CORE

"Hello, Boss? Are you able to hear me?"

"Yes, I can,"

"I have something to report,"

"Speak,"

"Area 1 has been invaded by two intruders, they seemed to have come from The Entrance of Area 1, in other words, they have come from Area 0,"

"Interesting... So, there are exactly two intruders, you say?"

"Yes, Agent 452 has been killed by one of them, they seem to wield an uncanny ability to manipulate and create light,"

"...Ah, so it is him,"

"Who is he, Boss? Do you know him?"

"...A very, very old enemy,"

"I will deal with him alone, fret not,"

"For now, make sure he does not leave Area 1,"

"Understood, Boss,"

"I don't know why people don't notice things like this..." The Office Worker thought, sighing as they still sat down at the bench.

"Aren't people here alive and working?"

"So why don't they try and help..."

Meanwhile, back inside the Office Complex...

As Hero sat there on the stairway to the 4th floor, he patiently waited if there was to be anything else that would come and attack him.

"I need to make sure this floor is completely safe," Hero said to himself as he took a deep breath, and summoned his magical spear as he looked on at the dark office space, reminding him of something eerily similar.

As he stood there, focusing, he started to feel, almost see the magic within him, it came on him naturally, perhaps this was the effect of loneliness for too long? Even he did not know.

"...I can sense your magic," Hero said as he raised his head, standing up before swiftly turning around and slashing a Phantom that tried to sneak up on him its purple magic leaked out of it, before being absorbed into Hero.

As Hero took down the Phantom, he quickly felt more of them come into existence, their purple glimmers becoming clearer by the second as Hero could almost see their true form.

He counted how many there were at the moment that was surrounding him, it took a moment however he counted to at least 14.

"Let us make this quick," Hero said as he bravely took a step forward toward a horde of one of them.

"I have more to deal with, and after this is over, I have to tell someone good news," Hero spoke as his glowing white eyes looked as though they were illuminating his surroundings.

Immediately, Hero dashed toward the group of Phantoms, their form finally becoming clear as Hero slashed through one of them with his magical spear, killing and absorbing its magic.

He then avoided a purple magic slash from one of them, by stepping to the side he regained his balance using his other leg, spinning around and sending a devastating magic-imbued spinning kick toward the Phantom's head which sent it flying as its purple magic flew into Hero, being absorbed in the process.

Just as a Phantom tried to attack him from behind, he immediately slashed backward using his magical spear, cutting the Phantom's body in half as he absorbed its magical essence.

"3 down," Hero said as he sighed before looking at the rest of the Phantoms.

"11 more,"

Elsewhere on the rooftop of the City Platform...

"Oh, that's unfortunate, really," Justice said as he stood over the unconscious body of The Agent, but as he looked to the sky he saw what seemed to be multiple helicopters watching him.

"Stalker much? That's really concerning!" Justice said as he flew up high into the sky with the helicopters, grabbing onto one of their tails, and as he vibrated his body at lightspeeds, removing a single bit of his weight, allowing himself to go completely unnoticed.

"I think I dragged a bit too much attention, now... Should I shoot them down? I would probably bring more attention..." Justice thought as he raised a finger at one of the helicopters, which was trying to search for him as did the helicopter he was currently on.

"But I'm a nice guy," Justice thought as he decided to fly elsewhere, specifically into a certain office complex.

Meanwhile, there was a certain man on a bench, observing everything that was happening in the sky.

"That's... rare," The Office Worker thought, clearly with fear and puzzlement.

However, within the office complex...

Hero had wiped out most of the problems within the office, and all of them were Phantoms, it was quite easy work, Hero had already gotten to the 9th floor, and all he needed was 1 more floor to go and this would be done, and hopefully, the office complex would be free from whatever curse was in it as well.

As Hero sliced through and absorbed the last bit of Phantoms that were within the office, he took a deep breath before traversing up to the 10th floor.

But as he finally reached the last floor, he was surprised to see it look like an entire arena, there were no desks, monitors, or even chairs as it stretched out to what felt like an endless amount of concrete grey.

Not only that but there was a heinous amount of magical presence that felt incredibly bloodlust.

"But there's nothing here...?" Hero thought until suddenly the ground next to him erupted as a large pillar of purple magic came straight out.

Hero quickly turned around, just in time to see the pillar dissipate to reveal a more humanoid Phantom, one could say.

"What is this thing?" Hero thought as he summoned his magical spear, along with a shield.

"It seems strong, I can not underestimate it," Hero then took another step back, preparing for any type of attack.

But he was not expecting the Humanoid Phantom to teleport behind him.

"What?!" Hero said, as he felt the magical presence behind him, he immediately tried to send a hook kick to its head, but it was no use as he was blasted away by that strange purple magic.

"...Even with what I've absorbed it's stronger, well... What was I expecting...?" Hero spoke in a weak voice as he slowly got up from the ground.

"...It has more than one Core, I did not even think that was possible, but who am I to say...?" Hero said as he summoned another magical spear and shield.

"I'm only a newbie," Hero stood bravely as the Humanoid Phantom dashed toward him this time, but Hero, who was anticipating this, quickly counterattacked by slashing its torso, however, it suddenly sidestepped, avoiding Hero's attack and sending a sweep kick which caused Hero to fall to the ground.

"It's even proficient in martial arts..." Hero said, but through sheer willpower, he let go of his magical spear and shield, he balanced upside down on his hands as he retracted his legs, aiming it at the Humanoid Phantom before driving it straight into its neck, delivering a shockwave of magic as he did so.

"Nevertheless, I have the wit," Hero thought as he quickly got back on his feet, and ran toward the Humanoid Phantom, using his own magic to propel himself and avoid yet another magic blast by ducking down before sending a magical uppercut, which sent it flying upward.

But as Hero summoned his magical spear, he was met with a pleasant surprise as that Humanoid Phantom, faster than the blink of an eye was thrown to the floor by a yellow light, which reformed back into Justice.

"Hey, I see you're having fun with your new playmate," Justice spoke as he stretched his knuckles.

"Indeed," Hero replied as he took a step forward in a stance.

"Wanna try a combo?" Justice proposed as he too got in a stance, just as the Humanoid Phantom got back on its feet.

"It'd be a pleasure," Hero said as he ran towards the Humanoid Phantom, simultaneously, Justice burst into light and immediately flew behind it, as they planned to have it cornered on both sides.

Justice started it off with a kick to the head, and as it stumbled toward Hero, he sent a kick towards its stomach as Justice swept it off its legs.

As it fell to the ground, Hero jumped over it, sending an axe kick directly on its head, creating a large crater in the ground the sheer force of the attack caused the Humanoid Phantom's body to float upward for a moment.

As Hero and Justice stood side by side, they raised their arms, forming an orb of magic they then released a blast of magical energy, with their own respective colors, completely engulfing and thus killing the Humanoid Phantom.

"What were you doing here anyway?" Justice asked as he cracked his knuckles.

"I was just doing an office cleanup," Hero responded.

"Well, we have a bigger problem to clean up," Justice spoke as he turned to Hero.

"And unfortunately one I may have accidentally caused, but regardless!"

"That's not something to disregard, but there is no point in blaming someone profusely, it's better to fix the problem right away," Hero said as he walked forward.

"But how do we deal with it exactly?" Hero asked as he turned around, to Justice who made a thinking gesture.

"We commit some minor property damage and major war crimes," Justice said proudly in a hyperbolic way as he smirked at Hero, who looked rather protesting against the idea.

"Are you exaggerating or is that what your actual proposal is?" Hero asked, rather concerned.

"...It honestly depends on how this situation goes!" Justice responded, eerily ecstatic.

"Ah, can we not leave immediately using that dimensional rift technique you showed before?" Hero asked in a slightly frustrated tone.

"Well... That's not entirely how it works, you see while Cores do indeed have properties to 'distort', it is actually quite weak, that is why things called Rift Platforms exist, zones made solely to strengthen the distortion properties of a Core, which is why we can't just dip immediately," Justice explained as he shrugged his shoulders, and pointed around his finger.

"It's almost as if the numbers were rigged since the beginning," Hero remarked as his body erupted with magical energy.

"So we will just have to fight our way through this, right?" Hero questioned.

"You have the right idea, pal," Justice responded.

Outside of the Office Complex, however...

Multiple helicopters and flying agents were scouring the city in search of the two intruders, it was practically a light show for how much of them were sent, considering that the Boss knew very well the amount of danger one of them possessed.

However, up above one of the largest skyscrapers of that City Platform, stood a strange man in a suit with a mask that had a question mark symbol on it.

His arms were behind his back and his posture was straight as he looked at the chaos that was ensuing.

"Boss, we've gained some intel, The intruders are apparently hiding in one of the buildings down on 10th Street," An Agent spoke as they walked up from behind.

"I see, do find which one," The Boss responded.

"Understood," The Agent responded as they walked away.

And as The Boss watched as The City's residents erupted into panic and worry.

He alone stood calm.

"How long has it been, Justice?" The Boss asked himself.

"I can't allow you to take my control away once again, like all those years ago,"

"Speaking of..."

"For sure you would have been locked up in there for eternity, It was of The King's orders after all,"

"His orders were to be absolute... He created everything,"

"...He restricted knowledge and entrance of Area 0 for a long time, the Rift Platform of Area 1 is always being watched as a result of what you did..."

"Now, that leads to one question,"

"Who is it that you brought with you?"

"Or rather..."

"How have you brought them with you?"