Supernatural

Ace felt the light transfer him to a similar place, one he has been before. Glancing down, his arm was restored as he could feel it and move it.

"This is…" Ace spoke out, pausing.

"Your Core." His imaginative self responded.

"How did I get here again?"

"You closed your eyes, relaxed, and you wanted to come here. That's how."

"Relax, huh? Well, what do you think happened?"

"I'm still your imagination. I only know as much as you do, but I know everything you know. You only know what you remember," His imaginative self spoke, "However, it is likely you transported yourself here as a last ditch effort rather than death."

"I still don't know how an S Grade sorcerer decided to kill us." Ace said, looking at his restored arm.

"Guessing I only have my arm in my Core." Ace continued, his expression darkening.

The imaginate being nodded, before sitting down ahead of some roses, smelling their gorgeous fragrance.

"These roses are quite beautiful. Care for tea?"

"T-Tea? But I'm about to die!" Ace responded, shocked.

"Exactly. Until you leave your Core, you can just live here all you want…"

"Which is kind of depressing, now that you say it." The being paused.

"Yeah, of course it is! This is just a pathway with roses and two corpses." Ace replied.

The being sighed as he walked close to Ace.

"Wake up. That is the best advice I can give."

"Hold on, why didn't my Cores work when I tried to activate them?"

"Because you are a fool. I warned you before."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ace swings his arms out in shock.

"Wake up."

"No, I'm dying!"

"Then wake up." The imaginative being suddenly faded away.

"Hey, no! Don't do this! Hey!"

"..."

And now, Ace stood all alone. He had to face reality, as even his imaginative self left him.

"Fuck."

The area around him began to morph, however, and now, he was in a hellish landscape. Surrounded by flames and magma.

"What? Who's there?"

A chuckle could be heard as a red being descended, landing in front of Ace.

"This is my Dimension - Volcanic Abyss." It continued.

"Dimension?" Ace responded.

"Don't worry about these details. We are still in your Core."

The being went towards Ace.

"I am your imaginative being, but a different version. Your other imaginative being."

Ace stood for a second.

"Like the shoulder thing where one is good and one is bad?"

"Precisely."

"And you're…" Ace paused.

"Don't judge a book by its cover. Now, I came here to give you an offer."

"An offer?"

"Yes, an offer." The being clasped its hands together.

"I will give you power, in exchange, you give me humanity. A proportional amount."

The being began to fidget a bit, circling around Ace.

"What do you mean?" Ace asked.

"Simple. The stronger you get, the more humanity you lose." It responded.

"And what happens if I lose all my humanity?" Ace asked once more.

It chuckled, before continuing.

"You begin to change. Your skin feels cold, you feel less, until you have no more emotions."

"Th-That's it?"

The being nodded.

"And besides, you won't lose all your humanity. It depends on how much of the power you access."

"Access?"

"I won't give you all the power. I will only give you a percent of it. To get more, you need only come back here and feed-no, give me more of that humanity you have."

"A-Alright. I'll take the deal." Ace finally spoke.

The being grinned massively, before shaking hands with Ace.

"Excellent. As an upfront, I'll even lend you a healing Core for one hour - how about that?"

"Y-Yeah, of course!"

Waving its hand, the being swiped Ace away back to reality.

"Fool."

***

Ace woke up in the real world. He looked to his right arm, which he healed using the now gained healing magic.

'That's so fucking cool!' Ace exclaimed.

"Gotta save the others." He continued.

Ace went to Takeda first, restoring his heart and cleaning out the hole.

Takeda woke up, shocked. So was Ace, who thought this wouldn't work.

'This healing Core…it's so powerful it can restore life…'

'I wonder, can it heal Taru? He's destroyed into multiple pieces…'

Holding his palm out, Taru began to reform, as he jolted back to life.

Ace's jaw was wide open in shock.

'Holy…'

Rushing towards Senko, he sat down and healed his bones back to full condition.

'I can't believe it.'

"How did you do that…" The other heroes asked Ace.

"I…I don't know. But I'll go stop that sorcerer, you won't be able to help."

The others couldn't even bother to argue, and simply stood in wonder.

Ace began to bolt down the hallway, before stopping at the massacre he witnessed.

Hundreds of dead bodies, employees and heroes, were dropped on the ground. Ahead of him was the sorcerer.

"Where is that blasted thing…" The sorcerer muttered.

"Hey, you!" Ace yelled out, full of fear.

The sorcerer turned, looking at him. He hadn't recognized him due to how insignificant he was.

"Ah, looks like I missed one."

Aiming ahead, he let out a blast which destroyed Ace's right side. But just then, Ace was able to heal it.

'Holy shit…maybe I can actually put up a good fight!'

The sorcerer looked at Ace, before smiling.

"Not bad for a novice."

Picking up both of his arms, the sorcerer unleashed an even more powerful blast. Ace attempted to block, but his arms burned off and his body was entirely full of burns, falling apart at any moment.

But just then, he healed even that much damage. The sorcerer had shock written all over his face.

"How the hell do you have so much Core Energy?"

Ace hadn't thought of it. How did someone as weak as him have so much energy?

'No…wait, I can feel myself running low. Not good.'

"I have infinite energy."

The sorcerer raised his eyebrows, before chuckling.

"That bluff won't save you. I can sense your energy running low."

'He can sense my energy?'

"I guess I'll toy around for a bit. Haven't had a good challenge in a while anyways." The sorcerer muttered as his face took on a malevolent grin.

"COME AT ME!" Ace shouted.

The sorcerer moved with speed so fast it was as if he teleported right in front of Ace, before kicking him straight up through multiple floors of the building, and then striking him outside and through multiple buildings as Ace could feel his body break down.

'I certainly feel stronger, but I'm still nothing compared to this guy!' Ace thought to himself as he continuously healed himself as he took this damage.

The sorcerer stopped right before Ace collided again, slamming him with his fists down onto the ground.

"I'm surprised you have that much energy, truth be told."

The sorcerer stated, before landing next to him.

"I won't give up!" Ace yelled, running to the sorcerer as he attempted to strike him.

But just as last time, his arm disconnected from his body.

"Each time you hit me, you'll gain damage."

"Then I know how to beat you!" Ace shouted out as he began to barrage the sorcerer with strikes.

"I'll just keep punching and healing until you run out of energy to maintain that defense! It takes more energy to maintain something like that than to heal!"

The sorcerer chuckled at the comment.

"That's a nice observation, but it falls flat when you realize I have much more energy than you ever had. You'll die out of energy before my guard drops."

'That's right…then…'

"I'LL JUST KEEP HITTING HARDER!" Ace screamed as he continued his relentless barrage of attacks. His bones kept breaking with each strike, but he kept on healing and striking.

'I can already feel my energy draining…shit.'