CORE
Chapter 18 - "Reluctance"

The Kingdom was as peaceful as ever, one could say it was at its peak, however, that tranquility soon came to an end, quite abruptly...

Hero, in quick succession, slid across the roofs of the houses before him, using his ice magic to propel his feet upward, and as he landed on the second house he turned back to look at a group of knights who were trying to capture him in hot pursuit.

"Unfortunate..." Hero muttered, slightly frowning as one of the knights shot out a blast of magic directly at Hero, but in response he threw away his dusty cloak, infusing it with ice magic as it then exploded into a cylinder wall of ice, stopping the magic attack as it then shattered shortly after.

Turning back, he swiftly jumped down the building, putting down a path of ice beneath him to soften the fall he then slid across the streets once an ever-growing ice path while the knights continued to chase him down using their magic while the bystanders and civilians hurriedly moved out of the way, fearing for their lives in the heat of the moment.

"Don't stop at once!" One of the knights yelled out as they sent out magical fire down at Hero's ice path, almost hitting some civilians, it slowly dissolved Hero's ice path which he took notice of, and quickly summoned a pillar of ice beneath him as he jumped up into the air.

"...You almost hurt them," Hero said in a suppressed, yet clearly furious tone as he looked down at the crowd beneath him and then back to the knights below.

Hero outstretched his hands as mid-air as he fell, the ice they had melted was still beneath them in the form of water, despite the state it was in, it was still of Hero's magic, and so with a deep breath, Hero quickly froze that water back again into two ice walls, separating the group of knights into two.

He then forced the ice walls to shatter, covering a good portion of the area the knights stood on while keeping the citizens safe as all the ice shards connected and reformed, forming into one big ice dome that trapped all the knights together.

"Stay," Hero said as he sent out a burst of magic through his feet, propelling himself as he sought to go straight for The Castle, seeing how he would be in far more danger if he were to continue staying out any longer.

And so in a matter of seconds, Hero landed right in front of The Castle gate, rolling across the ground due to the force of his landing as he instantaneously kicked his way into The Castle, and as he settled down on his feet, he turned around and dashed towards the heavy, wooden doors, closing them before any of the knights got the hint he had entered The Castle.

"...Where is he in these moments?" Hero questioned himself as he thought about Justice, sitting down near the door to take some time to rest.

Meanwhile, on a completely other side of The Kingdom...

Relaxed, Justice walked along the streets of The Kingdom, covered in a white cloak, he took his sweet time to embrace the air for a while, and by slightly altering the properties of the light magic that made up his body, he was able to appear mostly similar to the civilians as his body was completely white, albeit, he still had his glow.

"Ah! How long has it been since I've stepped foot into this place?" Justice said to himself as he stretched his arms while many walked by, giving stares as they were noticeably curious about his body's glow.

"The last time I remember being here was when me and him were still... Heh, I wonder if he's still the Guardian of this place actually?" Justice muttered as he smirked, reminiscing of the old days.

"...Still, The King must have definitely found out about his partnership with me when I was sealed away, I doubt he still governs this place but if he, by a snowball's chance in hell still does... Then it's worth a shot bringing him back," Justice thought as he slightly chuckled, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath.

"Hopefully he can appeal to you Hero, until then, I expect you don't harm him..."

"Oh right, I should have told him that when we got here!" Justice said in a slightly dumbfounded tone as he facepalmed his forehead.

"Though... I think it's best if I wait it out until he reaches to the top first," Justice said as he sighed, grinning.

Back within the dark corridors of The Castle...

Hero sat there, behind the entrance doors of The Castle, which, for a while, should be locked shut by his ice magic while he was resting. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

But as he was stationary, he took a deep breath before narrowing his eyes down at the floor below.

"...Question before Killing, huh?" Hero questioned himself, sighing as he put his hand on his forehead.

"I wonder if I'm even capable of doing that," Hero then stood up, releasing the ice magic that locked the doors as he sensed no outside threat, and while he stretched his arms, he looked forward at the long dark corridor before him, only being illuminated by torches that seemed to be dying out rapidly, yet mysteriously, kept active.

Hero walked along the corridors, taking in the dark environment, despite how hard it was to see, he was able to view things just fine through the use of his magical sense, he had not realized it until now but, it seemed like the inanimate objects, walls, torches, and marble, all had a low amount of magic within them too.

"Interesting," Hero thought, slightly smirking as he looked down, before suddenly summoning a path of ice before him, and he then slid across it to speed things up.

"Judging from the height of this place outside, it must be hundreds of floors long..." Hero then looked up to the ceiling before him, getting an idea as he slowly conjured up magic within his hands.

And so in one fell swoop, Hero formed an ice pillar below, boosting himself up and breaking through the ceiling, entering the 2nd floor, however, he did not stop there, he continued ramming through the floors to get as high as he could.

However, while he was doing so, this trip was cut abruptly.

He burst into the wall of the 44th floor, landing on its floor as he then prepared another expulsion of magic to explode into the 45th floor, but just before he did so...

"Ignite," A voice uttered, causing Hero to freeze in place as he swiftly looked over to the source of the voice.

Much to his shock, he was suddenly hit by a ball of fire magic, causing him to be knocked back into a nearby pillar, which transformed into ice to cushion himself from the impact, as he, almost instinctively, got up to protect himself while simultaneously sending out a wave of ice spikes, which were countered by a powerful blast of fire.

"...So, you are the one that has been snooping around in this area unwelcomed," The voice spoke once more as it marched into visibility, allowing Hero to see them, they dawned the knight's armor, although, they were not wearing a helmet, and they had a strange symbol on their outfit's chest.

"Ice is your Inborn Magic I see...," The voice spoke as it took a deep breath, while Hero amped his magical aura, further exceeding his physical limits.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Adilah, a knight from the Special Division created to govern and protect the lower floors of this castle,"

"...He's a lot more powerful than the other ones I've faced, if I can find out his Inborn Magic and find a counter to it, this should be quick and easy," Hero said as he took a step back while still in his stance, his eyes narrowing down on Adilah...

"Magic Ultimatum:" Adilah uttered, surprising Hero at that moment as their eyes widened.

"A Magic Ultimatum already? But the consequences... Depending on what it is it could destroy this whole castle!" Hero thought as he took a step back, but doing that alone felt like ages in that desperate moment.

"Ballad of the White Horse!" Adilah spoke as his voice echoed throughout the hallways.

In a split second, everything was covered in a thick layer of red, as multiple small volcanoes filled the area, it seemed spatially larger inside despite the originally tight spaces inside the 44th floor, was this Ultimatum defying space itself?

"...What?" Hero said, taking in the new area as he fully expected it to be an offensive-only attack, but he did not let this stop him, rather, he used most likely what little time he had left to scan the place, and upon noticing the tens of volcanoes, he had a solid idea on what this Ultimatum could do.

"Well then," Adilah spoke, cutting off Hero's analysis of the situation as the two stared at each other.

"May the best man win," Adilah spoke as the volcanoes erupted, turning into hot steaming magma as they rained across the sky of Adilah's Ultimatum.

Adalah's Inborn Magic, directly tied to his Ultimatum, allowed him to manipulate magma and fire itself to his whim.

"...And my deepest condolences," Adilah said, closing his eyes as Hero looked up, noticing the meteor-like magma was starting to redirect its fall toward him.

"You don't need to apologize," Hero said as he raised both of his hands, initially trying to summon a large dome of ice that would at least be a quarter the size of Adilah's Ultimatum, however, much to his surprise, it melted rather quickly the moment he summoned it, surprising him as he realized just how hot the Ultimatum Dome was.

He attempted to summon another one, this time far colder, but given the situation and lack of time he had, Hero decided to dash to the right, avoiding the magma meteor which shook the dome the moment it landed on the 'ground', however, while he did so, he was suddenly knocked to the ground by a blast of fire manually sent out by Adilah from afar while he was focused on the meteors above.

But as the fire settled, they quickly sent out a speedy ice arrow towards Adilah, taking them by surprise due to its speed as it pierced directly towards their chest's ice slowly spread across his body, but this did not put them down so easily, as they melted the ice and arrow by immolating themselves in flames.

But as they turned back to look at Hero, they were surprised to see they were no longer, activating their magic-sensing abilities, they hurriedly looked for where they were.

"Where have you-?" Adilah spoke in a clear irritation as suddenly he felt a burst of magic behind him, in which he quickly turned around, however, only to be met with Hero who was already in a stance, fully prepared to blast Adilah into oblivion.

"Being my opposite does not make you stronger," Hero said as he suddenly jabbed Adilah's stomach with a blast of ice magic, shattering his Ultimatum Dome and its layers as he was sent flying into the nearby walls of the 44th floor, utterly knocking him out as the impact made a crater on the wall.

"Though, I will admit..." Hero said, cracking his knuckles as he turned around, not batting an eye on Adilah any longer.

"You are strong, do keep at it for the sake of good..." Hero slightly smirked as he began to walk away from him, their body slipped out of the crater and fell to the ground, but Hero simultaneously summoned a soft layer of ice to where Adilah fell, to cushion their landing.

"I should refrain from running into any more of those Special Knights, they could actually prove to be troublesome," Hero said as he charged up magic within his legs, looking up to the ceiling while taking a deep breath.

"I'll make this quick," Hero said.

Upon stockpiling enough magic in his legs, he propelled himself upwards and crashed through the roof, leaving rubble behind as he made his way to the 45th floor and beyond.

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