Aaron entered the cafeteria and was greeted with controlled chaos. Bullets flew, and prisoners killed the monsters with their bare hands. The white linoleum floor tiles were almost completely covered with monster corpses and blood. They were no match from the prisoners’ brutality and the guards’ guns, a stark contrast to the situation upstairs.

He searched the room for Tony, the man who had given him the small piece of metal that allowed him to escape his execution. He had promised he would pay him back for his help. He always kept his promises, no matter the price. If he didn’t he’d be no better than a mindless monster.

His heart rate slowed as he activated Stealth. Among the fighting, he was practically invisible with the skill. He waded his way through the carnage; till he found Tony dancing around a goblins' attacks. He noted that the short expedition had gained him two levels in Stealth. He deactivated the skill to save SP. At most he could keep the skill going for 30 seconds; he needed to make every second count.

The old Italian man’s grey hair shook widely as he stepped out of the way of a swipe of the goblins claws. The goblin growled, then charged back at the old man. However, this time Tony didn’t just dodge. Lightning fast, he trapped the short monster's arms then picked it up like a misbehaving cat.

“Stop attacking me; I don’t want to hurt you!” He shook the monster for extra emphasis. The goblin struggled wildly in his grip, forcing him to let go of it. Tony lightly tossed the level one monster away. It tumbled to the floor, landing in a pile of dead monsters. The goblin crawled over a chicken with steel wings and growled.

“Listen to me little green man, we don’t have to fight. You can just walk away.” The goblin didn’t take his words to heart, mainly because it didn’t understand English.

Aaron sighed; what a mess. The most dangerous hitman of all time reduced to a simple pacifist. He couldn’t imagine the sequence of events that had so drastically changed Tony’s life. Nevertheless, he owed the man a debt, so he would help him.

Using the Mana he had regenerated in the Warden’s office, he fired a series of Mana Bolts at the goblin. In quick succession, each bolt hit the monster square in the chest. The poor goblins didn’t stand a chance. Whether it was skill levels or extra stat points, the skill was much stronger than it had been when he had first gotten it. The bolts glowed brighter, moved faster, and hit harder. It was turning into a legitimately dangerous spell.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt Lvl 10→11. 1 Skill Point Awarded.

Tony’s eyes followed the trail of the Mana Bolts, leading him to Aaron. He smiled. “Took you long enough.”

Aaron shrugged. “I took a detour.” He pointed at the broken form of the goblin. “You’re not mad? You seemed like you were pretty good friends with the thing.”

“No, it was getting on my nerves. Sometimes this whole not hurting people thing is a lot of work.” The hail of gunshots and screams made it hard to make out his words. Luckily, the fighting was winding down, so it was no longer oppressively loud.

“Technically, they're not people, they’re monsters.” A goblin slowly crept up behind the old man.

Tony hummed. “I guess you’re right.” From behind, a goblin pounced at Tony’s back. However, this time he was ready. This time he would fight back.

He pivoted out of the way then grabbed the goblins right arm. The monster's eyes widened in shock; it clearly hadn’t expected its attack to be evaded. With one smooth motion, Tony broke the goblin's short green arm. It shrieked in pain, but Tony wasn’t done yet. He picked the monster up by its broken arm, twirled it through the air, then smashed it into the ground head first. A quick stomp to the back of the head finished the fight.

Short, brutal, and efficient, fitting for the mafia’s most dangerous hitman. Still, Aaron had a hard time believing it. In the three weeks they had shared a cell, Tony looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly. His sudden transformation was shocking. Not that he’d ever tell Tony that; his ego would get too big. “Not bad for an old man."

Tony wiped a speck of green blood off his shirt. “I’m not old; I’m only 60,” Tony said, gesturing wildly with his hands in the way only an Italian could.

“You’re practically a senior citizen.” A stray shot shattered a light bulb, raining glass down around them. Unbothered, they continued to talk casually.

“Legally, I’m not.”

“I’m a criminal. I don’t care about the law. You have gray hair; that makes you old in my book.” A Stoneskin Gorilla crashed to the floor, shaking it slightly and signaling the end of the fighting. The humans had won.

Tony grumbled. “No respect for the older generation. Back in my day,” he stopped himself before he could continue, realizing what he was about to say would make him sound older than the dinosaurs.

Aaron smiled; it was nice to talk to Tony again. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the Warden. The stern-faced man stood among a pile of dead monsters, his usually clean-cut look disturbed by splotches of blood running down his clothes.“Everyone get back to your cells right now. If you don't comply, you will be shot.” Not a single one of the prisoners moved. The guards were low on ammo, and everyone knew it. Their threats were empty; they didn’t have enough bullets to take down all the prisoners.

The Warden raised his gun. “You have ten seconds to start moving.” Aaron ignored the Warden’s countdown. Something was wrong. Something about the air wasn’t right. He concentrated on the feeling; it reminded him of the distortions that brought the monsters into existence.

The Warden stopped counting at 5, but not for a lack of trying. Something was restricting him - stopping him from moving his mouth. The Warden wasn’t the only one immobilized; Aaron couldn’t so much as move a muscle. A complete silence swept over the cafeteria. For a moment there was peace, then disaster struck.

A glowing red heart of energy popped into existence in the center of the room. With each beat, the heart grew in size, reinforcing its structure. Slowly, the red light took physical form, transforming into a scalding heart of lava. The green blood pooled on the ground beneath it began to evaporate as the intense heat reflected off of it.

The heart rippled then slammed into the ground, completely submerging itself. Red lines of a foreign rock-like material that reeked of sulfur snaked out across the room, cracking the floor.

The walls shook as they too began to transform into the red substance. Strands of fire spontaneously popped into existence and danced through the air, converging in a central point, just above where the heart of beating lava submerged itself into the ground. The fire shimmered as it formed a tall gateway. Aaron could feel the heat from halfway across the room.

What the fuck is going on? Aaron’s instincts screamed at him to run away, but he was unable to. He couldn’t move his legs; something was gluing him to the ground.

High mana zone located. Beginning world merge…

Aaron’s mind raced; the world merge wasn’t supposed to happen for hours. Did the System lie to them?

A giant black scaled hand reached through the gateway, grabbing the flames as if they were a solid object. The scaled hand clenched then pulled itself out, revealing a monster Aaron had no hope of beating.

Cervom | Warrior: Level 18

The monster towered over them, a good foot above the tallest man in the room. It turned to face them, allowing Aaron to get a good look at it. Attached to its deer-like head was a set of thick white antlers that looked like they could cut through stone. Even though it had the face of an animal, it stood on two legs. It was covered in thick black fur everywhere except for its hands and face. The monster made no biological sense; it was completely alien in nature.

The monster stretched its tree trunk-sized arm out into the fiery gateway and pulled out a massive black sword. Before anyone could react, the monster leaped forward, smashing the corpse of a goblin to a pulp under its foot. It blurred through the air faster than a car, almost too fast for Aaron to track, then it stopped its charge directly behind a muscular inmate. It flicked its sword, casually wielding its immense weight.

Aaron blinked. When he opened his eyes, the prisoner was no longer in one piece. The inmate fell to the floor in two chunks, sliced in half.

As the man’s body hit the floor, the spell was broken, and Aaron was able to move once again. However, being able to move wasn’t very helpful against an enemy of the Cervom's caliber, a fact he was soon reminded of. A guard screamed and made a mad dash towards the exit. The monster’s pure white eyes widened with glee, then it once again surged forward at a high speed. Before the running man could even make it halfway to the exit, the monster had chopped off his head.

Finally, the guards took action, releasing a volley of gunshots at the monster. The low caliber rounds dug into the Alien's hide, causing it to roar in pain. However, the wounds were not fatal; the low-caliber bullets struggled to cut too deeply into the monster’s thick hide.

Before the guns could inflict too much damage, the fiery gateway shimmered once more, sending out a scorching wave of heat. The moisture was sucked out of the air, leaving his mouth parched and dry. One by one, a wave of monsters climbed out of the gateway, dimming the fire slightly. Their levels hung above their heads, a stark reminder of the difference in power.

Imp | Mage: Level 9

Immediately, the small red monsters began to turn the tables of the fight. They unleashed mighty balls of fire, scorching the guards and giving the Cervom Warrior room to move. Bright orange fire poured off the Monster's black sword, adding to the chaos. Aaron made up his mind. If a level 8 monster was able to throw him around like a ragdoll, there was no way he would willingly fight a level 18 monster that could use skills, at least for now.

He scanned the room for escape routes. There was only one. A crowd had already begun to form at the exit, pushing to escape the cafeteria. He tapped Tony on the shoulder. “Let’s go. I know a way off the island.”

“Why didn’t you start with that?”

Aaron activated Stealth, then quickly made his way to the exit. A fireball sailed over his head and into a group of inmates. The scent of burning meat motivated him to move faster.

In his haste to escape, he almost ran into an imp - keyword almost. Without any hesitation, he shot the monster till his gun clicked empty. Most of the bullets missed, but the ones that hit were enough to take it down. It seemed the Imp Mages didn’t have much in the way of defense.

Imp | Mage Level 9 Slain! 225 Exp Gained. Congratulations! Class: [Mage] has reached level 4. +1 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Recovery, +1 Defense, +2 Dexterity, +1 Agility, +2 Perception, +3 Mind, +3 Magic, +1 Spirit.

“Nice aim,” Tony said sarcastically.

Aaron rolled his eyes. He was a thief, not a sharpshooter; he should be thankful any of the bullets landed. He continued moving towards the exit, Tony close behind him. Idly, he noticed that Stealth had deactivated. Fireballs exploded all around him, but through a minor miracle, none of them came too close. The worst injury he suffered was a singed eyebrow. By the time they made it to the exit, the congestion had cleared, and they were able to easily pass through.

Prisoners and guards alike sprinted down the cold hallways of Alcatraz, away from danger, uncaring of who they had to trample over to escape. Strangely enough, the Cervom’s and Imp’s made no move to follow them out of the cafeteria. Weird.

All things considered, things could have gone worse. Of course, at that moment, things got worse. The ground shook as an earthquake tore through the prison.