CORE

Chapter 20 - Unsung

"I would like to talk first, may I?" Hero questioned, slightly raising his hand as he took a step closer to The Hunter, who noticeably started to slowly lower his blade.

"30 seconds," The Hunter replied in a serious tone, clearly wanting to let the fight start.

"...I wish not for any senseless violence, but why is it that outsiders are killed on sight? As small as that may seem... That tells almost everything to me," Hero questioned.

"...And your knights' lack of care for the civilians they supposedly protect, why?"

Their old eyes narrowed from within their helmet, they were about to respond as they ever so slightly opened their mouth, but stopped themselves, keeping it shut.

"...He's being secretive about something... Furthermore, why can't I sense even a hint of magic energy from him?" Hero thought as he unknowingly lowered his head ever so slightly.

For that moment, silence filled the dark room as the dust continued to pass by, the sun had started to grow dim as The Hunter finally responded in what felt like ages...

"You're 30 seconds have been used up," The Hunter spoke in a threatening yet simultaneously composed tone as they suddenly raised their large blade, taking Hero by surprise as they quickly stepped back, narrowly dodging The Hunter's initial attack, which yielded such a high amount of speed despite how large the sword and their stature was.

As much as he wanted to hold back, sensing that there was something else to this Guardian specifically, Hero knew that this was nothing to take lightly, one wrong move and he could take quite the fatal blow, or perhaps even die.

However, while Hero was preparing for a counterattack, aiming to destroy the sword, in what felt like an instant, The Hunter suddenly twisted his wrist the opposite way, dashing his feet closer to Hero as he then swung down his blade with maximum force, leaving them no time to attack back, Hero instead summoning a wall of ice above him.

The moment the blade crashed into Hero's defense, the ice wall almost cracked under pressure, and after putting just a bit more force, it fully cracked as Hero then rolled to the side, avoiding The Hunter's attack, their Blade instead hitting the floor which rumbled the entire room they were in momentarily, before pulling it out and resting the sword on his back shoulder.

"No doubt about it... He has not even an ounce of magic energy," Hero said as he still continued to try and sense any sign of magic within The Hunter, but found nothing in the end.

"I should have an advantage with that, and yet..." Hero thought as The Hunter suddenly charged at him with ludicrous speeds, raising his sword high as Hero stood there, drinking it all in in the moment.

"...I'm the one at the disadvantage," Hero said as he got down and slid past The Hunter, leaving a trail of ice he immediately jumped up, now behind The Hunter as he sent a magic-imbued kick to their head, but surprisingly, they were able to duck down, causing Hero to miss the attack as The Hunter burst back up and almost immediately struck Hero directly in the face, sending him flying into the nearby wall, in which Hero created an ice wall behind him to cushion the knockback, but nevertheless, he left a crater as he bounced off of it and fell to the ground.

But as if he was never attacked, Hero swiftly slid on a path of ice to the right, avoiding The Hunter who crashed into the wall using their sword, but seeing as it missed Hero, they then pulled it out.

The two shared a serious glare for a moment, before Hero raised one of his hands, forming a hand sign as he then summoned multiple waves of ice from the ground, going directly for The Hunter.

Although, in what seemed like one swift movement, The Hunter destroyed all the ice with minimal effort, this was only the 1st step to Hero's plan, and upon seeing the shards were in the air, he then reformed and conjoined them into one large ice cage, encompassing The Hunter's entire body which should trap them for a few minutes maximum, Hero thought.