GUARDIAN ANGEL?

Jacob easily ripped the door of the cell away from its hinges. He contemplated entering the abyss while in the cell but eventually decided against it; the risk was just too much. Who knew when that mad kid would return?

Without much deliberation, he made the decision to escape and find a relatively safe place for now.

"You'd think a prison would have better security than this,"

Jacob commented on the lack of guards as he made his way through the maze-like passage of the prison. He kept a steady pace, surprisingly considering he was making his escape. He seemed too calm for the situation he was in.

After a couple of minutes of trying to find his way through the prison, he eventually reached a gate, with bars much thicker than the ones that held him in his cell. At the other side of the gate were the first guards Jacob encountered since he began his escape.

Two burly men stood with their backs against the gate and essentially against Jacob. They were dressed in brown khaki uniforms and each held a shotgun. They both stood at attention, their bodies not swaying in the slightest. The bars of the gate were the only thing adding to their support. It was obvious they took their jobs seriously.

Jacob stealthily moved to the left edge of the gate with the aim of catching the guard there off guard. He very quickly passed both hands through the gaps between the bars and grabbed the head and chin of one of the guards.

Without waiting for the guard's reaction, he pulled each hand clamped to the man's face sideways in the opposite direction, twisting his head unnaturally against the axis of his neck.

The other guard that Jacob assumed might be a bit difficult to handle was actually just startled awake by the dull thud of his colleague's body meeting the ground.

His face twisted in horror as he saw how his comrade's head was drawn backward due to the broken neck. He turned his gaze to Jacob only to find the eyes of a predator directed at him. His soul shook as he forgot about the firearm within his reach and immediately scrambled to grab a whistle he had on his neck.

He pressed his lips against the mouthpiece expecting a loud whistle that alerted the surrounding guards. However, just before the air from his lungs could reach his mouth, the whistle fell off from it. He looked down to find his lower jaw had been crushed into blood, flesh, and bone.

The sudden change stunned him, the pain seeming not to have registered yet, his body still on a fight or flight response. But it wouldn't last forever; barely two seconds after, his eyes widened, and he was probably about to let out a blood-curdling scream when the rest of his face was grabbed and reduced to a mess of mangled flesh, blood, and bone.

"Ughh…so messy. Who would have thought killing could come so easily? I don't even really feel anything…well, I guess this isn't my first kill per se,"

Jacob mumbled as he rummaged the two bodies across the gate for something to open the gate with. He eventually had two key cards, one from each guard. He slid one against the gates; a buzz sounded out, and the gate slid open into the wall.

He immediately stripped the first guard and donned his clothing. He tucked his hair into his shirt to not draw attention to himself; they were a bit too conspicuous, especially with their violet ends. Unfortunately, he didn't have anything to cut them with.

"There, no one would know…I'll be taking that,"

Jacob asserted himself as he grabbed one of the firearms along with the key cards he took earlier. He made his way up a flight of stairs directly in front of him and entered some kind of hallway. Fortunately, he didn't encounter anyone as he made his way straight to the end of the hallway.

At the end, the hallway opened into a wider area that looked like a reception room. People wearing diverse and unique armor and clothing moved around freely, some forming lines in front of some desks, and beautiful office women sat behind. At least that's what he thought.

There was also a large board on which different papers were pasted on; he glanced through it and couldn't help but notice some recurring words like 'gold', 'mana crystals', and 'quests'.

"Okay,,, we'll come back to all this later, first things first. Let's leave this place first,"

Jacob surprisingly easily made his way towards the doors that led outside; he could already see the sunlight through the diffused glass on the doors.

'Ah sweet freedom… I'm almost there just a little more– oh shit,'

Jacob was about to grab the door handle and pull back when the blurry figure of a familiar someone entered his eyes.

He swiftly turned and slowly began walking away from the doors. The bell attached to the top of the doors chimed as Claire entered the building; she had on her mask like the first time they met. Her presence in the building seemed to command respect as the chatter within the building gradually died down till it was almost bone-chilling silent.

Indifferent to the gazes she was getting, she made her way towards the hallway Jacob had just come from. As she passed by Jacob, he immediately turned back towards the doors and began slowly walking.

"Haha I'm so slick," Unfortunately for him, he wasn't as 'slick' as he thought.

"Stop right there,"

Claire called out to which Jacob planned to ignore until he was through the doors so he could explode with speed. So he kept walking like he hadn't heard a thing.

"Take one more step if you want to know how much a bullet hurts,"

Jacob heard the clicking sound of a gun behind him and was contemplating whether to just make a run for it; honestly, at this point, he believed he could somewhat take her. He was at least sure of escaping her.

He just seemed confused; it was like a sick game was being played on him. Up till now, it had all been smooth sailing; he even had the feeling that someone was actually facilitating his escape. But if that was the case, why'd he have to run into this person now?

Unfortunately or rather fortunately, this moment of hesitation actually made his steps pause, making it seem he was threatened by Claire.

"Since when has it been custom to ignore your superiors, or did you not see me pass by?"

If it had been the Claire of before, she might not have cared enough to be bothered by the disrespect, but ever since she came back from her expedition, her personality had been unstable and her emotions have been flaring up.

And Jacob on the other hand had obviously not been trained, so how could he know the rules to follow.

"I'm sorry ma'am," was all he could say.

"I'm sorry?, Ma'am?... Are you really deliberately trying to rile me up?"

Jacob seemed to have said something he wasn't supposed to; at this point, he was ready to really bolt out of here. He couldn't stand the tension anymore, that was until someone else shouted,

"Claire, you're here already?" Arthur stepped out of the crowd now turned audience.

"Why didn't you say something earlier? Hurry, the little guy doesn't like to wait, you know."

"Arthur? Little B's here already?… Alright, let's go, and you, you'd better learn some manners if you want to live longer."

"Yes ma– aye?"

"Tch…bastard," Claire eventually let Jacob go and turned to Arthur.

Jacob eventually got his chance to step out of the building, he took a big whiff of air into his lungs and as the door closed he exploded with speed finding high ground hoping from roof to roof, his destination?, The slums. All the while thinking,

'Arthur eyy?Guess you're my guardian angel.'