"What do I want to do? Who gave you the audacity to speak to me in that tone?" Jason's voice resonated with barely contained power.
With a simple gesture, an enormous throne materialized before the three figures. Black and crimson, massive and imposing, it emanated an ancient malevolence that seemed to distort the very fabric of reality around it. As Jason settled onto the seat, his body began to transform—lengthening, expanding, and morphing into something beyond human.
Within moments, he had become a towering demonic figure hundreds of meters tall, crowned with curved horns that seemed to scrape the heavens themselves. Raw, unlimited power radiated from every inch of his monstrous form. The incarnations of Gabriel and Lucifer suddenly appeared smaller than his smallest toe.
They stared up at Jason's true demonic form, too shocked to speak.
In Hell, there existed an unspoken truth known to all infernal beings: the size of a lord's demonic form directly corresponded to the extent of their territory. During his reign, Lucifer had been the first lord of Hell, yet his true form had reached only about a hundred meters in height.
But Jason... Jason's manifestation now dwarfed even that legendary figure by four or five times!
Had Jason not deployed spatial barriers to contain the transformation within the mountaintop plaza, the entire floating island would have erupted into chaos at the sight of such a colossal demonic entity.
"I AM THE GREATEST EMPEROR OF HELL!" Jason's voice boomed like thunder across dimensions. "THE UNIFIER OF ALL INFERNAL REALMS! You address me with such disrespect, as if my power means nothing to you!"
Crushing pressure descended upon Gabriel and Lucifer, a weight so profound it threatened to flatten their physical forms. Only now did they comprehend exactly who—or what—they faced.
The truth dawned on them: the war between Heaven and Hell had truly been devastating, depleting both sides to near extinction. Their forces had been so weakened they temporarily lost the ability to breach the dimensional barriers between their respective realms.
Though they'd established limited contact with entities in Hell through mystical means, they'd only received vague reports of "great changes" occurring there—nothing specific enough to prepare them for this confrontation.
This expedition to Earth represented their first major action since recovering a fraction of their former strength. Yet despite everything, they had still approached Jason with the same arrogance that had served them for millennia.
Jason's massive hand swept down, effortlessly capturing both avatars and bringing them before his burning gaze.
"Until you learn proper respect, stay far away from me," he growled, the heat of his breath singeing their forms. "Provoke me again, and I'll storm the gates of Heaven itself and crush your precious paradise beneath my feet!"
With these words, he tightened his grip. Their enhanced incarnations—powerful by human standards but insignificant before his might—couldn't withstand the immense pressure. Both exploded into clouds of divine and infernal essence.
"Hmph!"
Instead of immediately reverting to his human form, Jason maintained his demonic appearance as he summoned a massive dimensional portal with a thought. He stepped through the shimmering gateway, instantly transporting himself to the Second God Domain.
During these past weeks, Mephisto's tireless efforts had dramatically increased the demonic population within Jason's divine realm. While residents from territories directly controlled by Jason could freely choose whether to enter the God Domain, demons from other domains had no such luxury.
Once captured by Jason's forces—whether the Soul Legion, Demon General Legion, or Fallen Angel Legion—these beings were swiftly transported to the God Domain. Through these aggressive recruitment tactics, the Second Kingdom's population had swelled beyond ten million souls.
Most of these unwilling immigrants originated from territories whose lords were trapped in Heaven—the perfect targets for conquest. Under Mephisto's direction, Jason's three legions operated like merciless bandits, systematically raiding cities throughout Hell.
Their standard procedure never varied: upon reaching a settlement, they immediately opened portals to the God Domain and forcibly relocated every living entity they encountered. The skeleton defense forces left guarding these territories were pathetically outmatched both in numbers and quality.
When these defenders wisely chose not to resist, they were simply captured and added to Jason's growing collection. Any foolish enough to fight back met swift and brutal ends.
After extensive preparations, both Jason and Mephisto agreed the time had come to advance their ultimate objective: the complete unification of Hell under a single ruler.
Jason's meteoric rise and ruthless methods had prompted the dozen or so remaining Hell lords to form an unprecedented alliance. Despite their historical rivalries and hatreds, survival instinct had driven them to create an organization called the "Hell Alliance" specifically to resist Jason's expansion.
Though Jason had twice dispatched Mephisto to negotiate peacefully, offering generous terms including territorial concessions in Washington and Neon districts, the Alliance stubbornly refused all overtures.
With diplomatic options exhausted, only warfare remained.
Each thunderous step of Jason's hundred-foot demon form sent tremors through Hell's landscape. Long before he reached the Hell Alliance's territory, his approach had alerted every lord to his coming.
Mephisto stood upon Jason's massive shoulder, eyes gleaming with conflicted emotions. This scene—a supreme conqueror marching to subjugate the final opposition—had featured in countless iterations of his own ambitious dreams. The bitter irony that someone else now lived his vision filled him with both profound sorrow and grudging respect.
Soon, more than a dozen Hell lords materialized before Jason's path, each revealing their true demonic forms in preparation for the coming battle.
Looking down at these figures—none taller than his knees—Jason turned to Mephisto with genuine puzzlement. "Where do these little guys find the confidence to challenge me? Don't they understand that no matter how many sheep gather together, they still can't defeat a lion?"
Mephisto shook his head solemnly. He understood their desperate position all too well. No lord would willingly surrender their throne based on mere threats. None would concede without fighting to their last breath.
Yet simultaneously, he recognized the futility of their resistance. They fundamentally misunderstood who they faced. Their decision to fight rather than submit represented their final and most catastrophic mistake.
While Mephisto reflected silently, a startling transformation began among the assembled lords. Their individual forms began to flow together like liquid mercury, merging into a single entity.
"What the hell?" Jason exclaimed in surprise. "Look at that—one forming the left foot, another becoming the right leg, another the right arm... which poor bastard is going to end up as the brains of this operation?"
Mephisto frowned. "I've never witnessed anything like this before..."
As they spoke, the fusion completed. Though still not matching Jason's height, the combined entity now reached his chest—a significant improvement over their individual forms.
The Hell Alliance roared skyward, then charged toward Jason with the momentum of a runaway locomotive, massive thighs propelling it forward with astonishing speed.
Jason sidestepped the initial rush with surprising agility for his size, then grabbed the Alliance by the back of its newly-formed head.
"You honestly believe combining your powers gives you a chance against me?" he taunted. "Pure delusion! Since I find this new technique moderately interesting, I'll offer one final opportunity to surrender. Otherwise..." His grip tightened painfully. "Don't blame me when I beat you into extinction!"
The Hell Alliance responded with silent defiance. Thick smoke billowed from its nostrils as its throat bulged. Suddenly, its jaws gaped wide, unleashing a torrent of hellfire directly at Jason's face.
Jason didn't even bother dodging. As beings of Hell's ecosystem, hellfire represented their shared elemental nature. Using such attacks against each other was practically pointless.
Rather than retreating, Jason strode directly into the flames and delivered a thunderous slap across the Alliance's face. Instantly, more than half the infernal conflagration dissipated.
Noting the unified being's confused expression, Jason frowned. The individual lords had never been intellectual powerhouses to begin with. Had their mental capacity actually diminished after merging?
If so, this fusion technique offered more disadvantages than benefits.
The slapped Alliance roared with renewed fury, its entire body erupting in flames as it charged again, howling with rage.
Jason prepared to evade once more, but as he shifted his weight, something strange occurred—his body and will seemed momentarily desynchronized, causing him to move half a beat slower than intended.
In that critical fraction of a second, the Alliance managed to grab him around the waist and drive him backward with surprising force.
Jason felt a flicker of genuine surprise. These combined lords actually possessed such capability?
He raised his massive fist, preparing to deliver a devastating counterblow to the Alliance's chest, when suddenly his senses screamed a warning—deadly danger approached from behind!
He didn't need to look back to understand what was happening.
A dark, ominous portal had materialized directly in his path of retreat—one entirely different from any gateway he had encountered before.
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