Chapter 1051: Corrupted Zoltan
"Damn, human! What did you do?!" Zoltan roared, his voice cracking with pain and fury. His body convulsed violently as if every muscle inside him was being ripped apart.
The uproar drew the others instantly. The figures of Varian, Bellion, and several other demon lords stormed into the arena, their auras flaring wildly. At the same time, the human leaders also appeared. Aden, President William, Lady Divine, and the tiger-masked leader of the Obsidian Order positioned themselves in a tight formation around Max, ready to intervene if the situation demanded it. The remaining human leaders spread out, their eyes fixed on Zoltan.
The entire arena fell into tense silence as everyone registered what they were witnessing. Zoltan, the strongest genius of the demon race, was overflowing with infernal energy. His body shook as if it was about to burst, dark red lines of corruption running beneath his skin.
The leaders of the human race, who were all well-versed in the nature of infernal energy, froze in shock. Even with their knowledge, none of them had seen something like this before. Zoltan was not wielding infernal energy—he was drowning in it.
Their gazes shifted back to Max. His white hair fluttered gently, his aura calm and steady, completely free of the infernal energy that had consumed him for weeks. The contrast was stark. It did not take long for them to understand what had happened. Max had transferred all of his accumulated infernal energy into Zoltan.
But the method was beyond comprehension. They had never heard of any technique, art, or curse that allowed such a direct transfer. Their shock deepened into disbelief. How could a Legend Rank human, with nothing more than a touch, burden the peak of demonic genius with such corruption?
"Ahhhhhh!" Zoltan’s scream cut through their thoughts. His body twisted violently as his voice cracked into madness. "I am going mad! I am going MAD!" He clawed at his chest, tearing his own skin as the infernal energy inside him began to eat away at his mind and soul. The corruption spread faster than he could resist.
"Max! What did you do to him?!" Varian bellowed, his fury palpable. His hands rose as he released torrents of demonic energy, forcing it into Zoltan’s body in an attempt to stabilize him. But almost immediately, Varian’s expression shifted into horror.
The demonic energy he supplied was devoured the moment it entered, swallowed whole by the raging infernal current within Zoltan. Nothing he did slowed it down. It only seemed to make it worse.
Zoltan dropped to his knees, black smoke rising from his pores. His eyes, once sharp and filled with arrogance, now bulged with madness. The sclera turned pitch black while crimson veins spread across them like cracks in shattered glass. His jaw unhinged slightly, his teeth lengthening, his breath coming in ragged snarls.
Then the corruption took physical form. His skin darkened as patches of crimson and black scales began to spread across his chest and arms. The once-sturdy aura of a Divine Rank genius was now fractured, unstable, and terrifying. His body expanded and contracted as if the infernal energy was reshaping him against his will. His mind was no better; his shouts of rage became incoherent, filled with twisted laughter and guttural growls.
He was being torn apart, both inside and out.
And Max, standing only a few feet away, watched with calm indifference, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his sword.
The corruption inside Zoltan reached its peak, and his body could no longer resist the overwhelming tide of infernal energy. His screams deepened into guttural howls that shook the very barrier of the arena. His flesh writhed as if alive, veins bulging until they burst open to release black steam that hissed into the air. His arms convulsed violently, his bones snapping and then reforming at grotesque angles, swelling into twisted claws that gleamed with black fire.
His face elongated, jaw unhinging as razor fangs grew outward. His crimson eyes were gone, replaced by pits of darkness laced with glowing infernal red. His back tore open with wet cracks as long jagged spines of blackened bone erupted, dripping with burning corruption. The last traces of the proud genius named Zoltan vanished as his entire body was consumed in a storm of infernal growths.
"Grrrrrrroaaaaaaaar!" The roar that escaped his mouth was not human, nor demon. It was the cry of a beast, primal and corrupted, echoing with nothing but hunger and hate. The ground beneath his feet cracked as black flames burst from his pores, scorching everything around him.
"Zoltan..." Varian’s face fell, his eyes wide in horror. He could feel it clearly now. There was no will left in the body before him. His student, the greatest genius of the demon race, had been erased. What stood in his place was a mindless husk, nothing more than a puppet for infernal energy itself.
"No..." Bellion staggered back, his teeth clenched. "This cannot be. This is not Zoltan. This is a monster!"
The corrupted Zoltan’s head jerked violently from side to side, his growls like a predator that had lost all reason. Infernal fire erupted across his limbs and wrapped around his claws. His chest swelled unnaturally, the infernal energy inside him overflowing with such intensity that even the barrier flickered and groaned under the pressure.
The human leaders watched in stunned silence. Aden’s brows furrowed, and his fists clenched. "So this is what Max did... he turned the strongest demon genius into a vessel of infernal corruption." His voice was heavy, a mixture of awe and dread.
Lady Divine’s face paled as she studied the corrupted figure. "That is no longer Zoltan. The infernal energy has eaten away his soul. What remains is only a beast controlled by corruption."
The tiger-masked leader of the Obsidian Order tilted his head slightly, his tone filled with unsettling amusement. "Interesting. Very interesting. He couldn’t kill Zoltan because of the difference in their power level... so he did something far worse."
Inside the arena, Zoltan’s monstrous body thrashed and roared, his claws dragging through the floor as sparks of infernal fire hissed in every direction. He was no longer a fighter. He was a calamity, mindless and driven by nothing but the hunger to destroy. His aura was wild and unstable, a storm of infernal energy radiating outward like a plague.