Panic ensued at once. People ran out of the food court at once, and the robots went to a safe box that showed up from underground and disappeared.
"…"
Rai was speechless. In just a few seconds, he was left alone in the food court without knowing what to do. It was like everyone else had been trained to handle this situation many times, so they were quick to hide.
However…
"Glitches?" He muttered as he looked at the red hologram that showed up everywhere, filling every corner of the mall.
'That's a familiar word.'
In fact, Ossa mentioned it in his morning training. The spirit said it would be covered tomorrow. Just by his luck, he happened to be in place for that to happen.
[Glitches have been verified. A Level 1 Invader and 5 Demons have been detected inside the Warped Space. The space affected is the Mall's lobby on the first floor.]
The announcement rang once again.
Sighing, Rai stood up and scratched the back of his head, ruffling his neat hair and turning it messy.
"I can't get my meal?" He muttered, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "And I am looking forward to it. Was coming to this mall a mistake?"
Complaining would not change anything. It had happened right in front of him, so the only thing he could do was to stay calm.
Rai looked at his System Watch, checking his Magicule count.
"Oh? It's fully recovered." He muttered.
A few hours did pass since he trained. At least he could now defend himself.
If he wanted to return, he just needed to press the emergency teleport button installed in his System Watch, and a portal leading to Extity's base would appear.
However…
"This is perfect."
Glitches definitely didn't happen often. And whenever there was a warning of danger, Guardians would show up. Still, at least he needed some information.
So he contacted someone who would surely know about this.
"Ossa." He called out, holding the simple round earring in his left ear.
It was a communication device connected to his System Watch. The sound that usually came from the speaker would be transmitted to the earring with Wi-Fi, making only he could hear it. An earphone in the form of an earring, or so to speak.
[Rai? What's wrong?]
Ossa's voice rang near his ear clearly.
"Can you now tell me what Glitches, Invaders, and Demons are?"
Rai immediately asked the most important question to the spirit that had just answered his call as he casually walked out of the food court, putting on his hood so cameras around the mall wouldn't see his face if he, by chance, needed to transform.
[Why so sudden?]
"It appeared in the Mall I am currently in."
[Oh? I don't know whether I should call you lucky or unlucky.] The spirit raised his voice with interest.
[Fine. Let's start with Glitches. Can you see the area that's affected by the Warped Space Phenomenon? The announcement from the city system should tell you where it appeared.]
"Yeah." Rai nodded, leaning his arms on the glass railing.
His gaze was directed downward on the first floor toward the peculiar spectacle that unfolded before him.
The Warped Space Phenomenon, often called WSP, had transformed the mall's lobby with hologram ads and beautiful sleek, futuristic design into mesmerizing twisted dimensions and reflections akin to shattered glass.
Some areas seemed to twist and coil like serpents, while the object inside looked bent with impossible angles. It was as if the very essence of reality had fractured, leaving behind an impossible kaleidoscope of the color of fractured fragments.
Rai could understand why it was called Glitches and the phenomenon as a Warped Space. This spectacle truly fit to be called that. And he was captivated by this strange spectacle.
Within that warped space, Rai's eyes traced the contorted pathways within that space. Connecting to that pathway was a portal, similar to what he used to retreat after playing with the Magical Girl, only red in color and wasn't clear due to the warped space.
Sounds echoed strangely within this distorted space. The source was the creatures in front of that portal. The shadow of six creatures stood. One looked bipedal, while the other five looked like strange quadrupedal creatures.
"I can see it as clear as day. That's interesting."
A smile formed on Rai's face as five Guardians in exoskeleton suits entered the mall. One of them was a female with long black hair tied in a ponytail, while the others were young boys the same age as Rai.
All of them held a weapon in their hands, such as a gun with a sleek design, a lightweight yet durable alloy to shoot Magicule bullets, and a bladed weapon.
No one seemed to be able to transform, as even the girl held a bladed weapon while wearing a dark-blue exoskeleton suit.
"Some Guardians have also arrived. Their reaction was unexpectedly fast. It's just a minute since the warning. But they looked too young to be active Guardians. None of them are transformed either."
[They have been trained to respond to anything within a minute. There is a technology that allows them to fly, but they can't teleport like us. That's my technology.] Ossa sounded really proud at the end of his sentence.
[And if they look young, they are probably still students of Guardian School. That means the Invader that appeared is probably just Level 1. It is a weak Invader that can't even beat 5 of our minions.]
"According to the announcement, it is indeed a Level 1 Invader," Rai confirmed Ossa's words.
[Alright, that's not that dangerous then. Let me explain what Glitches and Invaders are.]
A cough sounded from the other side of the receiver. Then the spirit spoke in a lecturing tone.
[Glitches, as its name suggests, are a barrier made by the rule of the world to keep Invaders from entering this world. Though those Guardians thought we were the one behind this, we are by no means friendly with the Invaders.]
[If you see inside the space, there should be some creatures. The one resembling human is the Invaders, while the others are Demons, a byproduct of Invaders' excess Magicule used to create the portal. Do you understand?]
"From your explanation, it looks like those Invaders came from another world."
[That's exactly what I mean. They are enemies for both us and the Guardians. Even I don't know what their goal is as their existences are shrouded in mystery.] The spirit said in a serious tone.
[However, they often unintentionally appeared at a somewhat surprising time when we had a mission. So the Guardian Shield thought we were the reason behind their appearance.]
"What a scary coincidence." Rai chuckled in a low voice. "Well, how can I enter the Glitches? This phenomenon interests me."
At that moment, one of the Guardians unexpectedly looked up in his direction. It was the only girl among them, so he needed to step away and hide.
[It's simple.] Ossa's voice rang cheerfully. [You just enter.]
"Just enter? Like… Just walk in without any preparation?"
[Yeah! It's easy to enter, but it's hard to exit. You need to defeat the Invader inside, or the WSP won't disappear. Well, that or you can just wait for 12 hours until the warped space disappears naturally, but the Invader would also be able to escape to this world at that moment.]
"I see."
Nodding, Rai peeked down the first floor again. The Guardians ran inside the warped space without any fear inside their eyes.
From the outside view, their bodies looked warped, like a reflection of broken glass.
Looking at them able to enter easily, Rai was sure that Ossa didn't just joke around with him.
'Let's enter the Glitches and observe how the Guardians fight the Invader.'
That would probably be interesting. Also…
'I want to test my ability again, and this is the perfect time for it. I hope the Guardians lose.'