CORE
Chapter 30 - "Omega"

Throughout and about a large, lengthy chess board, many of the pieces were thoroughly and cleanly lined up, not even a centimeter was off.

There were two empty chairs, both on opposite sides of the table the board rested on in that dark, dreadful, lonely abyss, though, regardless if it were empty or not, the gears would shift regardless.

And so, the pieces, one could say through an unknown force or a demonic presence, began to play by itself, oscillating ever so slightly yet with a hint of clear restraint, but eventually as all things do, one piece finally moves.

And so the pawn moves on file E, rank 4...

Hero dashed forth on The King, pulling back his fist as he then swung it out, releasing a burst of miniature ice dragons to which The King only stood there idly, their rings flickering in color before the ice dragons suddenly shattered into multiple crystals, some of them even throwing back at Hero, who dashed back multiple times to avoid this odd counterattack, with The King not even raising so much as a finger.

From behind, Justice attempted to send out small bullets of light hurling at The King, but the shattered ice shards suddenly rearranged themselves in such a precise way it caused those bullets to deflect off of all of them, returning to Justice who had a shocked expression on their face as they merely absorbed all the bullets back into their body.

"What..? I couldn't control them manually after they shattered..." Hero looked on, puzzled for a moment before shaking his head, a serious look overtaking his previous reaction as he began riding on a hailstorm, slid his way to The King's side, before stretching out both of his arms and letting out a heinous blast of magic at The King, around 5% of his magical pool being poured into that condensed blast, causing a massive shockwave outwardly and inwardly which strangely began to rupture some of the space around them.

As it dissipated, The King flew out, with a magical barrier surrounding them, which took every single bit of damage the beam of magic could have given, but the moment they put down the barrier, Justice swooped in, and while making his way he sent a roundhouse kick to The King's neck, who only lifted their hand, blocking it with ease as Justice switched legs, shifting over to his left leg, balancing on his other and dropping down, trying to sweep The King off his legs.

The King only hovered upward as one of their rings began to spin violently once more, and as Justice looked up, he looked in annoyance before they were suddenly blasting away with a sudden beam of magic, sending them flying over to Hero who summoned an ice wall to cushion Justice's knockback, turning it into water at the last second, to which it did so successfully as Justice got up back on their feet, albeit, slightly scarred and scratched from the initial attack.

"Unforgivable..." Hero spoke out, his eye slightly twitching as they looked up at The King, who then outstretched both of their hands and in that instant, hundreds of magic orbs appeared from behind them in a barrage as they began circling each other like a neutron star.

"Control yourself, Hero... I've got a half-decent idea," Justice said with a nervous grin on his face with an exhausted tone before throwing out one of their arms, a few dozen magic pellets hurling at The King's which then exploded like a row of gunpowder, creating a smokescreen that not only obscured The King's vision but their sense of magic too, for a moment at least.

With an immensely powerful shockwave of wind, the magic gunpowder blasted away with a mere command from The King, who, with no distraction any longer turned to look once more for the duo, but with Hero and Justice no longer to be seen as their presence had seemingly disappeared, even amongst the stars, beyond the outer layers of the galaxy they floated idly in there was not a hint of their presence there.

"Most odd, concealing magic? No... I would have known by now." The King said to himself, but it was not out of worry or concern, in fact, it was one of an enlightened surprise, and without a second wasted The King solemnly took a step forward, and as if their footstep echoed amongst the void, there Justice and Hero reappeared in a glitch, both instances already charging up balls of magic on opposite sides of The King as they practically cornered him at that moment.

"I see... Using 'Distortion' to conceal your presence, I admit it is a reasonable maneuver," The King muttered as they took a comfortable breath before one of their three rings began to flicker in color, spinning violently simultaneously.

During that process, The King swerved back, the two quickly realigning their aim at The King's head, who only stepped to the side in a flash, avoiding their attacks as they seemingly teleported next to Hero, sending a knife-hand strike mixed in with a surge of magic to the neck, paralyzing them for a moment before kicking them away.

Seeing this, Justice, intending to deliver a quick attack, opened their jaw as they charged a mini-beam of light through it, and yet before they could even fire it in the first place, they were suddenly struck by an uppercut by The King, sending them slightly flying in the air before being thrashed away with a side kick as Hero was.

"Unfortunately, you must try harder than that," The King mocked as they walked over to Justice patiently and slowly, but on their dozenth step, they heard a 'spell' being summoned from behind, and when they turned around, they were met with a wave of ice spikes which were thrown at them, which was able to hit successfully, though they were able to break out of it, jumping into the air as they looked at Hero, who began to run up it, before bouncing to equal level with The King, clenching and pulling back their fist as they had full intent to kill.

"...I believe using your hands alone will not lead you to victory so easily," The King said in a monotone voice as their ring finally stopped spinning and changing in color, and the nano instant it did so, everything froze, The King's surroundings taking a grey hue as Hero stopped in place, and as The King turned his eye to the side, Justice had been stopped in time as well during their attempt to decapitate The King from behind, to which in response, they cut off nearly his entire arm with ease.

"Hmph... Now what am I to do with both of you that would be useful rather than killing you two instantly? One cannot waste such a valuable resource..." The King made a thinking gesture, closing his eyes as he rested his chin on his hand, turning away from Hero, looking over to the side as he was now deep in thought...

The Knight comes, File F, rank 3...

"Ah, I have decided your new purpose-" The King turned around, planning to sever Hero's legs next but was abruptly cut off as Hero unexpectedly broke free from the time stop, filled with bloodlust and crashing their magic-amped fist furiously with the unrelenting force of a million elephants into The King's face, whose eyes narrowed down in surprise, but then in intrigue, as they were sent flying away hundreds of miles, few streaks of white shimmering blood emitting from their face, making a short trail as time returned to normal. Everything regained its color, Hero relentlessly blitzed onto The King, stomping into their stomach before kicking their jaw and sending them flying away, in the back Justice was regaining his balance as he took a sharp breath, taking a look at his severed arm before quickly healing it without panic while stumbling then standing next to Hero, who he viewed supposedly knocking The King away.

"...Truly remarkable, though that is expected considering- Ah, regardless," Justice commented, grinning widely as his eyes slightly widened in genuine curiosity, for no one had hit The King cleanly using their fists before.

"Save your pleasures for later, Justice..." Hero took a step forward, clenching his fists as Justice sighed out, seeing that Hero was frustrated, though he could not disagree with the fact it was understandable.

"Because that won't be the last time we'll hit him."

"...Exhilarating, this must be the effect of two beings sharing exactly the same Core... I see now this is what The Scientist had speculated of... One immune to the other and vice versa," The King landed on his feet, before using his magic and healing his face, the original drops of white blood that came leaking down had now completely evaporated as he turned his head up, viewing the duo approach him at rapid speeds.

The King raised their arms high, as all of their three rings before to circle each other whilst flashing in hundreds of colors, and as it did so, the galaxy that they were surrounded by, suddenly deformed and meshed itself into one whiter void with hundreds of floating black hollow pentagons in the sky and below, and due to this sudden, supposedly hostile change of environment, both Hero and Justice stopped in their tracks.

"What..?" Hero looked around, but not paying it any heed he turned back to The King, as both he and Justice extended out their arms, and out from his palm came a shimmering dragon of ice whose wings fluttered out water and spine colder than winter, but with Justice's magic colliding and becoming one with it, it had grown a lavishing set of gold, light armor as it burst forth, along with multiple orbs of light blue and yellow magic accompanying its charge on The King, who merely watched as they went, unfazed.

And with a snap of that monarch's fingers, a few of the black hollow pentagons came hurling and crashing down like a meteor upon the ice dragon, who precisely swerved out of the way as it fired a cold breath of fog at another one of the pentagons, flash-freezing them as it shattered into ice, which only added on to its armory while it continued to avoid the rest.

Now at a better distance in front of The King, the dragon took a sharp inhale, and next a furious roar released a massive beam of both light and ice, which completely encompassed The King in that hellish blizzard to the point it froze even the pentagons that were only a mile away without even doing so much as touching the 'blizzard' of light, and along with this violent attack, then came the particles of light which only further strengthened the beam of the attack, growing larger by the second.

"If he's weakened even by a bit we need to use that chance!" Justice spoke in an urgent tone as yet another nervous smile overtook his face while he dashed over to where the dragon was hovering, whilst Hero quickly followed just as fast, leaving a trail of magic particles as they did so.

Though Justice advanced further, moving at a faster pace as what was running through his mind were memories that had begun to resurface the moment he thought of The King, those memories felt so different, it was as if they were from a completely different person, this had only strengthened Justice's pursuit as they finally reached the tail of the ice dragon, about to climb it.

"Magic Ultimatum..!" Justice said, flying into the air as he in advance aimed his arm down at the dragon's beam which had slowly begun to die out.

"JUSTICE!" Hero called out in a panic, to which Justice before they could look down and pause...

"I will deal with you later," The King's voice echoed throughout the void. Instantaneously the entire beam was split into two from the center, along with the ice dragon that had been cut in half due to a white, familiar, sharp chain that extended from The King's hand before being swung up into the air, cutting the sun Justice had been accumulating in that moment with minimal effort.

"...Those chains..!" Justice's eyes widened, his Ultimatum being instantly canceled with a face of horrific surprise on his face as he remembered something... Something those chains had been related to this entire time, causing the slightest bit of electric magic to sheath his body for that micro instant.

However, immediately Justice composed himself, still with an annoyed look on his face as he then split his body in half, allowing for him to be more agile as he swerved to the side, thinking he had avoided the chain, but much to his surprise it divided into two, with one of them flying at Justice directly just as they reconnected their body, piercing them in the chest before dragging them away further into the void, before being pinned to one of those black pentagons, causing for them to bleed out as the chains only grew further, encompassing their body as they sent outward beams of light, which had indeed broken some of the chain joints.

In fact, Justice could have easily escaped at that moment, quickly they put together their hands, prepared to release a Magic Ultimatum, around four-tenths a second this time, as they blitzed around and about, hurriedly reaching over to The King's distance and practically creating a mini-constellation, but in that instant, one of The King's rings flickered in color as Justice suddenly paralyzed entirely, unable to speak or even move a finger as the chains grew back and regenerated instantly, flying over and stabbing through Justice's chest a second time, causing for him to spit out goldish blood as the chains then covered his body like a cocoon, dragging itself back to the black pentagon to where Justice would lay dormaint.

"Justice-!" Hero looked back, stretching out his hand in concern as he was about to skate over, but was stopped as he felt someone grab onto his shoulder.

"As I said, we will deal with him later," The King whispered as Hero immediately turned around, sending a spear of ice to where he thought The King's head was, which they dodged before grabbing and breaking the spear.

Though they had fallen for Hero's trick, as the remnants of the ice spear reshaped themselves, turning into an ice glove that covered The King's hand and then their entire arm, Hero had full intent to rip it entirely, but contradicting, he could not as the ice only melted into the void, with him stepping back, puzzled and cautious as The King flicked up their finger, the magic water reforming back into an ice spike before it was shattered by The King's foot.

"Incredible... It seems the longer we stay in the same proximity together the more exempted we are from damaging each other, even going as far as being able to control each other's magic... That is if you yield the mastery do so," The King looked at his fist, in intrigue as he turned back to look at Hero.

"Rather unfortunate, then this means neither of us can truly hurt each other at this point using our spells," The King sighed before revealing both of his hands through his long grey robes.

"Perhaps our palms truly are the only path to victory." The King said, and, after a million years got into a physical fighting stance, magic surging through them as Hero in response, took up a defensive stance, a magic aura coating him as well, though they both knew they were practically immune to each other, it would still be worth at least even a try.

"Initially, I had thought this process would be a fruitful one... But now I realize it only creates inconvenience and unbridled mistakes," The King remarked as he stared narrowly at Hero's CORE alone.

"...Then I'll gladly be your biggest mistake," Hero responded as the two dashed forth at each other, their fists pulled back as they were equally ready to strike as their magic auras seamlessly interconnected at that moment.

Hero's fist swung thoroughly at The King's face, who merely inside blocked it with their right arm, before grabbing onto Hero's hand, pulling them closer as they sent three ferocious knife-hand strikes to his face, all splattering out streaks of white blood before letting Hero go and punching them in the stomach.

But as they pulled their fist, Hero suddenly tugged onto it, sending a knee to The King's stomach, causing them some damage as they stumbled back, before being dropkicked in the face as they almost lost their balance, but persisted as they wiped the white blood off their face, staring at Hero who quickly recovered.

The King raised their hands, one of the black pentagons up in the air shifting in velocity and gravity as it then forcefully hurled itself at Hero, who dashed back, avoiding the attack as The King teleported behind them, initially trying to send a swift blow to the nape but Hero quickly turned around, swinging their arm up and parrying The King's fist away, though like a mirror, the two both pulled back their opposite fists, as they thrust it forward with immense force, with both of their hands perfectly clashing together, creating a large shockwave as they did so...

In that second, the two locked eyes tightly as they both took a sharp breath, before The King chambered his right leg, sending a roundhouse kick to Hero's face, though they had not backed down so easily as they were now tugging onto The King's leg which Hero, using the strength of his arm pushed himself up, and mid-air he released a 360 spin kick on The King who in the nick of time had blocked the attack, as they punched Hero in the face, knocking them to the ground, however, Hero persisted as he planted both of his hands into that non-existent ground before performing a handspring kick with both of his legs, hitting The King directly in the face as they stumbled back, their face scarred and beaten as they only snickered before healing their face up.

"...Things won't get anywhere like this, but..." Hero sprung himself back up, landing on both his feet as he turned and got in a fighting stance once more, looking back at The King who took a small, solemn step forward.

As if they had the same intent, the two suddenly outstretched their arms opposite to each other, as they both were manipulating each other's magical aura, or more fittingly, their magical presence as they were practically playing tug-of-war.

"Though what is it that you get out of this?" The King then loosened his grip on the magic, allowing for him to be unexpectedly pulled closer to Hero who did it by accident as they attempted to send a rising kick to their face, to which they backstepped, the King's foot only centimeters away from his face as the magical aura within it was drawn to his like a magnet.

"And I do not simply mean the tactics you use..." The King backflipped mid-air, landing on his feet with ease before dusting himself off.

"What I mean is what do you get out of my death, hm?"

"...Is this a joke? Out of your death, everyone will-!" Hero shouted out but was abruptly cut off.

"Everyone will what? Have freedom? Perhaps yes... But what about your freedom, Hero? I have seen and watched your ambitions, how you have grown in ways I despise, yet in the end you always seem to encounter a brick wall you can not climb up..." The King spoke as a smug grin grew on their face.

"One should put their ambition above anything else, fools who choose others over themself end up an empty husk with no personality."

"Now, allow me to ask again..."

"What is your ambition, Hero?"

For an instant, there came silence, an eerie silence filling the already dead white void, everything seemingly stopped in time at the same time, yet contrary the clock simply continued to tick as each second that passed the dimmer the void grew, Hero had his head turned down, staring blankly at the whiteness below, everything waited for Hero's only response.

In Hero's empty black mind, many thoughts ran through his head, this was no simple multiple-choice question, it had to be one that came from his heart, but how come he was insistent in answering this question, especially coming from such a person like The King, was it for approval, desperation? Hero questioned himself as those five simple words rang through his head like a siren...

With their guard down and before they could even react, The King was suddenly struck by Hero in the fact once more, although it seemed like their speed and magic had grown exponentially stronger which The King immediately noticed, sliding back but not falling off their feet they chuckled to themself before healing some of their wounds.

Again, before they could speak, Hero wasted no time, instantly careening over to The King before sending out a knife-hand strike to their neck, to which The King was able to react this time and guard with an inside block, grabbing and twisting Hero's arm as they lifted them just above their head, but while in the air, Hero sent an axe kick to the king's neck, but they then ducked quickly, getting on the ground and as Hero fell, sent a thrust kick to their stomach, with Hero just barely being able to defend against it with open palms as they landed and staggered back on the ground.

Like a Mobius strip, The King only followed this charade as they beckoned Hero, almost teasing them as they took the bait, Hero dashing over to them as the two made yet another exchange, with Hero sending out his right fist for a punch, but The King only grabbed their arm, slid over behind them and putting their arm in a lock, but as they were restrained from behind, Hero suddenly sent out a blast of ice through that same hand, the ice spreading over The King's body albeit without any purpose and while it did not damage them, it was able to push them back for a moment for their grip to loosen, and with this opportunity, Hero quickly turned around, sending a clean, devastating strike to The King's solar plexus, one, unlike the rest.

"...Intriguing I must say," The King said, spouting out heavy amounts of white blood as he was genuinely beginning to feel challenged, not just that, threatened before his eyes started to glow a light blue hue, Hero stared into it, puzzled, but he soon found out what it did as The King released two beams of magic from his eyes, propelling Hero back into a black pentagon in the sky, lucky he was that the attack did no such harm, he thought.

In this instant, the two were beginning to operate beyond 100% of their strength as their CORES linked, growing stronger together in proximity.

While up in the sky, Hero looked down, his eyes darting across the multiple black pentagons until he saw the one Justice was in, he could still sense a slight magical presence in the chain cocoon, but as he was about to fly over to Justice, The King got in his way, with a grin on their face as a frustrated expression was on Hero's face.

The King ran at such high speeds mid-air, traveling that distance between him and Hero in a short time as he grabbed them by the neck, looking at them dead in the eyes which both glowed white as The King snapped his fingers, a strange purple portal coming into existence beside them as he tossed Hero into it with all his force, before jumping into it himself...

Within Area 1, things had strangely gotten more peaceful, specifically within the office that a certain individual had purified long ago.

"Hey, Elsen, how are the documents?" One of the office workers walked up to Elsen's desk with a cup of coffee as they put it on their table.

"Ah, it's going well so far! I'm about 2077 words in... 923 more and I should be done!" Elsen responded gleefully as they took a sip of the coffee mug.

The office on the second floor was fortunately active today, it had not been like this in a long time, Elsen thought.

Though, during this charade, opened up a large portal in the middle of the office, which everyone noticed immediately, standing up in curiosity as they were seemingly mesmerized by it, though they did not exactly have the will to get closer.

"What is that thing?" "How amazing!" "Incredible..." They all murmured.

But out of the portal came Hero, being knocked against one of the office's walls as everyone divided, hiding and running away to the nearest corner in a sudden panic, except Elsen, who had stood up with a clear concern, though as they took a closer look at the individual who had left the portal, they seemed... Strikingly similar to-

However, before they could finish their thought, there came another individual through that portal who slid across the ground, they then dropkicked Hero through the wall, making a huge hole through it they were knocked all the way to a nearby skyscraper, with The King flying away in hot pursuit.

"...T-That guy! He was the one who..." Elsen spoke up in clear shock before running over to the hole in the wall, looking through it as he viewed Hero being punched into yet another portal by The King, who followed through...

Within Area 2's London...

Throughout the bustling city streets, everyone wore costumes and fancy dresses as they were celebrating a festival, vendors, and merchants gathered up the city center while everyone threw fireworks to celebrate, though there was one individual in the mix completely oblivious and unfazed by it all.

"What a truly messy day this is..." Sherlock sighed as he left the crowd, walking over to a more private place before climbing up a building using pipelines and hangers he landed with a slight grunt on top of one of the buildings.

"Still, for some reason, I keep on wondering how that 'Hero' fellow is doing," Sherlock said before looking over to The Scientist's abandoned castle, which had slowly begun to be deconstructed by the engineers of the city, given the reports that no one lives there at all anymore.

However, as he continued to stare at the lonely castle, he for a moment saw a flickering blue light from far away, seemingly above the castle but due to the distance it was quite dim, causing him to take a step forward in curiosity.

"Heh?" Sherlock exclaimed with a puzzled look on his face, walking over to the ledge of the building he was on to get a closer look...

Out of the portal came Hero, landing on the Castle's roof, and far before he could even get up came The King who got on top of Hero, grabbing them by the neck as they did not waste time sending unbridled and furious blows at their face, each strike splattering white blood across the castle's layers.

"You could have used these people around you as an alternative fuel source for your attacks to damage me... Yet you refused," The King spoke out, a smile on their face as they sent a devastating punch to Hero's solar plexus, blood gushing out of their mouth as they were severely beaten up at that point.

"Heh... But you didn't either-" Hero said in an intentionally mocking tone before he was struck in the face once more, after Hero was weakened further, The King pridefully stood up, overlooking Hero's 'corpse' as he then raised both of his arms in the air, about to smash his skull in as in that moment, he brought his arms down...

The King's arms were suddenly deflected away by an unknown force, though it barely even scratched him, he did feel a surge of magic that was neither his nor Hero's, and when he turned to look to his right, there stood Sherlock, on a completely separate building as they were aiming true at The King with their pistol.

"What a terrible reunion, Hero," Sherlock remarked as he shot out three more bullets, which all curved and zigzagged at complex, impossible angles The King stood up, with an unfazed look on his face as he merely slapped away all the bullets with ease.

"Never trek on my destiny," The King muttered as he stared Sherlock directly in the eyes, he attempted to reload, but then one of The King's rings spun violently, and in that instant, Sherlock dropped his gun as his hand exploded into blood and guts.

"Damn it!" Sherlock screamed out in pain as he stumbled back to the ground, looking at the place where his hand once was as he, with his teeth ripped out a piece of cloth from his coat and tied it along his wrist to stop the bleeding.

"You needn't any prayers now," The King hovered over to the building Sherlock was on, with such speed it was like teleportation, quickly Sherlock tried to grab their gun but was stopped as they were suddenly choked and lifted by a telekinetic force.

"...Because you already stand in front of God."

"...Haha, I don't know who you are but there is no god I pray to," Sherlock said, snickering albeit with a genuine hint of nervousness and fear, an eerie sense of dread from The King's aura erupted further into Sherlock as he began to shake while raised further into the air, about to be dropped and blow into a river of blood...

"My apologies, Holmes!" Hero spoke out loud, suddenly tackling The King from behind, pushing both of them off the building Sherlock lightly dropped the ground on his legs, before turning around and dashing over to the edge of the building, jumping off of it as he saw The King and Hero reaching a populated area with their fight, specifically at the center of London as they exchanged blows and traveled fast enough to the point Sherlock could just barely comprehend what they were doing.

"Apology accepted but bloody hell..." Sherlock muttered quietly as he turned his head around, looking at his gun on the ground which he quickly grabbed, and without wasting a second immediately turned to the side edge of the building, running and jumping over it to the next building to try and keep up with the two.

"Of all places..." Hero thought in worry as he could only dash back further into the street, drawing nearer to London's Center while The King sent an onslaught of striking and kicking motions to which he had grown accustomed, being able to block all of them almost perfectly, though it was still difficult he attempted to counterattack with a few punches, though it was overshadowed by The King's barrage.

"I need to..." Hero whispered to himself as he was beginning to be overwhelmed by The King's strikes which had only gotten faster the more he tried to persist, but then slightly elevated his right, and stomped into the ground as the entire floor before him turned into ice, making multiple frost pillars which stemmed from the ground as Hero sent one clean strike to The King's stomach, sending them flying back but without tumbling over.

"What is your scheme now?" The King asked, anticipated.

"Waiting for someone," Hero responded, as the moment he said that, a bullet pierced into the gaps between the ice pillars, The King reacted to it in the nick of time, avoiding the attack as he sidestepped, but the bullet only ricocheted off of the other ice pillars as The King backflipped into the air, dodging it once more.

"I'll require an explanation once this is over," Sherlock remarked as he shot out 4 more bullets from his pistol, all of them ricocheting and gaining kinetic speed as The King continued to dodge and deflect all of them, The King did not underestimate these bullets one bit if it could push back his hand, he knew that the moment he would get in a crossfire and thus paralyzed, even if it could only possibly scratch him, Hero would swoop in to take him down.

As Hero stood there, waiting and trying to find an opening, he then closed the gap between the ice pillars, locking both he and The King inside for good, though contrary to what he had expected, he for an instant, saw The King smirk as one of their rings flickered in color, Hero's eyes widened as he was certain something disastrous would occur...

The Ice Capsule from the inside burst into shards, all of them going up into the air at different trajectories as Sherlock witnessed The King in his old, titan form as they towered over some of the buildings in London, and exactly from the London Center hundreds, thousands of the people celebrating the festival turned grim as they saw The King in all his dreadful glory.

But quickly The King returned to his small, young form, moments before Hero struck and broke his knees, instead punching his face as The King countered by grabbing and pulling Hero's arm, responding with a roundhouse kick to their neck, leading them to be crashed into the entrance of a building.

"Bloody hell-!" Sherlock exclaimed as he tried to move down and help Hero, but in an instant, The King teleported in front of him, and for a moment the two locked eyes before Sherlock was brutally kicked over to a nearby building at the London Center, with such force it shook that very street they were on.

Though out of the building, sliding outward on a cold path of ice was Hero, who sent spikes of ice at The King's feet, not harming him but was able to stagger him for just a moment, and when he broke out Hero delivered a knife-hand strike to their solar plexus, however, as he pulled back both of his hands, about send a double-hand strike, The King raised both of his in response, grabbing Hero's wrists as he spread them apart, and when the two stared at each other The King released quite the devilish grin.

"This should weaken you," The King's eyes glowed light blue as they looked up into the air, leading Hero to look up as well in concern, and horror as he viewed the near-endless amounts of ice shards multiply, as it all changed its trajectory supposedly to London's Center, and at quite the fast pace too.

"No-!" Hero shouted out, outstretching his hand and attempting to control the shards but he was quickly stopped by The King who grabbed them by the neck, summoning a portal into the ground slamming Hero straight into it, hopping into it as well shortly after as the gate closed instantly.

However, just milliseconds before Hero was tossed in, for a moment, out of a slightly crashed building near London's Center, he saw a certain individual rise as they seemed exhausted, yet they still held their pistol bravely in the air proudly, at that moment, Hero was more at ease...

Sherlock got up from the rubble, shaking his head as he felt a nauseating sensation, though this did not stop him, and out of the debris he saw his gun, which he gladfully picked up.

"...What a mess," Sherlock remarked, however, this was to be the least of his worries as he then looked up into the night sky, expecting that heaven-like lunar orb in the sky, but was only met with hundreds of small, sharp ice shards which were about to fall down not only on him but on London's Center as a whole.

"Huh?!" Sherlock took a step back, and it seemed he was not the only one panicked as he began to hear screams of terror coming from below, to which he gritted his teeth before gripping his gun tightly, putting his finger on the trigger, sharply aiming at one of the bigger crystals of ice, and they were a quarter a kilometer away from London's Center now.

Steadfast, Sherlock pulled the trigger, and a burst of magic flew out of his pistol which solidified and compressed into one bullet, which completely broke the ice shard it was aimed at, and it only continued to shatter more as it ricocheted at each and everyone with intense precision with Sherlock's manipulation of vectors.

In the span of 10 seconds alone, all the ice shards were destroyed, to others what looked like in an instant as what was left of the ice melted and turned into water, which showered over the festival for a brief second before quickly evaporating into magic, to which everyone had been puzzled, what was this strange phenomena? A hailstorm perhaps? It could not have been, they thought.

"Positively exhausted..." Sherlock fell on his back, dropping into the debris once more and dropping his gun as he took a deep breath...

Thrown out of the portal, Hero flew deep into the sky of the white void, before bumping and slamming his back against one of the black pentagons, with white blood forcefully coughing up from his mouth, he fell face-first into the non-existent ground, just barely getting up, but nevertheless indeed he did.

Blitzing out of the portal, The King without a second wasted attempted to grab Hero by the neck, but quickly with their remaining strength, they stepped to the side, avoiding The King's grasp as he tried to send a rising kick to the chin, though The King was able to guard against Hero's attack using his hand as he swiftly slid to the right, attempting to strike Hero's center.

However, they quickly brought up their left hand, swiping away The King's arm as they used their right to send a quick jab to the face, but like again The King grabbed onto the fist, restraining it as he attempted to send three quick strikes to the abdomen and forehead, then getting on the ground and sweep kicking Hero off his feet, and to finish it off as Hero fell, one last double-handed strike to the chest which sent Hero flying over to a nearby black pentagon, spouting out blood as he was only half-alive at that point.

"I will admit, you did have me at the end of my seat, slouching..." The King slowly walked up to Hero, who despite their injuries still tried to get up.

"But one fix on my posture was enough to make you slouch just as much if not worse," The King then sent a brutal punch to Hero's face, knocking them further into the black Pentagon as it hovered slightly back.

"Most likely, you are thinking how much worse the outcome would be if we were not immune to each other's spells, are you not?" The King remarked as they put up an arrogant smile.

"Ah, but either way, you do have most of me drained and I am certain the same would occur even with our magic being effective..."

"I have to say... This was the most fun I have had in more than a thousand years."

"But considering you are created from me... That is to be expected."

"Now..." The King raised one of his hands in the air at Hero in a knife formation, one of his three rings began to flicker in color as his knife hand suddenly grew and elongated to be a sharp blade made out of his own flesh.

"Rest well, fallen hero."

...

The King's hand was suddenly deflected away as it unwillingly shrunk back into its previous form, causing The King to be confused as he stepped back, looking at his hand and then peering over at Hero, who had his arm outstretched before it dropped to the ground, virtually lifeless.

"Hm? A last-ditch attempt for survival by manipulating my magic?" The King thought with a hint of intrigue.

"However, given his current state, a move like that would practically just be exhausting himself further, without a single bit of meaningful change."

"...There is something deeper to this," The King's initial smile turned into a frown as they sighed, his hands to the side as their looks and posture remained unfazed by what was behind him.

"As I suspected." The King whispered as he could sense Justice's magic presence from behind, just as he was about to strike him by the neck, but as if by pure instinct, The King ducked down while simultaneously grabbing onto Justice's arm before tossing him over to the black pentagon Hero laid, and surprisingly, before Justice crashed, Hero suddenly jolted back to life, moving out of the way as he summoned a row of ice which turned into water, cushioning Justice's landing as they immediately burst back up, seeming more lively than usual.

"I'm glad you are all right," Hero remarked as he wiped the blood off his mouth.

"There's no way I could even die in the first place," Justice responded smugly as he rolled back and stretched one of his arms.

"Listen, there is something I have to disclose to you, one that could win this battle..." Hero stared intently at The King who turned a part of his body to the side as he peered back, to which Justice immediately noticed, grinning.

"No worries, I've already understood, you two are of the composition, thus you can manipulate and nullify each other's magical attacks, indeed that will be a win-win condition," Justice explained, to which Hero slightly smirked back in response.

"You've still got it in you then," Hero said as both of them marched forth at The King who only stood still.

"Judging by how severely tired he looks, and how detrimentally low his magical aura is now... He, at least for now, only has the power to equal against 3 Guardians, impressive is it not? Even at his weakest..." Justice cracked his knuckles as he got in a stance ready to dash.

"Yeah... Power of 3 Guardians, we can take that," Hero said.

"Stand down," The King commanded as one of his rings flickered in color, before time abruptly stopped, pausing Justice's charge, but not Hero as they swiftly outstretched their hand before The King could make a move, negating their time stop and allowing Justice to initiate his attack on The King, sending a flying kick to their chest, however, they stepped out of the way, avoiding the attack as Justice landed on both of his legs, turning around.

The King was about to teleport over to Justice but was stopped from doing so as Hero rammed into them, holding them tightly with both of his arms, catching The King off-guard for a moment due to the sudden effort and strength Hero put into the attack as he continued to run to Justice, with The King at his front being pushed by Hero's charge.

Strong as he was, The King still counterattacked by pulling back both of their arms, releasing a blast of rapid-fire fists at Hero's back, causing a considerate amount of damage per second, but still, Hero endured it as he yelled out Justice's name as a signal, and in a quick response Justice sent a continuous beam of magic from behind The King, harming them as Hero continued to run into the beam, using The King as practical 'human' meat shield.

"Remarkable..." The King thought as his eyes looked over to the side, only to be met with the yellow glowing magic that was of Justice's though that was not what he was observing, he was noticing that no matter how much he tried to warp reality or even manipulate time itself, the rings simply spun and flickered oppositely, negating it as if it never happened.

"If it is to be like that then..." The King, with intense concentration, suddenly drew out Hero's magic from his feet, turning it into ice and thus stopping Hero in his tracks as they almost fell over due to the sudden stop in his movement, but as The King regained his footing, he quickly grabbed Hero by the neck before turning around and throw them to the beginning of the magic beam, taking all the damage as from the other side, Hero was suddenly thrown at Justice without any warning, canceling the magic beam as the two stumbled back before falling heavily to the ground, but nevertheless, they got up shortly after.

"Justice is the only possible threat here, Hero is simply the most dangerous add-on to a threat," The King said as he formed a finger gun, aiming sharply at Justice who had just gotten up, before releasing a linear beam of magic at Justice, at such high speeds not even they could react to it in time as their eyes widened in shock.

But moments before the laser landed, Hero suddenly manipulated it, changing its trajectory at such a sharp angle it looked like two separate lines, which then turned into three as it returned to the sender, The King's cold gaze only strengthened further as the laser hit their head, being absorbed back into their being.

"...Hero, I have a far better idea than just aimlessly teaming against him," Justice remarked as the two got in a stance while The King marched forward.

"Absorb all my magic, think of it, you can manipulate his magic, and you are immune to it, and the same goes for him... But if you have magic that you can actually use in this fight, it would give you the edge," Justice suggested as Hero's back lifted in realization of the possibility.

"...It is a good strategy but will it cause any harm to you?" Hero questioned in a sincere tone as they took a deep breath.

"Nope, though I will be leaving one-tenths for myself..." Justice stepped to the side, putting his hand on Hero's back as he surged all of the magic in his body to Hero's core, which strengthened significantly and noticeably as The King rose his face, upon realizing the scheme they were trying to intact.

"...Interesting," The King smirked as the transfer was complete, Justice dashing over to the side as Hero attempted to control and restrain the magic that leaked out, which had been successfully done as his originally white eyes had a now yellow hue to it, same as his aura that was now part white and part yellow.

"3 Guardians..." Hero whispered to himself, closing his eyes before staring back at The King whose grin only grew larger by the second.

"Perfect," Hero careened over to The King at high speeds, leaving a trail of his own magic as he raised both of his hands at The King, releasing a blast of Justice's magic at them mere nanoseconds before this, The King stomped into the ground, causing for a large chunk of rock to burst out of it as he then grabbed onto it, putting it to his front as he used it as a practical shield for the beam, though it slowly disintegrated by the second as it proved too weak.

However, as a countermeasure, The King suddenly released a blast of white magic outward, deflecting most of the yellow beam, catching Hero off-guard as to him it looked like it fired off in an instant, there was no opportunity at all for him to negate it, and using this chance The King swooped away to the side, bouncing off one of the black pentagons before charging at Hero directly as they turned to the side.

The moment they got closer, however, they stopped in their pursuit, forcing their head to move back just as they were about to strike Hero due to Justice sending out a small, string-thin beam of light which originally was to pierce through The King's skull, which proved to be futile.

Seizing this opportunity, Hero stepped back, raising both of his hands, intending to try and follow through with the attack Justice had failed to do, but far before he could even do so, the third of The King's rings began to flicker in color whilst spinning violently, and unfortunately, Hero was occupied, putting too much focus on his attack, nevertheless... The ring's spin lasted far shorter than Hero anticipated.

Suddenly, a heinous amount of white spikes protruded from the nonexistent ground, all of them moving at such high speeds that they pierced through the air both Hero and Justice quickly jumped up as the spikes had covered most of the battlefield they stood on.

"I know those things are of my magic but yet... They still seem hostile," Hero said as he gritted his eyes narrowed down at The King who flew up just as swiftly as they did, but doing this ensured Hero's trap.

"Justice!" Hero said as he summoned multiple ice mirrors in the vicinity mid-air before The King could melt them, both he and Justice fired multiplied small beams of light which bounced and ricocheted across every one of the mirrors, making a frenzy of lasers The King forcibly had to dodge.

"This charade again..." The King muttered with a hint of exhaustion in their voice as he swerved away from each of the lasers, forcing him to go back down, and once he landed all of the spikes in the proximity shattered upon The King's arrival to the ground.

"A little more flavor would be nice," The King commented, taking a deep breath as they noticed their magic, strangely had started to drain faster, however, they were quick to dismiss it when he noticed a yellow glow protruding from the sky, and as he looked up, there he saw hundreds, perhaps even thousands of glowing light spears that were raining down on him as he stared, to him, it was only a golden sky of tranquility and pleasure.

"Speak of the devil..." The King responded, that insufferable smirk returning on his face as dashed upward, facing the spears directly.

They outstretched their arms proudly as they swam through the air, the gold coming closer by the second as The King finally touched it with his bare hands, grabbing them as he avoided all of them, using and swinging himself across each one of them with such dexterity only a few could even scratch his robes.

But as they burst freely out of that golden sky and made out of it, beyond the sky he saw a strange yellow multi-armed statue of what seemed to be a 'King', charging up a large beam up front as on top of its head stood Hero and Justice, both kneeled as they were seemingly powering the giant, it was of Justice's Ultimatum and Magic, but due to Hero having the majority of the power, it had taken the form of his Ultimatum.

"A trap?" The King thought calmly, as a frown appeared on their face before quickly turning down as he thought of escaping to the sides, but much to his surprise, the light spears traveled back up, both on the sides and below to ensure The King had no way to escape.

"But how come I could not sense its magic-" The King cut himself off as he realized, Justice had sneakily used Core Distortion to further hide his and Hero's magic amongst the sky of golden arrows.

"...I see," The King snickered to himself before turning back around, staring down at the Golden Statue before him as he only saw himself, and judging from its magical presence, it was quite close to reaching its peak as both Justice drained his magic into this one attack, it was a gamble yes but it was the only worthwhile gamble.

"Magic Ultimatum:" The duo muttered.

"Charge Of The Light Brigade!" They yelled as everything was engulfed in light, below and above The King laughed outwardly, outstretching their hands as they were prepared to take the attack while the arrows were also closing in on him from behind, everything shook, even some part of that there infinite void as in the center of it, it was as though there was a sun...

In an oh-so-familiar black void.

One unreplicable...

There was no longer a voice.

There was no longer a shape.

There was no longer a purpose.

That there void...

Dissipates.

...

Hero stood before The King, who was down on their knees, the initial attack had severely burnt off a large portion of their arms and legs, and at this point, due to Hero being able to manipulate his magic, trying to regenerate even a drop of blood would be a chore, not to mention from that attack, their rings were also undoubtedly drained and needed time to heal.

The King was staring down at the void while Hero took another step forward before he spoke. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Find ɴøᴠel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Have you no words?" Hero spoke in a cold tone.

"Not unless it is my last," The King responded as they stood up, with Hero now unmoving as the two, now on equal level looked at each other directly in the eyes.

"Why?" Hero questioned as The King stayed silent for a moment.

"I have my reasons," The King responded.

"...I'm supposed to be satisfied, knowing that you will perish, that the initial purpose I had would be fulfilled..." Hero clenched his fists as he took a deep breath.

"...I thought I had saved everyone but I feel that nothing changed."

"Fool..." The King turned around as they smiled to themself.

"If you truly wish to relish in the defeat of an enemy, focus on the moment itself, not after it."

"Who are you to give me wisdom?" Hero staggered back as he felt a mix of disapproval and yet... Nothing, other than that, there was nothing.

"You are right, perhaps," The King replied.

"But the bold truth is, focus on the void beyond me... And you will indeed be met with that void."

"Is there a point to give me this deceptive wisdom?" Hero's eyes narrowed.

"There is no deception, not this time, Hero," The King said in a tone that could only be described as "off-guard."

"...My will shall be carried on."

"But there lies something beyond just that..." The King said in a weak voice as his entire being began to crumble away, catching Hero by surprise as he took a step forward, but at that instant stopped as he watched The King wither away while his white rings still remained.

"...He was nowhere near dying just yet, he could have survived easily even with those injuries... Did he-?" Hero thought as he looked up into the sky, and in that moment, everything returned to normal, they were back at The King's throne room, whose floor was now fixed and concrete.

"So it's over, huh?" Justice said as the two stood in that empty idle room, turning to each other as the feeling that overcame the throne area was neither pleasure nor displeasure, it was a rather ambiguous feeling, they thought.

"I suppose so..." Hero replied as a sincere smile formed on his face, as did Justice, but suddenly the rings that remained of The King dashed forth at Hero, latching onto them with such high speeds it caused them to stumble to the sides as the duo was caught off-guard, Justice raised his hand, about to send a precise beam of light at the three rings, however, Hero suddenly raised his left in disapproval.

"...Hold on, it doesn't hurt, this is not harmful, most likely," Hero explained as he regained his balance, turning his head to the side to get a clearer look at the rings behind him, while simultaneously, he began to feel his magic grow exponentially the moment the rings attached to him, The King's magic... Was coming forth.

"Hero..." Justice looked on with an amused face and there formed a large grin.

"Your magic levels... I see now... You've inherited The King's power..." Justice took a step forward as he snickered, intrigued.

"And thus..." Justice stood right in front of Hero as the two made eye contact.

"You inherit this world,"

"...What?" Hero looked on with a shocked expression, in a mix of puzzlement yet wonder as his eyes widened, he was unsure it would lead to this but now that it had happened, he was full of astonishment.

"So you mean... With this, I can now-?"

"Yes, exactly that," Justice followed up as Hero looked at the ground below him.

Hero, getting a grasp on his new magic, utilized the rings, feeling as though the reality was shaking as they all too began to flicker and spin violently as he stared at the ceiling above which began to unravel itself as the familiar white light

Outward of Area 6, beyond it even, all the Areas, the cities that were traumatized, abandoned, and forgotten, the lives tainted and dreaded, and perhaps even the infinite expanse of the Areas themselves;

They all began to disappear, all the negativity that lurked due to The King's influence...

Withered away just as easily as he did.

And so, unnoticeably yet at the same time noticeable...

The areas were purified, the blood, the tears, and the sweat.

While not forgotten, were now a mere fantasy.

A fantasy that would hurt others no longer.

The remnants, specifically, the memory of The Guardians were almost completely extinguished, except for one, whose legacy still remains even amongst their soldiers.

Fear and hunger could no longer do so much as muster.

"From now on, the shadows are gone."

...

A day later.

...

In the wide city of London in Area 2, whose festival had just been wrapped up last night, the city streets were far more empty than usual, but it gave a sense of relaxation as everyone could freely enjoy the cool breeze.

Everyone, in suits or casual attire, was going out for a walk, letting time pass as some took a sightseeing trip and looked over to the other half of the platform they lived on, an empty land that was planned to be made another half of London, to be called Nodnol, however, it was thought out that perhaps the city dwellers should decide as a community vote.

But among the buildings was an idle diner that sat just right near the center of the city, inside it, beautiful ceiling lights complimented its old vintage feel, and the soft wooden chairs just barely reflected any light amongst the diner and onto the portraits that were hung of the previous owners, as beautiful as this place was, unfortunately, there were not many customers, and only about 3 tables were occupied during that time, but on one of those taken tables...

"So..." Justice spoke, sitting on the opposite chair as he raised out his hand.

"What'd you call me here for?" He questioned.

"Ah, nothing, I just needed an explanation about what happened yesterday... And also something to compensate for this," Sherlock said as he extended out his right hand, or at least where it once was as it was bandaged up, with some streaks of blood still leaking out.

"Hm, unfortunately, I can't heal it myself, Magic can only be used to heal yourself unless it is a very special type of magic, though, I am free and able to teach you Healing if that is what you desire," Justice responded as he smirked, with Sherlock quietly nodding in response.

"Now that I think of it... Where has that serial killer gone to, he was one right?" He asked.

"Oh, kept him in a magical vial, I copied based off of... Eh, my memory is foggy," Sherlock said as he sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned back on his chair.

"I see..." Justice rested his head on his hand.

"Right, you wanted an explanation, hm?"

"As a courtesy for you being a great help while I was absent for a while during that important fight..."

"I'll start from the beginning."

...

THE END.

Hello, I'd like to thank those who read my story! This was a big step in my writing career and hopefully, I can write more stories;

Another thing I would like to say is that this is not the end of CORE just yet, I will be writing a prequel series revolving around Justice's time BEFORE he was sealed!

I hope you look forward to this next project!

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