CORE

Chapter 9 - Misfortune

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.