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IT'S A DIZZYING, CHAOTIC BLUR.
The horn had barely finished echoing when everything erupted into violence. Screams overlapped with thunderous footsteps as children bolted from their platforms, some straight toward the Cornucopia, others in the opposite direction. But most—the desperate, the trained, the reckless—charged straight for the weapons, each one fighting not to be the first to fall.
Aries moved fast but not blindly. He'd already scanned the terrain before the countdown even hit ten, memorizing who stood where, where the weapons lay scattered, and which ones would draw the most blood. He was sprinting toward the Cornucopia when he heard it—the first scream.
His head snapped toward the source out of instinct. Estella. His eyes flicked behind, just for a moment, seeking the familiar shape of his partner amidst the chaos—but that second of distraction was all it took.
THWACK. Something slammed into him hard from the side, knocking the air out of his lungs as he crashed to the ground with a grunt. Dirt and blood smeared across his cheek as he turned, only to find a wild-eyed girl—a tribute from District 6, maybe?—straddling him with a knife raised high.
Annoyance flickered across Aries's face more than fear. "Tch." With one swift motion, he drove his boot into her stomach. Hard. Her body jerked violently backward, flying several feet before landing in a crumpled heap on the bloodstained grass. She didn't get back up.
He pushed himself up with a groan, brushing off dirt as he surveyed the scene. Children swarmed the Cornucopia, grabbing anything sharp or remotely deadly. The Careers were already making a circle, like wolves protecting a kill, while others stumbled around in blind panic. He could already count three bodies on the ground—and the cannons hadn't even begun firing yet.
Aries didn't bother running straight into the fray. That was the mistake of rookies and glory hounds. Instead, he slinked along the edges, eyes locked onto a pair of tributes who had managed to grab gear but were far from the safety of their alliance.
He moved like a shadow—silent, fast, merciless.
The first victim was a boy. Aries sprinted forward and slammed his leg into the back of the boy's knee, forcing him down before stomping his boot directly on his neck with brutal precision. The crunch was audible. The boy writhed, gagged once, and went still.
The second was a girl. She turned just in time to see him coming. Aries didn't give her the chance to scream. His fist collided with her temple, and she dropped without a sound. Quick. Painless. Efficient.
The sound of cannon fire filled the air—loud, constant, final. Aries exhaled slowly through his nose, letting the noise wash over him as he turned his attention to the Cornucopia.
"The Careers are putting on a show, huh?" Aries muttered under his breath—not to anyone in particular, unless you counted the boy crumpled at his feet. The kid's eyes were wide in stunned horror, a knife buried deep in his gut, fingers still twitching like they hadn't caught up to the fact he was already dying. Aries barely spared him a glance, tilting his head with a dry, almost lazy smirk.
