For a moment, a disturbing silence hung between Tito and the prison officer. The latter had a face that shifted in redness.
"Your teeth grinded into Smith's neck when he was a rope, killing him on the spot. Now you took Ian from me, just for what reason?!"
"I killed him because it was fun," Tito said in a cruel voice that vibrated in the marksman's eyes.
The muscular prison guard discarded his bow, throwing it aside. His fist clenched into a fist the size of an elephant's leg.
Crack–!
The half-alien cracked part of the floor and charged to perform a straight jab at the inmate. Tito's eyes widened as he couldn't believe the speed at which the prison guard was coming at him.
Twisting his body, Tito managed to flip in the air, abandoning his sword in the process. In that instant, the prison guard seized the sword, aiming to stab the inmate as he fell.
Sensing the movement with his heightened eyes, Tito knew that death was coming for him if he didn't sacrifice something.
Doing the impossible, Tito swayed his body to send himself crashing to the floor with a loud thud. Ignoring the pain, he rolled to the side to avoid the sword coming at him.
Clang–!
The sword clashed with the floor, sending sparks flying. Using this chance, Tito noticed the prison guard's hollow eyes, which resembled a dark puddle.
"Something is off," Tito muttered to himself as he remained stagnant on the ground, allowing the sword to stab at his heart. "Something is really off."
Despite having a bleeding heart, he found himself able to move properly without any disturbances. This confirmed something he had in mind the moment he started fighting.
'We are stuck in an illusion!'
With that thought in mind, he looked in the direction he last saw Layla, but he couldn't even hear her heartbeat anywhere.
He didn't know how he fell into the illusion, but he knew he had to break it if he wanted to have a chance to save Layla.
Clearing his mind, he ignored everything around him, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a winding forest with towering trees.
His nose picked up the smell of damp soil coming from the wet grass he was lying on. The sun was blocked by the canopy of the trees.
Getting up, all he could see was an endless forest ahead of him, with no beginning or end in sight. He was the only being that breathed oxygen, both day and night; even insects were nowhere to be seen in this forest.
'I don't know how many stages there are in this illusion, but I can tell that this second stage, if I must say, is all about making a person go crazy. However, that is already useless for mentally ill people like me,' Tito thought with a confident smirk.
This illusion was created by the Galactic Prison system to make one experience the wrath of their inner demons. People need others around them to suppress their inner demons.
However, Tito was different. He was someone who had spent most of his life alone. Something like this was nothing compared to the years he spent in solitude.
Climbing onto a tree branch, Tito made himself comfortable and stared at the sun hidden among the leaves with an empty mind.
Days turned into weeks. The weeks turned into months, and those months turned into years. All four seasons rotated around him.
For nearly an eternity, Tito observed the moon and sun, knowing their wonders and their indifference. He was extremely bored by this, as he assumed that not even a minute passed in the real world. His unaging body was testament to that.
Not to mention he was not getting hungry at all. He was not Jesus Christ, who didn't live on bread alone.
Centuries came and went until Tito blinked for just a second. The next moment he opened his eyes, he found himself in a dimly lit room that had better lighting than his cell.
The room was shaped like a cube with thin glass walls that reflected his image. However, he was confident that no matter what he tried, he would not break the walls.
Looking at the other entity that stood face to face with him in a white suit, Tito felt anger boiling within him to the point he clenched his fists until they bled.
The other man smiled with crossed arms. "Hello, original. It is so nice to meet you again. I'm sure life has been difficult for you without me."
Tito took deep breaths of the serene air around him to calm himself from the urge to punch the man who looked similar to him. After all, this was one of the illusions created by the Galactic Prison.
They had failed to break him before, and he was sure they couldn't now.
He maintained an expressionless look. "Hey, clone of mine. I'm sure hell was pleasant for you—if clones have a hell in the first place."
...
On the first floor, the X cell block, to be specific, blood flew everywhere as Encender didn't hesitate to chop down the invisible prison guards. It was either them or her.
Rajah, on the other hand, had put on a respiratory mask. He was the type who mostly thought about buns and tatas, so he wasn't a strategic person like Tito, but he was confident in his little plan.
"Encender, catch!" The fallen prince yelled at the top of his lungs.
Encender caught one of the respiratory masks Layla had stolen for Rajah to avoid the rotting stench on part of the first floor.
Before Encender could understand what was happening, the pervert threw a gas bomb he picked up in the weaponry cube to the ground.
Pffuu–!
The smoke being released was full of carbon monoxide, so Encender had no choice but to put on the mask.
She failed to see its function, as she didn't hear any prison guards coughing; they were protected by their battle suits.
Even so, to Rajah, this was a golden opportunity. The smoke shaped the invisible prison guards' bodies, allowing him to tell where they were.
Click...
He loaded his guns, ready for some action.