CORE

On the 3rd floor of the castle, as the two slowly made their way up to the very top, whether it would be rewarding or regretful, or even both, was unknown...

They both flew hurriedly across the almost endless halls, crushing and breaking through whatever monsters there were that were in their way.

"Do you think he has escaped by now?" Hero questioned in a concerned and ever so slightly doubtful tone, but in the contrary, his face was more stoic, and serious, however, it had a clear hint of anger to it.

"It wouldn't be too far off, but you see, we Guardians almost share the same mindset, almost like we are linked, and if I don't back down from a fight, then he most likely won't as well," Justice replied as the two quickly turned a corner, being met with more monsters in the hall before them, but Justice quickly grabbed Hero by the arm and chucked him at the group of monsters, sending him flying just slightly above the beasts.

As Hero gracefully spun around like a torpedo above the ocean of monsters, he utilized that momentum to send a devastating punch to the ground, creating a shockwave of magic that caused a chain reaction, exploding the rest of the monsters in the nearby area two as they exploded into blood and magic as did before, and after the coast was clear, Hero landed safely on the ground as he wiped some blood off his black clothing.

"...Now that I think about it, how did he get so powerful in such a short time?" Justice questioned himself in his mind, as he genuinely thought about it for a moment, even slowing down his perception of time forcefully to do so as he slowly watched Hero consume only one Monster Core out of the several hundred.

"Why not all of them? Justice questioned, grinning as he raised an eyebrow while crossing his arms.

"I do not wish to lose my humanity," Hero spoke back.

"...And especially when people leeches like him exist in this world, using people as lab rats," Hero muttered in a cold tone as he clenched his fist.

"What he did earlier..."

"And what I saw back there... Those rooms..."

"It's unforgivable,"

However, as Hero stood there, waiting for Justice's response, a smug comment, a comforting quote, anything, but no one answered.

"Justice?" Hero then turned around to look at Justice, but once he did so, he was shocked to see he had already disappeared.

Where had he gone? Was he playing tricks at a time like this? No, he is not that low to do such a thing, Hero thought.

"I believe this is our first meeting, eh?" The Scientist spoke in a charismatic tone as Hero quickly spiraled his head around, before turning his body around and quickly dashing back, white magic oozing out of his body.

It did not take even a minute for Hero to realize who this was, and the moment he did, he took a step forward.

"If you don't mind, I'll be taking you for research-" The Scientist said before suddenly getting punched in the face, and knocked back into a wall which formed a large crater due to the power of Hero's punch.

"What did you do to Justice?" Hero asked in a threatening tone, as The Scientist only chuckled before breaking out of the wall he was stuck in.

"All I did was take him to a... Very special place, for the meantime, and perhaps another one of your allies too, they were gonna get in my way after all," The Scientist replied as they smirked, in which one of Hero's eyes squinted.

Elsewhere, in a place below The Castle and London...

Justice woke up, but oddly enough he was standing, and not on the ground, and for some reason, he felt a bit stiff, so he stretched his shoulders, arms, and legs before he took in the environment.

"Where am I?" Justice said as he was in a completely black void, where barely any light would pass through, but through instinct and memory alone, he was able to find out that this was no void, it was merely a large black room, although, another thing he could tell was that it was roughly the size of Area 2.

"Just how many renovations did you make, you mad scientist?" Justice spoke, but as he did so, multiple of the malformed monsters started to erupt from the ground, staring at Justice violently as they growled.

"Fine then," Justice said as he got in a fighting stance, ready to fight, however, one of the monsters was shot down by exactly two bullets, upon seeing this, Justice looked to the direction he saw the bullets come from, and there he saw Holmes, who was also in the same situation.

"Fancy meeting you here," Justice said as he flew right beside Sherlock, the two standing together as they prepared to brawl against the beasts.

"Funny, because nothing about this place is fancy in general, I can't believe he seriously snuck up on me like that," Sherlock replied, gripping his gun tightly.

"Any idea how he was able to do this?" Justice questioned.

"None so far, but my guess is that he's been preparing for something like that, thus he built or I'malternatively... Created this place, and as for the monsters somehow being here.. Well what did you expect? This place is made from his magic," Sherlock replied.

"Is that so?" Justice said as he sighed.

"Stay safe Hero, until then..." Justice said as he clenched his fist, his body irradiating with light as more of the beasts started to pile up.

"Beat that man to the ground,"

Back at The Castle...

"So, I kindly ask for you to come with me-" The Scientist said before dodging another one of Hero's punches casually.

"Because I'm not one to use violence-" He said before ducking down as Hero sent a hook kick to his head to avoid it.

"Hypocritical of you to say!" Hero spoke back before going through with his hook kick, doing a full 360 which was able to catch The Scientist with surprise, and hit them once more, but this time they were able to activate their magic, which was able to defend against the attack a bit better as The Scientist slid across the floor, leaving a trail of dust.

"Ah, you noblemen are so hard to deal with... Regardless, all of you are lab rats to me, noble or evil, I'll take it," The Scientist said before raising his hand, suddenly releasing two fish-like monsters that flew straight at Hero, but as he tried to deflect them, The Scientist suddenly dashed past Hero.

"Goodnight," The Scientist spoke as Hero quickly turned around to deliver a strike to his head, which had almost happened, but in the end, The Scientist had gotten the edge as he sent a burst of magic through Hero's torso as he struck it.

But this type of magic was strange, it had caused Hero to feel nauseous, and while he could endure it, it seemed his body could not, causing him to drop to the ground, unconscious as The Scientist stood in front of him, victorious as he absorbed back the two monsters he had summoned...

It was as dark as the void he started at.

The endless expanse of silence and nothingness was the only thing that accompanied him.

But nevertheless, he waited, like he always did.

However, unexpectedly, the wait was far shorter than he thought...

Hero slowly awoke, he felt the back of his head and body lying down on a rough, yet smooth marble floor.

His body felt as though he was burning, it felt rough and fragile, simply what type of magic had The Scientist used on him prior? He thought.

"...What happened?" Hero spoke as he sat up and took in his surroundings

He seemed to be in strange, yellow electric lasers covered his limited area like a box.

"You are awake, I assume?" The disembodied voice of The Scientist questioned in a curious tone.

By pure instinct alone, Hero suddenly dashed toward the electric wall, sending a devastating punch that would have most definitely shattered it.

But much to his surprise, the electric wall barely made a dent, only the shockwave caused by his punch rippled through the electricity like a pond.

"Don't bother! That is made from my own magic, I admit you are strong, but my magic output severely outweighs yours," The Scientist said in a mocking tone as he snickered.

"You know, whenever users let out magic in an unrefined and unstable form, it results in something like electricity, is that not interesting?"

"Save the fun facts for later... What exactly do you want from me that you didn't just send me with my allies?" Hero said as he took a step back, darting his eyes across the box to find a possible escape route, still attempting to shoot and chip down the cage.

"Well, I guess I should be straightforward..." The Scientist said as Hero then heard him snap his fingers from outside the electric box.

Suddenly, the electricity that trapped Hero formed strange threads that latched onto Hero's arms and legs, keeping him in place as he tried to break out, but much to his shock, they simply would not budge at all.

"What are you trying to do?!" Hero yelled out.

"Use you as a lab rat, I think it was quite clear," The Scientist responded, simultaneously, a strange, red Core phased through the electric walls and hovered towards Hero, it was slow, yes, but it was also inevitable as Hero stared on.

"Is he trying to get me to absorb it? I will just end up growing stronger if I do... Unless there is more to this..." Hero thought as he reminisced of that very familiar white orb that had been absorbed into him long ago.

And just as long he waited then, was just as long he waited now, but soon enough The Red Core then sped up pace, quickly absorbing itself into Hero, who expected to absorb its power immediately.

But what he felt afterward was far from that, he felt his body ache and grow numb, his white glowing eyes started to flicker as one of his eyes squinted in discomfort.

He looked down to where the Red Core had entered, right on his chest, and there he saw a strange, red, glowing mark right on it, he looked in confusion as the electric strings released him as he dropped to the ground, attempting to keep his balance.

"This doesn't feel normal... He must have nurtured or added something to it," Hero said, barely getting up as he gripped his chest the red glow slowly disappeared in he then fully collapsed to the ground.

"So how does it feel, White Knight? Or Black Knight in this case, haha... Forgive me for my rather dry humor," The Scientist spoke, chuckling through the lightning wall as the electricity slowly died down so that he was able to see Hero. more clearly.

"Tell me, do you feel worse? Do you feel bitter?" Hero then slowly stood up, looking lifeless as he swayed around, it seemed as though he struggled to get up, as if something was not accustomed.

"Or do you perhaps feel unsatisfied... Perhaps a burning hatred for someone?" The Scientist asked, their grin growing wider, their yellow pupils dilating as 'Hero' finally stood up straight, taking deep consecutive breaths as they then looked at their hand, as a hint of red electricity sprung out of their palm before retreating.

"Someone I hate, you ask?" Hero said as he snickered, which then slowly evolved into a heinous laugh before he abruptly stopped, looking down at the ground once more like someone had just been hung.

"It's genuinely quite bothersome of you to assume I simply 'hate' you after all you did," 'Hero' said as he sighed before raising his hand, he then finally looked at The Scientist, his eyes no longer white, but rather, a dastardly, evil, red color as the hand he raised emitted a red ball of magic.

"I don't simply hate you..."

"I despise you, and I wish to kill you myself," Jack The Ripper spoke as the red ball of magic slowly started to emit red electricity.

"And with this new body..."

"It'll be so much easier,"