Step. Step. Step.
Edir stepped forward confidently, in his classic suit, keeping his hands in his pockets and raising his chin to cast an arrogant glance at his soon-to-be opponent.
"What a handsome fellow, care to keep me company? These cute boys are boring me already." A woman with crimson hair, the tips curling at her shoulders, uttered.
Then, she lowered her gaze, looking at Edir's shoes, and frowned heavily.
"Well... Even the sun has spots, doesn't it?"
Edir didn't answer anything. He just smirked and walked right up to her, towering over her and casting a shadow from his broad shoulders.
"If you were a little younger, I might even have a crush on you, but..." Edir glanced down at her exposed cleavage, "The best I can offer you is a fight. I need to fill three cells to challenge the Guardian, you know."
The woman waved her hand, releasing the attendant and taking the wine glass, slowly shaking it from side to side.
"My name is Milisa, nice to meet you, cheeky." Milisa extended her hand, but not for a handshake but for Edir to kiss her palm like a knight.
Edir narrowed his eyes, casting a menacing glare at her.
"If you don't accept my challenge to fight right now, I will burn you as a witch, along with your clothes."
At the same moment, Edir pulled his hands out of his pockets, causing them to burst into blue flames.
The wine glass that was close enough to the blue flame turned frosty, and a thin layer of ice formed on the wine.
That did not frighten Milisa at all, however. She put the glass down on the table and stood up as her eyes flashed red flames.
"You can give it a try. You want to fight a Guardian, right? Well, I doubt you can beat even me!"
Adam cast a confused gaze at them, while the other prisoners turned their attention to the imminent fight.
"Hmm? They're going to fight right here? Considering their abilities they'll destroy everything here." Adam was sure that the energy barrier that was in the other zones wouldn't be able to contain Edir and Milisa's power.
Lola shook her head.
"Don't worry. There's a special arena in the A-Zone for that."
"What? Where?" Adam turned around, trying to find the entrance to the arena, but there was nothing around.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
At the same moment, the ground shook as in the hall center, a circular platform opened up - an elevator leading to an underground arena.
"Even lower?" Adam tilted his head in confusion, "Isn't Fall Hill Prison underground? I mean, that's the risk of running into the Lower Ring, isn't it?"
Lola smiled slightly as if Adam was saying complete nonsense and acting naive.
"Well, Edir brought you here, so no wonder you don't realize where the A-Zone is."
Adam raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest with a slight frown.
Lola proceeded to explain with an intelligent look.
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"As you know, Fall Hill Prison is located underground. From one zone you go from one area to another at the same elevation, but going from B-Zone to A-Zone, you take the elevator up a level higher."
Lola looked up at the platform leading to the arena. Edir and Milisa had already stood on it, ready to descend.
"Given that there is a passageway leading to the elevator, the A-Zone is sort of diagonal from the B-Zone. Thus, the arena underneath the A-Zone is opposite the B-Zone - behind an extra solid wall several meters thick."
"I see... Well, let's see what Edir can do." Adam uttered, grabbing a soda and heading towards the platform, but...
Whoooooooosh.
The platform abruptly slid downward, closing the passage.
Adam turned around confused, looking at Lola.
He wanted to watch the fight and thought there were spectator seats downstairs.
Lola didn't answer anything, she just pointed to the floor.
Then, all around the A-Zone, several platforms opened up, revealing transparent slabs through which they could see everything that was going on in the arena.
Moreover, wide screens emerged from the walls, ready to show Edir and Milisa's fight from all angles in perfect quality so that the audience wouldn't miss a single moment.
"Agh... This is why I love my job." The ice cream seller girl smiled, placing her elbows on the table, and resting her cheeks on her hands.
"At first, I thought it was a terrible idea to sell ice cream in prison to phantom inmates, real crazy, right? Well, every day here is like a magical colosseum."
Then, she looked at Adam.
"Hey, you'll be fighting soon too, won't you?"
Adam gave her a hard stare.
"Yeah... Looks like you've been around for a while. Seen a lot of battles and probably how the Guardian fights, haven't you?"
The girl nodded with a sly smile.
"Looks like you're pretty confident in your abilities like Edir, but getting into the S-Zone won't be easy. Even if you can get three cells together, the Guardian will wipe you out."
Adam shrugged nonchalantly, causing the girl to look slightly surprised, her eyes widening.
"It's not that important since I won't be the one fighting the Guardian, he will." Adam pointed at Edir, who had already started to release his aura.
The arena was divided into two areas - so that multiple Phantoms could fight at once if necessary.
Well, right now, all attention was directed to only one area.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
Milisa's hands burst into flames as her eyes shone brightly.
She wasn't going to hold back and was ready to act in full force - using her Second Order.
A flaming sphere appeared between her palms, quickly lengthening into a fiery projectile ready to strike her opponent with one precise attack.
"Hey, what's the rush?" Edir smirked, turning his aura into something more than just blue transparent flames or an axe, "I want to show off in front of someone, so... You'll have to summon your Spirit as well. I know you're capable of it."
At the same moment, a clear silhouette of a creature of steel and metal appeared over Edir, with long claws engulfed in fire and a head like the hearth of a furnace with constantly emanating flames.
Milisa became nervous as she found it hard to breathe.
"Fine... As you wish."