Chapter 20- The Spiral Prison (Part 1)

Chapter 20- The Spiral Prison (Part 1)

In his life, Akio had never seen anything as massive as this structure in front of him. Even the walls of the inner city that were over 100 meters tall are dwarfed in front of this.

It was so huge in fact that Akio had to arc his neck up to the limit to be able to see the end of this man-made wonder even though he was at least 5 kilometers away from it. He was truly shocked by the size.

The building was shaped like a spiral cone with a base that spreads gradually in each direction as it goes up. The base was noticeably narrow compared to the top which span tens and tens of kilometers in radius. The outside of the structure was made out of stone, marble, and very sturdy metal. Akio couldn't recognize what type of metal it was.

The state of the building, however, didn't seem to be in its best form. The rocks were cracked here and the rust had already eaten a good chunk of the metal making this ancient place look all the more intimidating and imposing as if it was a relic of the ancient times

'Is this the prison? Why is it built like that?' Akio questioned.

He had never seen a building that looked like a spiral in his life. Besides, the shape in and out of itself seemed impossible. Not only because the base and the foundations were very narrow compared to the top which could put huge pressure on the edges of the spiral but such a thing should've never even been able to be built.

The other prisoners also had varying reactions. From surprise to realization and then to a strong frown. Most of them seemingly recognized this place and from the quick scan Akio did on their reactions, he deducted that this place wasn't really, particularly the best start he could've had.

"The spiral prison… Fuck!" One of them murmured as he clenched his teeth.

"Tsk, the worst possible start."

"The spiral prison… out of everything. Crap! What did I do to deserve such shitty luck."

The same words were repeated in different variations but had the same meaning.

'Tsk, this isn't good at all.' Akio knitted his eyebrows as he tried to calmly think about his next move.

In this situation, his choices are few. In fact, he only has two choices. Either try to escape or just get guided inside the prison, right toward the unknown.

However, not even a second passed before he quickly erased the thought of escaping from his head. Not only was he shackled by some weird material that keeps absorbing strength from his body but he also is surrounded by guards. It's unknown how much they are stronger than him so even if he was able to break the restraints, he would have a big group of bigger men, that are more powerful than him ready to beat him up to a pulp and potentially kill him.

The second huge problem he could face is whatever abomination he sensed inside the cursed woods behind him. Akio didn't survive his whole life in a shithole like the slums by sheer luck. His danger senses were honed more than most normal people so he is able to discern the dreadful fear of a potential danger lurking around him quite potently.

If he were to somehow break the shackles and by some godly miracle escape the guards, he would still have to face that thing. As much as he is concerned, Akio would rather never discover what thing made him feel like that. Just to be in context, even the huge monster that appeared in the slums didn't make Akio feel that deep fear he sensed from the woods.

So, Akio was only left with one choice that could be equally as bad as the one he just decided not to do. Whatever he would find inside the prison is still bound to fate.

After that, the group was dragged toward the huge structure. As visibly huge as the prison might seem, the distance they still had to cross just to reach it was still considerably big. The more they got closer to it, the more imposingly bigger it gets and the more their size shrinks in comparison.

'This is insane…' Akio thought as he looked up. Just imagining that this was built by human hands made him wonder what kind of world Holem is.

As he approached the prison, he could see more details of it. The small cracks now seemed massive and the rust was also more visible.

However, the thing that actually caught his attention, and everyone else's attention for that matter was the countless, white, slightly yellowish things hanging on the wall.

'Are those… human skulls…?' Akio blinked a few times as he tried to discern the small objects filling the place.

They were egg-shaped with two carved holes near the top, one in the middle, and a huge hole at the bottom.

No matter how he looked at it, they were definitely the skulls of humans. Every single of them looked old, chipped with even some stains of blood still stuck to them indicating that they aren't that old.

A chill ran down Akio's spine from the weird sight. Even someone as emotionless as he is felt a deep disgust and fear from that.

"See that, trash?" The leader of the guards suddenly spoke as he pointed at the skulls.

"Those are some idiots that tried to escape from the spiral prison. Each one of them thought he was lucky enough to get out of there, alive. Now, they are the free decoration of the prison's walls."

His words, on the surface, were merely explaining the origin of those skulls, but it was apparent what message he was actually trying to convey.

'Don't you even entertain the thought of escaping or you will be another aesthetic ornament to be added to the collection.'

"These sick bastards." The scarred man suddenly grumbled as he looked down with a frown, clearly displeased by the sight.

"Huh?! Did you say something, ugly face?!" The guard next to him heard that and quickly slapped him on the face roughly. The slap, however, only made him turn his face a little bit to the side. No sound escaped his mouth which made the guard frown. Then, the scarred man turned his sharp eyes to face the guard, not averting his eyes.

It was as clear as day that the scarred man was daring him to do that again. A challenge like that should've been a foolish idea but, surprisingly, the guard seemed intimidated by the glare.

"Shut the fuck up and move!" The guard gulped down a mouthful of saliva before he quickly warned him.

Although the scarred man was shackled and incapable of neither defending himself or hitting the guard, he was somehow still able to make him feel scared.

'He is very strong.' Akio deducted.

Although he didn't notice it before, the man was actually quite muscular and tall. His demeanor was also very eerily calm even when walking. He didn't even make sounds when he stepped on the hard, rough ground as if his feet were made of feathers.

As for Toru, he merely kept walking silently, his face didn't show any particular disgust toward the skulls. For someone with a hero complex, Akio thought he would be angrier because of this inhuman act, but weirdly enough, he said nothing.

Squinting his eyes as he stared at the handsome young man for a moment, Akio then turned his eyes back to the route.

Eventually, they reached the building. The shadows of the higher parts of the prison loomed over them and covered the rays of the sun completely. The temperature of the place quickly dropped drastically, making Akio shudder.

'How cold is this place?'

The journey stopped in front of two huge gates. Each one of the gates was at least 20 tons of pure, armored metal that couldn't be moved.

However, the moment the leader approached them, the ground shook violently as the two giant gates parted open slowly, revealing gradually whatever hid behind them.

Akio squinted his eyes as he readied himself mentally for what was to come. He would need that.

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