Jack raised the blade, the jagged edge catching the dim light from the magical crystals embedded in the chamber walls.

The demon in the cage remained motionless, ready to accept whatever fate awaited.

Around them, thousands of hollow eyes watched from their cells. The atmosphere pressed down with suffocating weight.

"Rynath..." Jack said, his voice carrying across the silence.

Then he lowered the blade.

His free hand came up to his face, fingers pressing against his eyes through the visor.

He rubbed something across them with deliberate care, the motion almost casual despite the tension of the moment.

{Uh... Jack? What are you doing? Why are we stopping? I thought we were going to…}

Jack turned to face Rynath directly, and when he looked at her through his visor, his eyes were no longer red.

They were yellow.

Brilliant, unmistakable yellow that seemed to glow even in the dim light of the holding cells.

{WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU DOING JACK?! THOSE ARE YELLOW EYES! YOU'RE SHOWING HER YELLOW EYES! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH?! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE UNDERCOVER! THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF UNDERCOVER!}

Rynath's entire body went rigid.

Her serpentine eyes widened as they fixed on Jack's yellow gaze, recognition and horror flooding her features simultaneously.

Her hand moved with trained precision, reaching into her robes and withdrawing two daggers in a single fluid motion.

The blades were purple, wickedly curved, each one glowing with faint enchantments.

"YOU!" Rynath's voice carried fury and terror in equal measure. "The yellow-eyed demon! Loryn's been searching for…"

She didn't finish the sentence.

Her body moved before conscious thought could stop her. Her natural combat instincts were taking over.

She launched herself at Jack with the speed of a Nightmare-class demon, both purple daggers aimed directly at his throat.

Her serpentine form uncoiled with deadly efficiency, closing the distance in a heartbeat.

Jack didn't move.

He didn't raise Oscar to defend himself.

He didn't activate Abyssal Steps to dodge.

He didn't even try to shift his weight into a defensive stance.

He just stood there, those yellow eyes fixed on Rynath's approaching form, and spoke one word with absolute certainty.

"Stop."

Rynath's charge ended instantly.

She simply froze mid-lunge, both daggers positioned perfectly for a killing strike, their purple edges pressed against Jack's neck hard enough to draw a thin line of blood.

But they went no further.

Her muscles strained, her entire body shaking with effort as she tried to complete the attack.

Veins stood out on her scaled features, her serpentine eyes wide with confusion and growing horror.

She couldn't move.

"What..." Rynath's voice came out strangled, forced through a throat that wasn't responding properly. "What did you... I can't..."

{Oh. OH. This is Phase Two. Holy shit, Jack, what did you do!}

'A blood contract.'

{OH!!!! That's diabolical! I love it!!!}

Jack reached up and removed his helmet.

The armor piece came away to reveal his face.

Human features that had no place in a demon fortress,.

"I am the Soul Warden Jack Kaiser," he said, his voice carrying absolute authority despite its flat tone. "And you, Rynath, are now bound to me through a blood contract. You signed it yesterday without reading it. A mistake that has cost you everything."

Rynath's eyes widened further, impossibly wide, as the full scope of what had happened crashed down on her.

"You're... human..." The words came out as barely more than a whisper. "The infiltrator. The Soul Warden. You've been here the whole time. Jakar was never…."

"Stab yourself in the shoulder," Jack interrupted, his yellow eyes boring into hers.

Rynath's body moved before her mind could process the command.

Her right hand jerked away from his neck. The motion was violent.

"No," she gasped, her voice carrying desperation. "No, I won't… I can't…"

But her hand didn't stop.

It reversed direction, the purple blade turning inward, and drove itself into her right shoulder with brutal force.

The enchanted weapon pierced through scales, through flesh, through muscle, sinking to the hilt in her own body.

Rynath screamed.

The sound echoed through the holding cells, bouncing off black ice walls and causing thousands of imprisoned demons to flinch in their cages.

Pain exploded across her features as her own hand, controlled by compulsion she couldn't resist, twisted the blade deeper.

Blood poured from the wound, not frost-blue like most demons, but a darker purple that matched her daggers. It soaked through her robes, dripping onto the frozen ground in thick drops.

"STOP!" Rynath shrieked, her free hand coming up to grab her own wrist, trying desperately to stop the motion. "Stop, please, I'll…"

Her hand yanked the dagger free.

The blade came out with a wet sound that made most demons flinch.

More blood followed, the wound gaping open, showing torn flesh and damaged muscle beneath.

Rynath collapsed to her knees, the other dagger clattering to the ground as she pressed her hand against the wound.

Her breathing came in ragged gasps, her serpentine eyes fixed on Jack with a mixture of horror and pain.

{That was... that was brutal. She literally couldn't stop herself. The contract forced her body to move against her will.}

"What..." Rynath's voice shook, pain and shock making the words barely coherent. "What did you do to me? What kind of contract..."

Jack knelt down, bringing himself to eye level with the wounded general. His yellow eyes showed no sympathy or remorse.

"A blood contract," he explained, his tone carrying the same flatness it always had. "The most binding form of magical agreement that exists. You signed it and accepted terms you never bothered to read."

He reached out and tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze.

"You are bound to serve me until the day my line dies out. Every command I give, you will obey. Every order I speak, your body will execute. You cannot resist. You cannot refuse. You cannot even hesitate without experiencing pain that will make that shoulder feel like a pleasant massage."

Rynath's breathing hitched, her mind clearly struggling to process the scope of her situation.

"But why..." she managed. "Why reveal yourself now? Why not just…"

"Because I'm done hiding," Jack replied simply. He stood, leaving her kneeling on the ground. "And because I need you to understand exactly what you've become. You're no longer Pho's general. You're no longer your own person. You're mine. A tool to be used however I see fit."

{This is terrifying. I mean, I'm on your side so it's awesome, but from her perspective, this is absolutely horrifying.}

Jack walked in a slow circle around Rynath, his boots clicking against the frozen floor.

"I want you to know that I'm genuinely impressed," he continued. "You figured out something was wrong. You suspected something. You even tried to test me with this little demonstration of justice and loyalty. You're very thorough."

He stopped directly in front of her, looking down at her kneeling form.

"But here's what you need to understand about your new situation." His yellow eyes seemed to glow brighter. "If you ever try to tell anyone who I am, you will cut out your own tongue. If you try to write it down, you'll gouge out your own eyes. If you try to signal it, communicate it through any method whatsoever, your body will destroy itself piece by piece until there's nothing left but a broken shell that can't betray me."

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