Prison Break (4)

POV: Ryker’s Prison Island

Original Population: 68

CLANG-

CLANG-

At the sound of black chains spreading, those who were trying to run immediately stopped, their faces turning to stare at the golden-haired man with amber eyes.

The gentle smiling expression was gone, and all that remained was a chilling look that made them remember the fear of becoming a regular person, of rising to heaven and being dragged down to earth by black chains before being released.

Each person gulped, momentarily forgetting to focus on the monster that was uncharacteristically still and instead focusing on the blood-drenched man and the massive black chains coming from his hand.

“If any of you dare to run away from here, just know that I’ll immediately drag you and throw you directly into that thing’s mouth. As you all know, my aim is quite good. You all made it safely here, right?” Alexei pointed at the giant ogre-like creature that was absentmindedly chewing on the mangled woman, Susan, as if she were gum.

Due to her regenerative abilities, her arms still gripped the beast's mouth, constantly healing as she tried to come out, and it tried to chew and swallow her while her screams constantly alternated between being muffled and ringing out.

The clearing around the beast was silent as they watched the dreadful sight happening in front of them.

The prisoners began guaging whether a single man was dangerous or whether the monster was dangerous.

There was no way that he could chase all of them down of they spread out, right?

Knowing their thoughts, Alexei forced the only thin chains that he had spread on the ground to rise up, showing that he had encircled the whole area.

“Try me. Those who run become food. Go kill that thing. Once it’s dead, I’ll properly let you all go.”

“……”

Watching those prisoners watch him with dangerous eyes, he primed a nullification area around him, and immediately, a fireball flew at him from behind.

The fireball faded into nothingness about three meters from his body, and with no hesitation, he dashed toward the middle-aged man who had shot it, a senator locked up for selling state secrets overseas.

One of the doubled black chains rapidly flew, wrapping around the middle-aged man and tossing him into the air at the ogre. As if it were planned, the creature opened its mouth wide and caught the inmate before repeating the chewing process and even gargling the chunks of flesh.

Another thick chain caught a group of three men trying to sneak away, immediately throwing them at the mouth of the ogre.

One.

Two.

Three.

Each time a person was thrown at it, the beast snapped them up, chomping its mouth like a greedy piranha and chewing them even though its mouth was stuffed.

The clearing was silent again except for the short-lived screams of the now-deceased people and the crunch of bones and swallowing.

“I suggest you focus on that beast, and I’ll do the same. Anybody with range attacks, begin your fire. Those who don’t have weapons pick up a stick and rush in. When somebody dies, take their weapon. If you dare to attack me, firstly, it won’t work, and secondly, you’ll become human-flavoured gum. Let’s get started.”

Amber eyes pressured everyone around and they couldn’t help but gulp and nod.

Seeing that the prisoners became outwardly compliant, Alexei ordered the thickened chains to wrap the leg of the beast and yanked it to the side, causing it to stumble. As he poured the entirety of his suppressive power over it, the ogre slowly tipped forward.

There was a momentary lull as everyone watched the beast slowly fall to the ground.

THUD!

It had fallen on it’s face.

“Move.”

A cold voice commanded them and as if the starting gun in a race was shot, and everybody began moving.

There were some that diligently fired whatever spells they had at the monster, there were some that tried to run away, and there were some that stabbed their fellow humans in the back and absorbed the glowing crystals that came from their bodies.

The only commonality was that those who focused on battling the beast were left alone, and those who had secondary motives were ruthlessly chased down and killed or tossed into the mouth of the beast by a man who seemed to be immortal.

It wasn’t that he was the fastest, or the strongest, or could even use crazy spells.

Nothing seemed to work on him. His mobility was amazing, and he was just fast enough and strong enough to avoid being cornered. Even if you hit him, the counterattack came back faster and more vicious, which made people even more hesitant to attack. Additionally, if those black chains caught you, you became a mouse unable to move or even attack.

In addition, once the ogre was released from the hold of the black chains, the monster began rampaging wildly and couldn’t be stopped until the chains restrained one of its legs.

Between the damage done by the ogre and the damage done by Alexei, those who originally wanted to rebel began to have a change of heart.

The pressure he caused was so great that everybody had no choice but to focus on defeating the giant monster.

At least that way, they could properly defend and plan instead of facing attacks from both ends.

After over 20 grueling hours of nonstop battle, the giant monster eventually fell, and a larger crystal floated out of its body, along with numerous smaller crystals of different sizes. A familiar glowing portal was by the giant’s corpse, and the field was silent as the lust for the crystal grew.

Before anybody else could move, black chains moved like snakes, grabbed onto the largest crystal, and absorbed it before a duplicate black briefcase appeared in the hands of the person who owned the chains.

“I’ll be taking this. Nobody has complaints, right?” giving the surrounding people his charismatic, warm smile, Alexei stuffed his old briefcase into the new one before exclaiming as he examined it.

“Ah, it’s a pretty good item. And it says there’s one more really good item among those crystals. How nice. I’ll leave it to you guys to decide how to split the rest. Maybe rock paper scissors? Spell, fist, sword? You all decide I’m leaving.” Waving cheerfully, Alexei walked through the portal, which took him back to the prison where he had previously been.

As he left, a bloody battle began once more as the people began to battle it out for the crystal.

Appearing back in the prison and staring at the partially destroyed area, Alexei went out of the prison and hid, waiting for people to come out of the entrance.

If he saw the orange outfit of an inmate, he killed them quickly while hiding the body, and if they were staff or regular people, he let them go.

Of course, he was sure that some prisoners had changed clothing to escape or went through another side, but out of the 8000 prisoners, he was sure less than 200 escaped his and the monsters purge.

Since this was a prison island, they would have to take the ferry or smaller boats or even swim across, which would eliminate even more prisoners.

As for any who survived, they would avoid him if they knew what was good for them.

Calmly slaughtering fellow humans while repeatedly trying to call a phone with the spotty service, several hours passed before a familiar face came out.

Diverting chains aimed to kill at the last minute, Alexei laughed as he saw Mathew pale dramatically before looking up at his hiding spot.

“You survived.”

Alexei’s words were plain and simple before he jumped down and began walking forward.

“Hey…earlier…it’s my fault….I let the stress and the situation get to me.” Mathew hurriedly ran after Alexei with a slightly embarrassed look.

He glanced at the man so covered in blood that neither his blond hair nor the original color of his suit was visible.

The suit itself had been torn to shreds, exposing the toned yet injured body beneath it.

But even as he watched, Mathew could see that the injuries were healing far quicker than they should have—just like his own injuries were.

He had finally figured out what those light crystals did, remembering the rush of power that had swept through his body and the slight increase in strength he had gained each time he absorbed it.

If this was how it felt with just the little he had absorbed, he wondered how much power Alexei had collected to be as strong as he was right now. He was briefly tempted to attack Alexei, but he immediately tamped down that impulse.

He wasn’t a shameless killer like this psychopath.

He was better than that.

Everything he had done had been in self-defense, unlike Alexei, who purposefully went out of his way to antagonize people.

Additionally.

He had seen that clearly how easily Alexei killed those with similar abilities to his own and even held down that huge monster.

It had originally made Mathew a bit afraid. But remembering the person who connected them, he became a bit greedy.

The world was changing especially with the introduction of these abilities. The old power structure would be eliminated and a new one would be built based on an individuals power.

He himself was strong.

He found that out when he had to defend himself and get his share of crystals.

If he and Alexei teamed up, they would be an unstoppable.

“Hey! Alexei, don’t ignore me! I said I messed up earlier, okay? My bad. Why don’t we team up to get Cyril and my sister? It would be good to team up with people you know right? And the bigger the group the better. The safer everyone would be.”

“Pass.” Not paying him any mind whatsoever, the black chains that looked thicker than before continued hunting people clothed in orange while Alexei continually dialed a number on his cell phone while walking toward the water.

Seeing another person get attacked while trying to run away, Mathew spoke out again.

“Cyril won’t like what you’re doing and I think he would want us to team up. Especially to go rescue Cici. She came into the city to attend his birthday party you know. He would feel guilty if anything happened to her.”

Hearing his words, Alexei scoffed.

“You go worry about that little sister of yours, and I’ll worry about Cyril liking or not liking what I am or am not doing. As for teaming up? With you? For what? Jokes in the middle of battle? An unwanted soapbox sermon from an ungrateful punk who previously begged for his life then attacked me?” a genuinely confused expression appeared on Alexei’s face and Mathew blushed in shame.

“We need to figure out how to cross the bay back to the city…”

“YOU need to figure it out.”

“…I already apologized so I don’t know why you’re holding it against me! You know I need your help getting back! If you don’t help me, I’ll tell Cyril everything. I’ll tell him that you killed people. Unprovoked.”

At the apparent threat, Alexei glanced down at him with a gentle expression.

“I don’t understand why you think this is a threat. Tell him. I guarantee he’ll laugh in your face while looking at you like you’re stupid. Besides, you’ve done the same as well.” Alexei stopped walking before sling his arm around Mathews’s shoulder and pointing the camera at the two of them.

“Say evidence shot.” Alexei smiled his characteristically warm smile as he pulled Mathew closer, and when Mathew noticed that the phone had been recording for several minutes, he immediately tried to snatch the phone but got shoved away by Alexei.

“You bastard!”

“Annnd sent. I’m done here so find your own way home. Bye. And have fun protecting that fun item you got.” With a pointed glance at the gleaming silver ring on his pinky, Alexei extended his chains into the waters until it anchored in the rocky floor. Then, using that force, he continued throwing and tossing himself across the bay.

Although his expression was calm, internally he was very, very anxious.

A little over three days had passed so far.

He could only imagine what had happened during that time.