I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 563: Willingly or Not

[Description: By consuming God’s Blood and recreating legendary techniques through instinct, you have been recognized as an inheritor of the power that once reshaped reality itself. This is not a coincidence or accident. This is an acknowledgment of the path you’re walking, willingly or not.]

[Skills:]

[Sarin’s Judgment]

[Locked]

[Locked]

[System Notice: This class contains all 13 of Sarin’s Legendary Skills. Currently, 12 skills remain locked. Consume more God’s Blood Trees to unlock hints and access to additional abilities. Each tree consumed will provide hints about Sarin’s original techniques, allowing you to learn and master powers that once made gods tremble.]

[Progress: 1/21 Trees Consumed (4.7%)]

Jack stood frozen, his mind struggling to process the implications of what he was seeing.

A class called Sarin’s Successor.

Thirteen legendary skills that had once belonged to the mad god who’d created this tower, who’d waged war against Titans, who’d been powerful enough that gods had needed to betray him.

And the System was telling him he could learn all of them.

Not through finding ancient scrolls or receiving divine instruction, but through consuming the God’s Blood trees scattered throughout Tartarus Spire’s hundred floors.

Sarin’s Judgment: The lightning-magma fusion technique that had eliminated Mira and nearly cost him his arm through catastrophic backlash.

If that was just the first of thirteen legendary skills, if the other twelve were comparable or potentially more powerful...

’What would complete mastery look like?’ The question burned through his brain with such intensity that it transcended simple curiosity.

Sarin had commanded seven elements, reshaped reality, fought Primordials, and survived being partially consumed by Kronos himself. If Jack could learn even a fraction of those capabilities...

But the notification had also said something that made his blood run cold despite his enhanced demonic constitution.

”This is acknowledgment of the path you’re walking, willingly or not.”

Willingly or not.

The System wasn’t asking if he wanted to be Sarin’s successor.

It stated that he was already committed to this path, having consumed God’s Blood and recreated legendary techniques.

’It matters not. Whether I’m being pushed towards it or not, it wouldn’t hurt to have more strength when people want to kill me. Better I use this power for myself than let the chance slip by.’

Jack’s forked tongue flicked out unconsciously, tasting the air.

His tail swayed behind him, the spiked mace-like growth at its tip scraping against broken stone as he processed the weight of cosmic destiny being mapped onto his future.

Then his mind reasserted control, pushing past existential concerns to focus on immediate actionable information.

The System had given him a clear path of progression.

Consume more trees, unlock more skills, and gain access to power that would elevate him beyond what any modern Soul Warden had achieved.

Twenty trees remained somewhere in the tower.

Twenty opportunities to gain another 95.3% of Sarin’s preserved blood and unlock the remaining twelve legendary techniques.

But first, he needed to understand what he was already capable of.

The Demonic Transformation had elevated his base statistics dramatically, the new titles provided passive benefits, and combining all his various skills and abilities in cascade...

He needed to test his current power output.

Understand exactly what level of destruction he could achieve when he stopped holding back and unleashed everything simultaneously.

Jack moved toward the shattered windows, his massive frame navigating destroyed furniture with surprising grace despite his increased size.

The tall windows had been blown outward during his transformation, leaving gaping holes in the throne room’s exterior wall that provided a perfect exit.

He didn’t hesitate, stepping through the opening and letting gravity claim him.

His wings snapped open instinctively, the eight-foot leathery structures catching air and controlling his descent from the throne room’s elevated position.

The sensation was strange.

He felt wind resistance against membranes that were simultaneously part of his body and completely alien additions to his normal physiology.

But his enhanced demonic constitution adapted quickly, muscle memory forming in real-time as he learned to control the new appendages.

Within seconds, he was gliding rather than falling, his trajectory carrying him toward the courtyard below, where dozens of demons had been working before his transformation had sent them fleeing for cover.

Jack executed a controlled landing, his taloned feet making contact with the stone surface, resulting in a significant impact that fractured the material without causing complete disintegration.

His tail automatically balanced him, the additional appendage’s weight and movement becoming a natural extension of his enhanced awareness.

His blood-red eyes scanned the courtyard until they found an appropriate test subject.

A demon stood thirty feet away, one of the bound creatures who’d returned to work after the transformation’s sounds had finally ceased.

The entity was humanoid in basic structure but clearly not human.

The individual presented with a gray complexion adorned with tribal scarifications, luminous orange eyes, and a well-defined musculature.

The demon had been carrying stone blocks toward some construction project, but froze completely when Jack’s gaze locked onto its position.

Its glowing eyes widened with recognition and immediate fear, the creature’s supernatural awareness identifying its master despite the dramatic physical transformation.

Jack’s voice deepened beyond his usual tone, the demonic vocal cords adding a resonance that made simple speech sound commanding. ”Don’t move. I want to test something.”

The entity immediately ceased its activities, adopting a posture of rigid attention and absolute obedience despite evident apprehension.

Its gaze followed Jack’s advance, observing the talons, wings, tail, and horns with an expression that simultaneously conveyed awe and trepidation.

”Good,” Jack confirmed, stopping about twenty feet from his test subject.

His mind was already running calculations, planning the cascade of abilities he wanted to trigger in sequence to measure total damage output.

First, he needed to mark the target.

Jack’s right hand rose, lightning crackling between his clawed fingers as he channeled power that felt different in demonic form.

Stronger, more responsive, easier to shape and control despite the massive increase in raw output.

Electricity coalesced into a focused bolt that shot from his pointer finger toward the frozen demon.

The lightning struck the creature’s chest dead center, energy spreading across its torso.

Then the marks solidified, glowing lines of pure electrical energy forming a symbol on the demon’s chest that pulsed with power.

The branded mark.

A technique that guaranteed all his skills would hit this specific target regardless of defensive abilities or evasion attempts, and multiplied all damage dealt to marked targets by three.

The demon gasped as the brand settled into place, pain flickering across its features as the mark integrated with its physiology.

However, it remained stationary, exhibiting no attempt to escape or defend itself, adhering to its master’s command despite the intense pain inflicted by the concentrated lightning branding.

Jack’s smile widened, fangs fully visible as his next technique activated automatically.

Storm clouds appeared overhead as it continuously let lightning bolts down to strike Jack.

His demonic form absorbed the assault without flinching, enhanced constitution channeling the electrical energy through his body.

Each bolt that struck him generated a stack of Overcharge, power accumulating in his core like a battery being charged to maximum capacity.

One.

Two.

Three.

The lightning struck in rapid sequence, each bolt adding another layer of accumulated energy.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Jack’s scales glowed with absorbed electricity, patterns of light spreading across his obsidian armor.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

The air around him crackled with discharged energy, small arcs jumping between his horns and wings.

[Overcharge: 10/10 Stacks]