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In that moment, the hierarchy of the room inverted. The gold braid on Rhodes’s shoulders suddenly felt like a costume, and the reality of the “Redeemer” settled over him like a shroud. He realized then that he hadn’t just bullied an old man; he had insulted a living ghost, a foundational architect of the very power he thought he possessed. The admiral stood paralyzed, finally understanding that in the world of true operators, there are ranks, and then there are those who exist above the reach of time itself. He had reached out to assert his dominance, only to find he was standing in the shadow of a man who had been a legend before Rhodes had ever learned to march.