Chapter 354: The Change.

Then—

Lucian’s eyes snapped open, he returned to reality and—

"GHAA—!"

He screamed in pain as his body folded on the ground.

BOOM

The ground beneath him shattered.

Lucian barely noticed that. How could he? His mind was consumed with pain. Everywhere in his body, and it wasn’t the strange pain he felt when Neroth tried to forcefully take over his consciousness.

This was real, physical pain every part of his body was being put through.

"GGHF!!!"

He tried to clench his teeth to contain the pain, he tried so hard that one of his teeth actually cracked.

Then—

It healed immediately.

Lucian had no idea what was happening.

His body...

It was breaking, then healing, then breaking again. His veins bulged underneath his skin, black lines spread from his chest, crawling across his neck, shoulders, arms, stomach—

Everywhere.

His muscles seized, his back arched.

CRACK

"AAAGGGHHHH!!!!"

He screamed as his eyes widened.

He could feel it.

His spine, something happened to his spine, it was... changing. Every single vertebra compressed, reshaped and strengthened. The connective tissue between them tore apart and reconstructed itself almost instantly.

"F-Fuck—!"

His fingers somehow became strong enough to sink into the floor, then as he clenched his fists, the entire stone beneath them burst into pieces.

Lucian couldn’t believe it.

And he didn’t have the time to process it either as the very next second, another wave of pain hit him.

"AAAGHH!"

His arms buckled, losing all their power, his chest slammed on the ground and his heartbeat—

THUMP

Lucian’s entire body jumped at that.

Something was wrong.

Something was very, very wrong.

His heart beat again.

THUMP

This time, Lucian was sure. The sound wasn’t normal, he was hearing it reverberate throughout the chamber. A deep, far heavier than normal, almost violent beat.

It was... similar to Neroth’s Heart.

THUMP

"AAKKHH!!"

Lucian’s pupils contracted, his chest felt... too full. As if his heart was becoming too large for the space containing it. He pressed his chest with his hand, trying to contain it, but that seemed like it offended his heart.

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

His heartbeat accelerated and every beat sent a wave of blood through his entire body. Blood surged through his arteries with enough force that Lucian could practically feel every pulse traveling into his fingertips, his toes, his neck, even his brain.

Then—

As if it couldn’t take the unbearable pressure, his heart stopped.

’...what?’

He waited for something to happen, for his heartbeat to return, but even after ten seconds passed, nothing happened, no beat, no pulse, nothing.

"...the fuck?"

He spoke, his voice was much hoarser than he remembered. That, however, was not his concern, his concern was his body.

He could still feel the rest of his body moving perfectly fine, even after twenty seconds passed, he was perfectly conscious but...

His heart wasn’t beating.

"...hello—"

He tried to call out, trying to remain calm in this strange situation, but the very next instant—

Something inside his chest contracted and just one sensation was all it took for Lucian to realise it wasn’t his heart.

It was... something deeper, something far, far heavier.

THOOOOOM.

Lucian’s eyes widened as blood gathered around it, the broken stone beneath his knees trembled, his entire circulatory system flooded with something.

Energy.

Demonic Energy.

No.

Calling it Demonic Energy felt... wrong.

It was too dense, far, far, far denser than the Energy Lucian was used to, the energy he used before this couldn’t even be compared to it.

It felt as if his entire reserve could be gathered together and it would only manage to form a drop of this energy that was now pulsating inside his veins.

"KKKHAARRKKK!!!"

Then, something happened as he coughed out blood.

The moment the ridiculously dense demonic energy entered his veins, Lucian felt his body react again.

His blood started changing, the red of his blood started becoming denser and denser, it almost became black when it pooled beneath the surface.

Then, a faint violet moved through it.

"Haahhh... Haah...."

Lucian gasped for air.

Just then—

THOOOM

The Heart beat again, the same ridiculously heavy beat and as it pumped, more and more of that ridiculously dense energy was generated.

"HHAAAHHH!!!"

Lucian gasped, this time much louder.

His Heart wasn’t simply circulating the Demonic Energy, it was producing it, compressing it thousands or even tens of thousands of times, refining it, then pushing it into his veins.

Again.

And again.

And again.

With every single beat and as it did—

Lucian also realised something else.

This wasn’t his Heart, no, it was his heart, but it wasn’t his old Heart. He could feel the texture, it was... similar to Neroth’s.

His body ate Neroth’s Heart and assimilated it inside of him, it... adapted to an Archdemon’s Heart.

The muscles around it thickened, its chambers changed, its walls became denser, black lines spread across its surface and... something around it, some structure Lucian couldn’t understand, formed alongside his heart.

Demonic channels.

Channels that were now integrated into his very body, as if his entire physiology had finally accepted something his body was only... imitating until now.

"AAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

Lucian screamed again because the moment his Heart changed, everything connected to it had to change as well.

His arteries were torn apart, then rebuilt. His veins, his capillaries all over his body tore apart, then they returned stronger.

Dense Crimson Blood poured from his nose, his mouth, his eyes, then it stopped.

His regeneration repaired the damage before the droplets even reached his chin. Lucian then felt his muscles contract, his arms suddenly looked swollen, then they compressed.

His muscles became denser, fibers packed together and became tighter, harder. His existing build remained the same, he didn’t change into some bodybuilder who couldn’t even move, he still looked lean, athletic and well-defined—

But underneath his skin, every single thing became far, far heavier, more compact and much more powerful than before.

And Lucian—

"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"

He felt every single muscle fiber being ripped apart and rebuilt again, returning with even more density than what had already changed significantly.