"And we honor his choice," Rynath added, her serpentine gaze moving between the other two generals. "No interference or attempts to undermine the others during their time with him."

"Agreed," Loryn said.

"Agreed," Kaedor echoed, though something in his expression suggested he was already planning how to gain advantage within those rules.

Jack remained silent, letting them finalize the arrangement, letting them think this was a fair compromise instead of exactly what he wanted.

Access to each of their domains.

Rynath opened her mouth to speak, probably to establish the order of shadowing, when the temperature in the room dropped even further.

The runes along the door flared brilliant blue.

Then the door swung wide open.

The presence that entered was overwhelming, a weight that pressed against everyone in the room like a massive hand squeezing their necks.

Pho stepped through the doorway, and Jack saw the Deathfrost Demon for the first time.

He was tall, easily three meters tall, but somehow seemed even larger, as if space itself bent around him to accommodate his presence.

His skin was pale blue-white, the color of ancient ice that had never seen sunlight.

Frost formed in the air around him with each breath, crystallizing and falling like snow.

His eyes were completely white, no pupils, no iris, just blank white that somehow still managed to convey absolute focus.

They moved across the room, taking in each person with the casual attention of a predator checking which prey was worth eating.

He wore armor that looked like it had been carved from glaciers, each plate smooth and impossibly cold.

Runes covered every surface, glowing with the same pale blue light as the door had, suggesting magic so powerful it leaked into sight.

His presence alone made the room feel smaller, the walls pressing in, the air harder to breathe.

The three generals immediately bowed, their heads lowering in synchronized deference.

Jack didn't bow.

He didn't move at all.

He just stood there, his red eyes meeting Pho's blank white gaze through his helmet's visor.

Pho's attention fixed on him, and for a moment, the weight of that stare intensified until it felt like Jack was standing at the bottom of an ocean.

Then Pho spoke, his voice carrying the sound of ice cracking across a frozen lake.

"So this is the soldier who caused such excitement in the training yard."

It wasn't a question.

Pho's white eyes moved across Jack's armored form with clinical assessment, reading everything, measuring everything.

"Master Pho," Rynath said, her voice carefully respectful. "This is Jakar. He is a Dread-rank demon.. He defeated both Vox and Korr in combat. We believe he could potentially fill the void left by Kragoth's death."

"Could he."

Pho circled Jack slowly, each step accompanied by the sound of frost forming beneath his feet.

The Deathfrost Demon moved with the confidence of someone who had never encountered a threat he couldn't handle.

"Small for a demon," Pho observed, stopping in front of Jack. "Kragoth was three meters. You're barely two. How exactly do you propose to fill a void left by someone twice your size?"

The question carried weight, an implicit challenge wrapped in casual observation.

Jack's response was delivered in that same flat tone.

"Kragoth's size didn't save him."

The room went absolutely silent.

Kaedor's face went pale.

Loryn's hollow eyes widened slightly.

Rynath's scales failed for a moment.

Speaking to Pho like that. with such casual dismissal of respect, such implied criticism, was the kind of thing that got demons killed.

Slowly. Very Slowly.

Pho stared at Jack for a long moment, his blank white eyes unreadable.

Then something changed in his expression. Not quite a smile, but a slight shift that suggested...

Amusement?

"Bold words from a small demon." Pho's voice carried a note of interest now. "Tell me, Jakar, do you always speak to your superiors with such... directness?"

"I speak truth," Jack said. "Size means nothing if you're dead. Kragoth was large. He's still dead. I'm small. I'm still standing."

Another silence. The frost in the air seemed to intensify, the temperature dropping even further.

Jack continued, his voice never wavering.

"If you want to test whether size matters, Master Pho, I'll go a round with you. See which one of us is still standing when it's over."

The challenge hung in the air like a thrown blade.

Kaedor looked like he was about to faint.

Loryn had gone completely still, his skeletal fingers frozen mid-tap.

Rynath's scales cycled through colors so fast they blurred.

'What the fuck!!! Jakar is bat shit crazy.' Loryn thought.

Pho stared at Jack, his blank white eyes boring into the armored demon who'd just challenged one of the most powerful beings on Floor 24 to a fight.

Then Pho's laughter broke the tension.

It wasn't a warm sound.

It carried the howl of frozen wind and the absolute certainty of winter's inevitability.

But it was genuine amusement.

"Balls," Pho said simply. "You have balls, small demon. Most who stand before me can barely speak without trembling. They certainly don't offer to fight me."

He circled Jack once more, but this time the movement felt like he was appraising him.

"I like that. Fear is useful, but fearlessness—l, actual fearlessness, not stupidity masquerading as courage, that's rare and extremely valuable."

Pho stopped in front of Jack again, close enough that the frost radiating from his body covered Jack's armor in a thin layer of ice crystals.

"Perhaps you could fill Kragoth's void after all. Size isn't everything, as you say. But power is."

His blank white eyes fixed on Jack with intensity.

"Show me you have the power to back up those words, and maybe I'll take you seriously."

Then Pho turned to Loryn, his attention shifting like a spotlight moving away.

"The experiment. Where are we with it?"

Loryn straightened immediately, his hollow voice taking on a clinical tone. "Nearly complete, Master Pho. I need to finalize the control mechanism, the binding magic that will direct it toward specific targets rather than indiscriminate slaughter."

"How long?"

"Two days. Three at most. I'm integrating a dark orb system that will lock it onto whoever bears the corresponding marker. Plant the marker on a target, release the experiment, and it will hunt until the target is dead or the marker is removed."

It wasn't a warm sound.

It carried the howl of frozen wind and the absolute certainty of winter's inevitability.

But it was genuine amusement.

"Balls," Pho said simply. "You have balls, small demon. Most who stand before me can barely speak without trembling. They certainly don't offer to fight me."

He circled Jack once more, but this time the movement felt like he was appraising him.

"I like that. Fear is useful, but fearlessness, that's rare and extremely valuable."

Pho stopped in front of Jack again, close enough that the frost radiating from his body covered Jack's armor in a thin layer of ice crystals.

"Perhaps you could fill Kragoth's void after all. Size isn't everything, as you say. But power is."

His blank white eyes fixed on Jack with intensity.

"Show me you have the power to back up those words, and maybe I'll take you seriously."

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