Hibernation

"Hey! Switch on the mic," Maguire ordered the guard.

The guard didn't even flinch. "Sir, we are strictly ordered to refrain from helping the Devil in any way—"

"I'll break your balls if you didn't," Maguire tried to intimidate him but to no effect. Frustrated by the non-cooperative buffoons, he tried to switch on the mic by himself, but it required the master key. And that key was in the guard's pocket.

The guard stood proud and didn't show any sign of submission to Maguire's fiery actions.

Back in the fourth level, Priest walked towards the cell of Dangreek. The other inmates were trembling in fear as they saw Priest passing by. An unknown fear shivered down their spine. Priest casually walked forward, ignoring all of them. This was not the first time, he was walking in and seeing the freaked-out faces.

"Looks like, that night was just a fluke" Paris shouted from his cell.

"Shhhh!" the prisoners signaled him to shut up. Paris can't understand the atmosphere. He met him face to face. He agreed that he was strong, but that's it. He never saw anything beyond that.

The Priest stopped for a moment and turned towards Paris. He saw the eyes of a maniac craving for revenge.

"Oh, hi! Do I know you?"

"Enough of those stupid, not-so-funny quips! You chopped my hand!" Paris slammed the glass wall of his cell. " After your little show, I thought you were a worthy nemesis. But I heard you lost another girl to our ritual. How are you going to explain that?"

"He can't... Everybody is destined to fall before our might," Dangreek joined him - the other criminal who surrendered to the Priest.

"Oh, you? Didn't notice, you had a mouth back then..."

"What if you did? I sensed your energy dropping... a very useful intel to do what I had to do... you are getting weaker aren't you?" Dangreek grinned.

"Hmm... So, that's the case—"

The Priest was interrupted by the loud horn sound indicating emergency as the door to the third gate opened.

In the control room, Maguire had retrieved the keys for the mic and speaker from the guard by beating him to the pulp.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" Maguire shouted from the mic.

"Why can't he use my name, though," Priest mumbled, "Yeah, I can. Can you hear me?"

"Actually, yes. They have some interesting tech here that allows every small sound to be heard in the control room"

"That's not a needed exposition... Okay, what's happening and..." Priest paused as he saw six people entering into the fourth level and the trail of bodies behind them in the third level.

"They are using the 'Ashes of the damned'. It's a very small amount, but quite lethal... it's a tough situation—"

"Yeah, I can see that... that's enough, I get it. Huh! How many officers, have they bribed for this?" Priest asked, interrupting Maguire's explanation.

"It's a riot in the third level and they are the only six alive from there and every one of these guys are death-sentenced prisoners"

"What about the other two levels?"

Maguire turned to the guard. With pierced lips and swollen cheek, Guard answered.

"The attack dogs handled them but few managed to escape and some of them are heading towards the third level... maybe the fourth level"

Maguire repeated the same in the mic.

"Good to know."

The six of the prisoners stood there all the time, waiting for the conversation to end.

"Are you done, Mr. Devil?", the prisoner who seemingly looked like the leader of the remaining five asked.

"I changed that name, way back. But yeah! we are done." Priest answered putting his hands in the pocket, completely unarmed and relaxed, but analyzing his surrounding to use it to his advance in case of any fight breaks between them.

"There is still a lot of them on the way to reach here... As they came to know your little secret."

"Secret?" Priest wondered as did Maguire.

"As far as I know, there are no secrets—Oh, no!" gasped Maguire being hit with the sudden realization.

"Oh, God!" Both Maguire and Priest freaked out.

"Hey, how did you know it? From who?" Priest questioned, while the prisoners broke into laughter hysterically.

"Look at our little rabbit... Why so scary, now? huh", the leader ridiculed him.

"We know, you are getting weaker!" one of the sidekicks shouted.

Priest stood there frozen, disappointed. "And?"

"And? There is no 'and'. You are getting weaker... you are losing your powers—"

"Hey, that's a plot twist from an anime... Its name was 'Boku no' (My)... what was that?"

The leader whose strength was enhanced by the Ashes threw a sharp knife in a bullet speed against Priest.

The knife missed him. But to the leader's eyes, Priest didn't even move. He sensed something different with the Priest. It was like the knife moved away from its trajectory.

"So, that's not the weakness," the leader's voice trembled, losing confidence.

Priest smiled at the amateurs and walked towards them.

"I'll tell you... It's called 'hibernation', okay."

Maguire panicked, realizing what was Priest explaining, and switched off the speaker in the control room.

Priest got closer to the prisoners who were actually in the attacking range; an advantage to the criminals. If they tried, they could even kill a person in that range. But their legs didn't move. They feel a sinister aura behind the Priest's smiling babyface.

Thoughts rolled on their head.

'He is smiling. Like a kindergarten teacher teaching to the kids. But why am I scared?' they screamed internally.

Priest continued his short lesson.

"Hibernation is a technique, that I personally developed. A 'process' would be apt... whatever name you guys wanted it to be.

" It is a process of shutting down the entire body. You are practically dead for a certain period of time. But when you wake up, your strength will be multiplied into 2 times"

"Just two?" one of the prisoners chuckled.

"I've been living for hundreds of years and I am undergoing this process for a long time. Do the math," Priest replied.

"I always wanted to brag about this, you know. But I can't... Because if anyone tries this... Well, like every superhero technique, this had a disadvantage too. I achieved immortality. My cells refused to age and I was stuck in this 20-year old kid from."

Priest completed his explanation.

"It's a secret for immortality. And you call it a disadvantage. Ha! Too bad, we heard it," one of the prisoners smirked

"Too bad, y'all are going to die. You are death-sentenced criminals, so I am free of guilt in that way"

"Brag all you want, are you guys ready?"

"Yes, boss!" the others joined him.

The ashes enhanced their strength, but not their speed, due to the small amount, and Priest noticed that.

Maguire was watching all this in excitement.

"It's not all day, you get to witness the devil in action" Maguire smirked. But as he looked closely at Priest, he pulled the plug disabling the monitor.

"He is angry," Maguire muttered to himself.

The six of them marched towards Priest. It was one versus six. The atmosphere, they were fighting is just a narrow hallway with prison cells on both sides.

The leader got close to Priest, while the other five were behind him.

The leader attempted a roundhouse kick with his left leg.

The Priest crouched and moved forward. The second prisoner behind the leader threw a left hook.

The Priest slightly leaned to his right and made him miss. The Priest now, facing the two prisoners he crossed, sensed the third and fourth attempting a joint roundhouse kick.

The Priest crouched again and turned to face the fifth. The fifth's fist was inches away from delivering the jab. The Priest caught him by the wrist and delivers a two-inch punch on his elbow, breaking his elbow, which pierces its way out of his skin. The fifth screamed looking at his hand. The Priest chuckled and pulled the hand, ripping it off.

Then he quickly moved past the fifth and caught the sixth by his face. He dragged him away from the formation just with his right palm.

He hit him hard on the leg, breaking it, thus forcing him to kneel down. The Priest held his face facing the rest of his companions.

"I read your reports, once. This fellow's name is Albert, right? What are you guys in for? For rapi... violating and murdering pregnant woman... sorry women, right?"

Albert cried in agony, as he felt his face being pulled off.

"I protect the lives of humans... but not of my kind".

The Priest smiled like a child looking at the leader and tore the complete face off from Albert.

Priest's face looked like he was having the most pleasurable moment in his life. He threw his hands up in the air and closed his eyes listening to Albert's screaming. His compassion and mercy do not belong to the likes of these scums.

Albert was rolling on the floor, covering his face and screaming in pain, while Paris backed down from the glass wall refusing to accept what he had just witnessed.

"The Devil" muttered the leader trembling while the other three rushed to avenge Albert.

Dangreek's smile, laughter vanished from the face. He thought Priest was going through his weakest phase but all his expectations blew directly onto his face.

"I get it, now... the reason for the name... Devil" Dangreek rushed to the corner covering his ears from the screams and the squirming noise of the Prisoners.

The leader knelt down, shivering. A hand reached him and patted his head.

He was too scared to lift the head up. His hands trembled. He looked to see what happened to the others. His eyes widened as soon as it caught the glimpse. But before he can react, his breath stopped.

Maguire opened the doors of the fourth level connecting to the control room.

The entire room was bathed in blood, with flesh and bones splattered across the glass walls. The leader's head rolled down and stopped at Maguire's feet.

The Priest stood there in the center with his clothes and fists covered in blood. The light shone above him like he was a god standing under the gateway of heaven. He let out a deep breath. It was not a breath of relief nor distress.

"Are you okay?... Mr. Devil!"

Priest turned towards Maguire as he combed over his hair with his hands.

"Nothing... Just Post-Kill clarity" Priest sighed.