I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 489: Madman

Jack raised his hand, and reality tore open.

The portal materialized in the courtyard of Floor Twenty-Five.

A gateway large enough for the Hydra’s massive form to pass through. Golden lightning crackled along its edges.

The Hydra emerged first, the Voidweaver followed, its eight legs clicking against the ground as the massive spider emerged.

Ichor dripped from puncture wounds in its chitinous body, but like the Hydra, regeneration was active, the holes in its carapace sealing over.

The minotaurs came through in formation, two hundred forty-six warriors moving with military precision.

Cracked horns and broken weapons being discarded for new ones manifested through the Soul Link.

And finally, Pho stepped through.

The Deathfrost Demon’s blank white eyes tracked the assembled Iron Soot Clan with casual assessment before his gaze settled on Jack.

His blackish-blue form had returned to normal pale blue skin, the Black Ice Soul state deactivated now that the fight was over.

In his clawed hand, he held a stone.

It was a fist-sized rock with a crude mouth carved into its surface. The rock’s interior glowed faintly with molten copper light, pulsing like a heartbeat.

Jack’s golden eyes fixed on the stone, then tracked up to meet Pho’s blank gaze. "What took you so long?"

Pho’s expression remained unchanged, yet his tone conveyed a sense of dismissal, as if he had been diverted from more pressing matters. "I was playing around. Leave me alone, brat."

He tossed the stone toward Jack with casual disregard.

Jack caught it one-handed, his fingers closing around volcanic rock that radiated heat despite its small size.

The moment his skin made contact, the mouth on the stone’s surface moved.

"Please," Granite Sovereign’s voice emerged from the crude opening. "Please don’t kill me. I’ll serve. I’ll offer tribute. Anything you require, just spare..."

"No," Jack interjected, his tone was dispassionate as his grip firmed around the compressed elemental. "I need to send a message. The tower needs to understand that blessed ones, floor bosses, entire clans... none of it matters when a Soul Warden decides to claim what’s his."

His grip increased, pressure building as golden lightning began to crackle along his fingers.

"You’re the message."

The stone cracked, sudden fracturing as pressure exceeded the compressed form’s limit.

The molten copper core at the center went dark as Jack’s grip pulverized the last physical anchor holding Granite Sovereign’s consciousness to the mortal plane.

[Enemy Defeated: Granite Sovereign (Blessed Earth Elemental)]

[Death Tokens Acquired: 45,000]

[Reward: 150,000 EXP]

The notifications appeared and vanished as Jack opened his system storage, already preparing the binding process.

[Soul Binding Initiated]

[Target: Granite Sovereign (Blessed Earth Elemental - Disaster Class)]

[Cost: 150,000 Death Tokens]

[Current Death Tokens: 38,237,250]

[Proceed?]

[YES] or [NO]

Jack selected yes.

The Chain of Soul Warden materialized in his free hand, black metal links glowing with red lightning as the artifact responded to his will.

The chain wrapped around the crushed stone, coiling through space as it wrapped around its soul.

Dark energy flooded into the remains, the binding process anchoring Granite Sovereign’s soul before it could disperse into the afterlife.

The process took ten seconds. It was much faster than binding organic creatures.

[Soul Binding Complete]

[Granite Sovereign (Blessed Earth Elemental) successfully bound]

[Death Tokens Spent: 150,000]

[Current Death Tokens: 38,087,250]

[Soul Warden Army: 365/500]

[Crimson Aura Bonus Updated]

[Maximum HP increased by 1%]

[Maximum Mana increased by 1%]

[New HP: 55,800]

[New Mana: 12,844]

The crushed stone in Jack’s hand began to reform explosively.

Mass generating from the soul anchor as the binding reconstructed what death had destroyed.

Granite and obsidian flowed like liquid, expanding from fist-sized fragments into a form that stood forty feet tall.

Granite Sovereign’s body was exactly as it had been before the fight.

But those eyes now burned with red lightning instead of their original color, marking the elemental as bound, owned by the Soul Warden who’d killed and resurrected it.

"Master," the Granite Sovereign rumbled, its voice emanating directly from the stone. "I am yours to command."

Jack studied the bound elemental, his golden eyes tracking the patterns of light pulsing beneath its surface. "Do you remember everything?"

"Mostly, Master," Granite Sovereign confirmed.

The elemental’s massive head bowed slightly. "I understand why you killed me rather than accepting my surrender. A message needed to be sent. My binding serves that purpose."

"Good," Jack said. "Then you understand your position."

"Completely, Master."

Jack dismissed the elemental with a wave of his hand, and Granite Sovereign’s forty-foot form dissolved into sand as he vanished into the wind.

The courtyard had gone silent during the binding process. The Iron Soot Clan watched from their designated areas, their gray skin pale with the recognition that they’d just witnessed a Disaster-class blessed one being claimed as casually as someone might collect a weapon.

And throughout the tower, the announcement began.

THE SOUL WARDEN HAS CLAIMED ANOTHER BLESSED ONE.

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, resonating through stone and air with authority that demanded attention.

It wasn’t loud. The tower itself was speaking, stating facts, making official what had been claimed through action.

GRANITE SOVEREIGN THE EARTHSHAKER NOW SERVES THE SOUL WARDEN.

The announcement rippled outward from Floor Twenty-Five, flowing through the tower’s structure like water finding channels.

It reached floors above and below, domains ruled by entities of vast power, ears that understood what this proclamation meant.

Three blessed ones claimed. A pattern was emerging that showed this Soul Warden wasn’t following the usual path of brief reign followed by swift death.

Jack felt the announcement wash over him, heard his own actions being proclaimed to every creature in Tartarus Spire.

The message was clear: the Soul Warden had returned, and he was accumulating power faster than anyone since Malakai.

He turned toward the castle, his golden eyes distant as his mind worked through what came next.

The Moonveil Serpent.

The Dark Prism Crystal.

The Soul Realm.

The Lantern.

All pieces of a puzzle that would require significant effort to solve.

But for now, he needed to think

Jack walked toward the castle’s entrance.

He entered through massive doors that swung open as he got closer, moving through corridors that led deeper into the structure.

He walked past the hall of the past Soul Wardens, ignoring the paintings of the past Soul Wardens, until he reached the throne room.

The seat of power that marked him as Soul Warden, as master of this domain, as the entity that controlled everything within his claimed floors.

Jack climbed the steps and sat, the stone cool against his back.

His golden eyes stared forward, seeing nothing, his mind already working through strategies and timelines.

And Jack sat on his throne, surrounded by those who served him willingly or through binding, his mind calculating the next steps in a journey that would require power beyond what he currently possessed.

The Council was coming.

The God Slayer was watching.

Erebus himself probably knew that the Soul Warden throne was occupied again.

Silence stretched as Jack continued to stare into an abyss, not acknowledging anyone around him.

’What seems to be troubling you, young Soul Warden?’

’Nothing, Tharaxis. I have some issues I have to work through sooner rather than later. My most pressing issue is getting to the Soul Realm. That will help me get exponentially stronger. Because my goal is to fuse an element into my own body eventually.’

Tharaxis went silent after hearing what Jack claimed he wanted to do. The audacity of claiming to fuse an element into his own body was something only a madman would try.