In the center of the main arena hall, the air was thick with the scent of dust and the heavy vibration of combat. Max was embroiled in a fight of his own, but this wasn't like the brawls happening elsewhere in the facility. He wasn't trading blows with the rank-and-file members of the Gilt Rats, nor was he facing off against a soldier encased in a mechanical exoskeleton.
Instead, he was locked in a high-stakes confrontation with the leader of the Black Hounds himself: a man named Darius. The two of them stood atop the stage, a raised platform that now felt like a lonely island in the middle of a war zone. They were ready to tear each other apart, and Darius was the first to break the tension.
