The room went unnaturally still. Jessy's pulse slammed against his ribs. He exhaled so hard his lungs burned.
"Stand up," Voss said. "Move."
Jessy rose, limbs trembling. A silent guard approached, beckoning him down a dim, narrow hallway.
Every echo of his footsteps sounded thunderous in his ears.
'Is this a Mafia?' Thought Jessy
At the end of the corridor, a heavy, black steel door loomed. The guard pushed it open without a word. Beyond, a single spotlight illuminated a leather chair.
And in that chair sat Lazordy Akula tall, poised, eyes like polished obsidian. He wore a charcoal suit, hands placed beneath his chin.
Jessy stopped at the threshold, fighting the urge to vomit from adrenaline and fear.
Akula's lips curved in a slow smile barely a twitch, but enough to make Jessy's blood chill.
"Sit down, Jessy Grey." he said
"Tell me why I should let you breathe another day… let alone stand by my side."
'What's with that question? Is this guy nuts?'
Jessy thought as he swallowed past the lump in his throat.
His legs were unsteady and pivoted toward the chair.
His bruised body ached, but his mind was clear. With every drop of hope he still possessed, he forced himself to speak.
"Because, sir," he said quietly, voice raw and unwavering, "I've fought everything, bullies, poverty, loss. I know what it means to be weak. Give me a chance, and I'll make sure my enemies …your enemies never know mercy."
Akula's smile widened just a fraction, while leaning forward.
The silence in Akula's office was suffocating.
Akula sat still, elbows on the arms of his leather chair.
On the table between them sat a single sheet of paper. Thick black text. A dotted line waiting to be signed.
Jessy's fingers trembled as he picked up the pen.
Jessy analyzed the contract carefully.
He swallowed. Looked at Akula.
"You're not asking for loyalty," Jessy said slowly.
"You're demanding ownership."
Akula's eyes didn't blink.
"Exactly," he replied.
'I need the money so badly, but this contract? I should have just stuck with being a fisherman and a waiter. Man I was blinded by greed!'
Jessy nodded once. He had no choice to go back anymore.
Knowing that, His hand steadied. The pen scratched across the paper with the finality of a death sentence.
The moment Jessy signed the contract, it felt like something cold coiled around his spine.
Akula simply nodded, with a smile.
Jessy didn't get time to ask what came next.
A door opened behind him. Two guards stepped in, their faces unreadable.
"Test him," Akula said, with a smooth.
"Drop him in the pit."
Jessy's body ached as they dragged him away—he hadn't recovered from the fight with Marco.
Every step rattled the bruises beneath his skin.
A few minutes later, he stood in what appeared to be a circular room with a cage made of rusted metal.
Overhead, a single flickering light cast harsh shadows on the cracked concrete floor.
Around the pit, men and women in black suits watched silently, some smoking.
Opposite him stood Reef a towering slab of muscle with a butcher's grin and rage in his eyes, his knuckles were taped, but already stained red.
Jessy exhaled. He felt like a lamb in a lion's den.
'Maybe if I failed this test, I could just go home?' Before completing his thought..
TING!
The bell rang.
Reef didn't hesitate.
He charged Jessy like a boulder.
His first punch caught Jessy straight in the stomach.
Jessy doubled over, gasping, but Reef didn't stop. A second punch cracked into his temple. Lights exploded behind his eyes.
He stumbled, barely raising his arms before another blow sent him flying into the cage wall.
The impact rang out like a gunshot.
Blood filled Jessy's mouth. The crowd leaned forward in anticipation, smelling blood.
Reef grabbed Jessy by the hoodie and slammed him into the floor.
BOOM.
Jessy's vision went white. His lungs screamed for air.
Reef dropped to one knee and began pounding him with brutal, methodical punches.
Jessy's head snapped side to side like a ragdoll.
Somewhere in the noise, he heard a cheer.
"Kill him, Reef!"
'So this test cannot be manipulated, You either pass or die?' Thought Jessy with his vision turning blurry.
He was dying.
Not metaphorically. His body was shutting down. Each heartbeat was a countdown.
Through the haze, Jessy looked to the side.
That's when he saw it.
A red fire extinguisher, half-buried under a supply table against the cage wall.
A spark ignited in his brain.
With the last of his strength, Jessy rolled under Reef's next punch and crawled toward it, vision swimming, ears ringing.
Reef followed him like a predator, laughing.
"Where you crawling off to, rat?"
Jessy grabbed the extinguisher, fumbled with the pin he'd never been more desperate in his life.
FWOOOOSH!
A white cloud exploded in Reef's face.
The cold chemical spray blinded and staggered him, sending him back in a coughing frenzy.
The crowd exploded in laughter and gasps. No one was cheering for Jessy. The whole crowd were screaming at Reef .
"Hit him harder."
"You gonna stand there? Show him no mercy!"
Jessy didn't care.
He stood up barely and swung the extinguisher like a bat.
CLANG!
The metal slammed into Reef's ribs with a sickening crunch.
Reef roared, stumbling back, but Jessy wasn't finished.
Another swing.
Then another.
CLANG! CRACK!
The third hit struck Reef's knee.
He crumpled.
Jessy screamed as he lifted the extinguisher above his head and brought it down on Reef's shoulder, knocking him fully to the ground.
The big man twitched… then stopped moving.
The pit was silent for a moment.
Then….
TING!
The bell rang.
Jessy dropped the extinguisher and collapsed to one knee, blood dripping from his mouth, chest heaving like a broken engine.
From somewhere above, Akula's voice echoed.
"How amusing! Jessy doesn't suit this monster, hmmmm how about….. Julian?"
Behind a one-way mirror above the pit, Tessa leaned forward, stunned.
Beside her, a man in the long black coat said nothing. His eyes followed Jessy with eerie focus.
"He cheated," one guard whispered.
"No," the man murmured. "He adapted."
Tessa said nothing, but her hand tightened into a fist. A flicker of concern crossed her face not for Jessy, but for what he might become.
Down below, Jessy was being pulled up by guards, barely conscious.
As they dragged him away from the pit, his eyes fluttered open.
For just a second, he looked up at the mirror above.
He couldn't see through it… but he felt something watching.
A war was coming.
And somehow, he had just taken his first breath inside it.