The final hours were a blur of "Unicorn" cruelty. They didn't let him sit. They didn't let him lean. When he began to hallucinate his mother and wives standing in the doorway, the Captain slapped him across the face until his cheeks were raw.
"They aren't here!" the Captain yelled into his ear. "Only the blade is here! Only the pain is real!"
By the twenty-fourth hour, Ethan wasn't even reacting to the pain anymore. He had entered a state of "Dead-Eyed Vigilance." His body moved with a terrifying, jerky economy—dodging strikes by the smallest possible margin, his mind stripped of everything but the singular goal of seeing the next second.
When the hourglass finally ran out, the Captain signaled a halt. The guards retreated into the shadows. Ethan stayed in the center of the room, his eyes wide and fixed on the door, his hands still raised in a defensive posture.
"It's over, Ethan," the Captain said, his voice dropping the persona of the torturer.
