I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 679: My liege

Dark mana erupted from his core, but not as chains or bindings or the controlled flows the blue demon had just witnessed.

Instead, Jack gathered the dark mana into a concentrated, devastating sphere. The energy coalesced between his palm, compressing down into a mass no larger than an apple but containing enough destructive force to level a building.

[Dark Fire Orb]

But not like any fire the blue demon had ever encountered.

This wasn’t heat or flame or the traditional elements of destruction. This was darkness given form and purpose. This was the antithesis of creation, compressed into a sphere that seemed to consume light rather than emit it. The dark mana swirled within the sphere like smoke trapped in a glass, moving with malevolent intelligence.

Jack unleashed it directly into the blue demon’s face.

The explosion was suffocating.

The dark flames emanated with explosive force, yet in contrast to the intense heat of conventional fire, these flames appeared to absorb the ambient light within the warehouse.

The stone beneath the demon’s feet cracked from the concussive force. The air itself seemed to thicken and die.

The blue demon’s scream was cut short as the black fire consumed its face and upper body, the creature’s brilliant blue scales charring instantly to blackened, cracked ruin.

The demon was wrenched backward by the blast’s force, pulled directly into the collapsing portal. The spatial tear snapped shut violently, cutting off the shockwave and leaving Jack standing alone in the sudden, absolute silence of an empty warehouse.

Dust drifted through the air where the explosion had occurred.

His hand was still raised, dark mana still swirling around them, ready to unleash another blast if the portal reopened.

The warehouse went silent.

--------

The hidden chamber beneath Caeloria erupted in blue flame as the portal violently snapped open from within.

The blue demon tumbled through, smoking and snarling, its movements completely uncontrolled by the standards of a creature that usually moved with perfect grace.

It hit the stone floor hard enough to crack the ancient rock, rolling across the chamber with momentum it couldn’t stop.

Vexkril tumbled out moments later, still trembling and gasping for breath.

The chamber itself was massive, carved from black stone that predated Caeloria by centuries.

Torches flickered along the walls, casting dancing shadows that seemed almost alive. The architecture was distinctly demonic; a space existed in a realm only tangentially connected to the world above.

The blue demon lay still for a moment, its entire body heaving as it processed what had happened.

Then it pushed itself upright.

The damage was catastrophic.

Heavy, protective blue scales that had been brilliant cobalt moments before were now charred black, cracking at the edges and peeling away from the demon’s flesh underneath.

The scales clinked and clattered against the stone floor as the demon moved, sharp metallic sounds that echoed through the chamber like broken armor falling from a corpse.

The demon’s upper body was covered in burns that no regular fire should have been capable of inflicting. The dark flames had seared deep, cauterizing flesh and scales alike. The creature’s left eye was swollen shut, the surrounding tissue blackened and smoking.

"The Soul Warden is stronger than I thought," the blue demon muttered to itself in the dim light, its voice hoarse and strained. It moved carefully, each gesture revealing its pain, transcending simple physical injury. "Even consuming Bloodrush, even with my enhancements, I couldn’t see him move. I couldn’t track his position."

The demon straightened, and for the first time, it looked at Vexkril.

The crimson demon was on his knees on the stone floor, tears streaming down his face, his entire body trembling with relief and terror in equal measure. He looked up at his savior with eyes full of immense gratitude and dawning hope.

"Thank you," Vexkril stammered, his voice barely a whisper. "Thank you for... for saving me. I didn’t think... I thought he was going to kill me, and you saved me. I was so terrified, and you..."

The blue demon looked down at the smaller demon.

Its expression was remorseless.

"You were weak," it said flatly. "You gave information to the Soul Warden. You broke under pressure and revealed Caspian’s name. You were useless."

Vexkril’s expression shifted from gratitude to confusion in an instant. "Wait, what do you..."

The blue demon unleashed a torrent of brilliant blue flames directly at the smaller demon.

There was no mercy in the action.

The flames erupted from the blue demon’s mouth with enough force to fill the entire chamber, engulfing Vexkril.

The lesser demon’s screams lasted two seconds before the heat and intensity of the flames reduced vocal cords to ash.

The light from the brilliant blue fire reflected off the stone walls, casting dancing shadows that made the chamber look like the depths of hell itself. The heat was so intense that the air itself seemed to shimmer and distort.

What remained was a pile of ash on the stone floor, already beginning to drift in the subtle air currents of the chamber.

The smaller demon had been consumed, leaving no skeleton; only dust, and the faint smell of cremated flesh remained.

The blue demon stood over the ashes, looking down with cold disgust.

"Weak," it muttered, shaking its head. "So weak. Giving up information to the Soul Warden so willingly. No strength. No will to survive beyond the moment."

The demon’s breathing was still heavy, its body still covered in the charred remnants of Jack’s black fire. But its eyes were clear, its voice steady, carrying the absolute certainty of someone who knew exactly what needed to be done and had done it without hesitation.

"But it doesn’t matter," the blue demon continued, speaking to its audience now, processing the situation with cold precision. "It doesn’t matter what Vexkril told him. The evidence is gone. The vats are gone. The elves are gone. The machinery is gone. Jack Kaiser can never prove a single thing to Caeloria or the Council."

The demon paused, considering the full scope of the extraction operation’s disappearance.

"My liege, we await your orders." The blue demon turned to see thousands of demons on one knee, waiting for a command on what they should do next.

------

Back in the warehouse above, Jack stood alone in the suffocating silence.

Dust was still settling. The last remnants of the black fire’s aftermath hung in the air like smoke.

The warehouse was empty now, and all the evidence was lost.

Tharaxis’s ancient voice was thoughtful. ’The Soul Warden title carries weight in Erebon. This creature knew exactly what it was facing. And it chose extraction over combat. That suggests fear.’

Emberion’s presence burned with frustrated aggression. ’It took Vexkril to prevent you from taking the demon’s soul. That’s why it pulled him away. It knew you would consume him the moment you had complete dominance.’

Jack processed this. The blue demon hadn’t been afraid of him physically; if anything, it had been dismissive of his power.

But it had known the rules of soul consumption. It had been understood that once a demon died, it could claim its soul.

So it had escaped. And it had ensured Vexkril couldn’t be interrogated further by destroying the evidence and the witness.

Jack’s hand clenched into a fist as he looked at the empty warehouse. The blood essence operation was larger than he’d initially understood.

’Oscar,’ Jack thought, projecting his consciousness toward the spear still strapped to his back.

{I’m here,} Oscar’s voice was quiet, the normal comedic tone completely absent. {That was... that was wild. You moved so fast I couldn’t even track you, and I’m directly on your back. That blue demon never saw you coming.}

’Someone in Erebon is orchestrating this. Someone powerful. It might be The Council since they know I’m the Soul Warden.’

Oscar added quietly. {They called you Soul Warden, they knew who you are.}