Level 10 of the abyss, deep underground.
"Crack..."
An odd sound echoed, startling everyone.
The sound sensors placed across the area began to light up.
"Sir, there's something wrong with the Level 10 containment zone."
Immediately, a soldier watching the monitors reported. His voice shook with trepidation.
The Abyss was the largest and most secure superhuman prison in the world. And the Level 10 containment zone held some of the most heinous supervillains in history.
So, even the flap of a fly's wings had to be reported to his superiors.
"Display the security camera feeds. Use the sensors to triangulate the origin of the noise." Immediately, the warden gave the order. His cold eyes scanned the hundreds of camera feeds displayed before him.
The warden was an A-rank superhuman, one of the strongest in the country, second only to the S-rankers. Still, his face was grave as he gazed at the monitors.
Usually, more than ten A-rankers would have been with him to monitor and control the operations of the Abyss. But due to the demonic invasion, they had been called to the battlefront for assistance.
It was a precarious situation.
"Sir, the sound is coming from cell zero."
The soldier nearby spoke up.
His voice instantly traveled through the central command room. Those working suddenly paused and looked toward the warden.
The moment they heard it was from cell zero, they all knew what was happening.
"Why now, of all days…" the warden said as he quickly moved to the monitor showing the current situation inside cell zero.
There were only a few cells inside the Level 10 containment zone. Among them, cell zero was a peculiar case.
Normally, high-ranking villains sentenced for crimes against humanity were executed. But some were too dangerous to even attempt to kill. Only those villains were imprisoned in the Level 10 containment zone.
For example, cell one contained a supervillain named the Tyrant, who had killed an entire city in fit of rage. The Abyss's staff now called him the Unbreakable Tyrant. His ability was superhuman defense, beyond all common sense. He was one of the few recorded survivors of a point-blank mini-nuke detonation.
He was captured by the combined efforts of more than three S-rankers, using every underhanded method available. Finally, the Tyrant was continuously poisoned and sedated to imprison him within the Abyss. Even now, they constantly injected poisons into his body to debilitate him.
Killing him was impossible because of his absurd defense, so they imprisoned him using the only method they could devise.
Similarly, cell two held a supervillain called Mind Hunter. His ability involved hypnosis, mind reading, and mind control. He was the leader of the world's largest terror organization, the Crimson Sun. The organization was built using his ability to control and manipulate people.
After his capture and imprisonment, the Crimson Sun issued an ultimatum: they would bomb the ten most populous cities if he were harmed. So, the Superhuman Monitoring Bureau had to relent and imprison him for life.
Similarly, a few other villains were imprisoned in the Level 10 containment zone.
But among them all, cell zero was special.
Cell zero held the only A-rank villain in the Level 10 containment zone.
—
The cameras inside cell zero pivoted to focus on the center.
Inside, a bloodied body could be seen hung on a crystalline wall. The body was impaled by crystal spikes growing from it.
Crusted blood stained the crystal spikes that pierced most of the person's vital organs. Only the head remained relatively unscathed.
However, the once healed wounds were beginning to bleed again.
The warden quickly noticed this fact.
Even the instruments connected to him and the steel pipes were coming undone.
"Activate the drainage pumps.Quickly collect and incinerate the blood. Initiate the lockdown procedure. Release sedative gas."
The warden gave orders one by one with practised ease.
The situation was not unheard of.
Unlike the rest of the prisoners that they had total control of, the prisoner of cell one would often try to kill himself or break away from the crystal wall imprisoning him.
"Sir, the bleeding is severe. His brain activity is decreasing as we speak. He would die any second now." One of the officers monitoring the vitality of the prisoner said.
"Why? Is the healing solution not working?" Warden screamed.
His voice cracked slightly as he spoke.
"No, we would have to send the healers to stabilize his condition."
"What is happening?"
"It seems like the prisoner found a way to reroute the healing solutions. Look, there is a small puddle forming under his body."
When the warden turned to look at the prisoner's image displayed on the wall-mounted monitor, he could see a small puddle of liquid forming under his vertically hung body.
The healing solution was an extremely costly liquid produced by infusing a high-grade mana stone with cultured stem cells of the prisoner. It was capable of healing even the most critical of injuries. It was a miracle cure developed through the hard work of many geniuses.
Most people would never get a chance to buy a vial of it, much less bathe in it like the prisoner in cell zero.
And yet, it was being wasted. The people in the command center looked at the puddle in loss.
However, they had more than enough reason to do so.
They cannot let prisoner zero die because of his troublesome ability to revive. As you would expect from the inhabitants of the abyss, prisoner zero was a man with peculiar abilities.
Unlike everyone else, his ability didn't rely on mana. His fuel was blood. He could store a large amount of blood, control it to his will and use it in versatile ways. Adding to this was the ability to heal and revive, even from a single drop of blood.
So, if he died inside the prison, no one could predict where or when he would revive.
This was the main reason he was considered the most troublesome prisoner in the Abyss.
The other reason was his threat level.
While most of the supervillains imprisoned inside were S-rank superhumans, he was the only A-ranker, seemingly unworthy of being called a supervillain. And yet, he was imprisoned alongside them.
It was because of his threat level.
He was the only person among the supervillains in the Abyss to have killed more than one S-rank hero. No, to be exact, he killed three S-rankers during his years of rampage. This feat was why he was classified as a supervillain, even though his ability was not that dangerous.
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"Sir, we would have to send in the healers."
"Healers. All the healers were called to the battlefront. We don't have any here. God Damn…" The warden almost cursed out aloud. "Before that, check what the noise was. Did you pinpoint where it was coming from?" the warden quickly calmed himself and asked.
They didn't have much time to waste. He had to make quick decisions.
"Sir," One of the nerdy men wearing glasses raised his hand. His voice contained a hint of hesitation. "I think it is coming from the crystal spikes."
"What do you mean?"
"I think… I think it's the sound of the crystal spikes breaking," the man said, his voice trembling.
Obviously, something had gone terribly wrong.
Prisoners inside cell zero were acting up at the exact moment they were weak.
The warden's face turned deathly pale.