Max stood in silence, Silus's mocking words still echoing in the air like a foul stench. He stared at the man before him, weighing the situation in the pit of his mind like a blade balanced on a thread.
A part of him wanted to strike now, end this charade, end this so-called young master from the Xuan Family who thought the world was his chessboard. But another part of him—calculated, patient, cold—hesitated. Silus possessed knowledge. Knowledge about the citadel no one else did.
He had predicted the stages, escaped the maze first, and even knew which parts of the second stage held treasures before they'd stepped through the portal. Killing him now would mean losing all of that. It would mean walking blind into the unknown.
'Should I use Ashes of Insight…' the thought crossed his mind like a whisper in flames. A power born of the Lantern of Purple Death. An ability that promised the impossible—memory extraction after death.
