The transformation began without warning. One moment, Eum Mugeuk was standing there with his void-touched smile, and the next, the entire Shadow Realm seemed to pour into him.
[System Alert: Enemy Amplification Detected]Entity: Shadow Demon Lord (Corrupted)Amplification Rate: 2x (Territorial Bonus)Warning: Power balance shift detectedRecommendation: Tactical retreat advised
"No," Jin Ho breathed, watching in horror as Eum Mugeuk's power signature exploded outward. The 2x amplification wasn't just making him stronger - it was transforming him into something else entirely.
[Blood Heaven Great Emperor]: "Impossible! His base power was already around 25% of the original Shadow Demon Lord. With 2x amplification..."
[Ice Soul Demon Emperor]: "Calculating... 50% of original Shadow Demon Lord power. That places him at near-equivalent strength to our Trinity formation."
[Thunder Lightning King]: "This is bad, this is really bad! We're going from overwhelming advantage to even match!"
Eum Mugeuk's body began to change. Shadows poured off him like liquid darkness, his height increased, and his eyes became pits of absolute void. When he spoke again, his voice carried harmonics that made reality itself seem to shiver.
"Do you feel it now, Kang Jin Ho?" The transformed Eum Mugeuk raised his hands, and the shadows around them responded like living extensions of his will. "This is what true power feels like. Not your borrowed strength, not your incomplete fusion - this is dominion!"
Jin Ho activated his Trinity Network to its fullest extent, feeling the three Demon Lords merge their consciousness with his. His power surged from 100% to 60% total authority - the strongest he had ever been without territorial amplification. But as he faced the amplified Shadow Demon Lord, he realized with growing dread that 60% might not be enough.
"Let me show you what I've learned in sixty years of preparation!" Eum Mugeuk gestured, and the technique he unleashed made Jin Ho's blood run cold.
[Void Shadow Fusion]
The attack wasn't just shadow manipulation - it was something far worse. Streams of pure void energy wrapped in shadows lashed out toward Jin Ho, and where they touched the ground, reality simply... stopped existing. Not destroyed, not damaged - erased, as if it had never been there at all.
Jin Ho barely managed to dodge, his Trinity Network screaming warnings as the void-shadows passed inches from his body. Where his shadow had been clipped by the attack, he felt a numbing coldness that made his very existence feel uncertain.
[Blood Heaven Great Emperor]: "That's not shadow magic anymore! That's existence erasure!"
"Impossible!" Jin Ho launched his own counterattack, combining blood manipulation with lightning speed and ice precision. [Trinity Combination Strike] - a technique that had devastated enemies in every previous battle.
The attack struck Eum Mugeuk dead-on, and for a moment, Jin Ho dared to hope. But when the energy cleared, the amplified Shadow Demon Lord was still standing, barely even winded.
"My turn," Eum Mugeuk smiled, and suddenly Jin Ho found himself fighting for his life.
The battle that followed was unlike anything Jin Ho had experienced. In every previous fight, he had held some advantage - superior power, territorial amplification, or tactical surprise. But here, fighting an amplified opponent in enemy territory, he was forced to use every ounce of skill just to survive.
Eum Mugeuk's attacks came from impossible angles. Shadows erupted from beneath Jin Ho's feet, void energy materialized behind him, and worst of all, the attacks carried that existence-erasing property that made even glancing blows potentially fatal.
[Thunder Lightning King]: "He's faster than us! How is he faster than lightning?"
[Ice Soul Demon Emperor]: "The territorial amplification affects all aspects of his power. Speed, strength, technique efficiency - everything is doubled."
Jin Ho found himself being pushed back, step by step. His Trinity combination techniques, which had seemed so powerful before, were meeting their match against pure amplified force. It was a humbling experience - and a terrifying one.
"Do you see now?" Eum Mugeuk taunted as he pressed his advantage. "Do you finally understand what real power looks like? Your trinity is impressive, I'll give you that. But incomplete power will always lose to complete dominion!"
For the first time since gaining his Trinity Network, Jin Ho felt the cold touch of defeat creeping up his spine. The power he had relied on, the strength that had carried him through every challenge, was proving insufficient.
And in the back of his mind, a desperate thought began to grow: I need the fourth fragment. I need it now.