CORE

"I introduce you to Area 1!" Justice yelled out proudly in front of the city as Hero walked up to him from behind, standing next to Justice as the two observed the tantamount of people living and working in the city.

"You know, I do have to thank you, I thought I was gonna be stuck in that disgustingly empty place forever! I owe you a lot, to be honest, and I'll do that by helping you, that, I've decided," Justice spoke, turning Hero as he crossed his arms.

"That is great to hear, but where are we to go from here?" Hero asked as he outstretched his arm toward the large city platforms.

"The only way, really," Justice said as he took a step forward, while Hero followed from behind as they took a deep breath.

"Forward,"

"However..."

"I have to say, Hero," Justice then stopped in his tracks as Hero stared at him from behind.

"I'll let you go alone for a while, it wouldn't be too helpful for your growth if I carried the whole thing, right?" Justice spoke, smiling as he turned his head around to look at Hero, who had a serious, yet agreeing face.

"That's fair," Hero said, nodding as he crossed his arms.

"But before you go, I ask, are there any real problems here?" Hero questioned.

"I don't know for sure but knowing this crazy world..." Justice responded as he snickered.

"The odds are at their highest,"

"I'll be your eye in the sky if that's the case, and plus, it's been a while since I've been here so I'll try and enjoy the time we have right now," Justice spoke as he then flew away at the speed of light, supposedly up to one of the skyscrapers on of the city platforms.

"Good that you will have a lot more time to relax, because I have a feeling this will take longer than I initially thought," Hero said to himself as he walked toward one of the city platforms through a pathway seemingly formed and created through magic.

"I feel my magic amplifying it... Does it only allow those with magic to walk this path?" Hero thought in curiosity as he looked down at the pathway.

"Then that would mean they are trapped," Hero then looked up at the residents of the city platform he was heading to, were they forced into this life? Or perhaps Hero was overthinking.

"Whatever it may be..."

"I'll help,"

As Hero finally stepped onto the city platform, after a concerningly long walk on the pathway, he immediately searched his surroundings, in an attempt to find anything unusual or dangerous.

But as he continued searching he stumbled upon what seemed to be a robot, specifically that of a janitor robot programmed only to clean.

"Remarkable technology this city has..." Hero commented before scouring the city once more in search of something, anything that could seem wrong.

However, little does he know, from above there seemed to be a certain individual watching him, cold and calculating as none of the civilians noticed him above.

"There is a black sheep," The individual spoke in a cold tone as they snickered, before disappearing into the rooftop.

Hero kept on walking until he could search for something wrong because, in a place like this, there most definitely is, at this rate that was the only thing in his thoughts.

But it seemed like his luck was starting to run out, as he had searched nearly everywhere and yet it amounted to nothing.

However, he then stumbled upon another individual, this time it seemed to be an office worker, they had just finished their shift and were most definitely tired as they were sitting on a bench in front of a large office complex.

But Hero could sense that there was something a lot more wrong.

"Pardon me, are you alright?' Hero said as he sat down next to the man.

"Huh? Me? Well, I'm alright, it's just that we've been having a couple of problems lately, both work and ahm... Monster-related problems, and to be honest when I say we it's really just me..." The office worker responded.

"Any way I could help, perhaps?" Hero proposed, as the office worker's eyes slightly lit up as they looked at Hero.

"A-Are you sure? I mean... This isn't something easy, this could be very ahm... Life-threatening for you, I don't want anyone to get hurt nor do I wanna be accountable for it!" The office worker said in a panicked tone.

"Worry not, I believe I could deal with it," Hero spoke in a confident tone as he sat up.

"Where is the source of your problems?" Hero questioned the office worker, who then pointed at the office complex in front of them.

"So it's just as I thought then,"

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the rooftops of the skyscrapers...

As that individual crouched down and continued to spy on Hero from above the skyscrapers, he eventually lost track of them once they had entered an office complex.

"Of all places it had to be that place, disgusting," The individual spoke as they sighed before standing up.

"Fine then, I'll go there myself then, Boss' orders anyway-" But before The Individual was to get down, he was suddenly stopped in his tracks as he noticed another person far into the distance on another rooftop.

That person was peacefully lying down on the edge of the rooftop, looking dazed and sleepy.

"Idiot, he'll be falling to death," The Agent spoke as he turned around back to the office complex.

"Now... How am I to get in there-?" Suddenly The Agent had felt wind swoosh by him as he quickly turned around.

"Hello," Justice said, waving his hand as The Agent by pure instinct immediately tried to strike Justice with a magic-imbued fist.

However, Justice quickly stepped to the side and grabbed the Agent's hand before forming a finger gun with his other hand, aiming it toward The Agent as the tip of his finger started to glow yellow.

"Wanna tell me who you are?" Justice asked in a polite tone, however, The Agent only stayed silent as they stared at Justice with a fierce look.

"Y'know I've been trapped somewhere for a really long time... I've gone low enough to the point I really won't hesitate shooting you," Justice as his grip tightened and the glow on his fingertip grew bigger.

"I'll ask again,"

"Who are you?"

Somewhere at bottom zero of the office complex, stood Hero in the middle of a large, empty office area.

It seemed to be a lot larger on the inside than on the outside, perhaps some sort of illusion. It was merely a guess.

But feeling the need to get back on track, Hero quickly looked up at the staircase before him, which led to what seemed to be a darker office area.

But as he walked over the flight of stairs, he was met with a dangerously blood-lusted aura upon stepping onto the 2nd floor.

Which looked more older yet robust, it was far larger than the first floor, and there Hero saw hundreds of workers tirelessly typing on computers, the screens were so bright Hero could not see a single word on them.

"Who are these people?" Hero asked himself, with clear concern as upon taking a closer look, he noticed that the workers had long been dead, and only being kept alive for the sole purpose of working.

"...That's no good at all," Hero said, his face toughening up as he looked elsewhere to try and find the source of these problems, but unsurprisingly, there was nothing Hero could find on the 2nd floor.

"I'm truly sorry," Hero spoke standing in front of the stairway to the 3rd floor, and with a sense of guilt as he was looking at the near-endless pile of workers who were trapped, seemingly forever.

Hero felt it was wrong to just abandon them now, he could keep on searching but he had thought that all the problems come at the highest levels.

And just where else would that highest level be than the highest floor of this office complex?

As Hero took a deep breath, he traversed the stairs while simultaneously trying to draw out magic to summon a weapon, he tried to use a smaller amount this time, which ended up working as he now had a sharp spear made out of his magic, which would for sure come in handy later on.

"It seems to be less dark here at least..." Hero said as he tightly gripped his magic spear.

But suddenly, the moment he stepped in he was blown away by a blast of purple magic, sending him crashing into some desks and finally into the wall, creating a crater in the process as he then fell to the ground.

"Seriously?" Hero spoke as he gripped his magic spear before dodging another magic blast by stepping to the side.

Hero was now able to comfortably get a closer look at what attacked him, however, it surprised him to realize that they were invisible, only some glimmers of purple light to help make out their body form, which even then was quite vague.

The Phantom let out another blast of purple magic, in which Hero summoned a shield of magic just in time to block the attack.

Hero, while keeping his shield up ran towards The Phantom, he was able to pinpoint where it was due to its purple glimmer, in which he then shoved the shield straight through The Phantom.

However, he knew that even that wouldn't be enough, so he took the extra mile and continued running forward as he could still feel The Phantom on his shield.

Running into the wall, The Phantom was then crushed to death due to being compressed by both the shield and the wall as Hero dissipated his barrier, sighing out of relief.

But just as he was about to back off, a burst of purple magic exited the creature, before heading directly toward Hero, who did not have enough time to react and was hit by this strange aura.

However, surprisingly enough, it did not hurt him, not even close.

It instead absorbed into his body.

"...Huh? What?" Hero spoke as he looked at his body, in which he felt a higher level of magic within his Core.

"Odd, do these things give power upon being killed?" Hero thought as he looked at the wall he had just run into prior.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the roofs of the skyscrapers...

Justice avoided and even blocked multiple of The Agent's blades of magic, but the two evaded each other and caught up to a safe distance.

"Is this one of those things where I have to beat you to get information?" Justice asked with an intrigued expression.

"It depends on my mood really, and right I would rather die than give you what you want," The Agent responded as Justice's grin faded away in an instant.

"Is that so?" Justice said as he suddenly in a yellow flash while The Agent was staring at him, and without him even blinking, Justice was now suddenly behind The Agent, grabbing both of their arms and restraining them from moving further.

"Are you able to consider?" Justice questioned as his strength grew by the second as The Agent struggled to break through.

However, The Agent persisted, and refused to answer anything, no matter how much Justice poked at him.

"No?" Justice said as he then raised his hand.

"Then I guess it's lights out for you, heh," Justice spoke as his hand erupted with light as The Agent stared on, sweating as they closed their eyes.