CORE

Chapter 4 - "Scrimmage"



Right outside of the office complex, there seemed to be a fairly large group of agents surrounding it, as multiple bystanders of multiple professions, but specifically and especially The Office Worker looked in confusion and concern at this sudden turn of events.

"This is the last building, correct?" Agent 221 questioned.

"Yes, and most likely where the intruders are hiding," Agent 223 replied back as they stepped closer to the entrance.

"But there is a strange magical presence that makes it hard for any normal person... Hm, the feeling is rather indescribable actually,"

"Then our best bet would be to blow this building up, one building missing won't mean anything after all," Agent 235 spoke up, however, a certain person unfortunately overheard that statement as they then rushed into the group of agents.

"Wait! You can't do that!" The Office Worker spoke in a desperate tone as nearly all of the agents there turned to him.

"And why is that?" Agent 235 questioned in a lifeless robotic tone as they crossed their arms and stepped closer to the poor worker.

"B-Because I checked earlier! There's no way anyone could be in there!" The Office Worker spoke out in a clearly nervous and defensive tone.

"It seems he's covering up for them," Agent 211 spoke up, turning to the rest of the agents before walking up to the Office Worker.

"You will be coming with us for later interrogation," Agent 211 then took out handcuffs as they forcefully made The Office Worker turn around, who tried their best to yell for help and to fight against the agent's grasp in a struggle, however, it was futile as they were able to handcuff the poor worker, and it was not just any regular handcuffs, it was magic-imbued, making them far stronger.

"If you try to break free from them it will explode, so unless you want to lose your arms, I suggest you disregard any movement," Agent 211 explained as he and the rest of the agents present turned to the office building.

As they did however, they noticed a large glimmer of light that shined throughout the interior of the building, it was so bright, to the point it was almost blinding The Agents had to look away in order to not lose their vision.

In that instance, Justice, who was grabbing Hero by the collar flew out of the office complex, dashing toward a portion of The Agents as he threw Hero at another portion of them, essentially splitting what they had to deal with individually in half.

Justice made quick work, using his speed to bounce off from The Agents one-by-one and as he did so he swung his feet up in the air, using his hands to traverse as he kicked away The Agents, looking as though he were breakdancing without a care, and despite the efforts The Agents made to fight back, using what they had, weapons, shields, bombs, they unfortunately, could not keep up with Light itself, and did not even have the time to use what they had in the first place.

Rather surprisingly, on the other side, Hero, while not as fast as Justice, was able to knock out The Agents just as quickly as he dashed around their groups with his magical aura setting off as he punched and kicked, ripping through all The Agents with ease with a serious face as their waves were knocked to the ground.

"I suppose that's done," Justice said as he crossed his arms and turned to Hero, who was walking up to a specific Office Worker as the two made eye contact.

"Y-You are actually alive!" The Office Worke exclaimed in surprise as Hero silently grabbed their handcuffs, and sensing the magic within them, quickly absorbed it before snapping the handcuffs in half.

"You're free, and so is your office, be swell," Hero spoke to the Office Worker whose eyes widened as they sighed out of relief before Hero walked away.

"Thank you! I don't know how I can repay you but thank you!" The Office Worker spoke out, with Hero stopping in his tracks for a moment before walking again, even though the worker did not get a clear answer, he knew very well what message the being of darkness was trying to convey.

"Well, looks like you did something nice," Justice commented, smirking and raising his eyelid as he grabbed Hero by the arm and got ready to take off.

"It was merely what he wanted, and what anyone would want," Hero responded as the two flew up to one of the skyscrapers of the city, in almost an instant, the two landed on a high, soaring roof as they looked over the entire city.

As Justice and Hero walked closer to the ledge, viewing the city more clearer, they started to move their heads left and right in search of something.

"We are looking for that Rift Platform, correct?" Hero asked for confirmation as looked left and right, as he and Justice shifted down and up to avoid being spotted by the airships and helicopters, which were starting to group up into one spot after seeing the knocked-out Agents.

"Yeah, that's our ticket out," Justice replied.

"...I see," Hero responded in a quiet tone as he continued searching the city from above, as he made a realization.

"...But do we have to leave immediately, Justice?" Hero questioned, Justice stopped searching for a moment to turn and look at Hero.

"Eh? What do you mean by that-?" Justice then stopped in the middle of his sentence, as he soon realized what Hero was implying.

"Ah, I see..." Justice said before turning to look at the concrete ground before him as his smile faded away.

"My apologies for the suddenness, if it is too much I will try and do it myself-" However, Hero was quickly stopped as Justice then started to release quite the laughter.

"Did I even say yes or no yet?" Justice said, his grin as wide as a desert as he snickered.

"And my very obvious answer is yes! I wish to set this city free... Especially from his control,"

Hero's eyes slightly widened for a moment before returning to a serious face as he sighed.

"I was beginning to think you were doing this for something else," Hero commented.

"I am, but of course, that does not mean the need for prosperity and freedom is out of the equation," Justice replied, surprising Hero for a moment before they quickly composed themselves.

"We do not have to hide anymore then," Hero spoke as he stood up.

"Well if your resolve tells you to do one thing, then do it I suppose," Justice responded as the two simultaneously put their feet over the ledge, prepared to jump off and take on whatever was in store for them.

Meanwhile, down in the city, precisely at the location Justice and Hero had fought beforehand...

"It looks like they escaped, try and locate them," Agent 554 spoke as he was riding on one of the airships.

"Understood," A few other agents spoke as they flew away on their vehicles in search of Hero and Justice across the wide city.

However, their search was a lot shorter than expected, as nearly every one of the airships and helicopters present noticed the two jump off the skyscraper, was it a trap, or were they trying to commit suicide right now?

But stopping to watch it unfold was their biggest mistake, as a large flash of light erupted from one of them, so bright to the point it almost covered the entire skyscraper along with a fair portion of the city, causing most of The Agents to lose control on their vehicles, almost falling to the ground in the process.

"They've been located, attack immediately-!" One of the agents commanded through the installed radio, however, they were suddenly blasted down by a beam of light as the large shine quickly dissipated.

Hero suddenly was thrown at one of the helicopters, his magical aura erupting into a large area that enveloped most of the helicopters and airships present in the air as he latched onto one of them.

Hero then strengthened his magical aura, which quickly powered down most of the airships and helicopters as Hero quickly dashed backward and they all began to fall to the ground as they could hear the faint scream of an Agent desperately trying to make a command, in which they failed to do so.

"How odd, his growth is... Almost unnatural," Justice thought as he gestured his thinking, he forcefully slowed down his perception of time to surmise something for a moment.

"And his presence is..."

"Perhaps I'm overthinking," He then smirked as he sped up his perception of time, quickly flying at lightspeeds to grab onto Hero before landing on a building roof in the middle of everything.

As Hero and Justice landed carefully and safely on the roof, they watched as the airships and helicopters fell from the sky.

"Now won't that cause a problem?" Justice said as he raised his finger, sending out multiple beams of light that were so fast to the point it looked like he sent out multiple of them simultaneously toward the falling vehicles, even though he was firing one at a time.

The helicopters and airships exploded into fine bits of dust after the beams of light were shot at them, which made it look as though it was snowing across the city, albeit, a very dark and oily snow.

"So, what will we do now?" Hero asked as he and Justice overlooked the dark snow.

"...That will not cause any major problems, yes? Apologies, I was... Not thinking straight at that time,"

"No, it won't I've basically destroyed it on an atomic level so at best the residents will just feel a little bit itchy," Justice responded, smirking.

"That is good to hear," Hero spoke back.

"But I know what your thinking... Before we leave, I- No, we have just one more problem to take care of," Justice said, catching Hero's attention as he turned to Justice with a serious face.

"What is it-?" Hero questioned until suddenly, the two felt shaking right behind them, as if something landed, quickly Justice and Hero turned around, only to be met with dust clouds.

"The problem came right to our front door," Justice said, his grin growing wider as he and Hero took a stance.

As the dust clouds dissipated, out came a hand that swiped it all away, there stood The Boss in all his disgusting glory, his dark magical aura radiating off of his body.

Immediately, The Boss charged toward Hero, he had sensed a rather odd and familiar presence from him, and took action almost instantly, at a speed equal to that of Justice's.

And while Hero was able to seemingly inherently react, he was not able to move his body quickly enough to actually avoid the attack.

But suddenly, Justice swooped in, punching The Boss whose attention diverted to Justice as he too struck, the two of their fists crashing into each other's face as the two of them were sent flying to opposite sides.

"Justice!" Hero shouted out as he quickly dashed toward the rubble Justice had been sent to.

"...Yeah no, I'm alright," Justice said, getting up as Hero sighed.

"Who is he?" Hero questioned as he turned to Justice, then to where The Boss had been sent flying.

"He is simply an old adversary," Justice responded.

"I think you should let me deal with this, I suggest you deal with any remaining Agents if there are,"

"...Fine, I trust you with this," Hero, although reluctant, nodded as he jumped down from the building in search of them.

The Boss then came out of the rubble, as he and Justice slowly walked up to each other, their conflicting light and dark magical auras clashing as they looked on in anticipation.

"How long has it been since our last meeting?" Justice sarcastically asked, to which The Boss raised his head, still staring at Justice.

"It has been long, I hope you have not forgotten the fact..."

"That darkness will always creep up to the light,"


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