Damien hit speed dial with the same energy most people reserved for checking the weather.
"General Maru," he said flatly. "One of your goddamn underlings is trying to kill me near the Imperial Serpent Auction House. You might want to come save him before I tear him to pieces and eat him for dinner."
Qian Yuze burst out laughing, loud, theatrical, and echoing across the quiet plaza with the swagger of a man who believed he had already won.
"You hear this clown?" he snorted, turning to his bodyguards like they were a live audience. "He just said he's gonna eat me for dinner. Can you believe it?"
One of the guards chuckled under his breath. The other just smirked, cracking his knuckles as if already imagining Damien's bones under his boot.
Qian swaggered forward, hands spread wide in mockery, pacing slowly in a semicircle around Damien.
