In an instant, vast presences descended.
They came from the generals and the powerful demons stationed throughout the arena, with the weight of entities that had spent lifetimes learning to make their authority felt as a physical force, pinning Alex to the space he stood, ready to crush him at a moment's notice.
Alex did not move. He did not look at the sources of the pressure. He kept his eyes on the figure in the seat of honor, his expression shifting from the wide smile to something quieter and more direct, not because the pressure had changed anything but because the smile had served its purpose and this was a different kind of moment.
"You could have gone for the head." Ahrimon's voice broke the silence of the arena. Heavy and clear simultaneously, cold and yet carrying enough presence within it that the instinct to answer quickly arrived before the question had fully resolved itself in the mind of anyone it reached.
