As Felix and the other three came out of the house, they glanced at each other and didn't try interacting much.
Instead, they turned towards the gray-robed man who motioned them to follow him.
Walking away, the man guided the four of them through the puzzling streets of the underworld all the way to the Arena grounds.
After reaching there, the gray-robed man nodded one last time at them and disappeared within the crowd.
The four of them were left there on their own, so they took out their parchment paper to look into the information of their battles.
Glancing through, Felix found that he had his first battle in about twenty minutes with an opponent whose name or alias was Butcher. Then he had a break of a long one whole hour, after which he had his second battle.
The same was true with the third battle, giving him much time to rest and prepare for the fight.
Looking up, he saw that the other three were also having no problem with the arrangements of their battles.
The four of them had not talked with each other at all from the beginning, and knowing that they were on the same boat with the same enemy to defeat, Felix decided it wouldn't be bad to have a talk.
Stepping ahead, he called out to them in a friendly yet low tone.
"Hey guys, how's your battle schedule looking? I got my first battle in about twenty minutes. What about yours?"
Seeing him talk to them, the three of them appeared a little surprised as they gave each other a glance.
The man who wore the swordsman outfit Falcon briefly looked at the other two and answered Felix.
"Mine's different, I have my first battle in about 30 minutes. It seems he gave us battles with different timings. Well, getting us matches at the same time wouldn't be that easy."
Falcon then turned to the other two for them to answer.
Bellard the huge guy looked at his paper before telling his schedule.
"Umm you're right. For me, the first battle starts in about 10 minutes it seems. Then I have a hour break before the other battles start."
Felix and Falcon nodded as they had similar schedule, and they turned to the only woman in their group.
Crystal contemplated what she should say and decided to keep it short.
"My first battle starts in 40 minutes.", she spoke in a soft and low voice, not saying more than necessary.
Everyone nodded and then Falcon said garning their attention.
"So, as I've been around here in the underworld arena for a long time, why don't I show you guys around and give some useful information before we move to Bellard's Arena as his battle starts the first in ten minutes."
Felix didn't mind with that and actually wanted to know what this man knew about the various information about the underworld.
Bellard and Crystal also nodded at that as they agreed with him.
The three of them then followed behind Falcon as he used his expertise and knowledge from his experience in this shady place to give them a more clear picture of the underworld.
As they walked around in the Arena grounds, Falcon muttered in a low voice as the rest listened attentively.
"Just to make it clear, but what I'm about to say may not be the truth because there has never been something called 'truth' in the whole underworld."
"The battle begins!"
The scarred man decided to strike first and dashed forward shouting out loud, his eyes bulging out from the rush and adrenaline.
But his efforts were met with a heavy metal surface.
"Swoosh"
A large hammer came flying through the wind, and hit right on the man's chest.
"Khhugh!"
His body bent weirdly with his spine backwards, the man spurted out blood and flew out like a sack of meat, then landing and rolling at the corner of the stage.
Bellard flicked away some of the blood from his hammer and kept it back, before glancing at his opponent to check if he stands up or not.
He waited a few seconds, and seeing no reaction he turned to the referee and nodded at him.
The referee couldn't do anything else than swinging the different flag to end the battle.
"And the winner is Bellard!!"
The quiet crowd that remained in their seats rose up at the mighty show of power and cheered up at watching such a quick end of the battle.
Behind the crowd, Felix smiled strangely watching someone else win a match so quickly, as he earlier thought his case was rare.
Falcon seemed to have noticed his smile as he shook his head and said with a narrowed eyes.
"You're surprised at that? Well you shouldn't be, as Mr.Dealer chose us knowing we're the best of the zero rank in the entire Arena here."
Felix nodded hearing his words and realised he was teammates with the strongest of the zero ranks in the entire underworld. NovelFire-article
The three of them waited there for a bit, and saw Bellard coming out from the arena's path.
"You did good, Bellard!"
"You're very strong!"
Both the guys praised Bellard making him scratch the back of his head with an awkward grin.
"Ahaha it's not much. That guy was just weak.", he replied trying to sound humble but it was the truth.
Some cannon fodder from the dark guild's grunt was not that much of an opponent to them.
After a bit of chat, Falcon clapped his hands and pointed to the other arenas.
"Let's get going. Phantom got the next battle in a few minutes."
He then turned around with the rest following behind, and started walking toward the arena chosen for Felix's battle as if he knew the entire place like the back of his hand.
While they moved, Crystal stayed at the back of the group and eyed Bellard with her calculating eyes, recalling his fight.
'Hmm not bad....'