Chapter 752: Jack vs. The Red Herald II
Jack implemented the subsequent phase of his strategy with a level of insight that exceeded typical human cognitive abilities.
He twisted his grip on the chain, applying rotational force that made Oscar’s embedded position even more catastrophic.
The blade’s four-pronged cross-tip rotated within the Herald’s body, enlarging the wound in three-dimensional patterns.
Each rotation carved a new path of devastation, creating lacerations that radiated outward from the central impact point like the petals of a flower blooming in fast-forward.
The Herald’s scream attained frequencies that seemed implausible for a creature of that size.
It was a sound of absolute agony, like prehension crashing down, a realization that pain existed at levels it had never experienced, that suffering could extend beyond what it had ever considered possible.
The scream itself became a physical force, distorting the air molecules around it and creating pressure waves that Jack could feel pressing against his demonic form, like invisible hands trying to push him backward.
[-431,203 HP]
[-431,203 HP]
[-431,203 HP]
[-431,203 HP]
[-431,203 HP]
[-431,203 HP]
Again, the damage notification cascaded through the arena, a drumbeat of destruction that kept perfect time with the Herald’s ascent into overwhelming trauma.
The creature’s health continued its relentless decline, each second of Oscar’s presence within its body translating into catastrophic cellular destruction.
The essence that made up the Herald’s fundamental existence was contaminated by contact with demonic steel; the two forces warring within the creature’s body created feedback loops of destruction that magnified the initial damage exponentially.
[-6,173 HP]
[-6,173 HP]
[-6,173 HP]
Jack’s own health continued to bleed away, the Madness form asserting its terrible price with relentless consistency.
His muscles screamed in protest despite his consciousness refusing to acknowledge pain as anything more than information to be processed and filed away.
The black veins across his body pulsed faster, the crimson undertones growing more prominent as his demonic nature asserted dominance over his mortal flesh.
[ 30,864 HP]
The regeneration ticked upward with perfect rhythm, a counterbalance to the drain, maintaining Jack in a state of perpetual equilibrium that hovered at the knife’s edge.
Jack pulled the chain towards himself.
Oscar tore free from the Herald’s chest cavity with violent finality.
The spear tumbled through open air, rotating in perfect arcs while trailing luminescent ichor that painted the sky in streaks of essence.
The blade rotated one final time before Jack’s hand snapped out and caught the shaft mid-flight with casual authority.
The moment his fingers closed around Oscar’s length, the weapon’s weight became irrelevant. Dragonic strength transformed it into nothing more than an extension of his consciousness.
{Oh, now we’re talking! Did you feel that resistance when I punched through? That was the most satisfying thing that’s happened to me in centuries! The way that stuff clung to my edges, the structures shattering against my tip… Jack, you absolutely magnificent bastard, I’m in love with this moment! Nothing pares to tearing through something that thinks it’s untouchable! Well… maybe except Aisha… mhmm…. I love that sexy woman.}
The Herald plummeted toward the barren wasteland like a stone cast from the heavens.
Jack closed his fist and poured power into the gravitational manipulation skill.
[Gravity Flux]
The invisible field intensified around the creature’s falling form, pressing downward with force that transcended physics.
The Herald’s weight didn’t simply increase; reality itself pressed inward, crushing the creature under pressure equivalent to a mountain being placed directly on top of it.
The Herald fell, its massive frame dropping like a meteor under the influence of gravity and Jack’s refusal to maintain the upward tension.
The creature plummeted toward the barren wasteland at a velocity that accelerated with each passing second, the gravitational pull increasing with each second.
Its wings extended in a desperate attempt to slow the descent. Still, the positioning was wrong, the angles were insufficient, the creature’s consciousness was too fractured by pain and fear to coordinate a proper response.
The wind resistance created by the Herald’s descent carved furrows into the air itself, leaving visible trails of distortion that would persist for several seconds after the creature had passed.
The air resistance alone became lethal. The pressure was so intense that scales cracked under the strain. The Herald’s body twisted, spiraling downward faster than terminal velocity should have allowed, accelerating past the point where no matter what creature it was, it was doomed to fall.
The ozone generated by the friction of energy with atmospheric molecules had a scent that was simultaneously acrid and strangely sweet, a perfume of approaching violence that filled every cubic meter of the barren wasteland.
The Herald struck the ground, and the impact cratered the earth.
The impact created a crater seventy meters in diameter. Stone exploded outward in fragments that ranged from pebbles the size of a fist to chunks the size of a dragon’s head.
The largest debris pieces achieved sufficient velocity to impact other stone formations fifty meters away, creating a secondary cascade of destruction that seemed to have its own independent momentum.
Dust clouds erupted in all directions with such force that they reached into the purple sky above, creating a vortex of debris that seemed to have its own atmospheric system, weather patterns, and gravitational dynamics.
The impact generated a deafening sound, acpanied by a concussive wave that propagated across the battlefield, capable of incapacitating smaller entities.
[-124,672 HP]
The sound was so intense that it created visible pressure waves in the atmosphere, patterns of pression that looked like ripples expanding outward from an epicenter.
The barometric pressure within fifty meters of the impact dropped so dramatically that lesser creatures would have experienced immediate physiological stress from the sudden change if they were close enough.
Jack’s health held steady at [617,280/617,280 HP].
The Herald’s health read: [46,425,704/50,000,000].
Jack’s chest heaved with exertion despite the Madness form making respiration nearly unnecessary.
His vertical slit pupils tracked the Herald’s position with absolute precision, watching as the creature attempted to rise from the impact crater it had created.
Every movement was sluggish, traumatized, a manifestation of a body pushed beyond its capacity for continued function.
Jack’s grin widened further, his smile transcending human expression and entering the realm of something primordial and alien.
The dark veins visible beneath his fair skin pulsed with such intensity that they appeared to be the predominant color of his physique, with the crimson undertones being almost dominant.
His eyes reflected the residual lightning still dancing across his skin, creating a visual phenomenon in which his pupils seemed to harbor their own electrical storms.
Jack raised his free hand toward the sky and closed his fist.
The gravitational field responded to his will with absolute obedience.
The Herald watched through the chaos of dust and stone fragments as Jack closed his hand around the gravitational force that had made him fall to the ground.
It watched as Jack began to rise into the air, lifted by the same invisible pressure that had destroyed the dragon.
The ascension was smooth, a demonstration of absolute mastery over forces that transcended conventional physics.
Each meter of elevation was perfectly calculated, each increment of height reflecting precise control over energies that most creatures could barely perceive, let alone manipulate.
Jack was suspended forty meters above the barren wasteland.
Family vacation. I will still post chapters. TOD uncertain.
User Comments
0 comments from readers