Korr's charred corpse flew backward from the impact, launched by the force of Vox's swing like a ragdoll thrown by an angry child.

The body tumbled through the air, trailing smoke and the smell of cooked flesh.

It landed with a wet thud directly in front of the generals' feet.

Korr's head lolled at an unnatural angle, his neck clearly broken, his pale skin blackened by hellfire. His eyes stared up at the three generals with an empty stare.

Rynath's scaled skin went pale. Kaedor took a step backward, his merchant's composure cracking.

Even Loryn's perpetual detachment faltered, his hollow eyes widening slightly.

Inside the smoke, Vox stared at his hammer, then at where Korr's body had been. Horror crept across his scarred face as he realized what he'd done.

"No," Vox whispered. Then louder, his voice breaking: "NO!"

He spun, searching for Jack in the smoke, his fear transforming into desperate rage. "COME OUT! FACE ME!"

Movement appeared in the smoke.

A shape, massive and dark, approaching through the black clouds.

Jack emerged from the smoke like a nightmare given form, his transformed body covered in black scales that made even his armor look tame by comparison.

His red eyes burned in his inhuman face, and his clawed hands dripped with blood that his scales absorbed immediately.

Vox's hammer fell from his nerveless fingers, clattering against the ice.

Jack reached down and picked up the weapon with one hand.

The hammer that required superhuman strength just to lift came up as easily as a stick, the hellfire around its head flickering uncertainly in Jack's grip.

"This is yours?" Jack's voice had changed, deeper now, sent chills down everyone's body.

Vox took a step backward. His courage, his rage, his warrior's pride, all of it evaporated in the face of whatever this thing was.

Jack's claws closed around the hammer's head.

He squeezed.

Metal screamed.

The unique-ranked weapon, forged in hellfire and reinforced with magic, began to crumple like paper in Jack's grip.

The shaft bent, then twisted, the hellfire guttering and dying as its physical vessel was destroyed.

Cracks spider-webbed across the hammer's head. Then it shattered, fragments of metal and crystallized fire exploding outward in a shower of sparks.

Jack opened his hand, letting the remains fall to the ice in a pile of twisted metal and extinguished flame.

[Status Effect Applied: FEAR]

[Target: Vox]

[Effect: Target takes 30% increased damage from all sources]

Vox's legs gave out. He fell to his knees, his eyes locked on the remains of his weapon, his breath coming in short gasps that bordered on hyperventilation.

"Please," Vox whispered, his voice nothing like the booming roar that had shaken the arena minutes before.

"Please, I yield. I surrender. Don't... don't kill me."

Jack tilted his head, studying the kneeling demon with the detached curiosity of someone examining an insect.

Then Vox's survival instincts kicked in. He scrambled to his feet and ran, his massive frame moving with desperate speed toward the arena's edge.

Jack took one step foward.

One moment he was standing over the remains of the hammer. The next, he was behind Vox, his clawed hand plunging into the fleeing demon's back.

Vox's scream started deep and climbed higher, higher, until it broke into something that sounded less like a warrior and more like a high pitched child.

It was filled with terror that transcended pain.

Jack's hand closed around Vox's spine.

He ripped his hand backwards.

The spine came free in one fluid motion, tearing from Vox's body with the wet sound of roots being ripped from soil.

Vertebrae gleamed white in the crimson light, still connected by cartilage and trailing nerve tissue that sparked with dying magical energy.

Vox's body collapsed forward, his legs and arms spasming uselessly, his mouth opening and closing as his brain tried to send signals through a nervous system that no longer existed.

Jack stood there holding the spine, blood dripping from the vertebrae onto the ice below. His transformed face showed no expression, his red eyes cold and distant.

Then the smoke began to clear, blown away by a wind that seemed to come from nowhere.

Jack's body shifted, the scales receding, flowing back into his armor like oil being absorbed into cloth.

His face returned to normal behind his helmet. The transformation reversed completely, leaving only the armored warrior standing in the clearing smoke.

[Infernal Conversion: DEACTIVATED]

Jack turned toward the generals and threw the spine.

The vertebrae tumbled through the air, trailing drops of blood, before landing with a wet slap directly at the three generals' feet.

Right next to Korr's charred corpse.

The smoke cleared completely, revealing the aftermath.

Jack stood in the center of the arena, surrounded by gore that painted the black ice in shades of red and black.

Vox's twitching body lay behind him. Scorch marks from the hellfire explosion radiated outward in a perfect circle. The remains of the hammer glinted in pieces across the ground.

And there was no blood on Jack's armor. Not a single drop. Every trace had been absorbed, leaving the black and crimson plates pristine despite the carnage surrounding them.

The training yard was absolutely silent.

Hundreds of demons stared at the armored figure standing calmly among the dead, their minds struggling to process what they'd just witnessed.

This was supposed to be a friendly competition. A test of skill to determine who would win the generals' wager.

Not... this.

Not whatever they'd just seen emerge from that smoke.

Jack's red eyes moved from the corpses to the generals, meeting their gazes one by one.

Kaedor's merchant's smile had vanished completely, his face pale despite his dark skin.

His hands were clenched at his sides, rings catching the light as they trembled slightly.

Loryn had gone completely still, his hollow eyes fixed on Jack with an intensity that bordered on hunger. His skeletal fingers had stopped their rhythmic tapping.

Rynath's scaled skin rippled continuously, color shifting through patterns that suggested her usual control had slipped entirely.

Her serpentine tongue flicked out, tasting the air as if trying to identify something that didn't make sense.

At their feet, Korr's dead eyes stared upward, and Vox's spine lay in a spreading pool of blood that seeped beneath their feet.

Jack didn't speak.

He didn't move. He just stood there in the center of the arena, staring at the three generals who'd turned his cover identity into a betting opportunity.

'What the actual fuck,' Kaedor's mind screamed behind his frozen expression. 'What the actual fuck just happened?'

Loryn's analytical mind raced, trying to categorize what he'd seen, trying to fit it into known patterns of combat technique and magical ability.

Nothing matched. Nothing made sense.

Rynath's thoughts had reduced to a single repeating question: 'What is he?'

The silence stretched, broken only by the crackling of dying fire pillars and the wet sounds of Vox's body finally going still.

Then, from somewhere in the crowd, a single voice broke the spell.

"Jakar!!!"

"YEAH FUCK HIM UP!!!"

The whisper spread like wildfire, demon to demon, even though Jack's eyes were clearly red behind his visor.

The murmurs grew louder, dozens of conversations starting simultaneously as the crowd tried to make sense of what they'd witnessed.

"Here, have a gift."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.