I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 293: I will not tolerate Insubordination

Jack watched with mild interest at best. When the screaming died to whimpers, he turned to the eight hundred Starfell soldiers.

”Well?” he asked softly. ”Who wants to volunteer to fight for your emissary? Show me that House Starfell’s courage that led you to abandon your oaths.”

The soldiers stared back, terror and defiance mixing on their faces. One of them, a captain by his insignia, stepped forward with his jaw clenched.

”We don’t take orders from you,” the captain said, voice shaking but determined. ”We’re sworn to House Starfell, not House Kaiser. You have no authority over us.”

”Yeah!” another soldier shouted, finding courage in his captain’s defiance. ”We don’t have to do shit! We want to live our own lives and forge our own paths!”

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the Starfell forces. Eight hundred men found solidarity in resistance.

Jack nodded slowly, as if seriously considering their words. ”I see. You want autonomy. The freedom to make your own choices without consequence. The right to abandon oaths, strike those under my protection, and face no repercussions.”

His golden eyes swept across them with predator focus. ”I respect that desire. Truly. Every person should have the right to forge their own path.”

The soldiers relaxed slightly, hope blooming.

”However,” Jack’s voice dropped to something colder, ”I will not tolerate insubordination. Not from those who’ve earned my wrath through their actions.”

Without saying anything, Loryn could feel what Jack wanted to happen.

The demon’s empty eye sockets blazed with dark light as shadows erupted from beneath the Starfell soldiers’ feet.

”What...” the captain started, then choked as something closed around his neck.

Collars formed from shadow and malevolence, materializing on every Starfell soldier simultaneously.

”Slave collars,” the red-eyed demon observed with delighted amusement. ”How wonderfully vindictive.”

The Starfell soldiers clawed at their necks, trying desperately to remove the collars. But their fingers passed through the shadow like it wasn’t there, the bindings existing just slightly out of phase with normal matter.

”NO!” the captain screamed, earlier defiance evaporating. ”Take them off! You can’t do this! We serve nobles! We have rights!”

”You had oaths,” Jack corrected quietly. ”You broke them. Now you have collars. Your master Lady Starfell, swore an oath for my inventions, you broke that oath. Now your house shall suffer my wrath for this insubordination.”

He looked at the skeletal figure. ”Hold them in your shadow. I’ll have use for them later.”

”As you command, master,” Loryn said with a grin.

The shadows beneath the Starfell soldiers deepened, becoming pools of absolute darkness. One by one, they sank into those pools, screams cutting off as they were pulled into whatever space the demon maintained within his essence.

The Starfell emissary remained, collapsed on the ground clutching the stumps where his hands had been.

His pristine white robes stained with his own tears, his face was a mask of shock and agony.

”Leave him,” Jack said. ”Let him watch what happens next. Let him understand the full scope of his mistakes.”

Marcus Thorne had been silent through all of this, his mind racing through scenarios and finding only dead ends. Fifteen thousand mercenaries. Trapped in an ice dome with demons and a Soul Warden who’d just enslaved eight hundred soldiers without breaking a sweat.

But he still had one card to play. One bargaining chip that might salvage this.

”I have your sister,” Marcus said, forcing his voice to remain steady. ”Annabelle Kaiser. She’s safe, unharmed, under my protection. But if you harm me or my men...”

The killing intent that erupted from Jack was suffocating.

It hit every person in the dome like a wave of frozen malice. The air became thick, hard to breathe, as if the atmosphere itself had turned hostile.

Lightning began crackling across Jack’s skin in patterns that shifted between purple and blue.

And his smile...

His smile twisted into something that belonged on a demon’s face, not a human’s.

The expression of someone who’d looked into darkness and found it welcoming.

”You piece of shit... threatened my family.”

He took a step forward. Marcus stumbled backward despite himself, professional composure cracking under the weight of a terrible presence.

”I’m going to erase your entire bloodline,” Jack continued, his voice was steady despite the apocalyptic pressure radiating from his form.

”Every Thorne. Every distant cousin. Every child who carries your name. All of them will cease to exist.”

Another step forward, lightning intensifying until the air itself screamed.

”And you,” Jack’s golden eyes locked onto Marcus with focus that promised horrors beyond death, ”will live through all of it. I’ll make you eat shit for the rest of your pathetic life. You’ll be my guinea pig for experiments. A test subject for every cruel idea that crosses my mind.”

The twisted smile widened. ”Do you understand? You’re not going to die. Death would be mercy. You’re going to wish you’d never been born.”

Marcus’s bladder released, spreading across his armor as terror overwhelmed every other instinct.

Around him, mercenaries who’d faced death countless times found themselves retreating from Jack’s presence like prey fleeing a forest fire.

”Please,” Marcus whispered, voice breaking. ”Please, I didn’t hurt her. She’s safe. I swear, she’s...”

Jack raised his hand. Reality tore open.

This portal was massive, easily thirty feet across.

Heat poured through the portal, intense enough to make the dome’s ice walls steam, water vapor rising in great plumes.

And through that portal stepped something that made every other horror pale in comparison.

The creature had to crouch to fit even through the massive opening. When it emerged fully into the dome, its presence made Jack’s fury seem almost gentle.

Magma dripped from its scales.

Molten amber eyes swept across the assembled mercenaries and scowled.

’Such weak creatures.’

An Emperor-class dragon.

”Holy fuck,” someone breathed, barely audible but carrying clearly in the absolute silence that had fallen.

Jack’s twisted smile remained as he gestured with casual familiarity. ”Marcus Thorne. Have you ever seen an Emperor-class dragon before?”

Marcus couldn’t speak.

He couldn’t move and he could barely breathe.

His mind had shattered, unable to process the scope of power standing before him.

An Emperor-class dragon. A creature that could level nations. Kingdoms gathered armies to fight and considered it a victory if they merely survived.

Standing beside Jack Kaiser like a loyal hound.

The dragon settled into position behind Jack, massive form somehow managing to look comfortable despite the confined space.

Its posture was clear: A guardian standing behind someone he’d chosen to serve.

”All hope is lost,” Jack said quietly, voice cutting through the terror-thick silence. ”You came to my home with fifteen thousand mercenaries. Thought numbers would be enough. Thought you could threaten my family and walk away.”

He gestured broadly, encompassing the dome, the demons, the dragon, and the broken Starfell emissary still sobbing on the ground.

”This is what happens when you mistake mercy for weakness. When you confuse patience with inability. When you threaten House Kaiser.”

Jack’s golden eyes swept across every single mercenary, meeting gazes and watching hardened soldiers look away in terror.

”So,” he continued, his twisted smile never wavering. ”Who wants to die first?”

The dome echoed with fifteen thousand men realizing they’d made the worst mistake of their lives.