Its body language had completely switched to being submissive.

It lowered its head. The demon raised its limbs in a defensive position.

Jack stopped a few feet away, his scaled form radiating power that made the air itself feel heavier.

His red eyes stared down at the cowering experiment, savage satisfaction visible on his face despite the flat tone his voice would carry.

Then he reached on his shoulder and found what he was looking for.

The purple orb.

It was a small orb, pulsing with a faint light, attached to his side where Loryn had planted it not that long ago.

A tracking device, meant to mark targets for the experiment to kill.

Jack's clawed fingers closed around it and pulled. The orb came free with a soft pop, adhesive magic releasing its hold.

He held it up, letting light reflect off its surface.

From his hidden position in the shadows, Loryn's hollow eyes widened.

'No. No, he couldn't have…'

"Loryn."

Jack's deeper voice cut through the tunnel like a blade.

Not loud, but carrying absolute authority that made resistance feel impossible.

"Come out."

Loryn froze.

His shadow magic should have kept him hidden.

It should have concealed his presence completely.

But those red eyes found him anyway, boring through darkness to see the skeletal general pressed against the wall.

For a moment, Loryn considered running.

He considered anything except obeying that command.

But his body moved anyway, shadow magic dissipating as he stepped into view.

Self-preservation overriding pride, his survival instinct recognizing that resistance meant death.

Jack's scaled form turned to face him fully.

His red eyes blazing with hunger as it stared Loryn down.

"You planted this on me," Jack said, holding up the purple orb.

Loryn's skeletal jaw worked, trying to form words, trying to find some excuse or explanation that might save him.

But nothing came out.

One moment he was standing ten feet away. The next, his scaled hand was wrapped around Loryn's throat, lifting the skeletal general off the ground with casual ease.

Loryn's hollow eyes widened, his hands coming up to claw at Jack's arm, shadow magic sparking uselessly against demonic scales.

"Let's see how you like it," Jack said.

His other hand came up, clawed fingers forcing Loryn's jaw open.

The skeletal general struggled, trying to close his mouth.

But it was useless.

Jack's enhanced strength made resistance meaningless.

Jack shoved the purple orb into Loryn's mouth.

The general's hollow eyes went impossibly wide, panic visible in their depths.

He tried to spit it out, tongue pushing against the orb, but Jack's hand clamped his jaw shut.

"Swallow."

The command carried weight that went beyond mere words.

Loryn's body obeyed despite his conscious mind screaming protests.

His throat worked, muscles contracting, the orb sliding down into his stomach where it settled with a faint pulse of activation.

Jack slapped his face three times.

"Good boy."

Jack released him.

Loryn stumbled backward, hands going to his throat, coughing and gagging. "What did you…"

Jack grabbed him by the robes and threw him.

Loryn's skeletal form flew through the air like a ragdoll, arms and legs flailing, his trajectory carrying him directly toward the cowering experiment.

He crashed into the construct with force that knocked both of them to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

The experiment's eyes tracked the orb's location immediately.

Programming overriding fear, survival instinct pushed aside by fundamental directive coded into its creation.

'TARGET LOCATED. KILL.'

Loryn scrambled to get up, shadow magic gathering around his hands. "Wait! No! I didn't…."

The experiment's claws tore into his chest before he could finish, ripping through his robes and into the skeletal frame beneath. Bone cracked, shadow magic dispersed, and Loryn's scream echoed through the tunnel.

"Stop! Please! Master Pho will…"

Another strike, this one tearing away ribs to expose internal organs. The experiment's programming allowed no mercy, no hesitation.

'KILL TARGET.'

Nothing else mattered.

Loryn tried to fight back, shadow magic forming into blades that struck the construct's body.

They left shallow cuts.

It was all miinor damage, nothing that slowed the killing.

The experiment's claws plunged into Loryn's chest cavity. Organs came free, all torn out in one brutal motion. The construct shoved them into its mouth, consuming them while Loryn was still conscious to watch.

Loryn's screams became wet gurgles as blood filled what remained of his throat.

He could see his own organs being eaten, he could feel his body shutting down and he was helpless to do anything.

The experiment pulled out more, liver, kidneys, whatever remained in the chest cavity.

Everything mushed together, so destroyed that Jack couldn't tell what specific organs they'd been.

The construct consumed it all, black blood mixing with dark blue, the sound of chewing echoing through the tunnel.

Loryn's hollow eyes dimmed. His skeletal hands, which had been clawing weakly at the experiment, fell to his sides.

His body went limp.

Jack's scaled hand grabbed the experiment by the back of its head, pulling the construct off Loryn's corpse with force that sent it flying backward.

It crashed into the tunnel wall.

The experiment cowered again, pressing itself against the wall like a guilty puppy.

Blood covered its face and chest, Loryn's organs still visible between its teeth.

But its eyes tracked Jack with absolute terror, its body language was completely submissive.

Jack stared at it for a long moment, his red eyes boring into the construct with predatory focus.

Then he turned away, dismissing it as no longer relevant.

The experiment didn't move. Stayed pressed against the wall, tail-less and beaten, waiting for judgment that didn't come.

Jack walked over to Loryn's corpse. The skeletal general lay in a pool of blood, his own and the experiment's mixed together.

His chest was torn open, ribs shattered and organs wer eaten or destroyed.

His robes were shredded, his hollow eyes staring at nothing.

He was dead.

Jack knelt beside the body, his scaled hand hovering over Loryn's chest.

His soul Warden power activated, responding to his will, reaching for the general's soul before it could fully dissipate.

'Soul Link: Loryn, Nightmare-Class Demon.'

[Binding in progress...]

[Current Death Tokens: 1,607,250]

[Cost: 100,000 Death Tokens]

[Binding...]

White light erupted from Jack's hand, translucent and ethereal.

It spread across Loryn's corpse, wrapping around the broken body, sinking into flesh and bone and whatever remained of his essence.

[Binding...]

The light intensified, growing brighter, filling the tunnel with radiance that made even the experiment shield its eyes.

Jack's expression remained flat despite the scales covering his face, his focus was absolute.

[Binding Complete]

[Current Death Tokens: 1,507,250]

[Loryn has been bound as your third soul servant]

The white light faded.

Loryn's body reconstructed itself. Organs regenerated, growing from nothing to fill the empty chest cavity.

Ribs reformed, bone knitting back together at inhuman speed.

Within ten seconds, Loryn looked exactly as he had before the experiment killed him.

His hollow eyes opened, but the light in them had changed.

Loryn stood up.

He looked at Jack, at the scaled form towering over him, and dropped to one knee without being commanded.

"Master."

Jack's scales began receding, the transformation reversing as Infernal Conversion's duration ended.

Black demonic armor sank back into his skin.

His voice returned to its usual flat tone, the demonic edge fading.

"Listen carefully. You will bring me to Pho as a prisoner, and when I'm done he will be dead. And you can sit on his throne."

"Yes, master."

Jack walked over to where the experiment still cowered against the wall.

The demons body tensed, but it didn't try to flee or fight.

"Stay," Jack commanded, his flat voice carrying absolute authority.

The experiment settled into a sitting position, limbs pulled in, head lowered. Like a dog waiting for its owner's return.

The programming that had driven it to kill had been overridden by fear so complete it couldn't function.

Jack turned back to Loryn. "Let's go and end this."

"Yes, master."

The skeletal general stood, shadow magic gathering around his form.

He cast one last look at the experiment, at the tunnel where he'd died and been reborn, then vanished into darkness.

Jack stood alone in the tunnel, his armor cracked and bloodied, his body exhausted from the fight. The experiment sat motionless against the wall, watching him.

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

Phase Three was about to begin.

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