CORE

Chapter 13 - Chamber

It was a black void yet again.

But this time he could no longer wait.

He needed to get back, now.

But as he was there, he heard a voice.

"Three steps closer," It uttered in a deep, monotone voice...

Hero woke up, finding himself back on the Rift Platform he and Justice had awoken at after they had arrived in Area 3.

"My head stings..." Hero said, grabbing his head in an attempt to massage it.

"Was that some mirage? Or was it real?" Hero questioned before looking down at his hand, mustering up the little magic he had at the moment, he created a ball of ice, which he then sighed, either out of relief or surprise as he laid back down on the ground.

"I wish to help you Justice, but right now I'm too low on gas..." Hero spoke as he closed his eyes, as he wanted to rest for just a short while.

"I trust you can fend for yourself, just for a moment..."

But elsewhere, within another dimension separate yet connected to Area 3...

Justice lay there, on the purple, flat ground as the time passed, he had been like that for nearly a minute now.

But suddenly, he sprung to life getting up quickly as his first instinct was to take in his surroundings, he very well remembered what had happened to him and Hero prior, and he would not allow it to happen again.

However, where he was in was far from Justice expected, and with a slightly mortified look on his face, his eyes completely wide, he found himself back at Area 0, his original chamber.

"...Why am I back here?" Justice spoke in a strained tone as his eye twitched out of pure annoyance, but he knew well it would grow to something worse.

As Justice stood there, drinking it all in, fueling his ever-increasing frustration, he was not aware that something was sneaking up behind him, it opened its hand widely as it approached Justice from behind, seeking to grab his neck and glitch him to oblivion, he had not noticed yet, and it seemed like this was a perfect trap...

However, just as The Entity was to grab Justice, they were suddenly stopped as a small beam of light came out of Justice's fingers, suddenly redirecting off the platform and the sky as it then struck the shoulder of The Entity who attempted to avoid the attack but failed, causing it to screech in pain as it jumped back, it's body glitching further in panic.

"It was you... Wasn't it?" Justice said in a serious tone as he turned around to look at The Entity as he took a step forward, they stared back at Justice sharing a mutual feeling of bitterness.

"You brought me back here, didn't you?" Justice took another step forward, staring with vexation as his magical aura exponentially increased almost immediately, in response, The Entity activated its own magical aura, which passively started to corrupt and glitch the ground underneath as long as it was in the proximity.

"No... This isn't Area 0, I'd know that better than anyone... You made this a mere copy, just to infuriate me..."

"And I can bet... You did this to Hero too, did you not?" Justice shot out another beam of light from his fingertip, but The Entity had adapted, and so it quickly avoided the attack, corrupting the beam of light and forcing it to redirect back at Justice.

"Unforgivable," Justice said in a clearly more frustrated tone as he hardened his magical aura, stopping the corrupted beam of light and overpowering it with his own magic, causing it to dissipate instantly.