Unparalleled Power

Jumping up into the air, the sorcerers followed Hiroshi, however, he was able to kick the first one down into the ground, before holding his hands out, focusing on him, and making him implode from the inside.

"One down, two to go!"

The other sorcerers were horrified upon seeing their ally explode from the inside out, as one of them deployed a summoning spell, which summoned a dragon.

"You think that'll stop me?" Hiroshi chuckled as he looked ahead. "You must not know about my Core."

Jumping up, Hiroshi placed his palm on the Dragon, as an atomic structure covered it.

"I have the power to manipulate the atoms of anything I set my hands on. Including non-living objects."

The Dragon would suddenly be set ablaze and burn in an instant, leaving nothing behind but smoke and Hiroshi's grin.

"I can also use very basic manipulation from afar. Just like how I killed your friend. Though, it doesn't really work on the stronger people, only weak B-Grades like you. At least, I'm pretty sure you're B Grade. All of you got wiped out in an instant." Hiroshi chuckled once more.

"Can't believe I thought you were all S Grades, so how about we wrap this up?"

Hiroshi's intuition was true. None of them were even close to being S Grades, it must have been a false alarm. Clasping his hands together, an atomic structure appeared around both of the final, horrified sorcerers.

"Now, if you had focused in school, you might've learned a thing or two about chemical reactions," Hiroshi chuckled, "Especially, Decomposition Reactions."

Hiroshi slowly began to rip their bodies apart, as they could quite literally feel themselves being tugged from one side and the other side to another.

"Where you split up something that's bonded together into two." 

And as soon as he said that, their bodies split in half, falling down onto the ground as he chuckled.

"Man, that's gotta be the easiest ten billion yen I ever made."

***

Ace was back at the Dojo, training more and more. The T.V. on the wall reported the news of Hiroshi and how he defeated 20 sorcerers all by himself. The news praised him for being the strongest hero, but Ace felt bitter.

"I should've been a hero..I should have been praised. I just need to…get stronger."

Ace wanted to push himself to his absolute limits. Day after day, he trained harder and harder. 40 pushups, 50 pushups, 60 pushups. He kept adding 10 pushups each day, pushing himself more and more. Ace wanted to be powerful.

He was tired of weakness, he wanted to throw it all away.

Each pushup was painful, he could feel his arms die inside as sweat trickled down his neck, his face reddened up out of the pain, but he endured. Each pushup, each situp, every single exercise killed him inside. 

But he didn't care, he just wanted to get stronger. Each day, he would sneak off to the Dojo and train for hours and hours. He disciplined himself into consistent training, and he would never back out of it.

And finally, after three entire months, he made progress. He stood in his room, looking at his body in the mirror. He was admiring his new stature, how great he had now looked.

Due to how hard he worked, he built proper muscle. His abdominals formed into wonderful muscles, his arms bulky and powerful, and his back properly formed. He could feel stronger, too. Rather than a measly 20 pushups a day, his current progress was 350.

"I'm so much stronger, I could practically do anything I wanted. Nobody can call me weak anymore."

Not just his body had changed, too. He felt taller, he straightened his hair out, and he began to properly fix himself up.

"I've made so much progress. Is this enough to become a hero?"

Looking at his hands, he had accomplished so much, in fact, he felt unstoppable. But still, something was missing, and he knew exactly what it was.

"I need a Core."

Ace spent the rest of his day browsing online for methods of obtaining a Core. All of them were just young awakening, but he was already past that threshold. Normally, he had no possible way of obtaining a Core.

"I can't stay weak forever….I'll find a way."

Ace kept on searching, he never gave up. Eventually, he got so deep that he somehow made his way to the dark web. It was entirely unmoderated, he could probably know anything. And eventually, he did.

There was a man, claiming that he had top secret information on obtaining a Core. However, the price he demanded was outrageous. three hundred thousand yen.

"That's-That's too much! But…I need to get a Core."

Checking his bank account, Ace made a document of all his savings.

"Ten thousand yen, huh? Alright then. I'll just have to find more jobs."

Suddenly, an idea clicked inside of Ace's head. He was already agile, intelligent, and now, he was also strong. He could work as..

"An Assassin. I could kill bad people for money..I heard it pays well." Ace spoke to himself.

He began to search online until he found a job opening under a company that specializes in classified jobs. A job opening for an assassin.

"That looks really dangerous. Am I even cut out for it?"

Ace tried to find any alternatives, but it would take him years to round up that amount of money at this point. So, without any other options, he applied for the job.

"I hope I won't regret this."

***

A week had passed since then. He hadn't received a response, but when he opened his email that day, his eyes beamed at what he read.

"They approved my application? And.."

Looking at the pay, a large smile crept up on his face.

"One hundred thousand yen per target? That's perfect! I just need to kill 3 criminals."

He started to prepare and headed to the location the hit specified. He wasn't very prepared for it, and only really brought a kitchen knife with him, which he believed was enough. Sitting on a rooftop, he observed the area and waited for the target.

"C'mon, c'mon.."

And eventually, the target was spotted right where the hit said he would be. So it was real…Ace slid down the fire escape and onto the alleyway, where he lunged at the criminal, lodging the knife through his back, instantly killing him. That was too easy.

"Something about this feels off."

Taking a picture of the corpse and sending it, he went back home after disposing of the body and cleaning his equipment. And checking his bank account, his eyes widened. The one hundred thousand yen was really there. This wasn't a joke..

Throughout the course of the week, he took two more contracts. But he made sure the targets were convicted criminals who had escaped the police since he wouldn't harm anyone innocent. And after so much work, he finally amassed the amount.

"Three thousand yen." He whispered, looking at his bank account.

"It's time."

Going back to that website, he went to the man who promised the method of obtaining a Core, and he transferred the money. The man told him to meet him at midnight by an alleyway.

"That sounds shady, but…I can protect myself."

He agrees, and eventually, when night hits, Ace begins to make his way towards the alleyway, and once there, he sees a man wearing a hood.

"Are you the guy who promised me how to get a Core?"

"Ace, right? Perfect."

The man walked closer, before whispering into his ear.

"Make sure this doesn't get out. If anyone finds out, society would collapse, full of people trying to kill each other."

The man made sure to look around him, before continuing.

"My name is Toshiro."

"Great to meet you, Toshiro."

'That's odd, why would he tell me his name?' Ace thought to himself.

"Well, I'll cut to the chase then," The man whispered quietly, "You know how Cores operate on "Core Energy", right? Well, "Core Energy" operates on something called an "Inner Core." And that Inner Core can be found inside of anyone who has a Core, specifically inside of their heart."

"Yeah, I know all about that. What about it?"

"Well, the only other way to get a Core is by…."

Ace's eyes widened upon hearing what that man said, he couldn't believe it.

"Y-You don't mean?"

"I'm dead serious. It's a major secret that the heroes association tries to keep from spreading, so you'd better not tell anyone about this. I don't really care what you do with that information, but if anyone asks, you don't know who I even am."

"Got it.."

As the man walked away, Ace was in disbelief. Did he really just hear that?