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She's smiling widely at me.

"That was rather easy," she replies when I help her up.

"And sexy as fuck." I whistle, my eyes roving appreciatively over her figure.

Even if the men hadn't aimed their guns at us or meant to kill us, they would have still ended up dead, because they'd been a little too generous with their gazes.

Taking back our weapons from the fallen men, we're ready to move on.

"I have to say, those werenotwhat I expected," she notes as we continued walking. "We didn't even have to try. AndI'm a beginner," she adds, almost outraged by their performance.

"I'm guessing someone's simply playing with us," I say as I narrow my eyes at the exit of the tunnel.

And so it seems, because as soon as we're out of the old tunnels, we find ourselves in the middle of some weird intermediary chamber, two men and one woman waiting at the exit.

"What is this,The Hunger Games?" I groan as I realize it's just a game. Likely Miles is watching us even now, having fun at our expense.

"I'll get the girl, you get the guys." Sisi nods at me, her fight stance in place as her attention is focused on the girl.

Wielding a long chain, Sisi's opponent doesn't look to be older than eighteen. But what immediately strikes me is her gaze—it's blank.

"Sisi," I call out, my voice tense. "Please be careful. She's not normal."

I quickly scan my own opponents, noting the same glazed eyes—emotionless.

I need to finish with them as quickly as possible, because if these are part of the experiment, then chances are that they are anything but ordinary.

And Sisi doesn't stand a chance.

One eye perpetually fixed on Sisi, I take a step forward toward my own opponents. Both are holding battle axes, and as they look at me a smirk appears on their lips.

Ah, the taste of war.

It's something I'm intimately familiar with, as I'd had a hard time adjusting to the real world after I'd returned home. Every interaction I'd had with someone would start with the thought of killing them, this thirst for blood so deep within me it had taken me years to learn how to subdue.

And I know exactly how they feel. There's excitement in war, in fight, in the taste of the kill. There's an intoxicating high that comes only when you have power over death, and for more than half my life I'd been a slave to it. To this beast inside of me that'sneversatisfied for anything less than destruction—total annihilation.

They move forward, their smiles widening, and in their arrogant minds they can already taste victory.

Unluckily for them, they were sent after the wrong person. Now the question is rather simple. Weapons or no weapons. But as they charge forward, I don't get to make that decision. They make it for me.

My lip curling upwards, I just duck and dodge, avoiding every strike of their axes, one eye still on Sisi.

One kunai in each hand, she's holding tightly on to the hilt as she parries the strikes of the other girl's chain.

The air whooshes past my face as the blade of the axe glides one inch away from my skin.

Realizing I'd let them have their easy fun, I decide to end the game. My hands shoot out, both wrapping around the shaft of their axes just as they swing them toward me.

Oh, they're strong.

But not as strong as I am.

One foot forward, I push against them, letting my hand become slack for one moment as bait before holding tightly and wrenching the axes from their hands.

The force of my push sends them backwards, and for a moment they look disoriented as they realize their weapon is missing.

There's something odd about their reactions.