I Die to Rise: Resurrection System-Chapter 93: The Circle!

"So the plan is simple," Kurt said, leaning back in his chair. "I get myself nicked, tossed into the clink, and I find Riley. You do your thing as a fancy guest, and we leg it out of there before anyone’s the wiser."

Cassandra crossed her arms under that chest-hugging uniform, one perfect eyebrow arched, the word coming out flat. "So, winging it?"

She sounded disappointed, like he’d just suggested they storm a fortress armed with nothing but harsh language and good intentions.

"Oi, it works for me all the time, love." Kurt countered with a crooked grin. "Hasn’t failed me yet."

Cassandra studied him for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "You do have a point with the getting arrested part. A man on the inside who may or may not be able to use his abilities in a dead zone..." She paused, considering. "It just might work."

"But we need something better than pure improvisation." She stood, walked over to the table, and spread the blueprint flat across its surface.

Kurt leaned forward, elbows on the knees, eyes sharp, and studied the map properly for the first time. "I’m listening."

The Circle was an island designed to hold up to three hundred prisoners, and was divided into three concentric rings, each one more oppressive than the last. The apartment’s soft lighting turned the diagrams on the paper into something almost artistic.

Cassandra’s finger tapped the outermost ring. "The Outer Circle. Ten kilometers in diameter. Also known as the Garden."

"The Garden?" Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Sounds more like a bloody tea party than a maximum-security prison."

Cassandra’s lips curved into something cold. "If you consider flytraps bioengineered to detect and respond to movement a tea party, then sure."

She traced the perimeter of the outer ring. "Touch the wrong trunk and it releases a pollen cloud. Paralysis first. Then hallucinations that make you beg for death. The Garden was designed to be beautiful... and lethal."

Kurt leaned in closer, eyes narrowing at the detailed sketches of vegetation scattered across the blueprint. "So it’s a bloody witch’s forest."

"Focus," Cassandra said, moving her hand inward to the second ring.

She walked around the table as she spoke, her movements graceful and hypnotic in a way that made it hard for Kurt to concentrate on the map instead of her. "The Middle Ring. Also known as the Walk. That’s where the prisoners stay, and so will you if this works."

Her hips swayed slightly as she circled the table, and Kurt’s eyes followed the movement before snapping back to the blueprint.

"Three hundred sixty degrees of identical structures," Cassandra continued, gesturing at the radial symmetry of the design. "The prisoners walk in any direction, they see the same vista. The buildings are radially symmetric. Disorienting by design."

Kurt’s jaw tightened as he studied the layout. "Ah. Disorientation. Classic psychological warfare." He tapped the blueprint with one finger. "But the cells are underground, aren’t they?"

Something in Cassandra’s expression shifted as her voice warmed slightly with appreciation. "The Panopticon effect, Kurt. From any central point, security sees everything. The curvature of the Ring ensures there are no blind spots with the cameras within. Every prisoner is always visible. It’s... elegant."

He took another drag, exhaling smoke thoughtfully. "With all these fancy natural defenses, the actual manpower must be shit, right? What self-respecting powerful hunter wants to babysit a bunch of null-powered convicts in a dead zone?"

She stopped moving, turning to face him fully. "Hm." She paused, head tilting. "You’re not wrong. Most of the security are F to E-rank washouts who couldn’t cut it in real dungeons. In the dead zone, raw power means nothing. Skill, numbers, and discipline are what matter. Everyone is made... equal."

Kurt grinned. "This should be fun." And he meant it. The old familiar thrill was already humming under his skin.

He pointed at the final inner circle at the center of the map. "And this beauty in the center?"

She leaned down, both palms flat on the table, and the shift in her posture brought her cleavage into full view. The military uniform did nothing to hide her curves, and Kurt’s throat went dry for half a second before his brain caught up.

"The Eye," Cassandra said, voice dropping slightly. "That’s where you’ll find the Warden’s office. And at the very center of the Eye is where you’ll find the Hole."

She conjured an ice dagger with a flick of her wrist and stabbed it through the very center of the blueprint, the blade piercing the paper and sinking into the wooden table beneath.

"Twenty floors beneath," Cassandra continued, words slowed down as her voice took on an almost reverent quality. "The Hole is absolute darkness. Absolute silence."

"Brilliant," Kurt muttered.

Cassandra’s cheeks flushed slightly, her chin raised as pride bled into her expression. "Of course it is. The Hole was my own design. Constructed with fiberglass acoustic wedges. So quiet, you can hear your own blood flowing through your veins."

Her grin widened, something dangerous and sadistic flickering in her blue eyes. "Sixty seconds is all it takes for a person to go insane. Reserved for those who prove... resistant to the Circle’s subtler lessons."

Kurt leaned back in his chair, studying her face. "I am so turned on right now. And that uniform isn’t helping."

Cassandra’s grin immediately turned razor-sharp, and her voice dropped to something low and dangerous. "You’re so delightfully honest, Kurt."

"Is there any other way to be?" Kurt said, standing up slowly.

He took a step closer, closing the distance between them, and Cassandra didn’t move, step back or flinch. She just watched him with those cold, calculating eyes.

With Cassandra, timing was always a gamble. One wrong move and she’d freeze you solid. But he’d faced worse, and the way she looked at him now, half challenge, half invitation, made any death worth it.

Kurt leaned in, an inch away from her lips that he could feel her breath intermingle with his, and her hand came up between them. Not pushing him away. Just stopping him.

Her grin was still present, sharp and teasing, when she said, "we will put a pin on this."

She stepped past him, walking over to the counter, and poured herself a glass of non-alcoholic wine. "After we finish with that." She gestured at the blueprint with her glass.

Kurt exhaled slowly, half a laugh and half a groan escaping his mouth as he ran a hand through his hair. "The plan. Right."

She began scrolling through her device until she arrived at a picture of Riley. "Riley Richards. Burn it into your head. Because this is who you will be looking for." She pointed the screen to his face.

He looked at it for a second. Then he turned back to the table, orbiting around it now, hands stuffed in his coat pockets. "So I get myself thrown into the Circle. And there’s a fifty-fifty chance I’ll be powerless. But say I find this Riley, what then?"

Cassandra traced the rim of her glass with one finger, watching him move. "The Circle had a rehabilitation plan. Hunters are strapped with explosive collars around their necks and are sent to clear dungeons to get a reduced sentence."

Kurt’s eyebrow arched. "Had?"

"I believe it’s still done," Cassandra said, taking a sip of her wine. "But the Steins have prioritized a different, more profitable way to reduce a prisoner’s sentence. Through prisoner auctions." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Kurt stopped pacing. "I don’t like the sound of that."

Cassandra set her glass down on the counter, her expression darkening, the smile gone. "Essentially, a bunch of high-name snobs gather to bid on a prisoner. If one matches their... specific tastes, they’re allowed to purchase said prisoner for a maximum of one week. Compliance with your purchaser is ensured with the explosive collars."

She turned to face him fully. "Not sure how an explosive collar can ensure compliance in that regard, but that’s where I come in."

Kurt’s grin returned. "You purchase us?"

Cassandra sighed, picking up her glass again. "So many things will be out of our control when you go in. The plan is for you to get yourself and Riley on the next auction, which should be happening in two weeks."

"And how exactly does one get on the VIP auction menu?" he asked, already imagining the kind of trouble he’d have to stir up.

Cassandra’s lips curved into a faint smile. "That’s for you to figure out once you’re inside." She gave him a cool, challenging look that sent heat straight down his spine. "Improvise, Kurt. You’re so good at it."

Kurt laughed and walked over to the table, stubbed his cigarette out directly on the edge of her expensive marble surface and turned to face her with that devilish spark burning bright in his eyes.

"What would you do without me?" he said teasingly. Then his voice dropped shortly after as he added, "don’t tell the guild about this. Don’t need need them worrying, especially Sam."

"Hm," Cassandra’s gaze sharpened slightly, and she raised her glass in a mock toast. "I was not planning on it."

"Right then," he said, grabbing his trench coat from the back of the chair and shrugging it on. "Let’s go get ourselves arrested."