Mira's fire blazed brighter around her wounded form, pride and desperation mixing in equal asure as she processed Jack's casual question about her preferred thod of execution.
"That's not possible," her voice carried false confidence that cracked at the edges. "You can't summon one of those three things here to kill us. The mana cost alone would drain you completely, and the ti required for proper manifestation would give us more than enough opportunity to interrupt the ritual or escape."
Her words ca faster than normal, the slight tremor in her voice betraying the fear she tried to mask.
She'd seen summoning rituals before.
She knew the circles required, the chants necessary, the vulnerability inherent in channeling that much power for extended periods.
But even as she spoke, doubt crept through her certainty like ice through warming flesh.
Jack's head tilted slightly, his mismatched eyes tracking her with the detached curiosity of soone observing an insect struggling against inevitable doom.
"Who said anything about summoning one of them?"
The words landed as hamr blows, each syllable driving deeper into Mira's false composure.
Her breathing hitched as the implication crashed through her bravado. Warren's blue tattoos flowed faster across his skin, his mind racing through scenarios with growing horror.
'He's not talking about summoning,' Warren's thoughts spiraled with terrible clarity. 'He's stating they're already present. Either physically here within the do, or... or he can transform into one of them himself.'
His gaze snapped to the portal still hanging open behind Jack, the massive thirty-foot gateway that had seed excessive for transporting a human-sized mage.
'The portal. It wasn't oversized preparation... It was an exact asurent for whatever ca through. Which ans...'
The realization settled into his awareness like ice water through his veins.
'The size of the portal equals the power of the entity that erges from it. Jack didn't make it that large by accident or poor control. He made it precisely that size because he needed that much space. And if he needed thirty feet to co through...'
Warren's jaw clenched as the full implication crystallized.
'What the hell did he beco on Floor 25?'
Mira's orange eyes widened as the sa understanding crashed through her combat-hardened composure.
The massive gateway, the blood covering Jack's torso, the mismatched eyes burning with elental power...
Jack wasn't boasting.
He was stating facts with the casual certainty of soone announcing weather conditions rather than describing apocalyptic capabilities.
Her fire flickered despite her enhanced constitution, fighting to maintain the Contractee state's stability.
The fla that should have been constant wavered like a candle in the wind, her control slipping as psychological pressure overwheld her hardened discipline.
Jack's attention shifted entirely away from the Council mbers, his mismatched gaze tracking to where Loryn stood, maintaining the massive barrier, and S.
"Loryn. S." Jack's voice carried across the assembled army without raising volu, his words sohow cutting through the oppressive silence with clarity.
"Make sure this barrier won't break. I don't want the outside world to witness what's happening."
He didn't shift his stance or acknowledge their positions beyond the verbal command.
He just stood there, waiting for confirmation while his focus remained elsewhere.
The dismissive quality of the order spoke volus.
Jack wasn't asking for their assistance. He was commanding subordinates, expecting obedience without question or hesitation.
S's red eyes glead with dark amusent as he dropped the final piece of tangerine peel onto wet stone. The fruit's remnants landed with a soft plop that carried across the silence, joining the scattered evidence of his casual dining during such a tense mont.
"The barrier will hold, Master. Nothing short of divine intervention will breach it from either side."
The confirmation was delivered with absolute certainty, no hesitation or qualification softening the statent.
S spoke with the authority of soone who understood what barriers needed to be perfect.
Satisfied, Jack's attention returned to Alaric. His mismatched eyes locked onto his father with a focus that excluded everything else.
"What are you doing here, Father?" The question, asked earlier and interrupted by Mira's reckless charge, returned with the sa mild curiosity.
Alaric's purple eyes tracked his son's transford appearance.
The blood-soaked hair, the mismatched eyes burning with elental power, and the missing hand.
His gaze lingered on the cauterized stump, the sealed flesh where a hand should have been.
No horror registered in his expression, no paternal anguish at seeing his child maid. Just clinical assessnt of an injury and tactical evaluation of how it might impact combat effectiveness.
"I was intercepted on my way ho by agents," Alaric replied, his tone carrying none of the disappointnt or anger a father might express upon discovering his child had been wounded.
Just a clinical recitation of facts leading to his current presence. "So I ca to check on you."
His gaze dropped to Jack's cauterized stump, the sealed flesh where a hand should have been. "What happened to your hand?"
Jack's expression remained neutral, his voice carrying no particular emotion as he explained the injury with the sa detachnt soone might use to describe property damage.
"The woman killed my hand. I had to cut it off to survive."
The words were simple, completely divorced from the pain and desperation that must have accompanied such a brutal choice.
Alaric's purple eyes shifted to Mira, and his deanor changed.
The air itself grew heavier, pressure rising as if an invisible force was compressing reality.
Bloodlust rolled off the Duke in waves so thick they beca almost visible.
A crimson aura that made reality strain from proximity to such concentrated killing intent.
Mira took an involuntary step backward, her fire flickering as survival instincts overrode wounded pride.
Every cell in her body recognized that Alaric Kaiser had just elevated her from "opponent" to "target marked for elimination," and the distinction carried implications that transcended simple combat.
Her enhanced constitution prevented her legs from buckling, but only barely.
The bloodlust washing over her was the killing intent that ca from soone who'd ended thousands of lives and felt no particular emotion about adding more to the count.
Warren extended his hand to stabilize her, as his heightened perception registered the Duke's abrupt change in deanor.
They'd fought Alaric and survived through his restraint more than their capability. But restraint could evaporate in an instant when the family beca involved.
The footsteps that had been echoing throughout the do grew louder.
Each impact resonated with escalating intensity, the rhythmic percussion building like a war drum.
The masked figure who'd been walking from the shadows now stood just a few feet in front of Warren and Mira, his massive fra creating a barrier between them and the assembled threats.
White porcelain glead in the dim light filtering through the barrier's dark mana walls.
The runes carved into the mask pulsed with faint luminescence.
Both Council mbers physically relaxed as the newcor positioned himself protectively.
Their shoulders dropped from defensive tension, the tight coiling of muscles.
Breathing slowed from hyperventilation to a normal rhythm, though still elevated by adrenaline and lingering fear.
With Magnus present, they weren't facing impossible odds alone anymore.
Warren's tactical mind imdiately began cataloging escape routes, calculating whether this distraction might provide the opening they needed to breach the barrier and flee.
His water manipulation senses tracked the do's structure, searching for weaknesses that Loryn's construction might have left exposed.
The masked figure stood silent for a long mont, his yellow eyes visible through narrow slits in the white porcelain, tracking the assembled forces with calculating assessnt.
Thirty thousand demons kneeling in perfect formation, S and Pho positioned near the portal, Loryn maintaining the barrier with dark mana that pulsed in steady rhythm.
Then his attention shifted to S, and when he spoke...
"How has the eighty-ninth floor been?"
The question was casual, as if asking about the weather.
S's red eyes glead with dark amusent at the inquiry, his blood-covered suit leaving small puddles as he shifted position slightly.
One hand moved to adjust his collar, the gesture oddly civilized despite the blood painting his clothing.
"It's been a while since I've been there. Circumstances change, contracts evolve, and my presence beca... unnecessary for maintaining certain arrangents."
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