[Esper (ɛspr):
Definition: A mutation of superhumans with uncanny abilities. It is estimated that around 7% of the human population are espers.]

{GERMANY - 1/1/2025}

{MAXIMUM SECURITY ESPER SPECIFIC PRISON: HELHEIM}

I'm hungry.

The food they serve here could barely be considered pig feed.

I stared at the plastic tray in front of me, a collection of unidentifiable green, yellow and red mush in one corner, and some brown mush in the left, a small flag with the words ‘Happy New Year’ written onto it stuck inside of the mush.

I was there with my legs crossed, looking at the ‘meal’ laid out in front of me.

“I can't eat this…” I say to myself, plunging a plastic fork into the brown mush and physically recoiling at the squelching sound that had come out from it.

How long do I have left in my sentence?

It's a life sentence, I'm 24 years old, been here for 4 months, the average human can live up to 80 years normally... 56 years left then.

Not even a fraction of the way in…

I stood up, stretching my arms a bit as I walked my way to the door of the concrete prison cell, the sounds of a heavy metal chain dragging behind me. I felt a sharp tug on my neck as I stopped for a moment and looked through the iron bar window. Rows and rows of prison cells lined up right next to each other.

A few guards patrolling the area.

A decent fraction of them are probably espers.

There was basic commodities in my room. A single creaky bed, a toilet, a desk, a mirror… and that's all.

I stared at the wall behind me, a long rope of thick metal chain leading up to my neck.

I meandered my way through my cell, before deciding to check my appearance. It hadn't been long till I last checked, but what else is there to do?

A pair of black eyes met mine. Long greasy blond hair that faded to brown near my crown, a typical, almost cartoonish, white and black striped prison uniform that had frayed quite a bit, a few unflattering stains in it, all donned by a skinny and twig-like figure.

And most of all, around my neck, a heavy, thick metal collar connected to the chain.

I was probably the only one with this collar, the rest were cuffed by the feet.

However my Esper mutation was blocked with it, as well as my freedom, so it's a two in one that was more efficient for me than just having two separate cuffs.

I kept staring for a bit. It was boring being locked up in here. I wonder when I'll be let out for recreational time? Or when they'll let me take a shower.

I could use one, the last one was 5 days ago.

I mean I get why they need to bring us out for that in pairs and not just all together, if they did some idiots would find a way to stage a riot and break out of here.

Criminals with superpowers aren't really the best thing to group up. Especially when they've been locked up.

This was Helheim, the Maximum Security prison designed specifically for espers. There are around 230 people locked up in here, at least four months ago there were. Whether there's more now or not, I don't have a clue.

Due to the nature of Espers, most of them don't get caught, and the ones that do, break out easily, which is why this place was built. Criminal Espers aren't human, and as such don't have to be treated with the same dignity as humans.

They are living weapons or tools that are to be locked away for all eternity with the key destroyed via nuclear missile.

I’m not opposed to staying here till I die of old age. Sure, I'll get antsy but 56 years isn't that long in the grand scheme of things.

I just wish something interesting would happen…

*BOOM*

The floor shook violently at the sudden sound, as a red strobe light had leaked in through the bars. I jump up at the sounds of a blaring alarm that rang through my ears, as a violent screams resound throughout the corridors.

I don't even try to look outside, it's safer in here.

I heard the sound of the pressure lock of the doors to my cell open… not just me, every cell had opened.

I heard a clink as I look back and see that the lock attaching me to the wall had been turned off. It was electronic, usually so espers could be moved to a different room without having to destroy a wall or literally break the chain everytime, whilst still having them restrained.

I saw my opportunity, and so did everyone else.

Except I didn't take it. I saw a flurry of people run out of their cells, as swarms of espers ran down the corridor in front of me.

I stayed though. If I actually escape, then what? I'll be tracked, brought back and lose any chance at getting things to help pass the time like magazines and newspapers.

Guards lifted their guns and trained them out on the prisoners, as shots were fired near instantly.

I heard more screams before the sounds of esper abilities were unleashed.

The cells were specifically designed to counter an espers ability, so whilst they can still use it, it's borderline impossible to do properly. For example, placing someone with a fire related power inside of a fireproof room, or someone with a metal related power in a room full of wood.

But now that they were out of their cells, they could do whatever the hell they wanted.

It was absolute chaos to the highest degree.

I was still in my room, so I didn't get a good look but the sounds were more than enough.

It took a long time, but at the end there was quiet.

I was curious, so I decided to head out the door and survey the area a bit, as I was greeted by the sight of a variety of dead bodies across the floor.

Some burnt, some with gunshot wounds, both prisoner and guard alike.

In the corner of my eye, I spotted a girl with deep blue hair wearing a prisoners uniform coated in blood, beside her were around eleven other prisoners.

I saw as the girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before a strange rip appeared, a blue portal before her.

She seemed to be incredibly focused, probably on setting the location of the portal, before I heard a loud, deafening gunshot..

I turned to my right and saw a half dead guard, his pistol aimed at the girl before she went limp and fell forwards.

The portal had quickly destabilized, turning a pitch black color.

I felt my body get sucked in. The few prisoners beside the girl had already been forcefully pulled into it, as a few dead guards began to get dragged as well.

It seemed weak for them, but for me it was strong. Stronger than it had any right to be.

I held onto dear life, my fingers clinging to the doorframe of my cell with all my might…

But I was pitifully weak. My bony fingers failed to do anything against the forceful pull of the portal, and my grip slipped momentarily as I got launched straight into it.

I saw the portal slowly shrink in size from the outside, but it's shrinking speed was slowly increasing…

Fuck it, I'm gonna end up in there anyway, if I take too long I may be severed in half doing so.

It's better to just rush in.

I stopped fighting the pull and ran towards it.

It was now half the size it was before, but twice as powerful.

I kept up my mad dash, going full speed towards it.

I managed to get close enough to jump, entering through the portal just before it could close fully, if not for how light I was, I may have lost a leg in the process…

However, I had a much more pressing issue.

”AHHHHHHHHH!

That was the fact I was falling.

“That's not very good…” I murmur to myself.

Not very good at all.

It seems that I am going to die.

I looked around for any other prisoners, but I only spotted two, the limp body of the girl who formed the portal below me, and a bulky tall bald prisoner covered in tattoos and with a deep burn scar across their eye.

They were also falling.

”AHHHHHHHHH!

“I wonder where this is?” I think aloud, looking over to see a large mountain sized cliff, a strange castle jutting out from the sheer edge, a town below it.

How high up am I? I can see quite the distance away, meaning it isn't exactly close to the ground.

Wind was rushing at my face, the chain behind me creating a chinking noise that didn't stop.

I wonder if it'll hurt when I reach the ground…

I doubt it'll be longer than a minute or two till I do so. I could possibly survive if I got to that girl's body, but that's only if I didn't have this chain on me.

The principle behind limiting my ability is incredibly simple, yet just as effective. That's why I got a basic cell.

”AHHHHHHHHH!

How long is this going to take?

I've been falling for about… 40ish seconds?

The ground is getting closer, so it's not like something weird has happened.

Huh? What's that?

My eyes dart to the side, as I see a strange, bright blur of rainbow move through the air at impossible speeds.

[0]

There was another one as well, but it was less rainbow and more just a striped pattern of blues and purples.

[0]

Living creatures, huh? Espers with some kind of flight ability I presume. Quite speedy, aren't they?

I spread out my limbs, trying to increase my surface area as much as possible in order to subsequently increase my drag and slow me down.

The rainbow blur managed to reach me, grabbing under my arms.

“TRY AND CATCH THE OTHER ONE!” I hear a voice behind my head yell, as we begin to move towards the carcass of the girl that brought me here.

The cacophony of noise from my chains falling behind me, grabbed my attention as I reached behind me and took it, wrapping it up a bit to make sure that it didn't interfere with the esper who had saved me.

“No need,” I looked over at the girl with a numb expression.

[1635]

[...]

The numbers above her head had faded away.

“She's already dead, just let her drop,” I say, as I hear the voice stutter out a wild scream.

“W-WHAT!? D-doesn't matter, just catch her!” At her words I just sighed. We were slowly zeroing in on her, it wasn't long before I ended up in arms reach, as I held her with all my might, which wasn't much.

I heard the feminine voice grunt in effort as we gradually slowed down to the floor.

I was let go a few feet off the floor, straight into the centre of a bustling town.

I dropped the body, it was still warm, and blood now coated my hands from her bullet wound.

I turned over her body and looked at the wound. Straight through the lung, she died a dog's death.

It's fine, she deserved it.

I finally looked over at my saviour, a light sky blue equine creature with technicolor hair, deep purple, borderline red, eyes and a pair of wings, panting heavily in exhaustion. Makes sense, she just carried two humans to safety.

An esper mutation? I'm not one to judge, I also have one after all.

I examined my surroundings…

No, it's not just her. Every creature in this place was equine in nature.

Siblings usually have similar Monoliths and mutations, but an entire city full of people with the same monolith was completely unheard of…

A city full of Espers in itself was something that didn't exist on Earth. If it did, then it would be much smaller than this.

Every… creature here had frozen in shock, the sight of a dead body wasn't really a common occurrence.

And then they ran. Every single one of them booked it, fleeing into buildings and locking the doors, scrambling away from the scene as best they could.

Not that strange, but I didn't really care.

I had a more important matter to attend to.

An Esper from Helheim was released into their city. Won't be long before somebody else dies.

I turned my head to the side, ignoring the blue pegasus esper who had been staring at the body unresponsive.

I need to find the prisoner before there are any casualties…

It wasn't long before I did that though, as they landed shortly after close-by.

We landed first because we were racing down to catch the girl.

Another equine was carrying the burly man, struggling to do so very well. This time with a violet coat and a dark blue mane. A single washed out deep pink stripe going through both it and her tail. However, whilst she did have wings, she also donned a singular spiral horn on her forehead.

The man was panting for some reason, collapsing onto their knees once they touched down.

[732]

It seems I do need to kill him after all.

How frustrating, he doesn't seem like an easy target. And this collar isn't helping…

Espers are multitudes stronger than humans. That is an undeniable truth, but I'm incredibly weak compared to the average Esper.

Not because of my Monolith, it's just I'm… malnourished.

After the prisoner had finally regained his bearings, he began to examine the area.

“Hah…Hah…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” he burst out laughing. Oh I recognise that voice. So that's where the screaming came from.

A grin was splayed across his face, before he reached out towards the purple pony. I saw her flinch, her eyes that were locked onto the dead woman now focused on him. But he had managed to catch her by surprise.

He was obviously aiming for her neck, but her movement had caused him to grasp onto her wings.

The air was still for a moment, before a sound broke out.

*SNAP*

Her left wing had been broken. Folding in on itself in an unnatural way, bits of bone protruding her skin, a visible jagged edge that formed an unnecessarily grotesque image.

”AAARGH”

She shrieked out in pain as she fell to the floor, the burly man properly standing up and slowly walking towards the mare, a smile that didn't even bother to hide his intentions plastered on his face.

He reached out once again, slowly this time, for her neck. Before I could even register though, I heard a thunderous boom beside me. A flash of colour blitzed its way towards the man, smashing him straight into a building behind.

As the dust settled, I viewed as the sky blue pony was standing on top of his body, her eyes gazing with pure, unbridled rage.

Before the Equine could do anything else though, the man gently placed the palm of his hand on the base of her wing.

*CRUNCH*

Her wing was rotated somehow, spun around with incredible force, the very skin around the base being shredded apart and a sharp bone poking through it.

The man's smile widened even further.

The horse fell back, as I saw something akin to despair fill her face.

“Now THATS the face I was looking for!” I hear the man scream out, raising his arm to grab her other wing.

“Don't you think that's quite a rude way to greet the beings that saved your life?” I interrupted, as he stopped, his smile slowly fading as he got up and dusted himself off the rubble.

“So what if it is? Do you know how LONG I spent cooped up in there?” He said, his grip slowly coming back on his face as moved his way to me, taking big hulking steps.

He was around 7 foot tall, much greater of a height than me at 5 '11. Despite how tall he was, his figure was laden head to toe in bulging muscles, “But now… NOW I’M FREE TO DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!”

Annoying. His face shifted again to confusion, before realisation, and then glee once more.

“Oh I know you… you're Zahlen aren't you! You think you have a chance against me? You kept on killing humans like they were flies, but you haven't fought against an Esper before have you!?” He reeled back in laughter, bending over a bit to size me up, “What was your monolith again… RIGHT! Destined Murderer! Tell me, what number do I have above my head right now, I'm curious…”

So he knows. How annoying. I stared at him confused.

“How do you know me…” I ask, as he shakes his head a bit in pride.

“Oh yeah! You were new to Helheim! After a while they give you newspapers and stuff to keep up with the events of the world. I'm a huge fan!” He says in a mocking tone, “I LOVED what you did to those two kids! 7 and 4 being carved into their foreheads made such incredible irony from what we know now!”

He slowly turned more serious, his voice now edging off friendly and into threatening, “I'll ask you nicely once more, since I'm a fan Mr Zahlen, what number do I have above my head right now?”

I looked at him with tired eyes, tilting my head a bit, “Seven Hundred and Thirty Two.”

I say as he looks up in confusion, “Really? I thought it would be higher!”

He began to let out a deep belly laugh once again, before he stopped and crouched down a bit to get eye to eye, “It's funny, why aren't you laughing?”

I glanced over at the two mares, the blue one was gritting her teeth, both of them had tears in their eyes from the pain but the blue one who had a much worse injury was trying to appear strong in front of her friend. Her legs wobbly as she had a wide stance, preparing to defend her with her life if need be. The purple one, however, was just confused. Frightened, in pain and confused.

Destined Murderer. ‘My’ Monolith. A few words that describe my very essence, the entirety of my being. All espers have one, and it's the root of their power. The longer your Monolith, the weaker it is, as your essence is less condensed within it.

It lets me see numbers above the heads of living creatures.

These numbers are the amount of people that being is destined to kill within their lifespan. If they aren't inhibited by someone at the very least.

I don't know his Monolith… this is risky.

But I can't let someone with such a high number roam free.

It would be against my morals as a human.

I don't have a weapon, and he severely outclassed me in all aspects. He's underestimating me, meaning he's going to be sloppy.

I take a single glance down at the chain attached to my neck.

I can work with that.

I take a deep breath and prepare myself.

I see his shoulders shift, as I prepare to dodge.

His palm was outstretched as he reached out for my neck, a habit I've observed from him.

Espers are much too reliant on their abilities and natural physiology, meaning that they usually have sloppy fighting skills.

His attacks were telegraphed. They were fast, sure, but I could read his actions.

I try and maneuver myself as fast as I could, as he let out another attack.

I could read this one as well, it wasn't too hard.

I kick up some dust from the ground into his eyes before ducking it, moving forwards and giving him a knee to the groin.

I heard him yelp out in pain as he fell to his knees. I took the opportunity, getting my way behind him before taking the thick iron chain of my collar and strangling him with it.

No matter how strong he was physically, or how powerful his monolith, he still needed to breathe.

I was straddled onto his back, using every ounce of power in my body to try and choke him out.

”GRAAH!” I heard him shout as he grabbed onto the chain and yanked his torso forwards, sending me flying.

I realised what he was trying to do midway as I released my grip on the chain and dug my thumb as deep as I could into his eye.

I landed straight on my back, the air being pushed out of my lungs with incredible force, before the sound of metal hitting metal resounded across the empty street.

I looked to see my chain snapped in half…

It was a thick, heavy chain, specially designed for espers. The only beings that could destroy it were Espers with a monolith relating to physical strength.

From what I've observed, that wasn't what he had…

I'm not sure what he had.

He backed off a bit, gaining a bit of distance to recover a bit.

Thankfully, that also allowed me time to recover. No matter how much I was weakened from malnutrition, I was still an esper. My durability was much higher than most of my weight class, plus I had managed to turn onto my arm a bit to lessen the force straight into my spine.

I slowly got up. My nose was bleeding now. I wiped it with my hand and got ready to get back into the fight.

He was also ready, as he swung back his arm and launched it forwards.

He was too far to reach me… Why is he-

My thoughts were stopped as I moved my head to the side, dodging what appeared to be a stone moving towards me at inhuman speeds.

His left eye was bleeding profusely, I must've done some damage. His depth perception is absolutely demolished, what is he trying to accomplish with this?

“B-BEHIND YOU!” I hear the blue pony yell, as I turn to see the rock mere centimetres from my face.

I flinch, trying to get out of the way.

But it was too late.

*DINK*

A wall of semi-translucent purple appeared in front of me, blocking the rock before it fizzled out. I saw the purple pony look visibly strained, sweat running down her forehead as she let go of the barrier.

There wasn't enough time to question this.

I need to kill him.

I turned forwards to see him hurling even more stones at me, four of them to be exact. Most of them missed, and the ones that didn't I was able to dodge with minimal effort.

Yet they returned again, coming in from behind.

How is he doing that…?

Is his monolith related to redirecting trajectories?

I just about managed to get out of the way of it, before I saw it.

Whilst the three stones continued their path forwards, they spun.

…

The Magnus Effect!

The stones rush forward and rotates on an axis perpendicular to the direction of motion, causing one side of the stone to go against the flow of the wind and the other to with. Because of friction on the stone’s surface, air is dragged around the stone, before being stopped by the air flow at the other side that DIDNT catch any air due to it moving against the flow.

The net result causes the air to flow in one direction, and due to Newton's law it creates an opposite and equal force that pushes it in that direction!

But the rotational speed needed for that to happen to the stone so much that it curves backwards is insane, impossible to pull off even by an esper's insane physical ability…

Which means that his monolith is based around ROTATION!

His ability must have some kind of limit… from what I've seen, he's refrained from punches, only using grabs and palm strikes, meaning his ability can only probably be utilized when the palm of his hand is touching an object. Based on the damages from my collar's chain and the two equines’s, the range of rotation is limited to the palm as well.

I dashed forwards preparing to end his life…

Wait a second.

Three stones out in front of me. But didn't he throw four?

I suddenly felt the side of my head get smashed in, as I was knocked off balance and collapsed to the floor.

My eyes drifted to the pebble that was lying a bit away from my feet, still spinning slightly, its form unnaturally rounded.

He took use of this opportunity, lunging forwards and pulling me up by my hair.

My head was hazy, I could barely move my body the way I wanted. That hit must've rattled my brain a fair bit…

He held me up before smiling.

“This was fun, Zahlen, maybe if you weren't weakened I would've lost. Try and build up some muscle in your next life. Or pray to God that you get good Monolith,” He mocked, before bringing his hand to my collar.

I hear the lock snap, before falling to the ground.

”Finally… it was getting a bit stuffy in there…” my mouth was sealed shut. Closed without a doubt, gritting it's teeth in pain from the recoil of the impact from before, meaning that I was unable to speak. My other mouth, however, was, ”Thanks for the meal~”

I felt my neck snap backwards, a long red slimy tongue darting out and wrapping around the burly man's bald head. Before he could do anything, I brought it towards the mouth on my neck. The mouth was large, spanning the entirety of my neck apart from a small bit of flesh at the back.

*CRUNCH*

Sitting lonely on a bloodstained desk was a single sheet of paper.

Most of it was unreadable due to the red liquid, but there were a few words that somebody could actually read.

[NAME: MICHEAL RICHTER

MONOLITH: GLUTTONY

ABILITY: ALLOWS TO USE THE MONOLITHS OF ANY ESPER WHOSE BRAIN HE DEVOURS]

Author's Note

Hi! This is my first ever story, was wondering if any of you had any feedback on this! Heavily inspired by JJBA, Kengan Ashura, Baki and various other Manga.