The Simulated City. Over a decade ago, the place formerly known as Celubus became the epicenter of a globally occurring phenomenon. Across the Earth, hundreds of thousands of portals and glitches appeared. Generating malicious creatures that brought chaos within an instant. While no human government has yet confirmed the cause of these anomalies, many have believed in or adopted the World Sim Theory.
A hypothesis proposing that the world was a simulation constructed by beings of a higher power. The concept gained a lot of traction as the glitches warping in and out of existence always occurred with a static, black-and-white glow, like the broken screen of a television. There was also the shared similarity between all the monsters who died, which was that whenever they were defeated, their bodies began to crumble into pixels. However, the only fact that gave the theory its popularity today was that every person who beat a monster was greeted by a holographic screen similar to the ones in games, which would grant the survivor mysterious abilities.
If humanity were truly a simulation, then it was set in gamer mode.
***
Moneta stumbled. Tripping on her own legs. Her back lay flat on the hard granite floor, and her palms were stained with its rocky dust.
A few of the goblins ran from the primary fight and headed towards the mall crowd.
Moneta's body stayed frozen on that floor while the bystanders who were already in their cars ran away. Some of them, who were just exiting the mall, like Moneta, were now running back into it.
One goblin was within spitting distance of Moneta. Knowing this, the tiny devil leapt into the air with its short, thin blade, ready to impale her. Just as she was finally finding strength to move her still body, a blast of red lightning appeared and struck down the beast. Leaving it burnt to a crisp. Slowing reverting to pixels.
The red adventurer, whom Moneta had seen fighting the main horde, was now beside her. Gazing upon her, she now saw that her hero was a woman who looked no older than her. She wore large, transparent, round glasses, and had hair as black as her own, yet it had white tips and looked far neater than her own. With two-star hairpins hanging on each side of her bangs, this adventurer's style gave off more of a costume model vibe than a monster-hunting aura. If it wasn't for having seen her abilities with her own eyes, Moneta wouldn't have believed this woman was a real adventurer.
"My name is Nayu. Please stand back and retreat to the mall with the others until it's safe. This will all be over soon."
Suddenly, the goblins began to gather, climbing on top of one another, morphing into several larger goblins. Who soon began wielding the nearby cars as clubs or throwing rocks. Focusing their aim on Moneta and Nayu.
While none of their attacks landed thanks to Nayu's lightning barrier that she produced with her thyrsus, there was now no way for Moneta to safely escape.
Knowing this, Nayu said, "Cover your ears!" Dropping her golden leaf-covered staff in favor of the short sword she carried on her waistband, Nayu began preparing her ultimate move.
When she raised her sword to the sky, a dark energy surrounded her, but it just as quickly vanished as it appeared when a golden light came.
"Aquila", she called, sword now aimed at the giants.
Within an instant, a golden eagle sprouted from the tip of her blade. Growing exponentially larger as it flew further and further away from its summoner. When it was now just an inch away from its prey, it had already grown so large that the giants were ants compared to it. The screech it let out was more than enough to have killed them. Yet it still chose to open its beak, spread its wings, and raise its claws. Simultaneously attacking each one of the giants, erasing their existence before disappearing.