"Fly is a fly, no matter what gets caught!"
A Chinese man said this after an American woman pointed toward a big Chinese floating paper lantern above her. Inside them were Mike and Bell trapped.
Shy Cliffhanger Ross was back in the Color Kingdom after Jett Amadede teleported everyone from the moon to the nation, even those not from the country. After landing on the ground, she looked at her body to see if she was in a dream.
"Am I dreaming... Pitch me to wake me up!" She told her best friend, who was beside her.
"You are not dreaming. All that was very real."
"I hope my husband and brother are okay!"
At the biggest prison inside the Nightcore Empire, James Ross, Samuel Cliffhanger, Tim Skyfather, Junon Acadia, and the other gladiators are unfairly trapped.
Their legs were tied to Anti-Flow Cuffs, rendering the Flow Users useless; they couldn't use their powers when cuffed to them. Because it instantly drains their Flow. When these chains are removed from the users' bodies, they must rest for a while or a short time (depending on their capacity) for their Flow to be restored.
Ross woke up to the sound of the plate smashing on the ground. The food spilled everywhere after the impact, and the guard who did that said, "We have only one food. Hurry up and take it before anyone else." He smiled,
"Don't fight over food!"
Before leaving, he gently places water from a glass bottle on the floor, one inch farther from the cell, and then leaves. Someone quickly grabs the spilled food and water,
"You heard him. Be quick, James."
Ross recognized that voice, "You are in here, too, Justice?"
He slurped the goop in his face and said, "Not just me."
"There are other gladiators in here as well."
Ross looks around and sees Lambert and Deila in the cell with them.
"When you were on your beauty sleep, we were struggling to find a way to escape."
Ross looked confused, "Sorry, what's going on? Where are we?"
That made Lambert even madder; he barked a slur at James Ross, sparking a big argument that almost led to a fight. If Deilia and Anti-Flow Cuffs were not there, they would be dead.
"Stop it, Lambert!" She whispered, "A guard is coming."
Lambert stopped after he heard Delia and Ross stop when Justice kicked his legs, making him fall.
"Are you guys fighting over food?"
"N-n-n, sir. We aren't." The guard left satisfied.
"You two." She looked at them, "If we didn't stop you two, we would have been in big trouble."
"Be adults and talk to one another," Delia said.
She looked toward Lambert and said, "Especially, you." Pointing at him, "How many times have I told you to stop being racist?"
From that, Lambert apologized to Ross for provoking him by saying something racist, and Ross noted that he was also sorry, but he was still salty about the man saying a slur.
***
Justice saw the outside of the cell and changed the topic by saying, "Guys, didn't you notice that outside our cell is very dark?"
"Now you mentioned it," Delia replied, "All guards have lanterns with them."
Lambert chimed in, "Darkness will not hinder us from escaping."
Suddenly, a guard came, put his lantern on the ground, rolled out a paper, and read it aloud: "From the command of his Brilliance, the poor James Ross will be meeting his Intelligence."
"If you refuse to listen to the orders, we will drag you out!"
Ross stood up and confidently said, "I refuse."
The guard grabbed the key and opened the cell, dragging Ross out.
Whispered to his ears, "We know where your bro...sister is!"
Ross's eyes suddenly darkened. "Okay, okay, okay! I follow you. Where to?"
He followed the guard. Outside, the cell was dark, and the only light was from the cells and the guards' old-fashioned torches. They reached outside by going downstairs. Sunlight hit Ross's face.
Looking behind him, he saw the prison inside a mountain, underneath Nightshine Citadel, where Nightcore Empire's great leader resides. Being the biggest castle on the planet, Armora. And possibly the biggest in the Milky Way.
A guard was stationed near a bridge. He had a blindfold on his hands. The one next to Ross forced him to move forward.
"At this point, everything will become secret to your eyes."
The guard with a blindfold said. He went behind Ross to cover his eyes. Before he could, James grabbed his neck and choked him.
The other guard grabbed his gun and pointed at Ross, which James commanded, "Drop your weapons as far as possible, and I'll let him live."
The guard tossed his gun and lantern far away, falling from the bridge.
James then asked, "Now, slowly, take my handcuffs off and give me the cell keys."
The guard, getting choked, said, "Do-do, as he says—?!"
***
Bang!
"Huh?!"
From another gun, the guard shot the guard who was getting choked, killing him. Ross was shocked at what he saw. One of their own killed another without hesitation, making Ross angry.
"You piece of shit!" He yelled at the guard, "I was not going to kill him."
"I would free him if you uncuffed me and gave me the keys."
The guard looked at him and laughed, "No matter who. Showing weakness deserves death!"
He continued, "Nobody in the Nightcore Empire should be weak, even us guards. We should always be strong!"
He looked at James, "Do not forget we will hunt the rest of your sister's life by you doing this!"
James's eyes were twitching, but he controlled himself, almost snapping, "That's a lie; you were guessing I had a sister. You don't know where she lives."
He got closer to him, creaking his neck, "However, nobody threatens Shy gets away with it!"
He charges toward the guard.
Multiple sounds of gunfire got triggered, bullets flying at James. By predicting where pellets will go, Ross instantly moves his cuffs to where the shots are aimed, blocking them by making them bounce off harmlessly without damaging the cuffs or his hands.
'Wow, these handcuffs are strong.' Ross was impressed, 'By making the bullets bounce off without damaging them.'
The guard emptied the bullets quickly without injuring James Ross. He panicked and tried to reload instantly before his enemy got any closer.
"Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!"
Ross grabs his neck, lifting him, dropping the gun to the ground.
"I-I don't want to die... Die. I would do as you say."
"Ooooh, free me from these handcuffs and give me keys for the rest of them, and I will let you live."
"I-I would... Please do it. B-b-b-but first, can stop choking me.'
Ross noticed a knife coming, so he dropped guard from his hand and tried to move away, but for a split second, it grazed his body. For the first time, he bleeds without the nanobots being there to protect him.
He felt the pain, "Ughh!" He yelled.
"This sucks!"
There was no cloth to cover the wound to protect it from getting worse, and it wouldn't be easy to do with his hand tied.
The guard checked on his neck to see if he was okay. When everything was good, he said, "You are bleeding. Good makes my job easier."
The guard swings his knife at the enemy, but even wounded, the A ranker still dodges the attacks easily. His Sight improved significantly while training with his teacher, Piyusha, over the past six months. He predicts attacks, even when tied to the handcuffs.
The guard was getting annoyed that he was entirely missing the attacks, "You injured. How are you moving like that?" He said.
Ross chuckled, "I don't need to use Sight to see your attacks, and last time, you cut me off guard, so never again."
James rosed his kneecaps and smashed the enemy in the chain, giving him the memories of his childhood from getting stroked forcefully. The guard fell to the ground unconscious.
He grabbed the gun from the ground and shot the guard in the head, "This is what happens when you threaten Shy."
He looked around the body, "Now, let see." He searched for keys, handcuffs, and cells.
He stopped for a moment from the pain, then continued looking. Unfortunately, the guard didn't have anything on him.
"Fuck!" He yelled, "When will I get freed!"
***
The ground started to shake as if an earthquake had occurred, puzzling Ross suddenly.
"Huh?"
"What's going on?"
From a distance, the birds from a nearby tree flew away, and the tree itself vibrated. A giant foot landed on the ground, shaking the ground.
Step by step, a 40-foot-tall giant got Ross's field of vision.
"That puny human failed. Why does IO have to do everything by himself?"
Io (Volcanic Galilean) is one of the four Galilean Giants, one of the strongest forces in the Nightcore Empire. On his back, a bunch of volcanoes of any height called home. Some of them were active. That's how his giant spiked club was made.
"Io, smash!" He swings his club down to the ground at James Ross. Somehow, he survived the attack, and the handcuffs instantly broke from the impact.
The attack made the ground into a crater filled with lava.
To be continued.