Forcing as much mana between the crude club and me as I possibly could, I hastened to forge a barrier. The impact was jarring, but the luminous blue panel, despite cracking, held.

“—Destruction; 1st Poem; 4th Stanza—White lightning.”

The point-blank magical blast pulverized the head of the unguarded orc. Its companion hammered once again at the magical shield, destroying it, but I was already gone. The magic I used, Mana Step, brought me to safety, also giving me time to cast my next spell.

“Song of Imprisonment; 1st Poem; 4th Stanza—Slithering rope,” I chanted.

Bright yellow bolts of lighting coalesced in a long golden rope. I commanded it and the magic darted forwards with serpentine grace, homing on in the remaining orc. It bound it in place, even as its muscles strained against it. The mystical construct struggled to keep up with the orc’s physical prowess; already, I could see signs of it failing. It didn’t matter though.

I reached for the matrix shaping the spell and tore it, causing it to explode. Scalding hot electricity ran over the body of the creature, reducing it to a lifeless and smoking corpse.

I turned towards the remaining ones—the High orc wasn’t among them.

I dove to the ground, followed by the familiar sound of air being cleaved right behind me. As soon as I hit the rocks, I rolled on my back, summoning for the second time an impromptu magical barrier. Feeling the corruption animating the creature, I knew it wouldn’t hold, however. It was deeper—darker—than any I had ever felt, and there was no stopping it.

The monster brought its club over its head just as black steel crashed down upon it in a glorious spray of blood. Alessandro’s blade mowed the monster down in a diagonal swing, amputating its armed arm first, and then bisecting the torso from shoulder to hip.

“Always keep your eyes on the main threat,” Alessandro chastised, offering me his hand once he had sheathed his sword.

I took it and in a second I was on my feet.

“Take care of the rest. I’ve seen enough. We are leaving.”

As focused as they were on Alessandro, the remaining orcs didn’t even look my way as I started casting—it made the job easier.

“Smouldering ashes, twisting metal, leave the beaten path and breathe your essence upon the world. Song of Destruction; 3rd Poem; 1st Stanza—Crimson Blast.”

With the complete chant, the number of flames the spell unleashed was almost ten times that of when I had used it without. Waves of fire crashed upon the monsters, leaving nothing but charred earth and a scorched trunk.

“Confirmed reports indicate Alice Southerland to have undergone the awakening ritual just three days before her disappearance. She was graded A, making it the sixteenth newly awakened A-ranker to disappear in the last four years,” the reported at the television said as I crunched at my cheerios.

“How is it possible Dr. Bellini? Shouldn’t A-rankers be among the most powerful people on Earth?” he asked Lorenzo Bellini, an international authority on whichever regarded Awakened and dungeons, and who was also present with him.

“That is a common misconception,” Bellini said, crossing his legs and reclining in his cushioned chair. “When a person is given a rank we test the resonance—the affinity that person has to ambient mana—not the control they have over it. A newly awakened A-ranker isn’t necessarily more powerful than a D-ranker.”

“Thank you, doctor. Before I send you on your way, I would like you to tell us anything you can about these disappearances.”

“As you know, I’m a member of the task force investigating the case. I can’t divulge what I know. What I can tell you is that after examining the bodies of those we recovered, our forensic specialists discovered signs of medical procedures having being conducted on all victims, making it likely to be the work of a serial or…”

The ringtone of my phone distracted me from hearing anything else. I scrambled to get it out of the pocket of my jumpsuit to see who it was. It turned out to be Alessandro. He had just sent me a text. ‘The others want to meet you,’ it read. ‘Get here in an hour.’

Cursing, I got to my feet, quickly bringing my cup to the sink. I hastened to clean what was left inside it before leaving it to dry and make my way to the bathroom to make myself presentable. And looking at the disheveled curls and unkempt beard of my reflection stare back at me in the mirror, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

—|—|—

He was late.

Cristina rapped her fingers over the crystal table spanning across the conference room, probably counting down the seconds it would take for our newest recruit to arrive. Alessandro had told me he was worth investing, and I, for once, agreed. Barely three months since awakening and already Marco was capable of Mana Step and of casting 3rd Poem Stanzas.

There was also the fact that mages tended to ascend far faster than warriors and knights did. What with Cristina being one such example; twenty-eight and on the verge of becoming an A-ranker, while her sister, Giulia, would remain at rank B for many years to come.

“He is late,” complained Simone, our youngest member, to no one in particular.

“I told you he would be,” Alessandro said. “He lives near the Policlinico Umberto I. Even with a scooter, getting here would take twenty minutes—he doesn’t have one.”

Giulia sunk lower in her seat, trying and failing to hide from my stare. It was her fault we had to reschedule the meeting with Marco. It had been originally planned for later this evening, but the redhead forgot it and scheduled an appointment she couldn’t miss. She turned to her sister for comfort but found none. Even Cristina was disturbed by her sister’s forgetfulness.

“What do you think about the dungeon which has appeared in the Mediterranean Sea?” Simone asked, drawing our attention. “A friend of mine who works for the government told me our country, along with France and Spain, cordoned off the area to all.”

“I don’t know much myself,” I told him. “Usually, when a new dungeon appears on Italian territory, the President of the Republic convenes a mandatory meeting for all A and S-rankers. Neither I nor Alessandro was summoned this time, however.”

“The dungeon isn’t exactly located on our soil,” Simone corrected.

“You are right. Still, it is close enough to our coasts to warrant concern. That no team was deployed to explore it is suspicious.”

“That we know of,” Alessandro added. “I don’t believe it possible that three countries' worth of politicians hasn’t tried to harvest the resources of a newly born dungeon.”

Soft knocks carried over from room’s doors, interrupting our conversation.

“Mr. Scacchi. Mr. Notari,” Alfredo Gurdini, my and Alessandro’s secretary, said from behind the dark panels. “Mr. Rossi has arrived.”