Every prisoner at Fall Hill Prison had the opportunity to improve their conditions of sentence. To do so, they had to do something very simple - move to the next zone.
However, to do so, they had to defeat the Guardian - K1-Phantom from Azure Lotus, given that the prisoner didn't have his Nexus. This made the challenge much more difficult.
Thus, if the prisoner from the second floor and the Guardian were normally equal in strength, then without his Nexus, the prisoner had no chance of winning. The Nexus was an important pillar of Phantom's strength, and losing such a powerful weapon was critical.
Step. Step. Step.
A girl in a blue military suit stepped forward confidently, holding a huge black case. She had azure eyes, a firm, sharp gaze, and black hair with curls down to her chin.
She walked through the gate, looked at the prisoners, and jumped down.
The prisoners quickly moved away from her, for some of them had already been hit by her blows. Not during a duel, but when they refused to do tasks, then they regretted it greatly.
"You're the one who challenged me to a duel?" The girl asked, looking intently at Adam.
Adam nodded with a slight smile on his face.
The girl waved her hand with a serious look.
"Go away if you don't want to die."
At the same moment, all the prisoners returned to their cells, well, except for the Phantoms from the Second Floor. They had the privilege of watching the fight from above - from the best possible seats.
Then, as the prisoners closed their cells, an energy barrier appeared along the walls, left there beforehand by some powerful Phantoms so that the prisoner and Guardian wouldn't destroy the prison during the battle.
"My name is Narata, I am F-Zone Guardian, you have scored 999 points and challenged me. If you can defeat me, you'll pass to the next Zone, however, I wouldn't count on it."
Without waiting for Adam's words, Narata opened her case, revealing a massive sword that was almost as big as herself.
Narata sighed, swung the sword a few times, and got into a fighting stance. She was ready to attack at any moment.
Adam glanced at her weapon, feeling a slight envy. The fact that he didn't have a Nexus, and Narata did, affected him more than he thought.
Whoooooooooooosh.
Narata nodded with an arrogant smile.
"Sure. I am engaged to stop brave ones like you. Few people can even get me to tense up, though!"
Adam nodded understandingly, scratching the back of his head.
Then, his blank, serene gaze fell on Narata, like that of a simple man who just wanted an answer to his only question.
"In that case... Why are you so weak...?" Adam muttered, waving his hand slightly.
Narata's eyes went wide with waves of shivering throughout her body.
She as well as the rest of the prisoners sensed that Adam wasn't trying to mock or appear arrogant - he was sincere and didn't actually understand it.
"Am I weak...?" Narata muttered, her lips trembling, "Absurd! Utter nonsense! Just look at you! I only needed one series of attacks to leave dozens of wounds on your body!"
Adam glanced down at himself and pulled off his t-shirt, previously shredded by Narata's sword.
Oddly enough, there wasn't a single cut or drop of blood on his muscular body. It seemed that Narata's sword simply couldn't cut through his skin, but he dodged every attack.
"No way... Even if you dodged my sword... the water stream should have torn through your flesh! You should have taken serious damage!" Narata shouted in disbelief.
Adam shrugged.
"I'm telling you you're weak. It was enough for me to summon my Order for a second to stop your Nexus Trait. Anyway... Let's just finish this. Obviously, I should be moving on to the next zone by now, and you're just an obstacle in my way." Adam waved his hand before taking a step.
At the same moment, electric charges engulfed his legs, and after a few quick leaps, he found himself right in front of Narata. His speed became much faster, more than Narata could have expected!
His eyes were blank, staring down at Narata not as a human but as a weak monster.
His mouth hung open, letting out a cold vapor drifting over his shoulders like a calm but inevitable sign of disaster.
Crackle.
Before Narata could understand anything, Adam's fist plunged into her face, breaking her nose and knocking out several teeth, throwing her backwards for meters with a loud crack.