Heaven breaker King: The Prison God Returns

CHAPTER 3 — THE PRISON THAT DEVOURS

The first scream came at dawn. Bruce jolted awake, heart slamming against his ribs. It wasn’t close, but it wasn’t far either.

The sound carried through concrete and iron, raw and desperate, like someone being peeled apart layer by layer. “What the hell…” Bruce muttered.

Remain calm. Emotional instability reduces survival probability.

Bruce sat up sharply. “You’re calm? Someone’s dying.”

Correction. Someone is failing. Bruce swung his legs off the bunk. “Failing what?”

The system didn’t answer. The scream cut off abruptly. Silence followed, thick, unnatural silence. Bruce rubbed his arms.

The air felt heavier than yesterday, as if the prison itself had exhaled. Footsteps echoed outside his cell. Then a voice. “Cell Forty-Seven.”

Bruce looked up. A guard stood there, but something was wrong. His eyes were unfocused. His posture was stiff and unnatural, like a puppet pulled by invisible strings. “You’re being transferred,” the guard said flatly.

“Transferred?” Bruce asked. “To where?”

The guard didn’t blink. “Follow.”

Bruce hesitated. “I didn’t break any rules.”

The guard smiled. It wasn’t a human smile. “You broke one,” he said. “You survived.”

The cell door slid open. Bruce stepped out. The corridor looked the same, gray walls, flickering lights, but the sounds were gone.

No shouting. No clanging. No curses. “Where is everyone?” Bruce asked.

The guard didn’t respond. They turned a corner Bruce had never seen before. “That hallway wasn’t here yesterday,” Bruce said slowly.

The guard stopped. He turned his head too far. “You’re perceptive,” he said. “That’s unfortunate.”

Bruce’s pulse spiked. “You’re not a guard.”

The man’s smile widened. “Correct.”

The lights snapped off. Darkness swallowed everything. ''Warning, Heavenbreak Trial has prematurely engaged.''

“What?” Bruce shouted. “You said seventy-two hours!”

''External interference detected.''

Something slammed into Bruce’s chest. He flew backward, crashing into the wall. Pain erupted through his spine.

“You’re early,” a new voice said. “But early or late doesn’t change much.”

The lights flickered back on. They weren’t in a corridor anymore. They were in a massive underground chamber carved directly into bedrock.

Symbols glowed faintly along the walls, ancient, jagged, hungry. Bruce struggled to stand. Across from him stood three figures. One was the false guard.

One was a bald inmate covered in ritual scars. And the third, Bruce’s breath caught. “Master?” he whispered.

Old Master Tian leaned on his cane, expression unreadable. “You brought him here?” Bruce demanded. “This is part of your test?”

Tian sighed. “No.”

The bald man laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself, boy. This prison doesn’t answer to him anymore.”

Bruce turned sharply. “Anymore?”

The man stepped forward. “Welcome to Blackstone Prison, the thirteenth suppression facility.”

Bruce’s head throbbed. “Suppression… for what?”

The scarred man pointed at him. “For things like you.”

The symbols on the walls pulsed. Bruce felt it instantly. His system reacted violently.

''Threat detected. Bloodline pressure increasing.''

Bruce clenched his teeth. “You lured me.”

“Yes,” the false guard said cheerfully. “We needed to confirm something.”

“Confirm what?” Bruce demanded.

The man’s eyes glowed faintly. “That the Heavenbreak bloodline truly awakened.”

Bruce’s heart dropped. “You know about it…”

“Of course,” the bald man said. “We’re the ones who helped seal it.”

The words slammed into Bruce like a hammer. “You killed my parents,” Bruce said hoarsely.

The bald man shrugged. “They killed themselves by refusing to submit.”

Bruce moved without thinking. He lunged. The scarred man vanished. Pain exploded in Bruce’s abdomen. He crashed to the ground, gasping.

“You’re still too weak,” the bald man said calmly. “Five years of prison is nothing. Your father endured fifty.”

Bruce spat blood. “You’re lying.”

“Ask him,” the man said, glancing at Tian.

Bruce looked up. Tian didn’t deny it. Bruce’s voice shook. “You trained me knowing this?”

“Yes,” Tian said quietly.

“Why?” Bruce roared.

“Because,” Tian said, “you were going to be brought here whether I helped you or not.”

The symbols flared brighter. The chamber trembled. Trial One: Meridian Reforging - FORCED ACTIVATION

“No!” Bruce shouted.

''Pain level override disabled.''

Agony detonated inside him. Bruce screamed. It felt like invisible blades carving through his veins, snapping and reconnecting them over and over.

His vision blurred. His teeth clenched so hard he tasted iron. “You won’t survive this,” the scarred man said lazily. “Your father didn’t.”

Bruce laughed through the pain. “Then,” he gasped, “I’ll do better.”

The bald man frowned. “Interesting.”

Bruce slammed his palm into the ground. “System,” he growled. “You said I could endure.”

Clarification. You can endure if you choose to abandon something. “What?” Bruce hissed.

Fear. Mercy. Attachment. Bruce’s mind flashed. His wife’s smile. Her hands were gripping his sleeve when he was arrested. Come back alive, she had whispered.

Bruce’s eyes burned. “I won’t abandon her,” he said fiercely. ''Then abandon mercy.''

Bruce’s gaze snapped to the bald man. The man tilted his head. “What are you?”

Bruce moved. The chamber shook. Bruce’s body twisted unnaturally as power surged through him, not refined, not controlled, but violent.

He grabbed the bald man’s wrist. Bones shattered. The man screamed. “What, this isn’t possible!”

Fate Plunder: Major Fragment Acquired.

Bruce felt it: strength, clarity, fury. The scarred man lunged. Bruce met him head-on. They collided. The wall cracked. The false guard backed away slowly. “He’s unstable!”

Bruce turned. “Leave,” Bruce said.

His voice didn’t sound like his own. The guard ran. The scarred man collapsed, unconscious. Only Tian remained.

Bruce stood there, breathing heavily, blood dripping from his nose. “You used me,” Bruce said.

“Yes,” Tian admitted.

Bruce took a step forward. “And you survived,” Tian added. “Which means the prison just made a mistake.”

The symbols on the walls flickered erratically. Sirens blared for the first time. “What mistake?” Bruce demanded.

Tian smiled grimly. “It woke up something it can no longer suppress.”

Bruce looked at his trembling hands. He felt it now. The prison wasn’t holding inmates. It was holding monsters. And he was becoming one.

Trial One: Incomplete. Meridian Reforging - Partial Success.

Bruce exhaled slowly. “Then tell me,” he said quietly, eyes burning, “how many more secrets this place is hiding.”

Tian met his gaze. “All of them,” he replied.

Far above, cameras shattered. Deep beneath Blackstone Prison, something ancient shifted, and for the first time in decades… It smiled.