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.