The hour they had to prepare was a tense and wasted space of time.

The six of them gathered in a grey and strategy room near the Labyrinth's entrance. The air was thick with unspoken resentment.

Aelira stood ramrod straight near a tactical map, her arms crossed, her blue eyes icy. She was already attempting to take control.

"Listen closely," Aelira began, her voice cutting through the silence. "I will be leading this team. My strategies are proven. You will follow my orders precisely or you will be removed."

"Says who?" Silas piped up, not even looking at her. He was busy polishing a gauntlet with a rag, a wide grin on his face.

"I mean, look at us. We're not a team, we're a terrible joke. I vote for chaos. Everyone for themselves. First one to the Key wins! Winner gets bragging rights."

"Silence," Aelira snapped. "This isn't a game, you fool."

Astrid was predictably, asleep on a wooden bench in the corner, her long tail occasionally twitching.

Aelira's eye twitched. She marched over and kicked the bench.

Thud.

"Wake up, beastkin."

Astrid's head snapped up, her golden-yellow eyes blurry with sleep, then instantly sharp with irritation. "Hmph. What? Are we fighting yet? This is boring. Get me when there's something to punch. This better be good."

Selyne was visibly shaking, her face pale as she looked at the clashing personalities. She sidled closer to Azrael, as if for protection.

"Are you scared, Azrael?" she whispered. "She's so scary. They're all so scary. Are we going to die with stupidity? I don't want to die."

Azrael didn't answer. He was busy stretching, feeling the new solid power from the Aether stones settled deep in his muscles and core.

'This isn't a team,' he thought, ignoring Selyne's trembling. 'It's a disaster. I'm stuck with a dictator, a clown, a narcoleptic, and a terrified girl. And I'm the one they all hate or see as a joker. Fantastic.'

A voice echoed from an enchanted speaker. "Team A-1, proceed to the entrance."

They walked down a long and spiral staircase, descending deep beneath the academy. The air grew colder, smelling of ancient dust and ozone.

The entrance to the Chronos Labyrinth was a swirling vortex of black and purple energy, pulsing slowly in a massive stone archway. It looked like a living wound in reality.

Aelira went first, stepping through without a trace of hesitation.

Silas let out a whoop. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" He cannonballed through the vortex with a complete lack of dignity.

Aria followed, gliding through the energy as if it were a simple curtain. Selyne stopped at the edge, her hand over her mouth.

Gulp.

Azrael sighed, placed a hand on her back, and shoved her. "Move."

She yelped and tumbled through. He followed right after, the energy pulling at him, disorienting him. Astrid was the last to enter, letting out a long-suffering sigh. "Tssk. More walking."

The world snapped into focus. They stood in a long corridor built from smooth and. black stone . Glowing green moss pulsed faintly on the walls, providing the only illumination. It was unnervingly quiet.

Drip. Drip.

The sound of water echoed from somewhere far ahead.

"Aria, you take point with me," Aelira commanded immediately. "Silas, stop touching the walls. Selyne, stay behind me. Ashveil, try not to get in the way. Beastkin… just try to keep up."

Astrid just yawned in response.

They moved forward. Azrael's eyes scanned everything. He wasn't just looking for monsters; he was looking for traps. And opportunities.

His gaze flickered to Astrid, who was lagging behind the group, her hands shoved in her pockets, kicking a loose pebble. She looked utterly bored.

'Astrid. Aelira. Both of them left me to die in that forest,' he recalled, his fist clenching at his side. Clench. 'Aelira is too cautious, too sharp. But Astrid… she's lazy. Arrogant. She's the perfect target.'

His eyes scanned the floor ahead. He spotted it.

A single floor tile just slightly discolored, a shade darker than the others. A classic pressure plate. His gaze flicked upward. The ceiling directly above it was perforated with dozens of small, dark holes.

'Darts? Poison?' he mused. 'No, Academy wouldn't allow lethal traps in an exam. Probably. So... something messy. Something humiliating.'

Aelira and Aria, at the front, spotted it too. Their path shifted slightly, giving the tile a wide berth. Silas, lost in his own world, bounded right over it, missing it by pure, dumb luck.

Selyne was still clinging to Azrael's shadow, so he guided her around it easily.

Now, only Astrid remained. She was last in line ambling along, her head tilted back to look at the glowing moss. She was going to walk right past it.

'Time to act.'

Azrael's Aether, now significantly stronger, felt easier to control. He sent out a single invisible thread. It shot across the gap and hooked onto the heel of Astrid's boot. 'Just a little... tug.'

She took her last step before clearing the trap.

He gave a tiny, sharp tug.

Astrid's foot scuffed, her balance thrown just enough. Her boot landed dead center on the discolored tile.

Click.

The sound was tiny but in the silence, it was as loud as a gunshot.

Astrid stopped. "Huh?"

A wet, gurgling, sucking sound came from the ceiling.

She wasn't attentive her overpowered senses were still dizzy.

"What's that noi—"

SPLOOSH.

A massive, disgusting torrent of thick, bubbling, foul-smelling green slime dumped directly onto her head. It wasn't just a splash; it was a deluge. It smelled like a sewer full of rotten eggs.

It covered her completely, from her pink hair to her boots, in a dripping, pungent goo. Thick, stringy globs of it plopped onto the floor. She looked like a statue carved from swamp muck.

The team froze.

Selyne let out a small and horrified squeak and made a gagging sound. Gulp.

Aelira turned, her face a mask of pure, unadulterated disgust. "You clumsy fool. What have you done? You'll draw every monster in this section to us."

Silas... Silas just stared. His face turned a deep, worrying shade of red. His shoulders shook. Then he exploded.

"HAHAHA! OH GODS!" he howled, banging his fist on the wall, tears streaming down his face. "You... you look... you smell... like a troll's armpit! You look like a giant bogey! A snot monster!"

Astrid just stood there, dripping. A long globule of slime ran down her nose and dangled from her chin. A piece of it was stuck in her cat ear.

Her hands, coated in the stuff, slowly clenched at her sides. A low and murderous growl started deep in her chest.

Hiss.

Aria had turned back with Aelira. She looked at the activated pressure plate. She looked at the fuming, slime-covered Astrid. Then, her gaze slid to Azrael.

He was standing perfectly still, his hand covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking slightly. He was clearly trying to hide his laughter, his face a mask of 'shock'.

Aria's cold, amethyst eyes watched him. The corner of her mouth twitched. Just once. It was the barest, most fleeting hint of a smile.

She knew. She knew exactly what just happened. 'He didn't use force,' she thought. 'He used his head. How interesting.' She was amused.

"YOU!" Astrid roared, her voice muffled by the goo. She spun on Silas, her default target. "YOU DID THIS!"

"Me?" Silas wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye. "I wish I'd thought of it! That was genius!"

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" she screamed. Her golden aura flared, and the slime sizzled and steamed, boiling off her skin with a sickening smell of burnt hair, swamp gas, and boiled eggs.

"Enough!" Aelira snapped. "You triggered a common trap, you idiot. Clean yourself off. You smell disgusting, and you're slowing us down. Your incompetence is a liability."

Astrid's glare shifted from Silas to Aelira, and then finally, to Azrael, who was now calmly inspecting his fingernails. Her eyes narrowed into slits. She couldn't prove it. But she knew.

'He might be the one' she was not sure if her leg was forced or it was her dizziness which felt her leg that way.

'Payback is a bitch, isn't it?' Azrael thought, savoring the moment. 'Shouldn't have left me for dead. This is just the start.'

The team moved on, their cohesion, if it ever existed, now at absolute zero. Astrid was still steaming, both literally and figuratively, radiating waves of pure hatred and smelling faintly of sulfur.

They entered a large, circular chamber. The walls were lined with dormant, moss-covered stone statues. As soon as Astrid's slimy, steaming boot crossed the threshold, the massive stone door ground shut behind them.

THUD.

The statues' eyes, all dozen of them, glowed with a dull, red light.

Creak. Crack.

Stone limbs began to move, heavy bodies turning to face them, their joints grinding with the sound of rock on rock.

"Well," Silas grinned, cracking his knuckles. "This looks fun."

Astrid just roared, "RAAAGH!" and launched herself at the nearest statue, ready to take her simmering, slime-fueled rage out on something solid.

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