Chapter 3 : Please Advise

A loud buzzing sound could be heard painfully in his ears. His heart was beating faster and faster after being silent for the entire time. At that moment, Spike’s consciousness began to return. A consciousness he thought he would never get again.

Spike woke up in a dark room. He couldn’t move his body at all. There was something holding him so that he couldn’t move freely. When he tried to move his legs, he found that all parts of his body were restrained by chains.

Spike remembered the last incident that happened to him. He had successfully fought a horde of monsters, then he was stabbed by something in the back.

Spike was supposedly dead by now. However, with what he had experienced previously, he believed that this place was able to do unimaginable things.

“You guys over there! Quickly, get me out of here!” Spike shouted loudly, even though he had no idea who was in the room.

Although he was tied up, Spike was still able to turn his head. He then realized that his iron right arm was gone. It was back into a severed arm.

The lamp was also turned on, shining down on Spike’s head in a dazzling light. He could see clearly now. A line of troops similar to a robot with one eye lit up guarding him while holding a rifle.

“Congratulations Prisoner #404 for waking up from your long sleep.”

There was a screen in front of Spike, showing a well-dressed, bespectacled man. He smiled brightly, greeting Spike as if nothing had happened to the young man before.

“You! I’m sure you are the mastermind behind all this. Quickly, get me out of here!” Spike shouted furiously.

Hearing Spike’s loud scream, the robots that were facing each other started turning their heads to face Spike.

“Calm down all of you. I’ve spent extra effort to revive him. Don’t let my efforts go to waste.” The figure replied back.

“What do you mean?!” Spike asked in confusion.

“Ah, sorry. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Hudson, I’m the head warden of this place. You are now being locked up in the Battleborn prison…”

Spike fell silent. He had never heard of a prison with such a ridiculous name before.

“Supposedly, your fight earlier wasn’t a fair fight. That arena was actually prepared as a place for your execution, but you have performed a great fight, far from our expectations. You’ve killed every Gorlocks we have…”

“I don’t care what you’re talking about. I just want to know how I can get out of this place right now!” Spike exclaimed angrily.

“You really are a straight person. Alright then, I will explain to you how to get you out of this prison,” the man answered after nodding his head once.

The screen shifted, displaying a long list of names from ranking from 1 to 250, but the names didn’t look like real names. It was more like a nickname.

“In Battleborn prison, all prisoners are sentenced to life imprisonment. There is no sentence reduction or remissions at this place. However, you can get out of this place if you’re at the top of the prisoners in this prison...”

When Spike saw the ranks, he realized something. No one had risen to rank 1 there.

“The way to rank up is by fighting the prisoners in this prison or doing the challenges that the prison regularly issues. That’s all. It’s up to you to choose which one. However, as long as this prison was built, no one has reached the top ranking…”

“Why hasn’t anyone made it to rank 1? Are they all weak?”

“When you are in the first rank, you must face the final challenge. You have to kill 50 of the prisoners under you to get there...”

Spike swallowed his saliva slowly. He was so shocked when he heard the man’s words.

“It may sound impossible, but all of our prisoners here have strange special abilities. Defeating them one by one is a tough challenge, let alone defeating all of them at once…”

“You bastard! If you had such a rule, it would be the same as if you locked everyone in here with no hope of escaping!”

Hudson laughed loudly, his laughter echoing around the room Spike was in now.

A flash of thought and an idea popped into Spike’s mind.

“What if I don’t want to fight? What if I just wanted to be alone in this place? I don’t want to waste my life in vain!” he replied to Hudson.

“Hmm… I didn’t expect the famous Spike to have such cowardly thoughts. I’m sure it’s because the Lazarus effect makes your memory get worse. Then, I want to show you something...”

The screen changed again. This time, it was like a CCTV camera in the corner of a room.

There was a girl alone there. A beautiful girl with long, elegant blonde hair. When he saw the girl’s face, Spike’s memory suddenly came back.

“Agghh!! My head! No! It’s Princess Marin! What are you going to do to her?!”

“Even though this is just a live CCTV recording from her room, why are you so hysterical like that?”

“If you or anyone else dares to touch her, I will never forgive you! She is the daughter of my boss. Low-Hats Boss! If they find out that you touched her, all of you here will be killed without a trace!”

Hudson laughed again at the threat from Spike.

“Really, do you know where this place is? Does your boss really care where you are now? If your boss cared about you so much, maybe this place would have been destroyed like you said. I know your relationship with him is not just subordinates and masters, I know that it is more than just that. From the information I heard, your child is also a girl...”

Spike gasped in shock. He was trying to break free from the shackles of the chains that bounded him. He screamed and moved aggressively when he heard what Hudson had just said earlier. However, the chains wouldn’t break by those mere movements...

While Hudson laughed, the army of robots moved around Spike, guarding him so tightly.

“You bastard! Show your face and let me rip your head off!”

“Ahahaha... I forgot to say something. Every time someone wins a Duel, the winner will receive a prize. There are two choices you can get…”

The television screen displayed two unique items.

[ Name : Augmented Titanium Exo Skeleton ]

[ Rarity : A ]

[ Ability : Increases the endurance of the muscles, accelerates the process of muscle enlargement, and speeds up bone regeneration ]

or

[ Name : Aluminum Century Knuckles ]

[ Rarity : A ]

[ Ability : Makes every target hit have a knock down effect and explosions. The amount of damage will follow the base damage of the weapon user]

Spike didn’t answer. He just kept glaring at Hudson.

“Oh... you are confused about choosing? Alright. I’ll give you the weapon that I recommend. It’s on the right. I’m sure Knuckles will be useful in your next fight.”

“I told you, I don’t want to fight!” Spike shouted again.

“Sorry, Spikes. Are you sure about your decision? Because if so, then that means that Marin will replace you in this place. Do you agree with that?”

Spikes fell silent. There was no right choice for him now.

“I swear, in the name of the god I forgot, I will find you and kill you in this place!”

“Ahahahaha. It’s good that you still remember the god you already forgot. It seems, our meeting has to end here. Guards, take him back to his cell…”