Just as the hydra turned, wave after wave of intense, white light radiated out of my body, flooding the area around me and blinding the monster. The hydra’s heads hissed in pain and fury as its body rose on its two hind legs. Using the four it had at its front, it clawed wildly at where it last saw me, while the heads lashed at everything around them.

Once again, I Mana Stepped away, keeping well out of range of its razor-sharp claws and fangs.

“Manifest. Coalesce. Condense. Burn,” I intoned in a whisper, focusing my whole attention on building the spell’s matrix. “Smelt by capable hands. The weapon bringing an end to all wasn’t forged in flames but in light. The Sun is its master. Darkness is the enemy. Time loses its significance. While eternity is an instant, an instant is not eternity. Breach through the veil of reality. Pierce what blocks your path. Through clouds. Through air. Through ground. Nothing will stop you. Distances are meaningless. Cut through space. Descend. Song of Destruction; 8th Poem; 6th Stanza—Spear of the Sun.”

The spell roared to life, forcing all the light attuned mana around me in the form of a white gold spear upon which lighting danced. Although the energy from the previous Stanzas didn’t even come close to fulfill the spell’s mana requirements, it was a good base to start from, and, considering the speed with which I had cast the highest Stanza of the 8th Poem, it was well worth it.

I took a steadying breath and exerted my will over all the mana I could perceive, forcing it to feed the spell. I imagined dragging a mountain would feel quite the same. Despite what most believed, mana had a mind of its own, and it didn’t enjoy being forced in too tight a space. Casting Stanzas of the 8th Poem—not to mention those of the 9th—was a monumental effort.

I struggled against it until all resistance suddenly stopped, and I was left reeling. The spell, now complete, hovered before me. The spear was well over four meters in length and the light that constituted it rippled in waves.

I brought my right arm back, well above my head, mimicking the action of an athlete on the verge of throwing a javelin. Although I wasn’t touching it, the spear followed my movements, stopping above my raised hand. I met eyes with the hydra, which had now regained clarity. It looked in fear at the spell, knowing that if it hit, its scales wouldn’t stop it.

Without wasting any more time, I hurled the weapon.

The hydra’s nine mouths opened at the same time, belching great quantities of a mysterious dark fog. But whatever the substance was, it was useless; the spell was left unscathed by it. Without a sound, it connected, and a hole as large a tree trunk, scorched at the edges, appeared in the monster, running from the base of its neck to that of its tail.

The monster cried in agony, crashing in the shallow waters. Blood poured freely from the wound, seeping from the cracks the intense heat caused in the scales and dyeing the waters red

For all intent and purposes the hydra, slumped in the water as it was, appeared to be on its lasts, but something was wrong—I could feel it. A minute passed without anything happening, then, proving me right, the hydra’s rightmost head lit in a purple hue, turning into thousands of luminous dots.

They circled the corpse once and then begun falling on its wounds, sealing them shut. When there were no more lights, the monster’s massive body twitched. Then, slowly, the hydra rose back on its legs. The eight remaining heads turned to look at the stump where the ninth had originated, and then at me. Without preamble, they opened their mouths and belched a sea of dark fog.

—|—|—

I was about to leave the group to begin scouting when I felt it. We all felt it. It was as if a mountain had crashed upon our backs. Alessio and Sara had it worse. Being but C-ranked Awakened, they had no way to resist the sheer quantity of mana to which they were being subjected. I wasn’t fairing much better either, as, while they struggled to even breathe, I fought to remain on my legs. It was like facing a storm on a raft.

I saw Alessandro move closer. A strange billowing smoke seeped out of the joints of his armor, trailing behind him. It curled around us, forming a dome that sheltered our group from the rest of the dungeon, cutting us off from the storm raging just outside.

“What the fuck was that?” Sara said between coughs while Alessio dry heaved on the ground and I wobbled like a drunkard.

“Someone casting a very high Stanza,” Alessandro told us. “The Cardinal must have met with a Furia.”

“Shouldn’t you go and help him?” I heard Alessio ask as I examined the bubble around us.

What I first thought of being smoke was instead a liquid of sorts. It was a black deeper than any I had ever seen and it flowed in strings. They fused and separated without rest, forming complex crisscrossing patterns. Was this Alessandro’s Law? On a whim I looked at it with the entirety of my senses. It was like looking into a chasm. There was no mana inside it. No anathema. Nothing.

“The Cardinal is most probably one of the strongest Awakened alive. If even he can’t take care of whatever it is he is facing, then I won’t be of much help either—Don’t touch it!” Alessandro cried when I brought my hand closer to the substance. “I still can’t control it that well.”

Even as I took a step back, startled by his abrupt admonishment, I couldn’t help but ask, “Is this your Law?”

“It’s,” he confirmed. “And like I said, don’t touch it. Give it a chance and it will devour you.”

Alessio and Sara regarded the substance warily, taking a step further away from it.

“But you are right,” Alessandro added, looking back at Alessio. “I should at least check it out and see if I can help. Stay with the others.”

Alessandro then vanished from right before us, leaving Alessio, Sara, and I to walk back to the others. Luckily, the storm of mana had subsided in the short period we had been under the dome, allowing us to hurry back on our legs after it had vanished.