CORE

"I would like to talk first, may I?" Hero questioned, slightly raising his hand as he took a step closer to The Hunter, who noticeably started to slowly lower his blade.

"30 seconds," The Hunter replied in a serious tone, clearly wanting to let the fight start.

"...I wish not for any senseless violence, but why is it that outsiders are killed on sight? As small as that may seem... That tells almost everything to me," Hero questioned.

"...And your knights' lack of care for the civilians they supposedly protect, why?"

Their old eyes narrowed from within their helmet, they were about to respond as they ever so slightly opened their mouth, but stopped themselves, keeping it shut.

"...He's being secretive about something... Furthermore, why can't I sense even a hint of magic energy from him?" Hero thought as he unknowingly lowered his head ever so slightly.

For that moment, silence filled the dark room as the dust continued to pass by, the sun had started to grow dim as The Hunter finally responded in what felt like ages...

"You're 30 seconds have been used up," The Hunter spoke in a threatening yet simultaneously composed tone as they suddenly raised their large blade, taking Hero by surprise as they quickly stepped back, narrowly dodging The Hunter's initial attack, which yielded such a high amount of speed despite how large the sword and their stature was.

As much as he wanted to hold back, sensing that there was something else to this Guardian specifically, Hero knew that this was nothing to take lightly, one wrong move and he could take quite the fatal blow, or perhaps even die.

However, while Hero was preparing for a counterattack, aiming to destroy the sword, in what felt like an instant, The Hunter suddenly twisted his wrist the opposite way, dashing his feet closer to Hero as he then swung down his blade with maximum force, leaving them no time to attack back, Hero instead summoning a wall of ice above him.

The moment the blade crashed into Hero's defense, the ice wall almost cracked under pressure, and after putting just a bit more force, it fully cracked as Hero then rolled to the side, avoiding The Hunter's attack, their Blade instead hitting the floor which rumbled the entire room they were in momentarily, before pulling it out and resting the sword on his back shoulder.

"No doubt about it... He has not even an ounce of magic energy," Hero said as he still continued to try and sense any sign of magic within The Hunter, but found nothing in the end.

“I should have an advantage with that, and yet...” Hero thought as The Hunter suddenly charged at him with ludicrous speeds, raising his sword high as Hero stood there, drinking it all in in the moment.

“...I’m the one at the disadvantage,” Hero said as he got down and slid past The Hunter, leaving a trail of ice he immediately jumped up, now behind The Hunter as he sent a magic-imbued kick to their head, but surprisingly, they were able to duck down, causing Hero to miss the attack as The Hunter burst back up and almost immediately struck Hero directly in the face, sending him flying into the nearby wall, in which Hero created an ice wall behind him to cushion the knockback, but nevertheless, he left a crater as he bounced off of it and fell to the ground.

But as if he was never attacked, Hero swiftly slid on a path of ice to the right, avoiding The Hunter who crashed into the wall using their sword, but seeing as it missed Hero, they then pulled it out.

The two shared a serious glare for a moment, before Hero raised one of his hands, forming a hand sign as he then summoned multiple waves of ice from the ground, going directly for The Hunter.

Although, in what seemed like one swift movement, The Hunter destroyed all the ice with minimal effort, this was only the 1st step to Hero's plan, and upon seeing the shards were in the air, he then reformed and conjoined them into one large ice cage, encompassing The Hunter's entire body which should trap them for a few minutes maximum, Hero thought.

"I know you can hear me, and all I ask is if we could discuss this peacefully," Hero said as he took a step closer to The Hunter, still frozen in ice.

"I may not know who you are for sure, but I really do not intend any harm just as long as you answer me-" But before he could finish, The Hunter suddenly sliced and broke through their ice cage, immediately sending out a devastating slash to Hero, who grouped up the ice shards that were a result of The Hunter breaking his cage and turned them into spikes mid-air, which pierced into their body.

However, Hero was bewildered to see the ice spikes only managed to just barely pierce through their armor and skin, they then grabbed onto the ice spikes and shattered all of them with a single swipe, but while doing this, Hero sought to go for a sneak attack as he slid across a small ice path, swiftly careening behind The Hunter as he attempted to deliver a magic-infused punch.

Although, the moment he tried to punch, he was suddenly sent flying away into the large window, crashing and breaking through it as he was thrown out of The Castle along with multiple shards of glass, the impact The Hunter had done to him was quite fatal, as Hero was close to blacking out as he, unexpectedly, shed white-colored blood from their mouth...

"I feel like no matter what I do, nothing changes,"

"Bold of me to call myself a 'hero'..."

"I can't even sway anyone's mind to the right path even just a bit,"

"...Why was I even created to be a hero in the first place?"

"Anyone else could have been better,"

"I'm fearful,"

"I don't want to die nor for anyone else to,"

"...But I wanna keep fighting,"

"I've gained too much to lose now,"

"I do not want to die..."

"...I don't want to lose,"

...

"How desperate you have become, Hero,"

"How emotionally weak you have become, such disappointment..."

"Unfortunately, you are too valuable to give up now,"

"...For this instance as a reason, I shall strengthen your growth only once,"

"Expand and use it wisely..."

"Do not disappoint,"

...

Hero suddenly woke up, feeling his energy reach new heights at a rapid pace as he found himself still falling from The Castle, each second he got closer to the ground.

Judging from his magic sense, it seems Justice took his fight somewhere else, he could no longer hear the sounds of magic clashing or any hint of magic in the area he was in, and there were no innocent lives in danger as well.

"Desperate, huh?" Hero thought as his body slowly started to release unnatural amounts of magical energy.

"...Yeah, I am..." Hero smirked as he sighed, slowly yet quickly reaching the ground.

"That's exactly right! Am I helpless, yes! But does that make me useless?! No!" Hero said before letting out a peal of laughter that was one of genuineness, a laugh directly from the essence of every bottled-up emotion felt along the journey, all let out into one unbridled hurricane of satisfaction all while he stretched out his arms as the wind wooshed by him.

"I am a disgrace to the name of 'Hero', no doubt about that," Hero stopped laughing, his smirk fading as he took a deep breath.

"...But so what? There is more I can be," Hero suddenly twisted his body around a full 180 degrees as he latched onto the nearby wall of The Castle, forming ice claws on his hands to stick to and scale the large wall that was before him as he looked upward.

Although, much to his surprise, The Hunter suddenly jumped out of the broken and exposed glass window, landing and standing upright on the wall horizontally, using his inhumane strength to stay attached to it, completely defying what is known as 'gravity' while both he and Hero exchanged yet another glare, while mostly the same, Hero had a hint of respect and admiration for the person above him.

And so, with a small yet noticeable smile on his face, he pulled his hands as he burst up The Castle, chasing The Hunter above and moving at ludicrous speeds as he left a trail of ice on the portions he scraped and scratched on with his claws.

While he continued scaling the wall, The Hunter raised his foot up, before sending it down to the ground as he crashed everything before him, creating a large amount of debris mixed in with shockwaves that charged directly at Hero.

But in response, Hero used the ice trail he left behind, breaking it into thinner pieces as they grouped up into one small hailstorm, and on Hero's command, it shot directly at every single piece of debris, destroying them while simultaneously shielding Hero from the shockwave.

"His power has increased," The Hunter thought, before stabbing his sword into the wall, keeping it on standby he then pulled out a revolver, pulled the trigger it shot out a linear beam of magic at Hero at unfathomable speeds.

However, the moment it shot out, it released a noticeable afterglow, allowing Hero to take note of the attack he then dashed to the other side of The Castle's structure as the magic beam passed by and shot down the entrance, utterly wrecking it as nothing but rubble was left as it shook the nearby zone.

The Hunter, knowing that Hero dodged the attack, began to reload his magic revolver, installing tubes of magic into it, and soon, it was ready to be shot once more.

However, the moment he tried to aim at Hero, who had gone to the left side of the castle, he was surprised to meet an ever-so-familiar face crash into and stand before him, leaving a trail of light as he held two knights by their collars in both of his hands.

"Yo, long time no see, sorry I was late to the reunion," Justice said, releasing the knights as they fell below, however, he summoned a squishy dome of magic below, negating their fall, while The Hunter looked on, smirking within their helmet, they were both irritated, yet at the same time, relieved.

"...It is of great pleasure to meet you again, old friend, however, this will be our last time meeting," The Hunter said, suddenly pulling out their magic revolver and shooting one beam of magic at Justice, who quickly dodged the attack, but as they stepped to the side, they were met by The Hunter's blade swung at them, catching them off-guard for a moment as their eyes widened, but their grin unaltered.

But in the nick of time, Justice was just barely able to separate the magic from his upper and lower half, essentially making the sword pass through him as he reconnected his body, almost losing it completely.

"I knew it, he must have been blackmailed and forced by The King... Looks like we'll have to knock some sense into you..." Justice whispered to himself as he flew back.

"...Still, I'm surprised you could be shaken like this, but who am I kidding? I wasn't able to survive for long in that hellhole either..."

"...Don't kill him... Heh, understand, Hero?" Justice muttered as Hero came careening from the sides, on an ice path he then jumped up and began to spin around at high speeds, sending multiple ice shards and tentacles at The Hunter, who quickly grasped his blade, beginning to deflect all of them with relative ease.

However, while The Hunter was busy deflecting Hero's attacks, Justice came from the sides and attempted to deliver a beam of light through a roundhouse kick, dashing towards The Hunter whose body was wide open.

But just as Justice was about to attack, The Hunter, while gripping his blade and defending against Hero swung his arm at Justice, grabbing him by the leg he then threw the rogue guardian at Hero, who had only just noticed, and because of the speed and power of the throw, they were knocked into each other, almost falling down had they not regained their balance in time.

Immediately after recovering, the two sent their own respective beams of magic, one of ice, and one of light as they rushed for The Hunter, who sheathed their blade and pulled out their Magic Revolver, and shot out two magic beams in response.

The four beams clashed, rupturing and shaking The Castle of its entirety as they continued to stay standing on its wall, albeit, struggling to do so due to the current rumbling.

"His physicality is unnatural... What can we do about that?" Hero questioned, looking over to Justice.

"What else but to overwhelm with something he does not have?" Justice responded, immediately dashing for The Hunter the moment the beams of magic finished clashing, as Hero followed from behind, albeit at a slightly slower pace.

Justice and The Hunter stood face-to-face, sharing a gaze of equal disappointment as they punched each other in the face at the same time, the force of the punch had almost knocked Justice out, but using his magic, he refreshed his mind, preventing that, and yet his body still struggled with the aftereffects of it, his knees bent to an unadvantageous position as The Hunter slowly got the better of him.

"Hero, now!" Justice yelled out as Hero sent a wave of ice spikes mixed in with small pellets of magic to both sides of The Hunter, who attempted to move out of the area of attack, but he was suddenly grabbed by Justice, who spread his magic all over their arms to make sure they would not escape.

"I've grown numb to your tricks... And the ones you use with your accomplice are no different to the ones you've used in the past," The Hunter commented as he suddenly raised his arms, lifting Justice off his feet, separating his magic arms from his own as he then began to swing him around, using him to deflect Hero's attacks, to which they took note of, and stopped the barrage of magic that was initially directed at The Hunter.

But shortly after, Justice dispersed into light, reforming behind The Hunter as he then sent a light-imbued kick, pushing them forward to Hero, who followed up with a rising pillar of ice, knocking The Hunter by the chin as they flew into the sky, and quite surely, that had started to bleed.

While in the air, just as Hero and Justice were to fly up, The Hunter swiftly pulled out two magic revolvers and began firing them at a rapid pace, forcing Justice and Hero to dodge and weave instead.

"...How many tricks does he have up his sleeve?" Hero questioned, dodging the magic lasers to which he then looked at Justice, who did the same, however, they seemed more gloomier and serious than usual, which Hero, very clearly could notice, and decipher.

"Hey, lighten up, I don't truly know what kind of relation you have with that guy, but regardless of the outcome, we can move forward," Hero said, careening over to Justice's side as he bumped into his shoulder intentionally, diverting his attention to him as he grabbed onto Hero, flying out of the current area of gunfire.

"And I'm supposed to be the optimistic comedian here," Justice sarcastically replied, smiling as his tone and mood noticeably improved immediately, but Hero knew this only increased it for a little bit, and would most likely evaporate in due time.

In the air, The Hunter continued firing magic blasts through his Revolvers, the magic fuel within them slowly dying out the more he shot them, and shortly after, they had completely run out as he latched onto the walls of his castle, facing Justice and Hero directly once again.

"How much longer do I have to fight?" The Hunter thought, staring blankly at the two as a bitter feeling entered his body.

"Especially against these two..."

"...Using this blade," The Hunter thought in a frustrated tone as his eyes peered over to his Blade from behind.

...

Within REDACTED, precisely 500 years ago, after Justice's sealing into Area 0 had been finished...

"What is it that you want, my REDACTED?" The Hunter spoke, in a tone mixed with fear and disgust, yet hid through a serious facade in the face of REDACTED.

"I wish to give you a prize, for obeying me properly and thoroughly unlike your former accomplice," REDACTED responded as they raised one of their large, grey hands which completely towered over The Hunter, whose eyes widened from behind their helmet, irritated, yet disturbed.

"Here I shall grant you a blade equal to one-hundredth of my power, to be able to make up for your pathetic lack of magic," REDACTED said, as a white orb erupted from their hands, quickly diminishing as what was left was crimson red blade, which then floated slowly over to The Hunter, who looked up, in bewilderment as they stretched out their hands.

The sword's handles rested in their palms, they gripped it tightly as they looked at it in awe and disbelief, grossly admiring its crimson-red color which released a devastating aura even The Hunter's magicless body could feel.

"...What is it that you wait for now? Begone, unless you wish to end up like those before you," REDACTED commanded, practically shooing away The Hunter who grasped onto their blade, anger, and grief of their pride spreading throughout their body, turning around as they left the REDACTED through a large, foreboding hallway.

As The Hunter walked through it, still continuing to look at the crimson blade, he heard a certain noise from the sides, as if it was intentional, but he did not bother to turn, as he already knew who had done it.

"...Do you need something, doctor?" The Hunter questioned, as The Scientist leaned and rested his back on one of the pillars in the hallway, crossing his arms as he smirked.

"Even after your partnership with him, you accepted a gift from the person you and he swore to rebel against? How the mighty have fallen," The Scientist commented, this statement, irritating The Hunter as they took another step forward.

"Going already? I suppose so, people with barbaric, magicless origins like you barely have the attention span for anything," The Scientist spoke as The Hunter took another step forward.

"...I mean, how are you still even a Guardian?" The Scientist remarked as The Hunter finally moved forward, while The Scientist took note of this, snickering.

"Ha! I suppose that struck you hard, well I should not waste my time on you any longer, I heard The Boss had one of his workers I could borrow as a test subject, now isn't he helpful? Unlike you," The Scientist spoke, snapping his fingers as he teleported out of the hallway, leaving The Hunter alone.

...

"This blade..." The Hunter thought as he unsheathed it, grabbing it tightly as he looked at it once more, as he did the first time.

"Is all that I despise," The Hunter suddenly threw his blade off The Castle, surprising both Hero and Justice who were rather confused about what this play was, not even Justice, who had known The Hunter the longest, however... There was indeed something he could pick up.

"Come, I need not such unnatural weaponry," The Hunter then took out two of his magic revolvers, and threw them off of The Castle and to the ground.

"...I will choose what I truly am," The Hunter then pulled out a regular sword, facing Justice and Hero, who stood there idle, but soon, Justice cracked a smile, not saying anything further as Hero sighed, looking at Justice as the two quickly dashed for The Hunter.

"If you want to fight truthfully despite the odds..." Justice responded as his body released high amounts of magical energy.

"Then it is our duty to give it to you, and from me, as personal thanks," Hero followed up, giving off a small grin of his own as their dash left a path of both ice and light, while The Hunter took a step back, pulling back their regular blade in a stance.

Hero struck true, sending a blast of magic to The Hunter's way, who quickly stepped to the side, however, only to be met with a beam of light Justice threw at him, but despite this, he was able to push through and block the attack, attempting to swing at Justice who flew backward in an attempt to avoid the attack.

Hero pointed a finger gun at The Hunter, before sending out a barrage of high-speed concentrated ice bullets at them, however, they were able to quickly deflect and dodge the attacks before dashing towards Hero and kicking them away, to which they blocked just in time, but the force of the attack was strong enough to still send them flying nonetheless, landing right next to Justice.

"He's performing better without those magic weapons, It's actually impressive," Hero questioned, both himself and Justice.

"...One reaches their peak the moment they allow their true nature to run wild, it can be both for the best and for the worst, Hero," Justice followed, snickering, but as they two simultaneously stepped forward, they were stopped as The Castle slowly started to rumble, they scattered their eyes across the wall they stood on, and the ground below them, and when they both, without delay, looked back at The Hunter, they were both surprised to see him holding an entire, large portion of The Castle with one hand alone, but it noticeably started to crumble under its own weight...

Beyond the walls of The Kingdom...

A large portion of the wall came crashing down amongst the forest, hundreds of small mammals and animals hopped and jumped away from the debris, as even more rubble came through from the broken wall, from a part of The Castle that was no longer.

Out from that rubble slid Hero on an icy path, standing backward as Justice caught up and flew right by him, both sustaining some damage, Hero on his arm, and Justice on his leg, but it was not fatal.

Looking back, Hero took note that the still on-coming debris would rupture the forest, and so, as he turned back, he raised both of his hands, still sliding on that icy path as he used what he left behind, crushing it into ice dust and formed it into a hailstorm between his hands, before firing it at the large rubble and freezing it of its entirety on the spot.

And to follow up, Justice formed a finger gun, sending out a concentrated beam of light which then shattered the entire Ice-Rubble structure Hero had formed, leaving nothing of the rubble and keeping what was behind and in front safe.

But came blitzing through was The Hunter, creating shockwaves through the air as they moved at a speed beyond that of sound as the ground rumbled and broke beneath them, the heavenly glory of the light above shining on their blade as they raised it, slamming it down at Hero and Justice who both dashed to the side, avoiding The Hunter's attack which split a large portion of the earth's crust beneath, creating a small ravine as a result.

Hero raised his hand, forming a large amount of his ice magic into a large hailstorm orb which rushed for The Hunter, who spun their blade, ripping it out of the ground as they then jumped high into the air to avoid the initial attack.

However, taking note of this, Justice flew up to The Hunter's level, with a smirk on his face as he appeared behind him, and despite how quickly they turned around, they were nonetheless, kicked in the face by Justice, sending them flying to the ground and directly into the hailstorm, which covered him whole as the small bits of ice shards rapidly slashed past his body, creating small cuts all and around his stature as the hailstorm slowly dissipated.

Moments before The Hunter lost consciousness from the rapid-fire attack however, they took a sharp breath, gripping their sword slightly as they spun around with it, creating high amounts of wind slashes, slicing away the bits of ice like a tornado.

"Not down just yet, huh?" Hero said, letting out a nervous smirk as he took a step back, forming a hand sign while The Hunter landed on the ground, and the moment he did so, he sped up towards Hero, outstretching his blade and attempting to decapitate him, just as Hero was about to counterattack, Justice suddenly blitzed over to him, grabbing The Hunter by his face as he rammed him across the ground.

But they did not falter, they quickly got up, grabbing Justice by the face as he then flipped both of them over, switching their places as he smashed Justice's head across the ground a few several times, causing heinous cracking in the process.

But in one-tenth of a second at that moment when The Hunter lifted his head, Justice dissipated into light, reforming behind The Hunter as he sent a lightspeed kick towards their back, causing them to choke out blood as their body was utterly decimated into the earth.

"Sorry," Justice muttered as he raised his hand, sending out a continuous beam of light, and as he started to move his arm, the beam dragged The Hunter along with it, creating mini-craters into the ground as The Hunter tried their best to block it with their blade, while they were being dragged to none other than Hero.

"Do your thing, but do it softly, will you?" Justice said, finally releasing the beam as The Hunter rolled over to Hero, before standing upright almost immediately and regaining his balance, but his back was faced directly to Hero, and realizing this, he turned around...

"Magic Ultimatum:" Hero uttered, forming a hand sign with both of his hands as The Hunter looked on, taking yet another breath as they stared at Hero with wide eyes.

"To a Wreath of Snow,"

Erupted from the ground came the multi-armed emperor of ice, its thirty arms looking down on The Hunter who shrunk back, planning to slice it into bits, but far before they could raise their blade, Hero uttered;

"Barrage," As quickly as Hero spoke, the Multi-Armed Emperor raised all its thirty hands while The Hunter decided to raise their blade up and swing it around in a circular motion, creating a wind-like protective dome as the tens of hands rained down on him at high speeds while he struggled to fend them off.

And so as his defenses weakened, he took one more breath as his arms finally grew numb...

There The Hunter was, on one knee as his sword was pierced into the ground, and stood before him were Justice and Hero, who both looked equally as tired and injured.

"...So, am I- No, are we on your good side now, old friend?" Justice questioned with a smile on his face.

Silence was the only thing Justice was met with, at least for a few seconds.

The Hunter took one last inhale of fresh air, looking up the morning, clear sky as the birds flew by, he smiled behind his helmet before staring at Justice.

"...Yes, you have..." The Hunter said, closing his eyes as suddenly, multiple black portals opened from behind, and what emerged were chains that quickly and swiftly covered The Hunter, catching Justice and Hero off-guard as they both took a step forward, in an attempt to stop what was happening.

"Don't come over here, you will only be dragged into wherever I will go after this," The Hunter warned, as Justice and Hero stopped in their place, Hero with a concerned look as Justice was far more than concerned, he had seen something like this happen before, and yet to this day, he had not known why for each and every one.

"...I vowed to The King that I would never side with you again or even mention it if I were to do so, as I did now... I would be erased from existence completely," The Hunter explained as the chains only tightened deeper as he was slowly pulled into a larger black wormhole, while Justice and Hero were both in a state of denial, should they act? Attempt to save them? But what would happen if they did so? Would they all be erased?

"Since then he has begun to control me, make me do things that go against what I wished," The Hunter said in a sincere tone as he looked over to his old friend, whose eyes only grew larger by a minute as he was trapped in silence, his magic body unmoving.

"...Hero, that was your name, yes?" The Hunter said as he just barely clung to the ground, delaying his total wipe from existence for just a bit longer as he looked over to Hero, who ever so slightly nodded.

"It must be quite the burden to carry, unable to save everyone, is it not?"

"But what can we do, really? It's impossible to save everyone from everything,"

"Although... That does not make you a bad person, does it?"

"Hm... I do not have much time left, so I suppose I should get to the point already," The Hunter said, Hero taking a slight step forward as the chains grew in power, his grip on the earth slowly becoming loose.

"Do not expect to save everyone, after all, you can only save what you can," The Hunter said.

"I'm okay with this," The Hunter thought.

"I was a disgrace to the title of 'Guardian'..."

"Without magic, without real drive..."

"...But if there was even a chance I could reset everything, even if It meant dying like this again;"

"Suffering like this again..."

"I'd gladly take that to relive it all, just for the fun times I've had, Justice," The Hunter thought one last time, closing his eyes as his feet lifted off the ground and he was pulled into the black wormhole, Justice snapped back to reality and tried to grab him in time, while Hero stood there, taking in his words.

"...Save what you can? But..." Hero thought, as he for some reason, felt like a part of him was dying before abruptly shaking his head left and right, snapping back to reality as he began to take in the gravity of the situation, there he saw Justice on the ground, frozen like a statue as his face, while not clear, was most definitely mortified.

"Justice..?" Hero questioned in a slightly worried tone as he outstretched his hand for Justice's shoulder, walking forward as he wanted to calm Justice down.

However, in that micro-instant, Justice suddenly bolted up, his magical aura doing the same, with such power to the point it felt like Hero was to be crushed, Justice's arms stretched up to the sky as he let out a rageful scream of bitterness and hate, shaking everything around him as his magic aura continued to grow further, pushing Hero back drastically as Justice was exhausting every single bit of magic in his pool down to the last nano angstrom.

Their scream echoed throughout the forest, and as Hero tried to take steps forward to calm down Justice, suddenly, he felt everything around him warp, to the point he started to feel dizzy.

"This sensation..." Hero thought as he started to black out, his last sight being of Justice.

"...A dimensional rift?!"

And so, everything turned white, as both Justice and Hero felt their physical and spiritual forms transported to another realm.

When they disappeared, the forest, the shattered and broken Castle, was now left empty.

Yet through this misfortune, the animals, the critters, the civilians...

Continued to live on, now not happy, but it was better than anything else that could have happened.