I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 479: Blessed One’s Skirmish

The Ice Drake emerged next, its thirty-foot form barely fitting through the portal before it adjusted its size slightly to accommodate the chamber’s dimensions.

The creature’s golden eyes also studied the scene with draconic intelligence. It understood the tactical purpose behind the demonstration.

Father Caelen stepped through last, his priestly robes somehow remaining immaculate despite weeks in the tower’s harsh environments. The man’s face showed no reaction or judgment about the execution.

He observed, cataloging another example of what Jack Kaiser had done to invent his goals.

And finally, Loryn emerged, dragging Marcus Thorne by the slave collar. The broken clan leader stumbled through the portal, his skeletal frame barely able to maintain balance with his missing leg.

His sunken eyes took in the corpses, the casual brutality, the ease with which Jack had ended four lives.

The knowledge of what was coming for his own clan was visible in the way his remaining strength seemed to drain away.

"Pho," Jack said, turning to address the Deathfrost Demon. "Take the Hydra, the Voidweaver, and the minotaurs. Head to the black sand wasteland on the western edge of this floor. You’ll find a blessed earth elemental there. Engage it, test its capabilities, but don’t finish the kill."

Pho’s expression didn’t change, but his posture conveyed acknowledgment. "The earth elemental is Disaster-class with territory transformation capabilities. It can convert the surrounding area into an extension of its body, making conventional combat difficult."

"Which is why I’m sending you with two other Disaster-class entities," Jack replied. "The Hydra’s regeneration will counter attrition. The Voidweaver’s webs can immobilize even terrain-based enemies. And the minotaurs provide additional pressure if it tries to retreat underground."

Jack reached through the Soul Link, pulling on specific consciousnesses from his bound army.

The Hydra materialized, rising from the stone as if the floor itself had given birth to a nightmare.

Each head tracked independently, serpentine necks coiling around each other in patterns that defied normal anatomy.

The Voidweaver appeared next, its spider form seeming to step out of shadows that shouldn’t have existed in the well-lit chamber.

Eight legs, each one thick as a tree trunk, supported a body covered in chitin.

The creature’s multiple eyes gleamed with red lightning, mandibles clicking in anticipation of combat.

And finally, the two hundred forty-six minotaurs materialized in flashes of red electrical discharge.

"Move out," Jack commanded. "I want the elemental engaged within the hour. Keep pressure constant, force it to expend energy on defense. When it activates its territory transformation, adapt and maintain assault. Do not allow it time to recover."

Pho nodded once, then turned and began moving deeper into Floor Ten with the assembled force following.

The sound of their exit echoed through the hall.

The Hydra’s scales scraping stone, the Voidweaver’s legs clicking against the floor, the minotaurs’ heavy footsteps all faded as they took a western corridor that led toward the wasteland.

Jack watched them go, his golden eyes tracking their departure until they vanished from sight.

Then he turned to face the direction the messenger had fled.

"The castle?" Rhys asked from his position on Brutus’s shoulders.

"The castle," Jack confirmed. "Where the Iron Soot Clan’s leadership will be gathering right now, trying to decide how to respond to news that a Soul Warden has sealed the lower floors and is coming for them."

He started walking, his boots making no sound on the stone despite the casual pace.

"They’ll have perhaps thirty minutes before we arrive. Enough time to panic. Not enough time to mount an effective defense."

The broken prisoner’s eyes recognized the pattern he’d witnessed weeks ago in Elysium’s timeline.

Jack Kaiser entered the battle with overwhelming force, giving them just enough warning to understand what was coming but not enough time to stop it.

-------

The black sand stretched endlessly in every direction, dunes rising and falling like frozen ocean waves under Floor Ten’s perpetual twilight.

The wasteland existed in stark contrast to the castle territories. There was no vegetation or structures, just an expanse of obsidian granules.

Pho stood at the wasteland’s edge, his blank white eyes scanning the terrain.

"Granite Sovereign," Pho called out, his voice carrying across the wasteland despite the sand that should have dampened sound.

"I know you’re here. Your territory announces itself to those who understand earth magic."

The sand remained still for a long moment. Then the dunes began to shift.

The sand began reorganizing as if the desert itself were drawing breath.

A shape rose from the center of the wasteland three hundred feet from where Pho stood.

Sand poured off the emerging form like water, revealing a humanoid figure that stood easily forty feet tall.

Granite Sovereign’s body was carved from living stone. Gray granite veined with black obsidian, pulsing softly.

Its form was masculine but abstracted, as if someone had started sculpting a human and stopped halfway to perfection.

Eyes like molten copper burned in a face that had no other features, and when it spoke, the voice resonated from the stone itself.

"Pho," Granite Sovereign rumbled, its tone carrying recognition mixed with wariness. "Blessed of Winter’s Depths. I did not expect to see you in my domain."

"We’re both blessed ones," Pho replied, his blank white eyes fixed on the elemental without blinking. "I know what you’re capable of. You know what I can do. This doesn’t need to be complicated."

The Granite Sovereign’s molten eyes tracked past Pho to the assembled force behind him. The Hydra, the Voidweaver, and all the minotaurs.

"You serve the Soul Warden now," Granite Sovereign stated. "The one who sealed the lower floors. Who binds Disaster-class entities like they’re common beasts."

"Yes," Pho confirmed. "And he’s sent me to test something. To see what a blessed earth elemental looks like when properly pressured by equals."

The sand beneath their feet began to vibrate with low-frequency tremors. "I will not be bound. I will not have my consciousness compressed into servitude."

"Then you’ll die and be bound anyway," Pho replied with clinical detachment. "The Soul Warden doesn’t negotiate. He claims what he wants, and resistance only determines whether you keep your memories or lose them to death trauma."

Granite Sovereign’s form shifted, stone grinding against stone as it assumed a more aggressive stance.

"If you know what I’m capable of, then you know my territory transformation makes your attacks ineffective. Every grain of sand becomes an extension of my body. Every dune becomes my weapon."

"I’m counting on it," Pho said, then raised one clawed hand. "Black Ice Soul."

Frost exploded outward from Pho’s body in branching patterns that covered the sand in seconds, but this wasn’t normal ice.

It was black, absorbing light the way obsidian did, with veins of dark blue running through it like frozen lightning.

Pho’s skin shifted from pale to the same blackish-blue as the ice spreading from his feet.

"Black Ice Soul," Granite Sovereign observed, its molten eyes tracking the spreading frost. "Attacks that deal true damage."

"You’ve done your research," Pho replied, his voice now carrying overtones like breaking ice. "Which means you know that even your stone body won’t hold against sustained assault from something that cares not for you."

The Hydra surged forward without waiting for further signal.