Without hesitation, Rai began to walk toward the entrance, which the two police officers guarded. He didn't know Ami's transformation but was confident he could take the enemies down.
"Shoot!"
*Ratatata!*
The police officers pulled the rifle's trigger. Dozens of bullets flew toward Rai and Ami at once.
The girl flinched a bit, but Rai's expression didn't change. He calmly raised his hand and conjured a black, hexagonal barrier big enough to cover both of them.
The bullets hit the barrier and bounced off without grazing it a little. They fell to the ground with a clanging sound, and Rai began to move forward.
"Ami, can you take care of them?"
"Easily."
Ami immediately picked two deformed bullets that fell to the metal-coated ground and threw them with all her strength toward the police. They flew almost as fast as when they were shot from the gun and hit each police officer's hand.
*Crack!*
"Agghh!"
"My hand!!"
Their index fingers were destroyed, and they released the gun. Due to the shoulder sling connected to their rifles, they didn't fall to the ground.
But that was enough. The minion girl immediately kicked the ground and shot forward at a fast speed. It was even faster than when Rai watched her in the simulation room, and she swung her dagger and sliced the police officer's neck. There was no hesitation in her movement.
"Ugh…"
Slowly, the police officers' heads fell down in a thud. Blood spurted out from the stump before their body followed suit.
Ami stood in the middle of the bloody spectacle while swinging her dagger down, cleaning it from the bloodstain. Her white mask was stained by blood, making her look like a serial killer from a story.
*Splash*
"This has become sharper." She said as she gazed down at her dagger.
Walking toward her, Rai felt a little nauseous. It was the first time he had seen people get killed swiftly at that. Thankfully, he was in a transformed state, or he would vomit what he just ate earlier.
Besides, he was the Devourer. He couldn't show his weak side to anyone else.
"Let's go inside." He patted Ami's shoulder and entered the mall, tapping his cane against the floor.
"Alright."
They entered the mall, leaving behind two bloodstained footprints. Their steps echoed through the lobby that had turned dark red from the warning alarm and fire on the second and third floors.
At the end of the lobby were two people dressed in black. Rai observed them with interest as one of them was a tall giant wearing a hoodie that had a skull symbol on his upper left arm.
The other one was crouching, seemingly taking something from the ground and hiding it inside her pocket.
"Why, why, there are people here. And are you from an evil organization? You're faster than the Guardians, aren't you?" The girl turned around and grinned. There was a trace of blood on her face as her red eyes glinted in the dark.
The situation was strange.
Rai couldn't put a hand on anything before he heard a liquid drop to the ground. He raised his head slightly and noticed what was strange.
'Those are…'
"Was that your doing?" He asked the people in front of him without averting his gaze toward the ceiling.
People were there. Or, more specifically, the remnant of people's limbs was dangling on the fourth and fifth floor's railing. From the ripped clothes and rifles held by those hands, Rai concluded those were the police officers that stormed the mall earlier.
"Correct. I named this work a beautiful flower in Alpha Mall." The girl exclaimed without any sense of remorse. Instead, her lips widened and showed a toothy grin.
The giant stayed silent all this time, observing Rai and Ami with a pair of cold, green eyes. Due to his size, he was quite intimidating.
"What a bad art." He muttered, heaving a long sigh.
"What did you say?" The girl's tone turned cold as her smile disappeared.
"I said, what a bad art," Rai repeated, turning his gaze down. A smirk appeared on his face as he tapped his cane against the floor once, creating a clear sound. "Let's stop probing each other any further. Give me what you just take, and I will let you go without any injury."
Without a doubt, that girl took something he was searching for. The lingering smell of coffee was now coming from that girl.
However, one thing confused him after he saw the corpses of police officers.
'The girl has no Magicule. Can she even transform? Or does she have a specialized tool from a Spirit?'
How could she kill those police officers?
'And were they the ones who made those explosives?'
Then they should still have some kind of tricks under their sleeves. This area was probably also covered in explosives, which he couldn't detect because they weren't a living person, a girl, or something with Magicule in them.
"You… You just made fun of my art?!" The girl's body shook greatly in anger as she muttered dangerously.
Beside her, the giant's eyes flashed a strange glint as he took a step forward. Rai managed to see his metallic part hidden under his clothes.
'Ah, so he's the culprit. Probably he has Magicule, but my ability doesn't work on him because he's not a girl. Most likely, he can create an explosion and generate a blade based on the cut mark on the limbs on the higher floors.'
Rai finally connected all the dots and took a step forward too. As he did that, he whispered to his partner.
"It's better if you transform now. Feel free to rampage, or that cyborg will injure you."
He couldn't guarantee Ami's safety in this situation where he didn't know the opponent's strength. He could only guess based on the destruction he caused.
'At least I need to take that something the girl has. It's better if Ami can take care of that tall cyborg.'
"Are you serious?" Ami asked, a bit nervous.
"Yes," Rai confirmed. "Those people aren't in the correct mind. It seems the girl has almost lost control."
"My art is the best. It's something my brother made with my idea. There is no way it is bad!" The girl shouted loudly as she pulled out a red bead from her pocket. She raised it and opened her mouth wide.
"Ah…"
'That's bad!'
Seeing that, a sound escaped his lips as he took out his magical red ribbon. Immediately, he shot it forward, trying to grab that red bead before she could swallow it.
However, that was too late.
*Chomp!*
It fell directly into her mouth, and she closed it.
*Crack*
Somehow, a cracking sound resounded from the girl. A shockwave that could blow everything away followed suit, shattering the glasses in the lobby and everything in between.
The cyborg stood still with his hoodie fluttering around, seemingly unaffected. But that shockwave managed to stop Rai's ribbon, blowing it away.
"Ami!" Rai shouted at his partner.
"On it."
Sensing the danger from that girl, Ami immediately raised her wrist and pressed the transformation application.
Nothing happened after a second, causing her to ask dumbfoundedly.
"Huh?"
However, a burst of Magicule followed suit just right after that. A similar shockwave, even stronger than the one created by the girl, burst out from her body, creating a tempest around her.
When the tempest subsided, there stood Ami in her transformed form.
*Clang clang*
A clanging of metal echoed as her body changed. Her jacket morphed into a black fur coat with white collared fur and interior, and her bodysuit became sleeveless, showing off her cleavage with a light blue design on her chest.
Her hands were holding chains. At the end of it was a dagger that Rai had turned into a magical weapon earlier.
The overall appearance didn't change, but Rai could feel a strong coffee smell from her direction.
Then the shockwave from the girl also disappeared. Her appearance stayed the same, but he felt like she had awakened her Magicule Core forcefully with that red bead.
At the same time, the lingering smell had changed. It was now like an old grounded coffee and smelt really bad.
'Ugh, the clue is gone, and the girl awakened her Magicule? Thankfully she has no transformation application, or we will be in danger.'
"Brother."
Without knowing or waiting for Rai to respond, the girl raised her index finger and pointed at Rai.
"Kill him."
"Roger." A deep sound resounded from the cyborg.
Then…
*Woosh! Clang clang!*
The wind was sliced, and the clanging sound of chains followed suit.
*Thud!*
It all happened instantly. Even Rai missed it because it was too fast!
'What happened?!' Rai asked himself; his eyes widened slightly. The cyborg called brother suddenly fell to the floor with his legs missing. 'Could it be?'
Having a sudden thought, he turned to the left at his partner. As expected, her posture was lowered slightly, and two legs were embedded at the end of the chain, pierced by a sharp black dagger. Electric current appeared from the severed part, but it didn't seem to hurt Ami.
Swinging her hand, the severed legs flew toward the dumbfounded girl. She was speechless without being able to move at all.
"Brother!!" The girl screamed loudly.
After that, a maniacal laugh followed suit.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Freedom! Cut everything to get freedom!"
Ami had lost control and rampaged. And it was even worse than Rai's rampage!