Declaration

Stepping up from his hospital bed, he looked ahead of him at the blank room, before stepping out of the room and heading to the front desk.

"Is there any chance I can get discharged early?" 

The receptionist sat for a moment.

"What's your name, sir?"

"Ace Takahashi." He cheerfully answered.

"Alright, one moment. I'll check your status."

She proceeded to type on her keyboard before bringing him up, and then looking at him.

"No, you're still one day away from discharge."

Ace sighed, before walking off, muttering a quick thanks.

'One day? This is going to be boring as fuck. I guess I could exercise a bit, though.'

A vision struck Ace while he was completely awake.

***

Ace found himself in a new dimension, an endless red scape, as if he was inside of a blood stream, with a flight of stairs heading up.

"What the hell is this place?"

Ace ascends the stairs, moving one by one as he stands at the top, looking ahead to see a man wearing fancy robes.

"I have been expecting you." The man speaks, looking at Ace.

"I am King Ziares."

'Ziares! That's the guy I dreamt of.'

"And I have come here to duel with you."

"Duel? With me? No way, I could never win that."

"Not a battle, a game of chess."

'Chess? Yeah, I'm pretty good at it, but I'd bet he's better.'

"I want to see if you are worthy of my gift."

"Okay, but, where are we?"

"You are asking the wrong questions, you should be asking when we'll play."

"And that is?"

"Right now."

'Is this guy fucking with me?'

"Real fucking funny." Ace comments.

And suddenly, a chess board rises below Ace, as pieces begin to summon, Ace finds himself placed next to his white queen, as Ziares was placed next to the black queen.

"Your move, boy." The king shouts, pointing his palm ahead.

They begin to play a normal game of chess, moving their pawns and knights ahead, all was well until the first capture.

White Queen captured by Black Queen.

And then…

Black Queen captured by White Pawn.

'He traded queens? He must be confident in his abilities.'

'But confidence won't save him!'

Ace continued to press on, but he suffered a pivotal blow.

"Check." The king muttered.

Looking forwards, Ace finds a rook looking at him. He quickly moves a bishop to defend himself, but he loses his main advantage.

The game continues usually until they move into the endgame.

Ace - 4 Units

Ziares - 7 Units

'That bastard's gonna win…'

The final endgame proceeds as expected.

Check. Check. Check.

"And now…"

Checkmate. Ace has lost.

"You made an illegal move three turns ago." Ace quickly responds.

"This isn't a checkmate for you, look for yourself, you were under check!"

The king grins.

"So you say I've lost, but do you have the guts to back it up?"

Ace glares directly at Ziares.

"I'd fight for that right."

Ziares begins to clap, before looking directly at Ace.

"That'll do."

And with a snap, Ace finds himself back in his hospital room, but it feels like time has passed. It's already midnight, as he looks at his phone.

'What the fuck was that?'

'I need to get stronger, that's the only way to improve. I doubt I'll become a hero, but…'

"I'll get stronger."

***

The evil S Grade sorcerer, the one who had invaded the heroes association only a few days ago, was now sitting in a chamber with a few other sorcerers with him.

"Master Lockhart, must we really do this?"

"I will not lose again. Hiroshi won by a fluke." The sorcerer, Lockhart, spoke.

"Do you have any news on that boy I fought? I found him most intriguing."

"Apparently he was found passed out next to the corpse of a D Grade sorcerer. We speculate someone saved him and killed the sorcerer."

"Is that so?" The sorcerer replies.

"What more do you know about him?"

"Well, he's living with his mother and sister, he's quite poor, and he's been trying to become a hero for a long time now."

"What of his father?"

"We don't know, sir."

"Really? An average man is beyond your scope?"

The man collecting the information nervously chuckles.

"For god's sake, you're the Alpha team, you are made to collect information."

Lockhart sighs, before swiping his hand.

"Looks like I'll have to let things go for now. Can't risk visiting him."

Then, Lockhart turns to his team.

"Was I correct in my prediction of Hiroshi's Core Weakness?"

"Core Weakness? What the heck is that?" One of the rookies asked.

"I'll let Hoshi explain for you." Lockhart responded, pointing to the man collecting information.

"A Core Weakness is a critical flaw in one's Core, which, if exploited, will deal major damage to the opponent." Hoshi responded.

"Every single Core has a weakness. There is no Core without a weakness. We believe Hiroshi's weakness is…well, that's classified for now."

"Hiroshi has a weakness? For real?" The rookie asked.

Hoshi nods.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have today, I need to go back on collecting information."

"Alright then, Hoshi. Let's see about this boy's father."

"Yes, sir."

The doors of the chamber closed.