CORE
Chapter 27 - "Epsilon"

"Nothing is left,"

"Nothing will be left,"

"I heed this warning to you,"

"If you want something of yours to be left..."

...

"Hero?" Justice questioned, turning around as he noticed Hero stop in his tracks for a moment as they both faced the large staircase that would lead to the second floor of The King's Castle, to not possibly alert anyone, they had thought.

"...Ah, nothing, I zoned out for a moment," Hero replied as he shook his head, trekking closer to the stairway and standing next to Justice.

"Is there perhaps that voice in your head again?" Justice asked as they both began to advance up the long, unbridled stairway.

"How exactly did you know, and for how long?" Hero questioned, a short smile being put on his face, surprised Justice had gotten it right.

"Hm, since we left Area 2, and as for how I found out right now... Perhaps because you were scouring your surroundings for no reason, despite there being no danger, and your eyes were slightly squinted as if you were hyper-fixating on something," Justice explained casually as the two finally made it up to the second floor, the stairway being a much faster trip due to them unknowingly enhancing their speed.

"What was that voice saying exactly?" Justice questioned, this time, his tone was far more curious, and he intended for this question to be the last.

"To be blunt, I can't remember... Every time that voice talks I end up forgetting it shortly after, it is as if... My memory gets erased all of the sudden," Hero replied to which Justice's eyes slightly narrowed, seeing another hint through this.

"Is that so?" Justice commented as both he and Hero took another step onto the second floor, and in what seemed like an instant, hundreds of knights burst out of the corners of the halls from which they hid, with spears, swords, and guns piling in, cornering the duo, it seems they planned their attack ahead.

"Throwing out all your pawns aimlessly to defend yourself from a checkmate I see..." Justice calmly remarked as they both got in a fighting stance, their respective magical auras activating which filled the room while the knights' synchronized footsteps heeled in closer at the two.

"Stand down and cease hostility! We will not hesitate to kill you-!" One of the knights yelled out before suddenly being kicked by Justice at lightspeeds, albeit, slightly held back as they crashed into the concrete walls, before being stuck there as Hero shot a non-lethal ice shard at their body, which spread around and about, essentially sticking them to the wall with the ice.

Without a second wasted after that, the knights shouted out, raising their weapons as they charged directly at the duo, who split up, Hero slid on an icy path as he then swiftly grabbed two knights by their faces, slamming them onto the ground before flipping upward and dropkicking another row of knights, landing on his hands then releasing a devastating magic-imbued spinning kick which took out a large portion of the knights.

On the other side, Justice careened over to one of the knights' left side, sending a devastating liver punch before grabbing their head and sending an elbow strike upward, slightly pushing them up as Justice spun around and sent a magic-enhanced kick which took out yet another row of these knights as he then grabbed another one who tried to attack him by the head, before throwing them at a small group who were secretly trying to rush him.

Almost simultaneously, the two unintentionally mirrored each other, getting down on one of their legs and sending a circular sweep kick, letting out a ring shockwave of their respective magical colors, knocking all the knights off their feet and thus knocking them into the ground all with a hard, synchronized thud.

"Quite the charade," Hero remarked, letting out a frosty sigh as they got up, dusting off their clothing as they took a short breather, before preparing for the next fight that would inevitably come.

And rather than advancing into the 2nd floor's halls, they only stood there, waiting patiently as silence and sparks of magic were the only things that filled the room, eagerly waiting for the Floor Guardian's arrival, as they most definitely heard their initial beatdown against the knights, they both thought in unison.

But the longer they waited, the more unlikely this strategy had become, to the point that 2 minutes had passed, and the Floor Guardian had not arrived, perhaps they were hiding? No, if they did so The King would most definitely execute them on the spot for their cowardice, Justice thought while Hero took a step forward, stepping softly across one of the unconscious bodies of the knights to not damage them further. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

However, the moment Hero did so, he was suddenly slammed into the back of a wall, cracking into it and choking out white glowing blood for a moment as he then quickly maneuvered away from it on an icy path, swiftly swaying from the wall down to the floor, and while it occurred Justice turned around in that micro instant while the attack occurred, and for that instant, he did see a figure, though it was blurry, and they could not quite put in the details, although, all Justice knew was that the Floor Guardian had finally come.

Immediately, a few more streaks of thick blurs of a figure spread across Justice's range of vision, before settling in one place as its afterimages disappeared and careening towards Justice in quick succession, and soon, that figure became clear, their magic irradiating a teal color as they pulled back their fist, before sending out a devastating punch at Justice who quickly blocked it with ease as they slid back, slightly burning the carpet they stood on.

"So... You two are the ones that I've been hearing reports about... A duo in crime wreaking havoc upon The King's Kingdom," Asmit spoke, clapping and dusting off their hands with a large smile on their face, before quickly ducking down as they avoided a beam of magic Hero sent, which traveled over to Justice, who just as easily stepped aside.

"Well then, considering this will be only and last time facing an opponent, I suppose I should entertain you-" But he was then cut off, by a blast of light erupting from Justice's palm as Asmit's eyes widened, and a moment, Justice could see the space around him distorting as he instantly moved in a new position to which he could dodge the attack, but what they did not see however, was the ice wall Hero had built behind them, in which the beam of light bounced off of and struck Asmit in the back, knocking them down on one knee for a moment.

"Time Distortion," Justice remarked as he smirked smugly, looking down at Asmit who then got up, before peering over to Hero.

"You wield quite the fearsome ability to distort time for a short time, essentially skipping it and moving 'ahead' of it while still keeping remnants of your past in motion,"

"...Hah? Looks like you've got a keen eye, more or less expected from a criminal," Asmit said, raising their hands as they cackled.

"But even with that info, what can you do really?" He then swiftly turned around, blocking an incoming knife-hand strike from Hero, which, he admittedly did not see coming, then Hero got down on his legs, sending out a powerful sweep kick, however, Asmit distorted time once again, skipping it until he was in the air to avoid the attack.

"Half-baked scum," Asmit said before raising their hand and sending multiple pellets of magic at Hero, who stepped side to side, avoiding it with minimal effort as Justice simultaneously jumped up at Asmit, who turned around milliseconds before they were struck, and in that micro instant Justice was able to hit them, or so he thought, Asmit suddenly disappeared, leaving a 'rupture' as he unexpectedly reappeared behind Justice, who spun around sending a spinning hook kick to their neck.

Once again Asmit distorted time, avoiding the attack as he ducked down before countering with a punch to the face as Justice was sent flying into the ground as dust clouded the area.

"See? Regardless of how powerful you are you simply can't overcome The King's guard, I can't imagine being so futile, I'd rather kill myself than live the life like those wretched beings back at Area 1-!" Asmit spoke, shrugging his hands as he shook his head side-to-side mockingly before landing back on the ground.

Although, the moment he did so, the dust clouds parted as a wave of ice overlooked him, Asmit's eyes widened in genuine surprise yet curiosity, as due to the sheer size of the attack, he knew that his Inborn Magic alone could not allow him to escape.

"So be it!" Asmit yelled out as he was about to send quite a fearsome blast of magic, however, the startup suddenly glitched, negated even as crashing out of the spikes of ice was Justice, shards of broken ice surrounding him as they rushed at Asmit, who deactivated his magic spell and distorting time rapidly to avoid what felt like an endless barrage of these ice crystals.

But while he was distracted, Hero quickly slid across the walls on a sticky path of ice, before dropping down behind Asmit who had just now noticed, Hero bravely raised both his fists as he sent out a hailstorm beam of magic, to which expectedly, Asmit avoided instantly, ducking on the ground, but what he had not expected was for him to be suddenly punted in the face by Justice's leg, who had seemingly appeared the moment time had finished skipping itself under Asmit's command.

He had fallen for their tricks, an unforgiving one at that.

Before they knew it, they were caught in a barrage, distorting time as they stood up, they were instantly met with a devastating right hook to the jaw by Hero, who sent a heel strike to the knee, and finally, finishing it off with a powerful liver punch, with Asmit spitting out heavy amounts of blood and being pushed back by Justice who slightly hovered up in the air and sending three swift kicks, excessively faster as to not give Asmit time to breath before finishing it off with a spinning back kick to the stomach, with Asmit rolling across the ground.

Distorting time, Asmit quickly got up, narrowly avoiding a sliding kick from Hero, who, as a countermeasure, immediately got up into a handstand and sent a pillar of ice from his leg, crashing into the roof of the 2nd floor as Asmit was just barely able to avoid it, a part of his face being frozen off entirely as he gritted his teeth.

"Magic Ultimatum!" Asmit yelled out in a fit of rage as he made a hand sign, but far before he could even activate this Ultimatum, he was suddenly kicked in the spine by Justice, at such blinding power and speeds it shattered his back completely as he thrown into the ground, half-alive.

Exhausted and damaged, Asmit grunted as he attempted to crawl away, but was stopped as Hero stepped slowly and roughly on their back, with it slowly but surely freezing in the process.

"...You can't win," Asmit careened his body around in a circular motion, knocking Hero's foot off for a moment as he attempted to distort time one last to escape, but this was cut short as a spike of ice pierced through his head in the back, putting his life to an end as his body laid limp on that very carpet.

"Pardon," Hero muttered, staring down at the corpse before him as Justice flew down back to the ground not too far away behind him.

"Now, with that done..." Justice walked up from behind as he stood next to Hero, dusting off his hands as he then gave Hero a light fist-bump.

"Up we go!" Justice said as he dissipated into light with Hero simultaneously sending a beam of magic, breaking a large hole through into the 3rd floor as he made an ice whip, swinging himself up as both he and Justice emerged from it, surrounded by unsuspecting knights.

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