The cave's magical lights flickered to life as Jack entered the main chamber, casting pale illumination across the frozen walls.

S sat against the far side, reading something Jack couldn't identify, while Kyren stood near Corvin's perch.

Everyone looked up as Jack approached, and their reactions were immediate.

"Master!" Kyren's voice carried genuine alarm, his hollow eyes widening as they tracked across Jack's damaged armor. "Master is hurt! Master has many wounds! This one sees blood! Much blood!"

S's expression remained composed, but his red eyes sharpened with interest as they examined the damage. "Well. Someone had an eventful morning."

Jack moved to the center of the chamber and settled against the wall with a slight wince, Oscar still gripped in his hand.

The pain from his shoulder was constant now, sharp and insistent despite his enhanced constitution working to suppress it.

"I fought Pho," Jack said simply.

The cave went silent.

Kyren's mouth opened, closed, then opened again. "Master fought... ice demon lord? Big ice demon lord? This one is... this one is confused. Master should be dead. Why is Master not dead?"

"It was a spar," Jack clarified, though the distinction felt minimal given the damage he'd taken. "He wanted to test my capabilities. Offered me the position as overseer of the slave pits."

S's eyebrows rose fractionally. "A spar with Pho. And you survived. How... impressive." His tone carried genuine appreciation of what he had done. "Though I can see the cost of that survival written across your armor."

{Survived is putting it VERY generously!} Oscar interjected in Jack's mind. {We got our ass handed to us! Black Ice Soul nearly killed us with TWO hits! TWO! If he'd swung a third time we'd be decorating his throne room right now!}

'We learned what we needed to learn.'

{We learned that he can MURDER us! That's not useful information, that's TERRIFYING information!}

"This one thinks Master is very strong," Kyren said, his hollow eyes still fixed on Jack's wounds with concern. "Master fights ice demon lord and lives. This one could not fight ice demon lord. This one would die very fast."

"Most demons would," S agreed. He stood smoothly, his immaculate black suit contrasting sharply with the frozen cave environment. "The fact that you're standing here, conscious and mobile, suggests either remarkable durability or Pho showed considerable restraint."

Jack shifted slightly, feeling the torn muscles in his shoulder protest. "Kyren, I need help with the armor."

"This one will help Master!" Kyren moved forward immediately, his mechanical movements becoming almost eager. "This one is good at helping. Master taught this one how to help. This one remembers."

{Oh good, we're taking off the armor. That means I get to see the full extent of the damage. I'm SO excited about this. I can't wait.}

With Kyren's assistance, Jack began removing the damaged pieces. The process was slow and painful, each movement pulling at wounds that wanted to stay still.

The shoulder piece came off first, revealing torn flesh beneath that made even Kyren pause.

"Master's shoulder is..." Kyren's hollow eyes fixed on the wound. "This one sees bone. Master's bone is showing. This one thinks this is very bad."

The damage was extensive. Pho's Black Ice Soul had sheared through the outer armor layer, through the padding beneath, and into Jack's actual shoulder with devastating efficiency.

The wound showed exposed bone, torn muscle, and flesh that was trying to knit itself back together but wasn't quite succeeding.

Blood seeped from the injury, though not as much as there should have been. Jack's enhanced constitution was working to clot it, to minimize blood loss, but the damage was too severe for natural healing alone.

"This one does not understand how Master is standing," Kyren said quietly. "This one thinks Master should be screaming. Or dead. Master is very strong."

{I'm with the reanimated demon on this one. That looks HORRIBLE. Like, genuinely awful. How are you not passed out from pain right now?}

'Enhanced constitution. My body is slowly turning into a demon. So that includes my regeneration and bones.'

{That's not pain tolerance, that's superhuman! That's… wait, ARE you becoming more like a demon? Never mind. Still horrifying though.}

Once the armor was fully removed, Jack reached into his system storage.

The pieces had collected blood during the fight, and the enchantments were already trying to process it, but they needed more to properly repair themselves.

He withdrew several containers of demon blood he'd stored from previous encounters.

The dark liquid sloshed as he poured it directly onto the damaged armor pieces, watching as the enchantments activated with renewed hunger.

The armor absorbed the blood.

The dark liquid began being absorbed into the material itself.

Cracks began to seal. Torn sections knitted back together. The damaged shoulder piece reformed, its structure regenerating as the enchantments fed on the demonic essence in the blood.

"This one watches armor heal itself," Kyren observed, his hollow eyes wide. "This one thinks armor is alive. Is armor alive, Master?"

"In a way," Jack replied, pouring more blood onto the chest piece. "The enchantments give it properties similar to living tissue. It can repair itself if given enough demonic material to work with."

Having spent almost a year and half in the tower. Jack had plenty of time to learn new things.

S watched the process with obvious interest.

"Fascinating. The enchantment work is quite sophisticated. Whoever crafted that armor understood demonic essence manipulation at a level few achieve."

{Yeah, yeah, the armor is amazing. Can we talk about YOUR shoulder now? Because that's still horrifying and I'd like it to stop being horrifying!}

Jack reached into his storage again, this time withdrawing something different. A demon heart, preserved and still radiating like it had just been pulled out.

He'd collected over a thousand of them from his previous kills, storing them for exactly this kind of situation.

Without hesitation, he bit into it.

He chewed quickly, forcing himself to swallow despite the texture.

[Consuming Demon Heart]

[Demonic Essence: 94 → 99]

[Warning: Approaching threshold]

[Enhanced regeneration activated]

The effect was instantaneous.

Jack's shoulder blazed with sudden heat as his body's accelerated healing kicked into overdrive.

The exposed bone began to disappear beneath reforming muscle tissue.

Torn flesh pulled itself together. Skin grew across the wound, new tissue forming to cover the damage.

Within thirty seconds, the injury that should have taken weeks to heal was reduced to angry red scarring.

Within a minute, even the scars were fading, his enhanced constitution and demonic essence working in tandem to restore him.

"This one watches Master heal," Kyren said, his voice carrying something close to awe. "Master's body fixes itself. Like armor fixes itself. Master is like armor. Master is very impressive."

{Okay, that was disturbing to watch but at least you're not dying anymore.}

'I'm aware.'

{Are you TRYING to transform completely? Because this feels like you're trying to transform!}

S's gaze remained fixed on Jack's healing shoulder.

"Your adaptation to demonic physiology is progressing faster than I expected. Most humans would have rejected that heart outright, or at best gained minimal benefit from consumption. But your body processed it almost instantly."

Jack flexed his shoulder, testing the range of motion.

There was no pain. He had full mobility. It was as if Pho's attack had never connected, except for the memory of the damage and the lesson learned.

{Speaking of things I don't understand…}

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.