On the outskirts of the large Indian city, near a residential area, was a large green orb of misty energy. The orb was 10 feet high and 5 feet in diameter in the shape of a symmetrical egg. It had appeared three days earlier and wasn’t the only one as these orbs had appeared throughout the world.
At first, civilians vacated the immediate area around the orb. However, once the energy radiating from it was discovered to be harmless mana, they resorted to a simple barrier. Besides this, there wasn’t much they could do as the number of orbs that had appeared worldwide was beyond Earth’s manpower to control effectively. Instead, they adopted a wait-and-see approach focusing their research and resources on a select few.
Currently, there were only a handful of military volunteers maintaining security and a local news crew reporting on what little was known about the orb’s appearance.
The female reporter was interrupted mid-sentence by a sudden hum coming from the orb. She turned just in time to see the hazy orb suddenly solidify. It was in that moment of pregnant silence that something seemed to pass by the surface of the orb surface briefly, so she waved the cameraman closer. The cameraman zoomed into the spot just in time for a face to reflect in the camera’s lens, which caused the cameraman to freeze.
The face was about the size of an adolescent human but did not have any hair and was completely green. On top of this, the nose and ears were extremely long, and it grinned with sharp teeth. The cameraman didn’t move as the creature came forth, exposing its body. It was roughly 3 feet in height with a fat belly and skinny legs covered only by rough animal skin.
“A goblin.” The reporter reflexively said. However, she immediately regretted speaking as the goblin’s eyes locked onto her and suddenly screamed before it charged at her. The reporter was terrified before she quickly turned to run away. However, the moment she did, a sudden *bang* as a gunshot resounded in the area. Looking behind her, she saw that the goblin hit the ground, lifeless. The reporter took a breath and relief but suddenly realized it was too soon as a dozen more goblins, with more apparently on the way, suddenly appeared charging out of the orb.
The local security quickly opened fire but were forced to retreat just by sheer numbers. Goblins did not seem intimidated by the slightest of the deaths of their comrades, charging both the security and camera crew.
The camera crew immediately turned and fled, but the reporter took no more than two steps before she suddenly twisted her ankle and hit the pavement hard. The rest of the camera crew, either not noticing or pretending not to notice, kept running. The reporter’s world was spinning from the small concussion, but her blurry vision congealed just in time to see goblins not 10 feet from her, charging madly.
Just as the goblins approached her, just when she gave in to despair, a sword suddenly entered her line of sight, and two heads rolled off their bodies. The reporter’s tunnel vision faded as she registered an armored figure covered head to toe, preventing any physical traits from appearing next to her.
“Thank you.” The reporter said to the armored figure, who she figured to be female due to the subtle feminine designs.
The armored woman only nodded in response before she turned towards the other goblins and rushed in. It was then that the reporter noted four other similarly armored figures. The first two stayed back and appeared to be watching, and two others were using a sword and brute force martial arts to take out the other goblins.
The camera crew tentatively made their way back as the reporter righted herself and began to broadcast the lopsided battle, which was over in a short two minutes. The reporter was shortly tongue-tied, so the crew watched in silence as the five armored women approached the orb.
By this point, the security had made their way back and tried to order the armored figures to leave the premises. In response, one of the two who did not participate in the previous fight casually waved her hand, and their guns were hurled away, sending a chill down their spines. They immediately backed off to contact their superiors.
After what appeared to be a brief discussion, the martial artist proceeded to step into the orb and disappeared. A few seconds later, she reappeared and reentered, followed by the woman who removed the guns from the security personnel. Several seconds later, they both reappeared, and all five entered. Fifteen minutes went by before the five reappeared, notably covered in more blood, though not theirs.
“Excuse me, can you tell me-” the reporter began before she noticed that the orb began to fluctuate. Several seconds later, the orb completely disappeared. The reporter barely registered that one of the armored women who previously saved her approached her. Momentarily caught back, she tentatively asked again. “Excuse me, is there any information you can share about what happened?”
There was a slight pause as the woman tilted her head. Then she began to speak in a robotic voice that appeared both as a translator and to hide her identity. “These orbs appear to be connected to a pocket space where creatures appear. The orb itself appears to be a gate that connects that space to this world. I’m afraid I don’t have much more information at present. I believe that the alien girl, who volunteered to assist in the research of these orbs, will have more information soon.”
“I see, thank you. Is there any way that I can repay you? This information is valuable and you closing this gate is helpful to India, so we owe you a small favor.”
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The armored woman tilted her head but did not speak as she turned around. It wasn’t until several steps towards the rest of the woman that she finally spoke. “I suppose if you sent your most beautiful women to serve my husband.”
Even though the voice was robotic, the reporter could tell that it was a slight joke. However, before she could reply, one of the armored women kicked the previous speaker’s foot before she waved her arms, and they suddenly disappeared.
Even though it was only a joke, a large part of India was in an uproar the next day. It turned out that the very beautiful budding actress, whose parents lived in the orb area and who happened to be the cousin of the reporter, took up the offer. However, she never brought it up again, and it was soon forgotten for a long time.
“Freyja, you’re so mean.” An exhausted Morgan, still in armor, said as she collapsed on the sofa.
“Morgan, you’re getting goblin blood on the sofa, and I’m fairly certain that the stains and the smell won’t come out.” Freyja admonished.
“I don’t care. I used Dimension Door twice to get us there and back, and twice more to get everyone else there and back inside that little pocket world, and I’m exhausted.” Morgan complained as her armor appeared to melt off her due to its being composed entirely of SRIN.
The same happened to the others, revealing the other three figures underneath, the devilish Lucibelle, the Japanese Miyuki, and the android Anna.
“It can’t be helped. Cali is with Martel, Shalgana isn’t proficient yet, I just learned the basics, and no one else seems to be able to. Who made you so talented?” Freyja teased.
“I’m a little jealous,” Miyuki interjected. “I’m struggling to understand the basics of the space magic circles, much less Dimension Door, which you already mastered.”
“Then you should study harder,” Morgan replied with a raised chin, obviously happy with having her ego stroked.
It was then that the door opened, and another woman walked in. This woman had silver hair, skin, and eyes of different shades with a pair of small raven-like wings protruding from her back.
“Angelica, what if you discovered?” Freyja asked.
“With Marty’s help, I was able to come to the most likely reason. These orbs should be gates to failed worlds that did not fully form. This causes several things, including a pocket space and potentially creatures within. The residual essence for the failure condenses into a mana crystal similar to what we found, which gathers mana for the gate. Luckily, Morgan moved fast when we removed the mana crystal and used her mana to maintain the gate. Otherwise, we would have to wait for another gate to appear to justify getting this information to the public.”
“When is the next gate going to open?” Lucibelle asked.
“According to the many fluctuations recorded previously, three more will open within the next 2 to 3 hours. We have already notified the local authorities. I do not want you guys to intercede again as it will become suspicious given that I am already publicly giving this information.”
“Is there anything else?” Miyuki prodded.
“Given the fluctuations, the gates appear to have a capacity. They’re all charging at a similar rate, but the total amount they appear to be able to store is different. From what I can tell, larger pocket worlds will take longer to form a gate, but that most likely means that there will be more and stronger creatures spawning on the other side. I’m unsure of the potential upper limit. For now, it appears as though it will only be a small nuisance and provide some unique resources.”
“I see.” Freya began. “If anything significant happens, let us know.”
“Of course.” Angelica said with a smile. “Speaking of anything significant…” Angelica said before her smile turned bitter.
Freyja, who knew Angelica’s mood was due to this limited time she had spent with their husband, walked over and hugged her. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll bring us over soon.”
“Very soon, I’m sure.” Morgan scoffed. “By this time, I’m sure his party will have doubled in size.”
“It probably has, but don’t forget the potential benefit.” Miyuki said with a smile as several of the girls said and slight confusion. “The larger his party, the more we can blackmail him in the future.” She said with a mischievous grin.
“That sounds great.” Morgan exclaimed. “I’m going to-” she began before she was cut short and glanced at her ring while the others did the same to theirs.
After several seconds, Morgan finally broke the silence. “That bastard.” She said through gritted teeth.
“It seems we have a new sister.” Lucibelle said with a chuckle.
“It’s only a potential one, but he at least acknowledged her at this point.” Freyja added.
“Should we take bets on which one?” Miyuki asked with a smile.
Freyja rolled her eyes. “It’s not much of a bet. Given the amount of time that has gone by, who’s eligible, and with the personality that Martel would so quickly accept, there’s only one that comes to mind. Anyway, don’t dwell on it. Don’t doubt for a moment that he doesn’t love you or miss you. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I desperately need a bath.”
“Together?” Miyuki said with a mischievous smile.
“Only if the others are okay with it.”
“Great. Let’s also take the rest of the day off. Everyone’s been training hard.”
“I second that,” Morgan said with a huff as she grumpily made her way to the seating area.
Freya chuckled, but her attention was soon drawn to a holographic screen in front of her that only she could see. She occasionally glanced at the bar that appeared both within her and Martel’s System after they had run into the deities.
The System has come into contact with a new set of rules from a different world. Coupled with previously obtained rules, the System can restart the upgrade process.
Current progress, 68%. Current status, upgrading.