The piercing wail of FSG van sirens cut through the heavy afternoon air, along with the continuous, windy noise from the flapping wings of various familiars.
The cries and roar of familiars and sirens echoed across what had once been the busy district of Ludlow.
The district where various shops and busy street markets had stood just hours before now contained only an area filled with rubble.
Commander Lucian stepped out of the lead vehicle, his boots crunching on debris on the floor.
The smell of smoke, and also the unmistakable scent of spent gamma energy lingered in the air.
"Spread out, fifteen-meter intervals. Our priority is retrieval of the survivors and evidence accumulation," Lucian ordered, his voice carrying the authority.
He watched his team with a serious expression and his hands behind his back as they dispersed across the ruined landscape,
At forty-three, Lucian had seen more disaster zones than most FSG agents might see in their entire careers. His black hair with a few grey strands and the deep lines around his eyes spoke of those experiences, though few knew all too well how much he'd witnessed.
Distancing himself from the others, he spoke something through the device that no one could hear, and returned to the other FSG agents afterwards.
His first familiar, Serpencia, sent a tingle through his internal, ready for his command.
"Serpentine Serpencia," Lucian whispered, and felt a momentary discomfort. "I summon you."
It materialized quickly from the mist and then launched itself skyward, weaving through the ruins with fluid motion.
Lucian had long since stopped admiring how awesome Serpencia was, especially after it returned back without fulfilling his command after sending it out to rip Ryder to shreds.
"Commander Lucian!" The shout came from Garcia, one of the newer recruits. The young woman stood close to a pile of debris from what had once been a three-story building. "I've found someone!"
Lucian nodded and made his way over, careful not to disturb any incoming evidence from the other FSG members.
The victim's clothes were torn and dirty, but one could easily tell they were expensive—the kind of outfits worn by those with money to spare on worldly items.
And then... There was also a torn apron on him, which was weird.
"He is still breathing," Garcia reported. "But his vitals are weak. Recovery team is on the way."
Lucian nodded, then knelt beside the unconscious body. There was something about the young man that made him narrow his eyes.
Acting on years of training, he gently lifted the victim's left arm, pushing back the torn sleeve.
What he saw made his heart skip a beat.
"Red," he muttered in surprise, more to himself, but Garcia still heard him. "He's a red marked."
Garcia's eyes widened also. "That can't be right. Red marks don't just... fall so easily."
She wasn't wrong. In the hierarchy of summoners, those bearing red marks were among the strongest—powerful summoners capable of calling forth and controlling one of the most formidable beasts from the Astral Shadow plane that they have contracted.
So tge power difference between red marked shouldn't be so huge.
"Get the medical team here now," Lucian ordered, his mind already racing through possibilities, and none of them were comforting. "And tell them to bring a summoner with a familiar that has the affinity of suppression. If he wakes up and does not recognize us or this scene, we don't want a panicked summoning response."
Just as Garcia turned to relay the message, a rumble from nearby caught Lucian's attention.
About twenty yards away, a large piece of rubble shifted slightly. The movement wasn't too noticeable, but to Lucian's trained eye, it was unmistakable.
"Hold on a second," he said to Garcia, already moving toward the disturbance. "Secure this scene and wait for the medics."
He approached the shifted rubble cautiously, aware that unstable structures could collapse further without warning.
Serpencia, sensing his focus, materialized beside him, observing with him.
"Help me with this," Lucian instructed, and the familiar obeyed instantly by extending its body and wrapping around the massive concrete chunk.
With their combined strength, they lifted the rubble away.
Beneath it lay another young man, this one with hair blood—red hair color.
Unlike the first victim, this one was showing signs of consciousness, his fingers twitching slightly as dust-filled air reached his lungs through his nose and mouth.
What caught Lucian's attention, however, wasn't the man's striking hair or the fact that he was alive, it was the familiar pattern of gamma energy emanating from him.
Without a second thought, Lucian reached for the young man's left arm. Pushing up the torn sleeve of what had once been an expensive jacket, Lucian's eyes widened.
There, on his skin was another visible red mark.
"What the hell?" Lucian exclaimed, confusion creeping into his voice.
Just like the first one, he had a red mark!
Red marks were rare enough that finding one unconscious summoner caught in any sort of disaster was unusual.
However finding two, within yards of each other, both apparently overcome by the same event, should have been impossible.
Red-marked ones aren't the kind that can be overpowered, especially since they were the literal pinnacle of strength.
He tapped his communication device. "Central, this is Commander Lucian. We've got a situation here. I've located a second red-marked individual, unconscious in the rubble. This doesn't feel like a random incident."
The reply came back immediately, the voice of his supervisor tense. "Understood, Commander Lucian. Secure all survivors and stay on standby for additional resources if the need arises. Director Elena is being briefed now."
From around Lucian, his Serpencia sprang into action once more.
It traveled, slicing through the air, returning to searching around in the rubble for any sign of life, quickening the process for Lucian.
Lucian turned his attention back to the red-haired summoner, who was now showing more signs of awakening. "Sir, can you hear me? We are from the Federal Summoners Guild. You're safe now."
The young man's eyelids twitched but didn't open fully. His breathing was becoming more regular though, but was still a good sign.
Lucian signaled with his hands to the medical team that had just arrived to bring a stretcher.
As they worked to stabilize the second victim, Serpencia suddenly returned to Lucian in a flash, tensing its body around him, but not enough to cause too much discomfort.
The familiar's behavior immediately put him on alert.
"What is it?" he asked, their bond allowing for a form of communication that went beyond words. Serpencia wasn't capable of speaking, which was normal for every familiar, but familiars could communicate with their masters, just like dogs.
Serpencia had found more victims—multiple victims scattered throughout the rubble.
"Show me," Lucian commanded, and the serpent familiar shot forward, its long body weaving through the destruction as it showed Lucian the way.
Lucian followed, his heart pounding with an increasing sense of panic.
Serpencia led him to a partially collapsed building that might have once been a restaurant, judging by the remnants of tables and chairs scattered among the debris.
There, in the ruins, Lucian's familiar had found two more bodies—a young woman with short hair and a stocky man with a detailed tattoo visible on his neck where his collar had torn away.
The first thing Lucian did was to hurriedly check the left arm of the victims.
His eyes widened again.
"Red marks. Both of them."
"How did so many strong individuals fall? Who could possibly be capable of this!"
"This isn't possible," he whispered, almost to himself. It was very unlikely to find four red-marked summoners in one location.
Lucian was clueless and confused until a certain name came to his mind...
"Ryder!"
A chill ran down Lucian's spine as a terrible possibility occurred to him. Red-marked summoners were powerful, yes, but they weren't invincible. And there was just a single person stronger and that was Ryder.
It was most definitely him. He was the strongest summoner in the whole world right now.
This makes me wonder, though, how strong is he really, to be able to perform such a feat!
"Commander, we found one!" a member of the search team shouted from a distance while carrying the body of someone—a red-marked individual.
"We found one..."
"We found one..."
More and more were assembled, and at that moment, Lucian noticed how odd the situation actually was.
How is it that only red-marked summoners are present? Everyone that has been retrieved is a red-marked summoner.
From the medical team, a lady in uniform stepped forward.
Observing everyone, she noticed a certain red-haired summoner who was still slightly conscious—the second person they had found earlier.
The healer, a small-framed woman with steady hands and a focused expression, had called forth her familiar—a glowing butterfly with translucent wings that were nearly six feet wide.
The creature hovered above them, its wings raining down golden particles of healing affinity, drifting down onto the injured man.
The red-haired summoner was now sitting up, although shakily, but the healing effect was quick.
In mere seconds, all the cuts and bruises on the victim's body closed up and healed perfectly.
The healer stepped back upon seeing him awake and allowed him to catch a glimpse of what was going on.
After a moment, Lucian walked toward the red-haired young man, who was already sitting on the ground, and squatted to his eye level before asking, "What's your name?"
"Hwang Jim," the red-haired summoner replied, seemingly to have adapted to the situation pretty quickly.
In an instant, Lucian understood why there were so many summoners around after hearing this man's name.
The name alone explained everything. This was a member of the Red-Eastern guild.
The Red-Eastern guild is the only foreign guild with so many strong summoners that had extended to this country for the purpose of friendship.
"You are a member of the Red-Eastern guild, right?" Lucian confirmed.
"Yes!"
"So what exactly happened here?" Lucian pressed further.
Hwang Jim brought dowm his head as if he was trying to recall something, however still provided them with a disappointing response. "I'm sorry, but I don't know."
"Huh." Lucian was quite puzzled, tilting his head slightly. "Listen, we are allies of your guild."
He then raised his ID card for Hwang Jim to see.
"We are from the FSG. Your master must have told you about us."
"Yes, I knew you were FSG members right from the start," Hwang Jim responded. "That is why I didn't lie."
Lucian's eyes narrowed and he asked, wanting to confirm his suspicion. "Tell me, how many of them?"
Hwang Jim bowed his head in shame and lowered his gaze. If his guild leader were here to hear such, he would be kicked out of the guild, along with the others.
"Just one."
The confirmation hit Lucian like a physical blow to the gut, though he'd been expecting it.
Only one summoner in the whole world, known to him, could take down multiple red-marked summoners all at once.
Only one had both the power and the familiar to cause this kind of destruction.
Lucian clenched his fist, then pulled out a communication device from his pocket and spoke an emergency priority message through it to the headquarters.
"He is out on a rampage. That devil-beast summoner, Ryder. He attacked members of the Red-Eastern guild and destroyed half of Ludlow."
After sending the message, Lucian returned the device to his pocket and stretched out a hand to help Hwang Jim to his feet. "Come with me. I need you to tell me everything any detail you can remember."
"A man in a black cloak came in," Hwang Jim too his arm them stood to his feet and began. "There was nothing unusual about him at first—we saw him as nothing but just another customer.
"He ordered a cheap noodle dish, but when it came time to pay, he was short of cash.
As per the policy of this shop, we told him he would be working for the restaurant in exchange for payment for just two hours of dishwashing.
It's a common practice, and he agreed without argument.
Things were going smoothly until he suddenly snapped and began to attack wildly.
I was the first person he attacked, followed by my other comrades."
"Luckily, one of us got the chance to summon our beast to battle with him..." Hwang Jim paused without saying anything else.
"Then what?"
The medical team by now had revived all the Red-Eastern guild members.
Standing up from the ground, Tang Jim hurriedly stared at his left arm. His eyes widened, and next came a loud scream.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The cry echoed across the destroyed landscape, silencing even the rescue teams as they turned to stare at him.
Tang Jim was the summoner of the lava mantis.
His eyes went from white to deep red in just two seconds as tears streamed down his cheeks like a running tap.
Panic filled the air as everyone hurriedly rushed towards him.
- What is it?
- Is everything okay?
...
One of the medics, finally reaching him, grabbed his arm to check his vital signs to see if he was still hurt, but then froze.
Her expression changing from concern to shocked sympathy.
"There's no symbol," she announced, her voice carrying in the sudden hush that had fallen over the area. "His mark... it's just red now. No picture or even familiar signature."
As the others heard this, their hearts sank.
Hwang Jim turned to Lucian, his eyes swimming with unshed tears.
"The familiar died," he said simply, those three words carrying the weight of the worst-case scenario. "He didn't just defeat it, he killed it."