He'd first thought they were continuously warping to confuse him about the destination.
But a look around had him squinting his eyes.
'This place…it's familiar'
Rubbing his head, Ezra scanned the surroundings over and over…
'Vonnamor?'
His eyes widened, shock evident.
'I'm on another continent?'
Never before did he think Niton's worst prison wasn't even in Niton.
But considering the amount of warp holes they crossed, it made sense.
Ezra slapped his head.
'Of course!'
How did I not occur to him? He met the Arcadian escapee while in Vonnamor.
At the time, the prison was destroyed, so the escapee didn't think anything of not telling him the prison's location.
Nevertheless, Ezra's smile widened.
'I never thought I'd come here so early'
His plans were to be modified once more.
At this time, Maximus was done speaking with Elisa.
"Okay, thank you for bringing him here, I'll be taking him"
Elisa nodded, meeting Ezra's eyes as Maximus opened a warp hole for himself, Ezra and Bolton, one bigger than usual.
Stepping in, he finds himself in the dark, but the place was wide and the ground was held with metal rather than wood.
Aligned from side to side in front of him were people with black clothes and masks.
Maximus and Bolton appeared right after.
Then, a man packed with muscles in an armless clothes came forth, maskless he was, pushing down his glasses to peek better at Ezra's figure.
"You must be Ezra" the man commented.
From the escapee in his past life, he knew of the man in front of him.
Head of Arcadian ward, said to be a Great Master.
"Yes" he says. Feigning ignorance "Who are you?"
"Arcadia's head ward"
Ezra nods. Looking around as it sees through the walls. 'Where is this?'
The head ward waved nonchalantly. "Don't bother trying to see through it"
Ezra turned to him without a change in expression.
"This place with top of the art equipment, like those braces"
"Oh" Ezrs raised a brow. "You know what they are?"
The head ward nodded, while assessing Ezra.
'Usually they'd be terrified…But he doesn't even seem surprised' The ward looked him over again 'Also, how can a Thirteen year old look like this?'
The dude was too tall, the head ward at his 6'1 height couldn't help comparing them even more.
Envy welled up within. 'How annoying'
"Bolton" Ezra called.
"Yes"
He raised his arm. "These braces, what was its original purpose?"
"To catch demons"
"I see"
Now he understood why he felt so restricted.
As far as he knew, there weren't any items capable of holding down grandmasters till the apocalypse.
Then again, in his state, he barely qualified as one.
"Thank you" the head ward said to Maximus and Bolton. "We'll be taking it from here"
Maximus opened a warp hole.
Nodding, Bolton and Ezra's eyes met one last time before Bolton stepped through the warp hole.
Ezra's gaze roamed Bolton's former position for a few seconds before turning to the head ward.
The head ward clapped. "Let me properly welcome you to your new home"
Ezra nodded slowly, the personnel aligned in front of him were all masters.
'They put a lot of effort into this'
Ezra was beginning to understand why no prisoner had ever escaped.
"Please follow me"
With slow steps, they went through a door.
Beyond it, a whole new structure was revealed.
Cells lined up one after another, the building was into a wall.
Ezra was amazed.
'It's just like he said'
The escapee had informed him on how the insides looked.
'Still, seeing and believing are two different things huh?'
It was coloured all black, and guards at both sides of each cell.
"I'll kill you!"
"Help me!"
"Let me out, please!"
"I want to see the sun again!"
"Monkey mask over here! Oh wait, that's all of you! Hahaha"
Several weird noises formed a cacophony of craze.
"Hehehe, what have we here?...A newcomer?!"
The noises died down immediately.
And then…
"Ehh??? It Is a newcomer!"
All hell broke loose.
"We have a new youngest!"
They began pushing their hands out their cells, prompting the guards into action, smashing the hands with black metal batons.
But that didn't stop the craze.
"Woah! Be my roommate!"
"No! Mine!
"Waaah! And he's handsome too"
All the while, Ezra and his escorts didn't stop walking.
Moreover, Ezra was observing the prisoners as they passed by.
The guards and the crazed prisoners on the first floor were weak.
Expert ranks.
Looking down from the spiralling staircase built into the wall, Ezra could smell something else.
'Demons'
Apparently, he wasn't the only one here.
"Isn't that the head ward?" Someone observed.
"Now that you mention it…aren't those the squad leaders?!"
"All of them?!"
Naturally, they knew the relative strength of the guards there, and had since been able to identify them.
So when the squad leaders-monsters in their own right-and the head ward-a monster amongst monsters-all escorted one person, they couldn't help but wonder what kind of notoriety would net such treatment.
"I wonder what he did"
Unfortunately, not everyone was blessed with common sense.
As they walked, an arm shot out a cell.
"Come here!"
Heading for Ezra.
*Snatch"
Ezra grabbed it.
And then…
Fuiim!
Red fire trailed from the hand onto the body, engulfing the prisoner.
His fire attribute was the most enhanced by his demonization.
"Ah-AHH!"
The heat permeated the surroundings followed by the shriek, silencing all other noises.
After a few seconds, the shrieking ceased, and Ezra let go of the charred arm.
Falling, it shattered on contact with the ground.
Without a word, Ezra kept walking.
The lacking demeanour of his escorts had straightened, their gaze now sharp.
'Good' he nodded within.
A few seconds later…
"I told him! That crazy long arms finally did it!"
The prisoners became rowdy again, but Ezra had descended to the lower floors.
The first floor had the weakest members and the most cells, after those, the number of cells reduced as did the rowdiness.
Now, hissing, slithering and metal scraping sounds echoed amidst the semi silent environment as Ezra walked.
Inmates occasionally peeking from the darkness of their cells.
These ones were masters, and the guards were of equal strength.
After that they descended onto a third floor, the last floor as Ezra observed.
Here, an eerie silence lay, their steps echoed as a result. It would shock many that living beings lay on this floor.
But they were, and their presences were far more enormous than all those before.
It would be difficult for Ezra to beat such people with his shattered meridians without sacrificing something in return.
A floor with only five cells, four stationed at the edges, equally far from each other, and more importantly, there were no guards.
The fifth one lay at the middle of this floor, held out with a thick chain from above and four bridges connected from each corner.
"Let me guess" Ezra said. Looking at the fifth one. "That's my cell"
"Indeed" the head ward nodded. "We built it especially for you"
Then…
"Hmm"
A thick tone arose from a cell.
The cells of the third floor didn't have open metal gates, rather completely closed with enough space for the inmate to see through.
Red eyes peeked from this one.
"I thought I was mistaken" it said. "But to think another one of my kind would be brought here"
"Ezra"
"Tell me, how are things in the outside world?"
Ezra played along. "A lot things has happened since you left, but we still stand strong and feared by the humans"
"Hmm" the eye closed, and then opened. "I see" it said, before receding into the darkness.
He lied through his teeth, though his tone was convincing enough for the demon and his guards, whose hands lay on their weapons.
After all, those in here hadn't seen sunlight since they arrived, there's nowhere the demon would tell if he was lying.
After that, Ezra's led to his cell.
Encased in metal walls was a single bed, a place to clean up and nothing else.
Stepping inside, Ezra found his abilities restricted even more.
The wards stayed at the front of his cell, watching as he sat on the ground with a lotus posture.
"We'll come tomorrow for the first sampling" the head ward said succinctly, and then left.
The doors clasped shut and Ezra found himself in darkness once again.
The echoing steps of the wards soon disappeared, eerie silence replacing it.
'So, I'm here'
If nothing else, he knew breaking out this place would not be easy.
The squad leaders would give him a tough, but he could get out of their grasp, with the head ward added in though, things were different.
Of course, coming here, he never expected to leave early.
At least a year would pass before the apocalypse.
During that time…
Ezra pulled out the ancient space ring from under his tongue, his eyes glowing.
'I'll be preparing'
He wore the ring, putting his hand to his mouth before letting out a mana stone.
His eyes lit up.
'It works'
The mana stone in his mouth confirmed it.
The restrictive runes on the cell could not inhibit the ring's function.
'Wonderful'
