BAM!
With a grunt of effort, the Blugori guard heaved Kai through the air. He crashed onto the frozen floor of a massive cell, the impact jarring his bones. He slid several feet across a sheet of sheer ice before coming to a stop.
The cell door slammed shut behind him with a deafening clang that echoed in the unnatural silence of the frozen hellscape. This was a whole different world from the upper levels. The gate alone was over ten meters high, a colossal grid of metal bars. Each bar was thicker than a man's thigh, coated in a thick layer of frost and ice, looking infinitely more solid than the flimsy doors on Level 1.
The ground was a solid sheet of ice, reflecting the dim light with a dead, grey sheen. Even as the Bluegori had dragged him into the entrance of Level 5, a fine layer of white frost had instantly formed on his skin, a stark contrast to the angry red burns he'd received in the sterilization chamber.
First, he was boiled alive in the searing heat of Level 4.
Now, he was thrown into the absolute zero of Level 5, the Freezing Hell.
A strange, almost pleasurable shiver ran through him. The intense cold was a shock to his system, but it was a clean, sharp pain, a welcome change from the oppressive, suffocating inferno he had just endured. It felt like a trial, and his body was already screaming its defiance.
He pushed himself up, his breath pluming in front of him like smoke. He wasn't alone.
Scattered around the enormous cell were seven or eight other prisoners. Each wore the same black-and-white striped uniform, their bodies covered in a permanent layer of frost. Some were about his height, slumped against the walls in poses of utter defeat. Others were massive, towering figures who looked like giants from a forgotten age. But the cold had humbled them all.
His sudden arrival stirred the stagnant air of despair. A few heads lifted slowly, their eyes dull but curious.
"A new guy?"
"Hey, newbie. What's your bounty?"
"Are you a fresh catch? Tell us what's happening in the outside world."
The questions came in tired, raspy voices, the prisoners hungry for any scrap of news, any distraction from the endless, grinding misery of their existence. In a place where everyone was a certified monster with a bounty of over one hundred million, your price tag was your identity.
"I don't have a bounty," Kai answered.
It was the simple truth, but in this place, it sounded like a lie. A collective, cynical silence fell over the group.
"Sure, kid. If you don't want to say, just say so."
"No bounty? In Level 5?"
"He's lying. Forget it."
The brief flicker of interest died as quickly as it had appeared. The prisoners retreated back into their own private worlds of suffering. The silence returned, thicker than before, broken only by the howl of the wind outside and a quiet, mournful whisper from a corner.
"Another one died."
Kai followed the prisoner's gaze. The conditions here were brutal beyond imagination. The temperature was so low that any food they were given would freeze into a rock-hard block instantly. Most of the prisoners had given up. They sat perfectly still on the ice, conserving every last calorie, every spark of warmth, quietly waiting for death to claim them. To move was to burn energy. To burn energy was to feel hunger. And hunger in the Freezing Hell was a death sentence.
His eyes scanned the cell, taking in the scene. One by one, he saw them, slumped figures covered in ice, unwilling to speak, unwilling to move. They were statues of despair.
Then his eyes landed on something in the far corner. It was a true ice sculpture, or so he thought at first. It depicted a man, over three meters tall, crouched down in a posture of defeat. The detail was incredible, every muscle, every strand of hair, perfectly preserved in the ice.
'That's… not a sculpture.'
The horrifying realization hit him like a physical blow.
It was a man. A prisoner.
He had been frozen solid, a permanent monument to the hopelessness of this place.
…
Three days later.
"One thousand, one hundred and eleven!"
"One thousand, one hundred and twelve!"
"One thousand, one hundred and thirteen!"
The sounds of strained counting and heavy breathing echoed softly within the cell.
"Nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine!"
"Ten thousand!"
With a final, explosive grunt, Kai lowered his immense weight to the ground. He stood shirtless, his skin glowing with a faint red hue despite the sub-zero temperature. Steam billowed from his body, creating a small cloud around him. His makeshift weight was the three-meter-tall frozen prisoner, a solid block of ice and flesh that had to weigh at least half a ton.
This was his third day in the Freezing Hell.
For the first day, the other prisoners had offered him their weary, cynical advice.
"It's useless, you know."
"What's the point of training?"
"You think getting stronger will help you escape Impel Down? No one escapes."
"You should save your energy, kid. You'll need it."
Kai had ignored every word. He was not like them. He would not sit and wait to become another ice statue in this forgotten corner of the world. He simply continued his brutal routine, his focus absolute.
Eventually, they fell silent. Now, they just watched him, their dead eyes following his relentless movements. For them, his tireless struggle was just a bit of theater, a final, foolish act before the inevitable end. It was something to watch while they waited to die.
But for Kai, it was everything.
With the harsh environment pushing his body to its absolute limits and his hundred-fold training multiplier, he could feel the power surging through him. In just three days, the progress was explosive. He felt himself growing stronger not just every day, but with every passing hour. It was the same incredible feeling he'd had when he first began his journey, a constant, tangible sense of growth. Every lift, every push-up, every squat was forging him into something new, something stronger.
There was just one problem.
A sharp, gnawing pain twisted in his gut. After three days of non-stop, high-intensity training with no food, he was starving. He could feel his energy reserves finally beginning to run dry.
He knew that prisoners on Level 5 were sometimes fed, either before being released or before their execution. But the deliveries were infrequent, and the bread and water they received were frozen solid, barely enough to sustain life, let alone fuel the furnace of his training.
BAM!
He slammed a fist into the ground. The top layer of ice shattered, breaking away to reveal the dark, indestructible stone of the prison floor beneath. Breaking through the floor here, like he had on Level 1, was impossible. He knew that. He wasn't trying to escape. Not yet.
He was just getting a tool.
He picked up a large, sharp shard of the broken ice. He spent several minutes carefully chipping and grinding it against the stone floor, his hands working with practiced precision. Slowly, the rough chunk of ice began to take shape, forming the elegant, deadly curve of a crude katana. It was a temporary blade, but it would serve its purpose.
With the ice sword in hand, Kai walked to the edge of the cell, right next to the massive bars. He took a deep breath, then pressed the sharpened edge of the ice against his forearm and dragged it across. A thin red line appeared on his skin, and a moment later, dark crimson blood began to well up.
It dripped from his arm, one drop at a time.
Drip.
Drip.
The scarlet droplets landed on the pristine white snow, stark and vibrant against the frozen landscape. A faint, metallic scent began to diffuse into the frigid air. It was a smell that wouldn't travel far for a human.
But the wolves of Level 5 were not human. Their sense of smell was a million times stronger, able to detect the scent of blood from miles away.
He didn't have to wait long.
He thrust his bleeding arm through the wide gap in the bars, offering it up as bait. The howls of the wind were soon joined by a new sound. A low, hungry growl that grew closer with every second.
The prison-bred wolves were kept perpetually hungry, starved to the point where they would turn on each other. The smell of fresh, warm blood was a call they couldn't possibly ignore.
"Grrrrrr!"
"Awooooo!"
A pair of glowing eyes appeared in the gloom, then another, and another. Saliva dripped from their snarling maws as they stalked forward, their caution overwhelmed by ravenous hunger.
With a coordinated snarl, three of the beasts lunged at once, their jaws snapping open, aiming for the arm he had so generously offered.
'Too slow.'
In a blur of motion, Kai's left arm, the one offered as bait, whipped sideways. He caught the lead wolf across its back with a brutal swipe, the sound of its spine cracking echoing like a gunshot. Before it even hit the ground, his hand shot out, grabbing the second wolf by its throat. With a sickening crunch, he crushed its neck and, using all his strength, yanked the heavy carcass through the gap between the bars and into the cell.
At the same time, his right hand moved. The ice katana he had crafted became a deadly weapon.
Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.
He stabbed with blinding speed, killing the third wolf and two more that were leaping right behind it. They fell in a heap just outside the bars.
The sudden, violent silence was broken only by the dripping of blood. The metallic smell was ten times stronger now, thick and heavy in the frozen air. Kai looked down at the wolf carcass at his feet, then back out into the darkness where more eyes were watching.
His hunger was about to be satisfied.