GLITCH

The End of an Anomaly

SILVER ISLAND

Monday, November 22, 2500

3:02pm

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

It's been a while since Rylai separated from us. She's buying some time for us to defeat this giant golem in front of us. We're fighting mid-air, thanks to my wind golem's support: [Aerial Maneuverability]. This is a skill that allows me to float in the air. I can also cast it to others.

"Jerry, use your mastery and protect us from the vines!"

"On it", Jerry said while slicing through vicious vine whips and thrusts coming straight forwards us.

Even with just a short sword, Jerry is able to defend just fine due to that sword's sharpness.

"Pyre, if you have any pierce-type fire spell…use it!"

"Pyre nodded with a smirk and said, "Now, that's what I wanted! One order of skewered golem…is coming right up!"

Pyre puts both of his arms up in the air. Soon after, a lot of red magic circles appeared around him and started a barrage of flames in the shape of needles.

"Eat this! Thousand spears of hell falls upon you! [Flame Spear Barrage]…!"

Those are spears? Not needles?

Dear me, this naming sense of his… Oh well, I'll just pretend that I didn't see or hear anything.

"Creation from the power of earth: [Earth Bind]!"

The earth shook and clumps of earth in the shape of a human arm and hand appeared beneath the Colossal Earth Golem and tugged it to the ground. The golem staggered, and rampaging about but this spell of mine will never let anything this huge get out.

"This is the end for you."

The golem was plummeted to the ground with a thunderous thud, and a huge amount of dust came as a result.

"The golem is still resisting. According to Rylai, there should be a crystal here acting as a power source as well as the operating system of this monster. Jerry, if you would."

Jerry glanced at me and nodded. After few moments of inspection Jerry came back and said disappointing news.

"The said crystal is nowhere to be found. However…"

"However…?"

"There's a vacant space at the chest area. Judging from the physical appearance of that space, it seems like something was installed in there; there are vessel-like roots in there, oozing with a kind of liquid."

This isn't good.

"We need to search for that controller, wherever it is! Pyre, help me search for it. Jerry, go to that city you came from before and check the well-being of our comrades and the rest of the people in there."

"On it!"

We split into two, and searched the area in a hurry.

Now, where are you Rylai?

•••

"Ugh, even though I used a potion, it still hurts like hell", I said to myself while wavering as I walked away from the scene after the encounter with the Executioner and Mister Ghast.

I'm currently heading to the city where those brainwashed people can be located. Those three already defeated the golem; I heard a loud thud and felt a sudden earthquake so maybe that confirms it.

When it seems that I'm almost at the city, I heard the sound of bushes rustling on my left. When I turned my head to where the sound came from, a crystal golem appeared in front of me.

Let's take a peek on this creature's stats.

Huh?

Wait, isn't this the crystal I had fought before? So it managed to survive huh?

"So you can change your form? You should've done that during our fight you know?"

"ALL OF M-MY PLANS F-F-FAILED THANKS TO Y-Y-Y-YOU. FOR THAT, YOU SHALL PAY THE P-P-P-P-PRICE."

Gee, he sounds like a robot in this form. I prefer his former voice.

Should I finish it off already? No, I feel the urge to hold back. My body is in a bad shape so I'll refrain from combat. Moreover, I detected that Lyca and Pyre are fast approaching.

"Hello there crystal. Why is it that you had those cracks I wonder?"

"…"

Silent treatment from that thing? That blabbering crystal is being silent? That's odd.

Well, I know it's redundant, but man, this crystal not blabbering is creepy.

While I'm still thinking of petty stuff, the crystal engaged to combat by charging at me.

"Rylai, distance yourself!"

The crystal heightened its awareness upon hearing Lyca's voice but alas—

"You're slow. [Crush Earth]."

Lyca dealt the finishing blow to the crystal with a hand made out of earth. It formed just in front of me and blocked the crystal's tackle before grabbing it and crushed it to pieces.

This woman is merciless.

"Rylai, are you fine?" Pyre immediately rushed to my aid after seeing my appearance.

"I'm fine…probably. Anyway, nevermind the small stuff—with this pesky crystal gone, the brainwashed people should be fine."

"So that crystal golem is the culprit?"

I shook my head sideways.

"I can't say that it really is. It may be intelligent, but for some reason I could only see it as a mere pawn or a lab rat."

"I see", Pyre nodded. "By the way, you seem to have a nice set of skills at your disposal Rylai", says Pyre while putting both of his hands on his head. "How did you know that that crystal is the one brainwashing the people in here?"

I just shrugged and paused for a moment before I spoke.

"Uh, you could say that it's just my intuition working at its finest. I also have a skill similar to [Appraisal], so I can more or less decrypt the case."

To be honest, I can't even explain as of why it happened. It's likely that my [Soul Read] became more useful than before. As long as it's within the range, I can locate any acquaintance of mine. The range is about three hundred meters. Oh well it'll be better to not pay attention to it too much; in fact I'm grateful that it kind of upgraded (more or less, I think?). The bigger question here is why can't I access my stats? Even my watch can't read it and instead indicates "Unknown". Also, I'm starting to hear someone's voice resonating in my head stating the condition of my Mantle.

Just what is happening?

I'm not turning into a lunatic right?

"…Lai."

Huh? Someone's calling my name?

"Rylai! Is something wrong?"

"A-Ah, sorry, I'm just thinking about something."

"Is that so?"

"The people brainwashed should be fine now. Go ahead and seek your comrades. I'll take a rest here", I said as I sit down under a shade.

Ah, my body gave up. I guess I lacked the stamina to progress. A little rest should help.

"Jerry is already there. Now that you mention it", Pyre said as he goes to my side and immediately lay down like some excited kid during picnic. "I really need to take a break."

"You sure had it rough huh?"

"Not as rough as yours though."

I chuckled and closed my eyes.

"—You have our gratitude Rylai. Thank you for helping us."

I just smiled. Thanks to my tiredness, I can't even utter a word.

Or is it that I'm being lazy?

While I'm thinking about it, Jerry came running from the city and stated that the people are back to normal. I laid my back against the tree and did a deep sigh of relief.

•••

GLITCH ACADEMY

November 23, 2500

4:00pm

I'm in my office and was drinking coffee when a subordinate entered after knocking twice.

"Are you alright, Madame Ferni?"

"Ah, yes. Sorry if I made you worry. I'm alright, and thanks for the concern."

An incident happened yesterday. A woman with unknown origin attacked us. After the person launched her attack -- the beam of light -- towards the civilians, I was forced to fight her out of the blue. However, for some reason I didn't sense any bloodlust from the person in question— that could only mean that she's already used to killing a person, or it has no will to kill in the first place.

In the end, the woman collapsed few seconds after that preemptive attack of hers and is now under our custody. She woke up last night and is now being interrogated by the investigators. Since someone came here, the interrogation has ended.

"Here's the report on our investigation to the culprit."

According to the report, the woman testified that she's just doing some laundry when she's struck hard to render her unconscious. The next thing she knew, she's inside our interrogation room.

"Did you get some of her personal information?"

"Yes. Her name is Adeline Trans; 34 years old and is a resident of Ruby City. We also did some background checks to see if is a traveller but it appears that she isn't. She's also marked as a missing person for a day in there."

"What?"

This is getting more and more absurd. To come here from a fairly distant place in just a mere day is plain impossible. Unless—

"By any chance, did she come here via teleportation?"

[Teleport] skill is a convenient skill used for instantly relocates someone or something from place to place. After being transported, there will be faint traces of the skill after being casted to the target.

"Negative. There are no signs of her getting teleported nor did she own the skill."

This is quite an intriguing case.

"Very well, thank you for your report—"

"Madame…! I'm reporting in!"

Another subordinate went straight in. It may be rude, but I'll just let it slide.

"Is something wrong?"

"Phoen Ixbruhn is here to see you."

Phoen Ixbruhn; 25 years old, has a good physique and bears violet eyes and blue hair…he's an outstanding individual when it comes to teaching Glints. He's also someone with a skill similar to that of [Appraisal]. Thanks to him, all of the personnel here don't have criminal records. But, didn't he say that he'll be on "vacation" for a month? It's still the third day of his vacation.

"Where is he right now?"

"He's in the longue."

"Very well, I shall go then. Fernand, give me the full detail about this incident via mail; Meridel, please prepare some coffee and send it there", I said as I grabbed some documents Phoen and I collaborated to obtain.

Fernand and Meridel gently bowed and excused themselves.

•••

"So, Phoen…what's up? I'm just about to pass on soft copies of these documents you know?"

"No, it's better to refrain yourself from doing it."

The two of us sat on different couches, facing one another. On the table in front of us are the documents I brought.

After Phoen reads all of them, he sips his coffee and started talking.

"Yes, it seems that these confirm it."

"This is quite troubling Phoen. What should we do now?"

Phoen scratched his head and eventually shrugged, signifying that he doesn't know.

While looking at him and thinking about a way to unclog this situation--

"Oh, I should tell you this. Do you remember Rylai?"

"Rylai…you mean Rylai Lux the 5-Star Informant?"

"It is verified that Rylai went to Silver Island after the incident in Crystal City."

"Huh— for what reason? Don't tell me she's doing an independent investigation?" Phoen asked.

I nodded.

"I can't guess as of why she's doing it anyway. Did you hire her to do so?"

"No. I didn't. However, both of us—as well as AGA as a whole—are indebted to her. It's all thanks to her effort that we managed to have many information", I said while pointing the documents.

"Including these ones? That's surprising. She may be young but her abilities are no joke. Most of her theories were proven, and she has tons of achievements. Oh, you did employ her as a teacher in the school right? I'm looking forward to seeing her in personal."

"Yeah. You could say that we're lucky to have her. Putting that aside, it seems that Silver Island's anomaly has come to an end. The reports said that a certain guild collaborated with her and stopped the source of the anomaly. The appearance is akin to that Fallen Blood Crystal but Rylai stated that it's a different one."

The two of us kept exchanging information for a couple of hours before our little chat came to an end.

•••

???

9:00pm

Within the unlit areas of the peak of a mountain, Ghast is leisurely watching the night sky while waiting for dinner.

"Ah, nothing beats a peaceful life in the mountains."

"It appears that you're doing well, Ghast."

Ghast leisurely turns around to see who visits him on this late hour. He only knows three people that could come near him. One of them is the one who sits nearby the bonfire after that nonchalant greeting.

"Hmm? So what are you doing here?"

The person turns her head towards his direction and smirked.

"Nothing. I'm just here to offer my condolences."

"Thanks. But knowing you, I'm pretty sure you have another agenda weighing on your mind. You wouldn't come to this continent right, Veil, the Phantasm of Acid?"

Veil -- a woman with a delicate figure; she's unlike Ghast who's physical appearance was completely covered with the attribute. She has glossy green hair and glowing green eyes, but her skin is untouchable due to its supreme acidic properties that could scourge anyone who dares to touch her -- who is also a Phantasm, just chuckled.

"Being a phantasm isn't easy right, Ghast? We need to separate from our loved ones since we have a unique characteristic."

"About that, I found a way for us to get rid of this curse."

Veil widened her eyes out of surprise. She then closed it and smirked.

"So I guess that THAT Mantle finally made an appearance?"

Ghast just nodded in agreement and stared once more to the sky.

"… Finally, our wish to get rid of this curse will be granted."

The two of them started talking about various things; unlike their past conversations, this time they're talking with a lightened heart and wearing their gracious smile.

They're positive that their very long period of physiological suffering will soon come to an end.