Prison Break (1)

Location: Gryker’s Prison Island

Original Population: 8,002

“Arghhhhhh run, that bastard is crazy!!!!”

Inmates dressed in orange jumpsuits and thin white sneakers glanced between the monsters only seen in movies positioned ahead of them and the two men in the back.

One of them was a handsome man of Asian descent. With jet black hair cut short with bangs, eyes hidden by black wire frame glasses, and a messy navy blue suit that highlighted his slightly golden skin, he would blend right in with the many corporate workers in the city.

The man walking in front of him was the one they feared the most. He had a familiar face known by anyone who watched the news and a deceitful appearance.

He came from a wealthy, aristocratic family, was the youngest state attorney general in the country's history, and was one of the most aggressive criminal prosecutors, Alexei Damien Vasilios.

He was a tall, handsome man with slightly tousled blond hair that brushed his broad shoulders, amber eyes that shimmered like gold when struck by the sun, and a warm smile that could charm anybody regardless of race, gender, or age.

Dressed in a fitted tan suit while carrying a briefcase in one hand, he would have been the perfect picture of a working professional, model, or actor if it wasn’t for the fact that he was stained in blood from head to toe.

In his right hand, he held a kitchen cleaver that he had been using to chop human instead of animal body parts. In his left hand, he held a neat black briefcase made of the finest leather.

In his wake were numerous bodies dressed in orange, put to sleep forever.

Some were missing limbs; others were missing their heads. The only commonality was that they dared to attack or disobey the man with a warm smile as he leisurely walked forward, corralling all the prisoners toward a glowing portal.

“Get away, get away, you monster! Murderer!”

This time, a female inmate fell as she scrambled backward to avoid him. She shuffled backward while her hands scraped against the ground, which had changed from the familiar cement prison floor to rocks and grass found outdoors after the man in front of her threw her through a glowing portal that had suddenly appeared.

Feeling a large rock scrape her hand, she clenched it and urgently threw it with more strength and accuracy than she had ever had, hoping that a miracle would happen and those gently curved amber eyes would close forever.

Unfortunately, the man easily dodged it, and then those warm eyes turned to face her instead of the Asian man who was standing next to him.

“I told you all, didn’t I? Enter that portal and diligently attack the enemies at the front by yourself without playing any tricks or trying to run away. Otherwise, I’ll remove a limb and throw you head first and see if you survive.” The calm, smooth voice without a hint of anger or stress came out of Alexei’s mouth as his smile grew warmer and friendlier.

This smile was the same when he accepted his position as state attorney general, comforted those hurt by criminals, and argued his case in court. It was a smile without stress or worry, meant to calm and reassure those who saw it.

It made the woman, Susan, even more terrified. As a prisoner who had only committed a high level of corporate and medical financial fraud with a side business of human trafficking and organ sales, she had never directly experienced anything as violent as this. She was a vegetarian, for goodness sake!

But now she couldn’t breathe.

It felt as if a giant cat was pressing down on the tail of a little rat, toying with it before snapping its neck.

A person whose warm smile hadn’t faded even though he had killed over a third of the prison population within the past couple of hours while rounding up everyone from janitorial staff to administrative staff and visitors, forcing them to go into the glowing portal.

It was something that shouldn’t have been possible, but she was watching it happen to her in real life instead of at the Cinema.

Seeing that the woman still sat shaking without moving, five thick black chains appeared from the hand holding the briefcase, writhing on the ground like snakes approaching their prey.

The moment she spotted the chains that had easily ripped the heads of prison leaders, the security guards, and other inmates who had suddenly gained abilities like immense speed, strength, and even magic after that angel thing disappeared after dropping the world-ending message, Susan felt as if she was suffocating.

Even as the prison had devolved into a madhouse, with people trying to kill each other and escape, this man had been calmly ripping limbs off, slamming people into the ground and walls, and generally causing havoc, all with a smile on his.

Even when double- and triple-teamed, he seemed to handle it easily. The new abilities people gained and used did not affect him; he moved faster than anyone and seemed so strong.

Trying to take his only companion hostage didn’t work, and it was as if the struggles of those here were utterly insignificant.

As her scraped hands began itching as her healing factor began, Susan suddenly regained her will to survive. Unfortunately, her whole body was paralyzed by an innate fear after seeing such unrestrained violence. She did her best to stand, but every part of her was shaking too much.

“Still sitting there? You have 10 seconds, and 5 of them have passed. Get up and go and attack the monsters. Once this place is clear, you can go free.” The previously warm tone was now gone, and before she could even respond, the black chains all surged toward her, quickly wrapping and squeezing her body until all her bones cracked violently.

The black chains quickly dragged her from the ground into the air until she was held several feet in front of the prosecutor.

As her body began writhing while healing the cracked bones, she saw the man tap his chin while observing her with his kind expression before one of the chains stuffed itself into her mouth and began surging down her throat, blocking her airways while triggering her gag reflex.

As she began choking from vomit trying to come out yet being blocked, her face slowly turning blue from a lack of air, the twitching of her body stopped as the healing stopped as well.

Frantic, Susan eyed the screen that hadn’t left her vision, doing her best to activate the listed skills that had suddenly changed.

[Culling Participant: Susan Boyle]

[Time Remaining: 365: 12: 12: 23]

[Class: Healer]

[Lv 1]

[Life Energy Coin: 200]

[Skills: Self-regeneration (disabled), Minor-Heal (disabled), Detoxification(disabled), Cure(disabled)]

…how?

What was happening?

“Ah, it seems internal damage or lack of air is needed to block the self-healing completely. Good to know. Could you try using another ability if you have it? Preferably something external? After that, we’ll check if it's the internal damage or the air that paused your abilities. Please give it your best effort. It’s for scientific discovery.” The clinical words immediately got her attention, and her eyes rolled to meet the gently curved ones of the prosecutor before turning to the pale Asian man standing behind him.

As her eyes begged for help, and his eyes softened, he looked at her.

“Hey Alexei…let her go. You can’t do that….she’s going to die,” The Asian man standing next to Alexei Vasilios interrupted in a firm but nervous voice.

His name was Mathew Dae Park. He was a low-ranked financial investigator that Alexei had unwillingly brought along for the current case he was working on.

Although he was pretty afraid of his boss and secretly hated him, he still had a sense of right and wrong. He didn’t want somebody who hadn’t done anything wrong to him to die, especially an innocent-looking young woman like the one his boss was torturing.

In the doe-like brown eyes, he could see his little sister's face in it, and he felt he had to speak up.

Alexei glanced at Mathew as if he were looking at a stupid idiot before mentally adding an X beside his name.

Left to him, he would leave this guy to die on his own, but since it was a favor to a friend, he would tolerate it to his limit and try to educate him.

However it seemed his goodwill was thoroughly going to be tested.

“We’re all humans at the end of the day. We shouldn’t make arbitrary judgments, killing and torturing people! It’s inhuman! Maybe it’s because you’re young, sheltered, and have so much power, but you really need to listen to the advice of those who’ve lived a little longer and experienced more.”

“You are aware of where this is, right? Where are we?” Alexei gave the man one last chance to correct himself.

“I’m aware, and even though they may have taken it a little too far, your actions are still too much! You’re acting like a mad scientist. If you continue, I’ll have to stop you! Let her go.” Mathew announced loudly.

Still, seeing the self-righteousness that was a cover for a deep inferiority complex, Alexei just smiled gently and mentally added another X to his name.

“Sure. If you insist.”

Nodding in agreement, Alexei retracted the single chain from the woman’s mouth.

As she began coughing and healing again, he combined the removed chain with the others wrapped around her body, winding them up and flinging the woman forward several hundred feet toward where the sound of a battle was heard.

Seeing the actions, Mathew’s face immediately became pale, and his previously forceful tone softened.

“You…know she’s going to die with the way you threw her, right?”Mathew glanced apprehensively at his boss.

As he regained his senses, he briefly regretted his previous words, but seeing Alexei ignore him, his anger flared up.

He wanted to call Alexei a villain and run away. Still, considering that the man was not only his superior at work but had also been the one protecting him, albeit in a roughshod manner as evidenced by his bruises and messed up clothing, he had no choice but to stay put just like he didn’t refute him despite the abuse he received in the office.

“Her? Die? No, she won’t; her bones were already realigning themselves. It will take her a couple of extra minutes to get up and fight. I’m quite jealous of such a good ability. It would at least be more useful than you seem to be with all the disgusting yapping you’re doing. You’re literally a waste of space, time, and air.” The words were cold and blunt without the fake warm tone he showed to the public, and Mathew hid his urge to shudder while looking at the gentle, princelike smile on his face.

Once this man took off his mask, the difference in the image was just too creepy. From a golden retriever-like personality to the most venomous snake in the world, it was scary.

As he silently glared at Alexei while gritting his teeth, the blond man turned to give him that charismatic smile.

“What? You have a problem with what I’m saying?”

Alexei’s expression was like that of a human looking at an ant it wanted to squish, daring the ant to fight back.

As Mathew silently gritted his teeth, not knowing that Alexei could hear it and see through the murderous look the man thought was hidden, Alexei quietly added another X next to Mathews's name.

He would respect the man if he would fight back, but he constantly attacked and retreated like a coward, which made him annoying to deal with.

In other words, he was-

“Trash. Utter trash.”