Chapter 23: The Maze
One blink. That was all the time it took before chaos cracked open.
Two figures hurtled from the blinding pulse of light, their boots scraping against stone as they staggered, blinking rapidly, eyes struggling to adjust to the atmospheric hum of the chamber.
Aric Blackthorn was faster.
His hand snapped like a whip, g*n rising with the confidence of someone who had already killed more times than he cared to admit. The barrel fixed itself with surgical precision on the chest of the lead figure.
The duo skidded to a halt.
Their wide-eyed shock met Aric’s crimson glare.
And then a voice — omnipresent, clinical, and inhumanly calm — sliced through the tension:
"Welcome to the Successor Trials, participants."
Time itself paused.
Aric's finger hovered over the trigg
