CORE

Within Area 3, and this time, after all its secondary dimensions have been destroyed, there alone it would stand...

And there on the Entrance Rift Platform of Area 3, laid down two magic users, Hero, and Justice, as they were both taking a rest for a moment after nearly all their magic had been diminished.

"I sense you've awakened it? Your Inborn Magic?" Justice spoke in a casual tone.

"Yes... From what I know right now, it revolves around Ice, which should be versatile enough..." Hero replied as silence filled the void for a moment.

"I didn't think you would be teleported on here too," Hero remarked, breaking the silence as they both looked up to the sky, full of endless buildings and many a tower.

"I did not either but here we are," Justice responded as he raised his hand, waving his head from side to side.

"So, when do you think we should make our move?" Justice then sat up before stretching his arms and rolling his shoulders.

"When it finds us again, like I said there shouldn't be any innocents here given its current state, so I suppose we could rest as much as we need," Hero replied, sighing as he too got up.

"A rather wise decision, I suppose that's fair, perhaps I've gotten a bit too... Eccentric," Justice exhaled while he then laid back down on his back on the platform as Hero peered over at him, looking rather concerned and suspicious.

"What happened while you were fighting in your 'realm'?" Hero asked in a curious tone Justice was silent for just a moment as his face clearly looked unamused.

"...Things just got a bit too personal," Justice replied as he sighed.

"It's about that Area 0, right?" Hero knocked on the platform beneath, passing the time while Justice snickered as a grin grew on his face.

"Despite our short time together you know me quite well already," Justice commented.

"Perhaps I just have a knack when it comes to seeing weakness in people," Hero responded in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't even try, you are not at that level yet," Justice spoke, smugly as he got up and looked around his surroundings, trying to see if there was anything out of the ordinary.

"See anything?" Hero spoke, getting up as well as he stretched his knuckles.

"Not yet, fortunately," Justice responded as he smirked, his hand above his eyes as if he was looking for something that was several mountains away.

"You know, now that I remember, we should most likely get going, we have not searched the Rift Platform out of this place yet, we could be trapped here for an eternity for all we know," Hero said in a slightly worried yet serious tone.

"We don't have to, because it's coming right for us," Justice replied casually, as Hero's face turned into one of surprise at Justice's response.

"...Are you implying The Entity is the Rift Platform itself?" Hero said, his eyes narrowing as he could not believe it just yet.

"It's merely a hypothesis, but Inborn Magic will always mimic whatever special property or trait a user has, and since it supposedly sent us to different dimensions, and the fact we were sent back after killing it specifically, gives me quite the hunch, but, considering it's not here yet, most likely it is not aware of where it's prey may go if they somehow break out," Justice said as he made a thinking gesture while he turned over to look at Hero.

He, while still in slight disbelief of this, nevertheless, agreed to Justice's guess as it seemed most likely, and given the infinite expanse of Area 3, it would most likely be a pain to find the Rift Platform if it were to truly be there, meaning this would be their best bet, Hero thought.

"Then let's not extend things too much, so, how do we find it?" Hero questioned as he took a step forward.

"Well, we allow it to find us, and to do so? Make ourselves look obvious," Justice said, giving a smug grin as he raised his eyebrow, in which Hero slightly lowered his shoulders as he, just from instinct alone had an idea of what Justice planned to do.

Elsewhere, within Area 3...

The Entity roamed across the barren, aberrant wastelands of what was once Area 3, turned into a land of disgust and infinite remnants as it corroded what was in its path.

It felt an emotion, a mix of satisfaction, and enjoyment as it thought it had killed two newcomers that had entered Area 3, as if they had owned the place.

However, as it continued to roam, it suddenly stopped in its tracks, as it felt a sudden surge of magic, not inside, but beyond, approximately millions of lightyears away, it was quite nearby, and that magic was most definitely one worth devouring, The Entity had imagined.

But this sign became clearer as a large pillar of light erupted to where The Entity sensed the magic, as it looked up, it grew attracted to the light, its purple and white eyes turning completely white for a moment as a devilish grin grew on its face before both of the eyes turned a glitchy dark purple.

Its posture became crooked as its eyes were solely set on the magical pillar created by a user who, in The Entity's eyes, was just waiting to be devoured whole.

And so, as it dashed towards the light pillar, it let out an ear-piercing screech that shook nearly all the towers that circulated within Area 3.

However, while it did so, for a moment as it glitched, purple strings upon The Entity turned visible for a split moment.

Back at the Rift Platform amongst the cold void...

"Do you feel it, Hero?" Justice said as he stood proudly at the edge of the Rift Platform, feeling the powerful roar of the beast that would come to its trap.

"Yes, I very well do," Hero said as he clenched his fist, activating his magical aura as he was prepared for what he thought would be quite a straining fight.

"Get ready... Because this will be quite the pre-funeral," Justice said as cracked his knuckles as he sensed the devastating magical aura of the real Entity getting closer by the second.

However, as Hero prepared his Ice Magic, for some reason he felt a glitch right in front of him, and through it, he saw a strange-looking castle, oddly similar to the one he was in prior, but in less than a millisecond, it had disappeared already.

"Huh?" Hero spoke, as Justice turned to him in confusion.

"What?" Justice questioned as he raised his eyebrow.

"...It was nothing, I just felt a glitch, most likely just a part of its aura when in high amounts," Hero said as he got in a stance Justice turned back to where he felt The Entity was coming, before summoning a light trident in his hands, spinning it around as he got in a fighting stance as well.

But as the two waited patiently, they were somewhat puzzled as minutes had passed, and The Entity had still not arrived, Justice could still feel its magic coming closer, and yet... It seemed out of place at the same time.

"...Time Distortion? No, it must be something different," Justice thought as his eyes narrowed, a drop of glowing sweat falling down onto his cheek at that moment.

However out of nowhere Justice suddenly felt a surge of magic from behind, and when he quickly turned around, his eyes widened as he saw The Entity, behind Hero and about to corrupt him, it seemed like Hero had just realized it too.

"...Aura Concealment?! Then that magic prior must have been a scapegoat!" Justice then swiftly moved in a panic, piercing The Entity with his Light Trident and pushing them away from Hero, who also twisted his body around completely as he sent a full beam of ice towards The Entity, freezing them in a capsule as the attack landed.

Both Justice and Hero took a few deep breaths before they prepared to fight, for they knew it would not go down that easy.

Soon the ice shattered completely as The Entity wasted no time in its pursuit of Justice and Hero, who both dashed out of the way as The Entity landed onto the Rift Platform, which rather strangely, they were not able to glitch despite their body's properties.

At that moment Justice threw his Light Trident at The Entity, who jerked their head up and completely devoured the attack into their body, reducing it to piles of glitches.

"Fell for it!" Justice spoke, grinning while snapping his fingers and detonating the Light Trident while it was within The Entity, exploding it into light as it was blown up into pieces, in what seemed like an instant, it only regenerated the parts it had lost.

It then sent out a devastating beam of magic, as it attempted to blast through Justice and Hero, who, as expected was able to avoid the attack quite easily.

"In the realm I fought its duplicate in, I defeated it by exhausting its regeneration, and destroyed its body almost atomically," Hero said as he looked over to Justice.

"Coincidence, I defeated it by chucking a star at its body, which should have caused atomic destruction..." Justice replied as the two stared at each other for a moment, both then nodding as they had the mutual idea of what to do to beat this thing.

"Stop everything," The Entity said in a glitchy tongue as everything was soon enveloped with its magical aura, it looked as though they were attempting to send the two back to their respective realms.

"Override it!" Justice commanded as Hero quickly nodded before they both let out their magical aura, starting a Magical Aura Clash the two desperately tried to keep theirs up as the half-colored magic dome started to form above and below.

As the two stood strong, still trying their best to overtake The Entity's magical aura, Hero slowly tried to raise his hand, charging up a ball of ice magic while Justice was only focusing on fighting against the aura.

But due to the unwavering size of The Entity's magic pool, the two were bested in this match as its magic devoured the dome that trapped them within.

However, moments before this was to be, Hero shot a blast of ice magic at The Entity's face, irritating it as it leaned back, letting out a fearsome screech while the dome soon disappeared along with its magic.

As The Entity recovered, it noticed that only Hero stood before it, and without a second thought it hastily made its way to Hero, with a relentless and undying amount of bloodlust as its glitchy aura distorted the space around it further.

"Intelligence still indifferent even in reality?" Hero remarked, smiling as a beam of light suddenly shot through The Entity, causing it to glitch rapidly as its aura spread throughout its proximity, with Hero dashing back to get to a safer distance before hurling out multiple shards of ice towards them.

The ice shards pierced through The Entity, the ice spreading across their body as it froze those areas in place, making it virtually impossible for The Entity to move given its iced joints.

"...The same tactic as I did," Hero said as he raised his hand once more, summoning a large wall of ice in front of The Entity as Justice suddenly rammed through them with both of his legs, crashing them into the wall of ice it shattered, however, the shards quickly grew and linked together, freezing The Entity in what was practically an ice cube.

"...Thank you..." The Entity uttered in a weak tone as its voice had grown less distorted, but still it was far too quiet for Justice and Hero to hear in the heat of that moment.

"My vaporization with his atomic freezing... You're done for!" Justice grinned confidently as he sent a large beam of light at The Entity, completely destroying not only the cage of ice but The Entity itself as its body broke and was vaporized under the mixed attack of the duo.

And so as the magic particles settled, Justice and Hero looked on in relief, as they had defeated the real Entity, with this mind, they took a well-earned deep breath of ease

"Now we should be transported out of here in just a bit-" Justice said, before suddenly stopping in the middle of his sentence as he and Hero felt another magical presence entering their vicinity, this time, far larger than that of The Entity, in that instance it felt as though they were completely paralyzed.

As they looked to their right, they noticed a large, spherical portal, and what stepped out of it was a completely void-black man in a suit and fedora, their body and clothing being outlined by a dead white color.

"...I'm surprised, really," the man said as their voice echoed throughout.

"Who is this guy? Justice does not seem to know him, but the fact his magical aura is that large..." Hero thought as he clenched his fist, his hand being enveloped by ice magic.

"Suggests that he is the real deal of this place," Justice thought as he nervously smirked.

"I did not think you would both last even being in those realms, but I am glad to say I was proven wrong..." the man spoke as he applauded generously.

"...Now, with that confirmed,"

"Are you both ready to be my next marionettes?" The Puppeteer spoke, their voice echoing louder as the remaining particles of The Entity were pulled to him while being latched on by several purple strings, Justice attempted to stop them however it was too late as they were completely absorbed within The Puppeteer.

"Not even a single moment of rest in this world, eh?" Both Hero and Justice thought at that moment as they amped up their magical auras around halfway, for they knew they could not play easy this time.