Dearest Pho,

I am the yellow-eyed demon your people have been whispering about. I have killed your Pit Master and sent you this gift as proof.

Kragoth was first on my list. You'll be last.

I'm going to tear your empire apart piece by piece. I'm going to kill everyone you've ever trusted. I'm going to destroy everything you've built over centuries of careful planning.

And when there's nothing left, when you're alone and powerless, I'm going to rip your spine from your body and mount it on your own throne as a reminder of what happens to demons who try to kill me.

Stay frosty.

- The Yellow Eyed Demon

The throne room was silent except for the sound of Pho's breathing, each exhale sending swirls of frost spiraling through the air.

The advisor remained kneeling, his head bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the floor. The guards by the door had gone absolutely still, afraid that any movement might draw their master's attention.

Pho read the note again. Then a third time.

Then he reached down, placed both hands on the wooden box, and ice erupted from his palms.

The cold was so intense it made the air scream.

Frost spread across the box in seconds, covering every surface, seeping into every crack, crystallizing the blood and tissue inside until the entire thing was encased in a tomb of black ice.

Kragoth's head disappeared beneath the frost, his expression frozen for eternity in that silent scream.

Pho's hands glowed with pale blue light, and the temperature dropped even further.

The box began to crack. Small fractures at first, spider-webbing across the surface. Then larger breaks, chunks of ice falling away.

Then it shattered.

Exploding into millions of tiny fragments that hung in the air for a moment before falling like deadly snow.

The wooden box was gone. Kragoth's head was gone. Even the note had been reduced to frozen particles too small to read.

Nothing remained except a small pile of ice crystals on the floor and the lingering smell of blood.

Pho stood there, his hands still glowing with cold light, his pale eyes staring at where the box had been.

The advisor didn't dare move. The guards barely breathed.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Pho spoke.

"Get me Loryn."

The advisor's head snapped up. "Master?"

"Get me Loryn," Pho repeated, his anger was radiating off of him. "Tell him it's time to release the experiment."

"The... the experiment?" The advisor's voice shook. "Master, that's... are you certain? The last test resulted in three dead handlers and significant structural damage to the factory. Loryn said it wasn't ready, that it needed more time to stabilize…"

Pho turned his pale eyes on the advisor, and the demon's words died in his throat.

"Do I look like I care about stability?" Pho's voice dropped to something barely above a whisper, somehow more terrifying than if he'd been shouting.

"The Soul Warden killed my brother. Now this Yellow eyed demon has killed Kragoth. He's threatened to tear apart my empire. He's made this personal."

He gestured at the pile of ice crystals where the box had been.

"So yes. Release the experiment. I don't care if it's stable. I don't care if it's controllable. I want it hunting the yellow-eyed demon within the hour. Let's see how confident he is when he's facing something that shouldn't exist."

The advisor scrambled to his feet, bowing repeatedly as he backed toward the door. "Yes, Master. Right away, Master. I'll inform Loryn immediately."

He fled the throne room, leaving Pho alone with the guards who still stood frozen by the door.

The Deathfrost Demon returned to his throne, settling back into the glacial seat with movements that seemed almost calm.

But the temperature in the room continued to drop, frost spreading across the walls, ice forming on every surface.

His pale eyes stared at nothing, seeing something that existed only in his mind.

"You think you can threaten me? You think you can kill my generals and expect no consequences?" A small smile spread across his face, cold and utterly devoid of warmth. "Let's see how long you survive against something that was never meant to live."

The frost continued to spread, and in the growing cold, Pho's laughter echoed like wind through a frozen wasteland.

-----

Kyren stood at the edge of a frozen outcropping, his hollow eyes fixed on the massive structure in the distance.

The Frozen Vaults.

Even from this far away, perhaps half a mile, the building was impossible to miss. It dominated the western section of Pho's fortress like a monument to greed, its walls constructed from reinforced black ice.

Corvin perched on Kyren's shoulder, his beady black eyes scanning the same target with considerably more intelligence than his undead perch.

"Master said scout," Kyren stated, his hollow voice carrying no emotion despite the complexity of the task ahead. "This one must scout. This one must not fail Master."

CAW!

Kyren's head turned slightly to look at the raven on his shoulder. "Bird agrees. Good. This one and Bird will scout together. We are team."

Corvin's head tilted in what might have been exasperation, but Kyren took it as agreement.

The reanimated demon began walking forward, his movements precise but somehow lacking the natural flow of the living.

Each step was deliberate, mechanical, as if he was remembering how to walk rather than simply doing it.

Corvin rode along on his shoulder, occasionally spreading his wings for balance when Kyren's gait became particularly awkward.

They moved closer to the vaults, using the natural cover of ice formations and scattered debris to avoid being spotted. Not that Kyren understood the concept of stealth particularly well. He simply walked when there was cover and stopped when there wasn't, waiting for more cover to appear.

It was Corvin who actually guided them, pecking at Kyren's head when he was about to walk into an open area, Cawng softly when a patrol passed nearby.

"Bird is helpful," Kyren observed after the third time Corvin prevented him from being spotted. "This one appreciates Bird's help."

CAW CAW!

"This one will tell Master that Bird is good at scouting. Master will be pleased."

They reached a position about two hundred meters from the vaults, close enough to see details but far enough to remain undetected.

Kyren crouched behind a large chunk of black ice, his hollow eyes studying the building with the focus of someone trying to understand a particularly complex puzzle.

"This one sees... many things," Kyren said slowly, as if cataloging what he was observing. "Big walls. Very big. Made of black ice. This one understands black ice."

CAW!

"Bird wants this one to look more? This one is looking."

Kyren's gaze moved across the structure methodically. The vaults were easily four stories tall, with no visible windows on the ground level. The walls were smooth, almost unnaturally so, as if they'd been polished to remove any potential handholds.

"No windows," Kyren noted. "Smart. Windows are weak points. This one knows this. Master taught this one."

The main entrance was visible from their position, a massive set of double doors that would have required at least a dozen men to open.

Guards stood at attention on either side, their postures rigid, their weapons held ready.

"Guards at door," Kyren counted slowly. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Many guards. Too many guards?"

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