"Get in!"

A guard tossed Kiernan inside the showers, and they then ripped his clothes apart, leaving him completely exposed.

He didn't change his expression even in the slightest.

In that moment, a priest came and tossed some chalk-like substance at him, covering him in white powder.

The priest then raised his hand slowly, as though drawing unseen threads in the air. Fingers spread, then curved inward.

A gesture both deliberate and trembling with reverence.

His right hand traced a circle, thumb brushing the air. The left followed, crossing the motion with quiet symmetry.

His open palm then hovered in front of him, and he softly whispered.

"Please, Father of the Heavens, cleanse this evil soul with your divine light, and let these walls of entrapment be torn down in your name."

The priest then drew a cross across his chest, with a bible in hand, and then he backed away from the dirty man.

The guards came in with hoses, pumped them full of water, and sprayed Kiernan down with such force that it sent him crashing against the wall.

"Urgh…"

Kiernan shielded his face with his arms, his lips trembling, and he truly felt weak.

Around his neck, there was a heavy-looking collar attached to a chain. It was the Ability Negating Collar.

When he tried to catch a glimpse at his martial soul, it looked as if there were chains wrapped around his soul, binding it down.

It went against the laws of nature.

The martial soul wasn't designed to be held down by such chains. It was meant to be free. Thus, this whole Ability Negating Collar went against what the God intended!

Thus, when Kiernan looked at the priest, he only thought of one thing:

'Hypocrite!'

After they finished splashing him down, he was dragged out of the showers, and they gave him a new set of clothes.

Prison clothes.

Black and white stripes.

Some of the white powder landed in his eyes, and it was burning quite a bit, but he still managed to see someone that didn't belong in the prison in the hallway.

A dark-furred wolf was standing a distance away.

He was invisible to everyone except Kiernan.

"Growl…"

Fen's eyes looked furious as he looked at the prison guards treating his father like that, and he wanted to rip their throats out.

It didn't matter that Kiernan looked different. He still had the same smell, which Fen loved very much.

'Calm down, Fen…'

Kiernan talked inside his mind, but he knew that Fen could understand him still, even without speaking out loud.

Fen's expression mellowed out, and he followed behind them.

"I will be giving you now a prison tour. We are currently at the first level. It's where you will never come again, as it's where the prison guards and Prison Wardens live at."

Daemon said.

"…Never again? I haven't been sentenced yet…"

Kiernan said weakly.

"Hahaha! If the rumors are true of your evil deeds, you will never again see the outside world, Captain Jack."

Daemon said with a grin.

"…"

Kiernan sighed.

They then entered the elevator and went down to the second floor.

When the elevator door opened, they started walking down the second floor, which didn't look all that interesting.

Grayish walls with hundreds of prison cells lined up in rows, three floors high.

As a security measure, a single elevator wouldn't be able to go up or down more than one floor.

Thus, they had to walk through the entire second floor to another elevator that would then take them to the third floor and repeat.

The prisoners peeked out of their cells and didn't dare to make a sound.

This level was for Martial Recruit criminals, and they all looked rather weak.

These people weren't martial artists. They couldn't advance further in the Martial Arts Pathway because of that.

It didn't stop them from committing crimes, but because of their lack of training, they were quickly apprehended by the navy.

They were mostly terrorizing small islands and villages that didn't really have any martial artists.

Most of them were going to get out in a year or two, as they weren't sentenced harshly because they were weak, and their crimes weren't severe.

Soon enough, they reached the elevator and went down to the third floor.

The third floor was for Martial Soldiers, and this time around, the floor was slightly different, as it was slightly damp.

It was almost like it had just rained on the floor, but it was just the leaking pipes overhead.

Wet-sounding coughs and the occasional sneeze echoed throughout the hallway.

Some of the prisoners sounded really sick. So sick that they couldn't even leave their beds.

"SILENCE!"

In that moment, Daemon roared.

The sick prisoners covered their mouths with their hands and tried to swallow their coughs, but it was hard, causing tears to stream down their faces.

'I did some research, and there have been multiple protests on the harsh conditions of the Downed Prison.

'Mostly by the family of inmates.

'The released inmates would tell them the harsh conditions they've been under, and it is also common for inmates to die inside prison due to these conditions.

'The mourning families would often demand justice and accountability from prison officials, but to no avail.'

Kiernan thought.

They took another elevator and descended to the fourth level.

It was rather chilling in this level, as if someone had left windows open for too long, allowing the cold air to seep in and linger.

The prisoners didn't have any warm clothes and were trembling.

Kiernan had noticed one thing.

The prisoners of the lower levels didn't have collars around their necks.

'I guess they cannot afford to make thousands of these collars. It is not a surprise. Making these collars must be expensive.'

They soon made their way to the fifth level, and it was where Martial Champions were.

It was a level with a strange atmosphere. The prison cells were inside walls of stone, as if this level was inside a mountain.

The prisoners looked at him, eyeing him sharply, and after seeing that they were taking him over to the elevator, they averted their gazes.

There was a heated competition between prisoners of the same level, and since he was going to a different level, they didn't have to worry about him.

And now, they took the elevator and arrived at the sixth level…

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