Reality Quest: Lookism

(Sunday, November 5, 2020 – 1:20 PM)

The corridor was silent.

Fifty-five bodies lay scattered across the floor, motionless, groaning, or completely unconscious. Some twitched, their bodies still registering the pain long after their minds had shut down. Others simply lay still, broken in ways they didn't yet understand.

Gun stood in the center of it all.

His prison uniform was immaculate, not a single wrinkle, not a tear, not a drop of blood staining the fabric.

The cigarette in his mouth still burned steadily with the smoke curling lazily around his face. He took another slow drag, exhaling through his nose.

In his right hand, he held one of the last conscious inmates by the neck, lifting him slightly off the ground. The guy feet scraped against the floor as he coughed violently, his face turning red from the pressure around his throat.

Gun's grip was firm but controlled. He wasn't trying to kill him.

"Where..." Gun asked calmly, "..is the strongest inmate?"

The inmate struggled to speak with his hands gripping Gun's wrist, trying and failing to pry himself free. His vision swam, his lungs burning. He had seen monsters before, but this… this wasn't normal.

Gun squeezed slightly, just enough to remind him of how little control he had.

The inmate gasped, desperate to get the words out.

"T-The… The Solitary Confinement Block!!" he coughed violently with his head lolling forward. "T-They say… the strongest… he's there."

Gun's expression didn't change. He waited as the inmate gasped for breath speaking hoarsely. "Rumors say… he ruled the prison… two years ago… no one could stop him…"

Gun's grip loosened slightly, just enough for the man to speak clearly.

"Where is it?"

The inmate's eyes were hazy, but fear cut through his dazed state.

"Past Section C… underground…" he wheezed. "That's where they keep the ones who kill here... locked away…"

Gun nodded once.

Then, without a word, he let go.

The inmate crumpled to the ground, clutching his throat, gasping for air. He didn't even attempt to get up. His body refused to move.

Gun turned, stepping over the unconscious bodies as if they were nothing more than obstacles in his path.

The cigarette remained balanced between his lips with the faint embers glowing softly.

Without breaking stride, he took another deep drag having already set his mind. "Underground, huh?"

His reverse eyes gleamed as he spoke. "Let's see if he's still worth anything."

With that, Gun walked toward Section C, toward the underground, toward the excitement.

(1:40 PM)

Jin stepped through the iron doors of Section B with his gaze sweeping across the dimly lit hall.

The scene before him was almost comical.

Inmates were gearing up like it was a battlefield, wrapping their fists with torn cloth, grabbing makeshift weapons, sharpening metal scraps, and even duct-taping magazines to their forearms like improvised armor.

A few were hyping each other up, muttering about taking over the section, about making sure no one like Jin or Gun ruled over them.

Then-

"THERE HE IS!"

A random inmate locked eyes with Jin as his face twisted with recognition and fear before he shouted and pointed.

Every head in the hall snapped toward Jin.

The room fell into a frozen silence for half a second, then it exploded.

A wave of bodies surged forward, fists raised and makeshift weapons swinging.

Jin's eyes moved past them toward the far end of the hall.

A single inmate hadn't moved.

He sat calmly against the far wall, long iron chains wrapped loosely around his hands and coiled onto the ground. His right eye was dull gray with a deep scar running through it like a permanent reminder of an old battle.

He lifted his head, staring directly at Jin.

'That must be the weapon guy.' Jin thought lazily.

Then, without urgency, he turned his attention back to the rushing crowd.

The first inmate swung a broken table leg.

Jin took a single step forward.

The blue glow of Booster flickered faintly around him as his hand casually moved and in an instant the attacker's body twisted unnaturally with his feet lifting off the ground as he was smoothly flipped over Jin's shoulder.

CRASH!

He slammed into the floor, unconscious before he even realized what had happened.

Another prisoner lunged.

Jin sidestepped slightly, his hand lightly brushing against the man's wrist.

That was all it took.

The inmate's entire body rotated mid-air, his legs whipping over his head before he crashed into a stack of chairs.

Jin continued walking forward with his hands still in his pockets, exhaling slowly through his nose.

From the outside, it looked like he wasn't even moving.

But the faint blue aura around him, paired with Gun's beginner-level Aikido techniques, made it so that every enemy who came within arm's reach found themselves suddenly upside down, sideways, or spiraling into furniture.

One by one, they were redirected and thrown effortlessly, smashing into walls, tables, and the cold concrete floor.

To the watching inmates, it was terrifying.

Jin wasn't even fighting.

He was simply walking.

And yet, no one could touch him as shockwaves appeared around him in a circle before bodies flew in every direction.

Within moments, the once chaotic hallway was filled with unconscious prisoners, groaning and piled up like discarded trash.

Jin tilted his head, stretching his neck slightly before flicking his gaze back toward the man with the chains.

The inmate had risen to his feet cracking his neck with an indifferent expression, Jin could see that the guy could track his movements as he saw the man eyes follow his hands.

He grabbed the chains in his hands, slowly spinning them in a loose, casual motion as he stepped forward.

Jin took in the scene, his posture, the way he moved, the calm focus in his single working eye.

'I bet his reaction speed and movement are high.'

Jin smiled, rolling his shoulders.

Jin's eyes tracked the chainsman carefully, but before he could fully analyze his stance.

He vanished.

Jin's pupils contracted slightly before immediately following the man movements 'Behind!'

A faint whirring sound-

Then, behind him.

Jin pivoted slightly, his ears catching the subtle clink of metal shifting through the air. The chains whipped forward like a serpent, cutting through space toward the after image's neck.

'He's not just fast. He's efficient.'

Still in motion, Jin launched a back roundhouse kick with his foot cutting through the air toward the guy's ribs.

Then, he saw it.

The inmate's single working eye flashed blue.

His body twisted slightly with his elbow lowering to intercept the kick, aiming to shatter Jin's shin mid-motion.

'Speed Mastery.'

Jin's mind sharpened with his breathing instinctively adjusting, his muscles becoming more active as every fiber of his body compressed with oxygen pumping through his bloodstream at an unnatural rate.

Jin used Recoilless Strike without mana since the booster skill locked every skill use during It's duration.

BOOM!

His leg blurred.

The sheer force behind the kick crushed past the inmate's ribcage with his them caving slightly from the impact.

His body was sent flying, crashing into the concrete wall at the end of the hall.

Dust and chunks of debris exploded outward from the impact.

Jin narrowed his eyes.

Something was off.

'He… shifted mid-air.'

Replaying the last moment in his mind, Jin realized, just before impact, the inmate had subtly moved his waist sideways, delaying when Jin's kick connected.

A tiny shift. But just enough.

By changing the timing, he had negated a massive portion of the force.

Jin's mind worked as he thought 'He's good, he's able to control his body at insane speeds.'

The rubble trembled.

Jin's breath steadied as his weight shifted immediately and a split-second later a blur of silver shot through the smoke.

Jin's upper body bent backward with his spine arching effortlessly as the chain sliced through his afterimage.

The wind pressure alone from the whip-like attack blasted the dust away.

Jin flipped back, landing smoothly.

Then, from the smoke he emerged.

The inmate walked out, rolling his shoulders with the chains spinning idly around his fingers, his good eye locked onto Jin.

----

How was it? I tried to make a small exchange with both parties understanding the minimum level of the opponent.