CORE

In vast spaces of The Kingdom, and in the near center of it was a public diner for all of the people in The Kingdom to enjoy, although, it was unusually empty and quiet, understandable, for it was a busy day today.

There were only about 4 tables filled out of the 20 that were there, and of those 4 was Justice, who did not wish to order anything but rather just wanted a place where he could peacefully ponder.

"...The magic I infused into Hero's aura earlier..." Justice thought, staring at the hardwood table as he rested his head on his right hand.

"Should alert me if he were in a near-death experience," Justice then smiled lightly as he looked up to see the diner lights before taking a sharp breath.

"Still, is it irresponsible of me to leave him alone? Ah, perhaps... But would it be good for me to constantly carry him to victory, with no room for improvement left? Not at all, plus, I suppose I should be the one to deal with those knights..." Justice said to himself, thinking as he tapped on his forehead a few times.

"Now that I think about it, shouldn't they have found me by then from my magical presence-?" Justice thought, until suddenly, the door to the diner kicked wide open, surprising what little company it had within, while Justice sighed in clear annoyance.

"Speak of the devil," Justice stood up, releasing his disguise as his body turned back to a bright, flaming yellow as he stared down the three Special Division Knights who had arrived to execute him for good, he then ripped off the cloak that was on him, as he looked at it for a moment.

"Surrender and we could possibly spare you," One of the three knights spoke as their body was covered in a geo-like magic.

"What if I choose the former-?" Justice said as he swiftly dodged a near point-blank magic arrow made out of pure poison and acid it shot the wall, which corroded in a matter of seconds before being reduced to a sticky, moldy substance.

"That answers that," Justice spoke, shrugging his arms before suddenly jumping on one of the tables, and dashing towards the Special Knights who were caught off-guard by Justice's speed, to say the least.

And the moment Justice got in front of them, he grabbed all of them with a large arm made out of light magic before pushing them out of the diner, in which they all got back on their footing, stabilizing their balance as they looked at Justice, who stepped out of the hole in the wall.

He stood idly while the special knights got in their stances, their magical auras becoming present to Justice who only took a deep breath in response.

"I'll pay for the damages of this place once I'm done with you three," Justice spoke, stretching his arms.

But then Justice stopped for a moment, looking around, the place he was in, seemed rather familiar.

"Ah, right..."

"This was that blacksmith's place, huh?" Justice's face turned gloomy as he took a deep breath.

Back within The Castle...

Hero burst up through the 76th floor, it took a while but he was getting closer, and while he did so, he was sensing a large magical presence up above, which he could not help but be attracted to, as it was clearly that of a Guardian's.

Although, before Hero jumped up to the 77th floor, he took this time to rest, lying down near a pillar, along the way he had fought numerous of those Special Knights, which slowly but surely started to drain not only his magic but his stamina as well.

The back of his head dropped on the ground, while he simultaneously let out a deep groan as he covered his face with his head.

"...52 of them," Hero spoke before sitting back up, and looking over to the pillar next to him he then rotated his lower body, resting his back on the pillar while he sat upright as he closed his eyes.

However, just as he was about to fall asleep, he was suddenly woken up by a strange rumbling that was supposedly happening outside The Castle, he quickly got up, put his hands on the concrete wall, and then turned it into ice using his magic, severing a hole through it as he used it to take a look on what was happening.

Though Hero was unpleasantly surprised as the moment he looked out, he saw a Special Knight suddenly get thrown at the small hole in his ice wall by something he couldn't see, but that did not matter now as the ice wall shattered while the Special Knight broke in, rolling across the ground as Hero immediately recovered the wall, fixing it using his own ice magic as to not blow his cover.

Swiftly careening his body around, he slid on an ice path to where the Special Knight landed as they awoke and hastily backflipped out of the way, viewing Hero as a major threat, thinking they intended to attack him.

"You! Your one of those-!" The Special Knight spoke in a strained tone as they summoned a large array of wood-like magic from their back they all charged at Hero, who flipped into the air, avoiding all of them precisely as he grabbed onto them, freezing them before shattering them to bits.

Upon seeing this, the Special Knight ought to go for a more offensive attack, but this was cut short as Hero suddenly appeared in front of them with great speed and precision, before turning their outer body into ice.

"Lights out," Hero said, taking a few steps back before spinning around and sending a devastating kick to their stomach, shattering the outer layer of ice as blood escaped their mouth before being sent flying all the way to the end of the hallway he and Hero were in, crashing into a wall as they were knocked unconscious.

"This is starting to irritate me a bit," Hero remarked, taking a deep breath to compose himself as he looked over to the wall they had crashed into, walking over to it in curiosity as he sought to find out who or what threw them in.

As he peaked into the small hole in the wall, he noticed a familiar face fighting off what seemed to be an endless horde of Knights and Special Knights, both on the ground and in the sky.

"...Justice? You really are just a risky bastard," Hero said, slightly snickering as he raised an eyebrow, smirking proudly as he was just about ready to jump in and help Justice.

"But..." Hero thought, stopping just before he was about to crash through the wall.

"If I do so, my cover will be blown, Justice would have come to my side by now, and yet he's fighting off all the knights... This is a part of his plan, he is trying to buy time," Hero said, looking up at the ceiling as his body charged up with magical energy.

"I will not let his efforts be in vain again," Hero said as he put nearly all of his magic into flying to the top floor, no longer worrying about any other knights that would come his way, Special or Normal.

But as Hero flew up, everything suddenly turned dark, his body froze as he was floating amidst a black-white void to which he couldn't even turn his neck, he could only move his eyes.

"You leave him to do your work?" A very familiar, deep disembodied voice spoke.

"...You have grown,"

"Yet you have weakened,"

"Beyond your goal, what else is it that you wish to achieve?"

"Nothing,"

"All you do now is nothing,"

"What you do amounts to nothing,"

"You are merely..."

"A puppet,"

Everything turned back to normal as Hero burst into the 77th floor, however, due to his abrupt pause in that moment, he fell to the ground, unable to land carefully as what that voice said rang through his ears.

"A puppet..?" Hero said, his eyes narrowing on the ground as he could just barely see his non-existent reflection through the red carpet floor.

"...I digress, and if that were the case..." Hero stood up, dusting himself off as he took a deep breath.

"I'll pull my own strings,"

...

Justice blitzed across the sky, crushing and slamming away every Special Knight that was in his way, and as he flew back to the ground, he was suddenly bombarded by yet another horde of them.

At this moment, he forcefully slowed down his vision, his eyes darting across the location as his face was more serious than before.

"254 Knights, 124 Special Knights, 6 unevacuated civilians in the area... That's fine by me!" Justice thought, grinning as he sped up his senses once more, looking over to a random spot as he jumped up and slid down across the horde of knights and special knights, mowing them down like grass as he kicked and punched almost every single one of them down as if he was breakdancing.

"When was the last time I felt a sensation like this?" Justice thought, smiling through it all as he continued to slay each and every one of the knights in the present area before they could even blink.

"The last time..."

...

Across the large forest expanse of Area 4, sat Justice in the middle of it all, hundreds of bodies of knights he laid on, but it was not the knights of Area 4, but rather, they seemed to have come from REDACTED.

"You seem to have riled up quite the attention," The Hunter spoke, stepping into the area where Justice had done his 'dirty work' which seemed to have ended not too long ago.

"I'm quite famous I could say, so that's only natural," Justice said in a smug tone as he raised his hand to the sun above.

"The question is how long will that fame last until you fade into obscurity?" The Hunter questioned as he walked up the mountain of corpses.

"It already is, I'm simply holding off, just for a while longer," Justice responded, shrugging as he got up, standing at the top of the mountain of corpses.

"Is that so? Are you not worried about REDACTED, then?" The Hunter questioned as the two stood face-to-face amongst the corpse crowd.

"Trust me, I am, if it catches us, I'll be the one to take all the punishment..." Justice said, scratching the back of his head as he sighed.

"Though, if it means everyone else is safe, that wouldn't seem so bad,"

"And plus... If you've still got your reputation safe, you could continue it on in secret,"

"I am not as intelligent as you are," The Hunter responded in a rather unamused tone.

"I know, but you've got just as much drive, and perhaps that is all that is needed," Justice responded as he turned around, looking back at the sun.

"No worries, If you fail to do so, I won't be disappointed,"

...

The Hunter sat there on his throne once more, lifeless as always, although, there was just a slight sense of eagerness as they waited there, they lifted their head up, knowing that they would not be alone sooner or later.

They looked down on the marble floor beneath them, sensing an ever-so-familiar presence come upward as it stretched closer to where he was located.

"Is this your accomplice?" The Hunter spoke as they stood up from their throne, grabbing onto the handle of a sword which was sheathed at his back he then pulled it out, its sharp metal sound filling the room as the light shined down on it.

The blade was a dark red color, its aura full of bloodlust and hunger, yet at the same time, tamed by its one true host.

"I will see if you are worthy enough to replace me," The Hunter spoke, getting into a wide stance as Hero crashed through the floor they two locked eyes almost immediately while Hero was still in the air, and yet in spite of how serious the situation is, there was no amount of hatred or resent in their eyes.

There was only a primal instinct...

Called 'curiosity'.

"Come... Young warrior," The Hunter thought as he pointed his blade directly at Hero who then landed on the ground, making a thud as he fully got up, looking at The Hunter again as he narrowed his eyes.

"And show me the essence I have lost!"