"Alright, guys, make sure to hold on to me. I'll phase us right through all the walls and get us to the goal in no time," Remarked Akila, as he and the others glanced around at the maze.

"Sounds good, let's get this over with. It's far from impossible that one of the other teams might have people with abilities that would let them reach the goal quickly too, so we should hurry, while staying alert," Frowned Lexia.

"Not gonna lie, this feels kinda boring. How are we supposed to hurt and get hurt if we only focus on winning? This is no fun," Colt sighed wistfully.

"You're the only one who wants that. Come on, forget about your sadomasochism, please set it aside just this once," Responded Ravella in exasperation.

'We should get going, it has already begun', Nero reminded them, writing across the air with his Dark Magic.

"Yeah, let's go. Link up with me, guys, and make sure not to get separated. Alright, looks like we're all set. Here goes, let's-...oof!" Began Akila, before letting out a startled yelp as he walked right into the wall before him, failing to phase through.

"Hey, quit messing around," Responded Lexia, as Akila let out a slight groan and rubbed his nose.

"I-I'm not, I swear! My Magic is definitely working, but...for some reason, I can't phase through this wall," He frowned, pressing his hand against the wall and trying to phase it through, but to no avail.

"Ohh, I get it, these walls must have been enchanted or something to make sure no one takes shortcuts. Guess that means we have no choice but to get through the maze the hard way," Grinned Colt.

"You sure seem awfully torn up about that," Replied Ravella with a sigh.

"We should probably split up and try to cover more ground, that'll improve our chances of success. Each of us going off on our own feels a bit too risky, though, but with five of us, how should we split off? One group of two and one of three?" Suggested Lexia uncertainly.

'I will be fine by myself. Let us form three groups, two each of two and me alone', Nero wrote across the air.

"Yeah, that could work, but are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" Responded Ravella, before Nero nodded without hesitation.

"Alright, then, it's settled, let's go with that," Replied Lexia in agreement.

"Sounds good. Since we work well together, let's pair up as usual. You two cool with that?" Colt asked Ravella and Akila.

"Sure, that's fine by me," Remarked Akila with a nod.

"Mhm, no objections here," Added Ravella.

"With that settled, let's get going. Let's go this way, Colt," Suggested Lexia, Nero picking a different direction and heading that way.

"As for us...how about this way?" Suggested Akila, pointing at another route and glancing at Ravella.

"Yeah, sure, lead the way," She replied, before the two of them made their way forward...

...

...

"Okay, we're either walking around in circles, or this maze is a hell of a lot bigger than we expected. And considering that we've been marking the floors with your dagger, and haven't seen any of the marks we've made, it seems like the latter is the case," Sighed Lexia, an exasperated look on her face.

"Yeah, and we haven't come across a single dead end either. I think no matter what route we take, we'll end up at the goal, meaning the way to win is to suss out the shortest route to the center. Of course, there aren't any clues or hints, none than I've seen anyway, so it's basically a game of luck and intuition," Surmised Colt, before dragging the tip of his dagger across the floor, marking it as the two of them took a left turn.

"And if that wasn't bad enough, the place is filled to the brim with traps-...like that," Sighed Lexia, as Colt stepped on a tile, which sunk down before he suddenly floated up off the ground, a space of zero gravity forming around him.

"Woah, this feels weird, I feel so light and weightless. Yeah, there are a lot of traps, but so far, none of them have been dangerous. They seemed be designed to slow us down without seriously hurting us, they're nothing more than obstacles, definitely wouldn't call them threats," Sighed Colt, looking disappointed.

He extended out a blood tendril, sending it snaking out of the zero gravity field before driving it into the floor outside of the field and pulled himself out, his feet thudding against the floor as he landed.

"They're pretty annoying, yeah...but don't let your guard down. It's possible that we'll run into more dangerous traps the closer we get to the center," Pointed out Lexia prudently, Colt's eyes lighting up.

"Hey, come on, don't get my hopes up."

"Ugh, you're so-...hm?" Frowned Lexia, trailing off as her ears perked up.

"You heard it too? Those are definitely footsteps, I'm hearing three or four-...no, five. Which means, one of the other teams must have decided to stick together instead of splitting up like we did," Surmised Colt, lowering his voice.

"They're heading right this way, and based on the rhythm of their movements, I think they already know we're here, one of them must have some kind of sensory ability," Added Lexia with a grimace, forming a pair of bone blades.

"Heh, fine by me," Smirked Colt, several blood tendrils extending out of his back as he swung his dagger across.

"Now!" A voice suddenly echoed out, before five figures leapt out from around the corner, starting to charge towards the pair.

"[Blood Mist]," Chanted Colt, a burst of crimson mist erupting around him and spreading out across the corridor of the maze, blanketing the surrounding area rapidly.

Colt let out a chuckle as the opposing team lost sight of him and Lexia, his voice echoing all around them ominously...

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