty-four. That must mean you can turn back your age. I wasn’t quite sure, but your facial reaction tells me all the information I need to know.”

Jack cracked his fingers, getting ready for the moment they charged at him.

”Which means you must be one of the heroes who choose to betray Ren because Glacius has chosen you as its host.”

”Something like that, but it doesn’t matter, you will be dead soon enough, and no one will know of my identity.”

Jack’s response was to create distance, his speed carrying him backward as he prepared his next technique.

But water projectiles were already shooting across the courtyard.

These attacks were a little bit different from his last attack. They were designed to restrict Jack’s movement, to force him into specific zones where Mira could capitalize on his reduced mobility.

The water bullets cratered stone where they struck, each impact precise enough to cut off escape routes without giving Jack openings to counter.

And Mira was charging, fire blazing around her transformed body as she closed the distance with speed enhanced by Contractee state.

Her crimson hair streamed behind her like a banner, her red tattoos pulsing with heat that turned rain to steam before it could touch her skin.

Jack thrust Oscar forward as she came into range, the spear’s cross-blades aimed at her torso with lethal precision.

The attack would have skewered her completely, the barbed design ensuring devastating damage even if she somehow survived the initial penetration.

Mira didn’t dodge; instead, she twisted her body slightly, letting Oscar’s blades catch her shoulder rather than her center mass. The cross-blades bit into flesh, tearing through fire-enhanced muscle and drawing blood that hissed as it hit the courtyard stone.

[-2,484 HP]

[Enemy HP: 122,711/250,000]

But the shallow wound was intentional. It allowed Mira to close the final distance and get inside Oscar’s reach, where the spear’s length became a disadvantage rather than an asset.

Her right hand shot forward, fingers extended like claws, and locked around Jack’s left wrist, the grip enhanced by Contractee state.

Jack tried to pull away, then used Abyssal Steps to teleport out of her grasp. But the skill didn’t work when someone else had held him down.

Mira’s grip was absolute, her enhanced strength sufficient to hold him in place for the fraction of a second she needed.

Fire erupted around her hand, but not in the wild, aggressive way she’d used throughout their fight.

This was concentrated, focused, compressed to a level that transcended normal combustion.

[Supernova Palm: Activated]

The technique was one of Ignis’s most devastating gifts.

Fire condensed to a microscopic point, reaching temperatures beyond anything natural combustion could achieve.

Mira’s fingertips, pressed against Jack’s gauntlet, became the focal point for heat that existed on scales normally reserved for stellar cores.

Jack’s gauntlet began melting immediately.

The demon bone and blood alloy, materials that had withstood Mira’s previous attacks without issue, liquefied like wax near a furnace.

The metal ran in rivulets down his arm, exposing the flesh beneath to temperatures that made air itself ignite.

But that was just the delivery method. The gauntlet’s destruction was incidental to the real attack.

The microscopic point of heat penetrated Jack’s skin, and that’s when the true horror of Supernova Palm revealed itself.

The technique didn’t burn in traditional ways.

Instead of consuming flesh with fire, it invaded individual cells and vaporized the moisture that kept them alive.

Each cell that died from moisture loss transferred residual heat to its neighbors, creating a chain reaction that spread through tissue like the plague.

Jack felt it immediately.

The sensation of his hand dying from the inside out.

Desiccating, cells rupturing as their water content flash-boiled, leaving only dried husks.

The creeping heat had already consumed most of his hand, climbing toward his forearm with accelerating speed as it found more living tissue to consume.

The pain was unlike anything Jack had experienced.

This experience surpassed the severity of any physical trauma, including stab wounds or bone fractures, that his augmented physique had previously sustained.

This was cellular death, every nerve ending in his hand screaming simultaneously as moisture vaporized and tissue collapsed.