The next morning came and Jack had returned to the barracks.

His armor had fully repaired overnight, the enchantments consuming the demon blood he'd fed it and restoring every damaged section.

His shoulder felt perfect, no lingering pain from Pho's devastating strikes.

{So,} Oscar said as Jack started walking toward the exit, {we're shadowing Rynath today, right? The serpent general who's totally crushing on you?}

'That's the arrangement.'

{This should be interesting. I wonder what the intelligence specialist does all day. Probably lots of paperwork and spying and general sneakiness.}

'We'll find out.'

Jack moved through the fortress with purpose.

Other demons cleared a path when they saw him, word of his spar with Pho and his new position as pit overseer having spread throughout the fortress.

He found Rynath waiting outside her quarters, her serpentine form coiled with elegant efficiency.

Her scaled features showed nothing as she noticed his approach.

"Jakar," she said, her voice carrying that same nervous edge from their walk a day ago. "Right on time."

{Oh boy, she's already blushing. Well, I think she's blushing. Hard to tell with scales. But her body language definitely suggests she's happy to see us.}

"You promised to show me what you do," Jack replied, his flat tone unchanged. "I'm here to observe."

"Of course." Rynath's eyes tracked across his armor, noting how it had fully repaired. "I heard about your spar with Master Pho. The whole fortress has been talking about it. They say you survived Black Ice Soul."

"I did."

"That's..." She seemed to search for the right word. "Impressive. Most demons wouldn't be walking after experiencing that technique. You must be incredibly durable."

{She's fishing for information.}

"I recover quickly," Jack said simply.

Something flickered behind Rynath's eyes.

Her posture shifted slightly, becoming more professional despite the lingering nervousness.

'Interesting,' Jack thought, his enhanced perception catching the subtle change. 'She's suspicious. Not just attracted. She suspects something.'

{Wait, you think she knows?}

'It's not what she knows. But, what she suspects. There's a difference.'

Rynath started walking, gesturing for Jack to follow.

"Intelligence work is more complex than most demons realize. It's not just gathering information, it's understanding patterns, identifying threats, maintaining order through knowledge."

They moved deeper into the fortress, past the sections Jack had already explored, heading toward areas he'd only glimpsed during his initial infiltration.

"Master Pho controls this territory through power," Rynath continued as they walked. "But power alone doesn't maintain an operation this size. You need intelligence. You need to know what's happening before it becomes a problem. You need to identify threats and eliminate them before they can act."

{Okay, she's definitely suspicious. She's telling us she knows how to find infiltrators.}

'I noticed.'

Jack's mind was already working through the implications.

Rynath suspected something. Maybe not the full truth, but enough to be testing him.

This wasn't going to be a simple day of observation, it was going to be an evaluation.

'Cute,' Jack thought, allowing himself a moment of amusement. 'She's attracted to me, but professional enough to test me anyway. I can respect that.'

They descended a staircase Jack hadn't known existed, the path leading down into the fortress's foundations.

The temperature dropped as they went deeper, and the architecture shifted from the polished black ice of the upper levels to rougher, more utilitarian construction.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked, though he could already guess.

"The holding cells," Rynath replied. "Where we keep demons who've broken fortress law. Deserters, thieves, traitors, you name it, they're down here. Anyone who needs to be contained until their punishment is carried out."

The staircase opened into a massive underground chamber that made Jack's enhanced perception recoil from the sheer misery concentrated in one space.

The chamber stretched at least a hundred feet in every direction, its ceiling lost in shadow despite the magical lights embedded in the walls.

And filling every available space were cages. Hundreds of them, thousands of them, each one containing a demon in varying states of despair.

The slaves were skeletal, their bodies showing clear signs of starvation.

Their eyes were hollow, empty of hope or resistance.

Shackles covered their wrists and ankles, the metal glowing with faint runes that Jack recognized as magic suppressors.

The smell hit him next

Dead bodies lined the floors everywhere. The atmosphere was suffocating.

It was so oppressive. It was designed to break spirits before any formal punishment was administered.

{Holy... this is... this is a nightmare.}

'Five thousand demons,' Jack observed, his Flawed Sight processing the information. 'Minimum. Probably closer to six thousand. All of them are barely alive.'

"This is where order is maintained," Rynath said, her voice carrying no emotion as she surveyed the chamber.

"Every demon here broke fortress law. Some tried to desert. Some stole resources. Some committed crimes that required more than simple execution."

She walked along the main corridor between rows of cages.

Jack followed, his red eyes visible through his visor scanning the broken demons around them.

"Demon law is absolute," Rynath continued. "When you serve under a lord, you accept their authority completely. Any violation of that authority requires punishment. Anything less would invite chaos."

{She's testing you. This whole thing is a test. She's showing you the worst part of the fortress to see how you react.}

'I know.'

They stopped in front of a specific cage, slightly larger than the others.

Inside was a demon who looked like he'd been beaten recently, his body showing fresh bruises alongside older scars.

He sat motionless, his eyes fixed on nothing, he was completely broken.

"This one tried to escape three days ago," Rynath said, her voice clinical. "He stole food, weapons, and supplies from the fortress stores. Made it almost to the outer perimeter before the patrols caught him."

She gestured at the demon with one scaled hand.

"Demon law is clear about desertion and theft. The punishment is removal of the dominant hand and the tail."

Jack said nothing, his expression unchangeable behind his helmet.

Rynath's eyes fixed on him with sudden intensity.

"As the new overseer of the slave pits, you'll need to understand how justice is administered. Master Pho expects his officers to carry out sentences personally. It maintains order. It reminds the others what happens when laws are broken."

She reached into her robes and withdrew a blade. It was a short curved jagged blade. She offered it to Jack, handle first.

"This demon is scheduled for punishment today," Rynath said, her voice cold and professional despite the nervousness that had colored their earlier interaction.

"I want you to carry it out. Remove his hand and his tail. Show me that you understand what it means to maintain order in this fortress."

{Oh. Oh no. This is bad. This is really bad. She's testing whether you're actually a demon. Whether you'll enforce their laws without hesitation.}

This was a test. Rynath suspected something, maybe not the full truth, but enough to want confirmation.

If he hesitated, if he showed mercy, if he refused, it would confirm her suspicions.

But if he did it, if he carried out the punishment without question, it would cement his cover as a loyal demon who understood fortress law.

'I'm being tested,' Jack thought, his internal voice carrying amusement rather than concern. 'This is cute.'

He took the blade from Rynath's hand, feeling its weight, its balance.

The demon in the cage didn't react, didn't even look up. He was already broken, already accepting whatever fate awaited him.

'Too bad for her,' Jack continued his internal monologue as he approached the cage. 'She may be right to suspect me. But if I'm right about Phase Two, it won't matter what she knows.'

{Jack, what are you going to do? Are you actually going to…}

'Oscar,' Jack interrupted. 'Want to see what Phase Two is now?'

{YES! Wait, what? What does Phase Two have to do with…}

Jack opened the cage door, the blade held loosely in his grip. The demon inside didn't move.

Around them, thousands of other slaves watched with empty eyes, their own punishments already carried out or yet to come.

Rynath stood behind him, her serpentine eyes tracking his every movement, her professional mask firmly in place despite whatever internal conflict she might be experiencing.

Jack raised the blade, positioned himself for the cut, and spoke one word that would change everything.

"Rynath…"

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