Chapter 23 – A New Knowledge

"Ciel!"

Eric ran toward Ciel and crouched in front of her. He immediately checked her pulse and heaved a relieved sigh once he confirmed she was just sleeping.

"Thank God…"

His teammates stopped behind him one after another. Their exoskeleton suits were destroyed, and their body was covered in small and deep cuts from something sharp.

"Is she okay?" One of the teammates, a boy with blond hair, asked.

"Yes." Eric nodded, standing up while carrying Ciel in his arms. "She's just sleeping."

"Good." Another boy nodded. "It was a shame and really sad we lost Sagi, but… Thankfully, Ciel is okay. However… why?"

That was a good question.

Why would that man just leave without harming Ciel? What was his goal?

Eric was just happy that Ciel was safe, but the man's last word before he vanished into the portal was worrying.

'What did he mean by picking Ciel up when she's ready?'

Anyway, that could wait. Their conditions weren't at best, and they could also faint at any time. The fight earlier depleted their Magicule, so their bodies were really weak. They could only move because of sheer will, remembering that Ciel was missing.

Actually, deep inside, they were relieved that the man with Dark Magicule had just retreated without fighting.

If they fought right now, the team would certainly be wiped out.

"Tsk! I was too weak!"

Biting his lips, Eric muttered in frustration. He held Ciel tightly, promising to protect the girl he liked in the future.

Before long, footsteps rang from the Mall's entrance, and many people dressed in white exoskeleton suits entered.

"Are you okay?"

The middle-aged man holding a red box asked as he ran toward the team. They were a medical team from Guardian Shield.

Accompanying them was a group of three men wearing dark-red exoskeleton suits. They were one of the group of active Guardians responsible for this District, Red Lion.

Seeing them, relief washed over Eric and his team. He smiled at the medical team and said.

"Please help this girl first."

***

After using the emergency teleport, Rai appeared at the side of the black portal that was connected to the so-called 'Teleportation Room' in the Extity's base.

This room was similar to a training room, without anything but a white wall, save for the small round camera placed on the four corners of the ceiling and the constant black portal in the middle of the room that could be used to exit the base.

Rai immediately transformed back to his basic form and put the red ribbon into his jacket's pocket.

"That was a bit out of a plan, but a fun adventure nonetheless. That girl also has a big potential to grow, so I will wait until she gets her transformation and visit her again in the future."

A smile formed on his face.

Indeed. Corrupting a girl who couldn't transform yet was useless. It wouldn't yield the pure Magicule that Ossa talked about, and they were weak.

If they wanted to transform, Ossa would be needed to give his power to them, which would be better to be spent on the loyal minions.

That was counterproductive to his goal of corrupting the Magical Girl and turning the already transformed one into Extity's new member.

"I have planted the seed of doubt within her and left a deep impression. I just need to bring this matter up in the future, and she will be shaken. That's if the impurity inside her Core still exists."

Muttering so, he put his hands inside the jacket's pocket and walked out of the room. The teleportation room was located right in the middle of the base, with layered security in the door.

Without Ossa's permission, no one would be able to enter the teleportation room. And because this base was located in a different space that Ossa created, no one could return to the surface without the spirit's permission.

The ones who were given permission to use the teleportation room freely were the three Commanders and now Rai as the spirit's protégé and special minion. That was how special he was in Extity.

Because he had nothing to do and returning to the city wasn't appealing anymore, he decided to go to Ossa's office, which was actually located near the teleportation room in Area 0.

The base was split into 6 Areas and 3 floors, with Area 0 and Area 1 on the lowest floor and Area 4 and 5 on the highest floor, and created a cone shape, meaning Area 5 had the smallest area among the others.

And why Ossa's office was located in Area 0 and not in Area 5 was unknown to anyone but the spirit himself.

'I can only say Ossa is weird.'

At least Rai remembered the layout of the base because he would live in this place for a long time.

*Ding dong!*

Rai pressed the bell near a set of numbers from 1 to 0 to manually unlock the door as he arrived in front of Ossa's office.

The door was opened almost immediately, and so he entered and looked around, only to find Ossa chuckling like a mad mastermind in front of the row of physical monitors at the corner of the room.

[Kukuku, interesting. So they can do that too?]

"Is something wrong, Ossa?"

Rai asked as he pulled a chair from the side and sat while leaning against the backrest he put in front of him, looking at the spirit curiously.

[You've done a great job, Rai. I must say, as expected from my protégé!]

"Is it related to the Glitches earlier?"

[You could say that.]

The spirit waved his clawed hand, and a half-transparent blue hologram keyboard appeared in front of him. His hands then danced on the keyboard while his ominous red eyes looked over the monitors, showing earlier footage of the Mall's lobby.

It showed Rai's figure walking toward the Glitches before he transformed—a short, hooded figure with a red and black techwear jacket. But then, when Ossa clicked a button on his keyboard, the figure changed to Devourer, Rai's transformed state.

"That's…?" Rai raised his voice, surprised by it.

[I've asked Crazy Bomber to tap the security cameras around Alpha Mall once you called me. Your figures are all replaced with your transformed state now.]

"That hacker is so talented."

[Of course, she's the Sweet Devil's Vice-Commander.] Ossa replied with a prideful tone. [Anyway, I have some questions, if you don't mind. What did you see inside the Glitches? Tell me in detail, including what you did.]

"Sure, I don't mind." Rai nodded at the spirit.

Ossa probably wanted some details because he heard something interesting that had never happened before. And he was also curious about the Glitches, especially that strong coffee smell that overpowered Ciel's sweet smell.

"It started with when I arrived in that clearing—"