The Agency Tower stood tall against the city’s skyline. It contrasted intensely with the historical buildings that were by its side. Karina looked up, using her hands to protect her eyes from the sun.

  “I just hope the elevators aren’t broken this time around…”

  Inside the building, they saw a lot of people working. Who would guess that hunting monsters had such bureaucracy? But the girls were grateful that that wasn’t their job. They also saw a lot of other hunters: some they knew were Base-Hunters just like them, others were D-Hunters. If they were lucky enough, they could spot higher-ranked hunters.

  “I swear, May, sometimes I cannot believe it, it’s so many people. I mean, isn’t it supposed to be just a tiny bit of the population that knows about magic? What if the Agency is using monsters to do some shady work? Can you imagine that? I can totally believe they could use ghouls for, I don’t know, scaring people, digging for minerals. What are ghouls good for anyway?”

  “Maybe hunting monsters and hiding magic from the world takes effort. But what would we know? You know we’re just cogs of a bigger machine.”

  Someone was listening to the radio in a glass room. It was so loud that May could even hear it from outside the room. And she didn’t need to pay much attention to recognize the Preacher’s voice, the same one she saw on the TV yesterday.

  “Ugh, even here we have fans of that guy. It makes me sick.”

  “I didn’t know he was that popular.” Karina simply said, raising her shoulders.

  They arrived at the front desk, where Ms. Huntsberry worked. She was an older woman who worked as one of the Agency’s secretaries.

  “Good morning, Karina, May. I will send notice of your arrival. If you could please proceed to the third floor. Room 3-19.”

  Luckily, that was one of the easiest rooms to find, and even if the elevators weren’t working, it wouldn’t be many stairs.

  “Thank you, Ms. Huntsberry.”

  ***

  The third floor was mostly composed of meeting rooms and offices. Karina and May had been there before. Most of the time, they would be called there to receive a specific mission or instruction. This time, the floor was much like the ground floor, crowded with different people and hunters doing all kinds of work.

  They found the room easily, and since it was empty, it meant the person who would assign them the mission was running a little late.

  As soon as Karina thought about getting up and checking the door, someone appeared. It was an older man; if she had to guess, he was probably in his late 50s. He wore the same suit that most of the Agency’s workers did, although it looked terribly off on his body, like it was one or two sizes too big. The man was panting, like he had run to the meeting. His eyes looked tired, and he was unshaven; he probably had woken up late. May didn’t recognize him from any reunion before.

  “Good morning, girls. I guess you received the message about the meeting here today.” He adjusted the tie a little and cleared his throat before continuing, “This time, you’ve been assigned to a different mission. But before letting you take it, you must complete a simple task. We have been receiving alerts of ghoul attacks near the Central Plaza and the park. You need to investigate it, and if found true, please proceed to eliminate the targets in sight.”

  “This is simple, I mean, it didn’t need a meeting. But what is the main mission?” Karina asked, tapping her foot to the floor rhythmically.

  “That is still confidential information. Once you complete your assignment, we’ll get into the details of the mission.”

  It sounded a little off to May, but it wasn’t wise to question. If she wanted to discover more, she at least needed to know what the thing was about.

  “Alright, then. We take it.” May attested. She shook the man’s hand before leaving the room.

  ***

  “This is definitely strange. But I guess we can take on some ghouls easily.”

  “I believe so, too, Karina. The thing that bugs me the most is why they would give us just a little appetizer before the main dish.”

  “Yeah, right. It’s totally strange. Maybe it’s a test to see if we’re up for the mission. Maybe they want to give us a promotion. That would be good, I’m tired of being a simple Base-Hunter.” Karina rested her arms behind her head while walking casually.

  “Do you really think so? I mean, if it’s really a ghoul or two, they aren’t that hard to deal with,” May pondered, “at least even we have fought stronger monsters and creatures already.”

  “This is the thing that doesn’t make sense, you know. But what bugs me the most is, really, what is the main mission?”

  May didn’t have an answer for that, especially because it was something she was thinking about too. It must be something important, but at the same time, why give two Base-Hunters something important? Most of their tasks were simple and safe. It could be that Karina was right, and it was some sort of test for them. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t know how the hunters were tested when they would receive a promotion.

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  “You know what, let me take a card.”

  “This is really your favorite form of divination, huh?” Karina chuckled lightly.

  “It’s not that much of a ‘favorite’ and more the only one I can actually interpret correctly.” May had a frown, “Let’s see, the Devil.”

  “I guess this is a bad one?”

  “Not exactly, but it could mean powerlessness. I’m afraid that if this is right, we’re about to face something we can’t deal with, stronger than us.”

  “But not that ghoul, please, I don’t wanna be the first hunter that fought and lost to a ghoul. It would be too embarrassing.”

  May wasn’t sure. She needed to practice divination more; that was one thing. Because as of now, she wasn’t getting any answers.

  “Maybe you should test other stuff, May, you know. Let me try something too.” Karina closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment.

  Nothing different happened, or at least this is what it seemed to May. Karina opened her eyes and pointed in the direction of a squirrel.

  “There, do you see it?”

  “You mean the squirrel?”

  “Yes, the squirrel.”

  “I see it, K, but I don’t know how it’s related…”

  “It’s apantomancy, a form of divination using animals that you meet on the way.”

  “Oh, shut up! You didn’t do anything, stop messing with me.” May laughed at her friend’s antics.

  “No, no, I swear, I’m serious, I read it in a book somewhere.”

  “If it’s true, what does the squirrel mean?”

  “I didn’t reach that far yet, but I’m sure it means something.”

  May was sure that her friend probably had read it all wrong; she knew Karina wasn’t prone to this kind of magic.

  ***

  The girls talked and discussed the strange things at the Agency, and they kept on making guesses about the mission as they arrived at the Central Plaza.

  It was an old commercial district, composed of a lot of historical buildings. Once, it had been Neo Victoria City’s main place of commerce, but that was a long time ago. Now the place was a shell of its former self: The stores were closed, most of them had their windows broken, and there was this smell of something rotten in the air.

  “I guess this is it, the ghoul should be here, May.”

  “It’s probably hiding. It must have felt our magical energy.”

  “Now let me show you real magic.” Karina said, and she moved one leg swiftly, kicking dust in the process, a smile on her face and her eyes closed, she continued, “Oh Artemis, bless me with your powers, concede me that hunt.”

  May could distinguish a shiny mist surrounding Karina, and she knew her friend was actively using her magic powers this time.

  Karina must have felt something, because she picked up her guns, eyes open and focused, as she said:

  “I know where it’s hiding. It’s not far. Let’s go, May.”

  Both girls ran, guns in hand. They weren’t worried about the other people, as there was something about the angelic guns that made it impossible for people without magic powers to perceive them. They ran through the abandoned stores and buildings, going deeper into the place. It was starting to get darker as the sun started to set. This would be an advantage to the creature, but since it was simply a ghoul, Karina and May weren’t too worried.

  “We’re getting close.”

  “I know, I can feel its presence now. Ghouls are disgusting.”

  The ghoul probably thought that the abandoned district was a good place for hiding. It had a lot of dark spots for sure. The creature could hide and hunt for humans without attracting too much attention.

  Karina stopped on her tracks and simply said:

  “It’s here, it’s watching us from there.” She pointed at an alcove partially hidden by the shadows of the twilight. May could feel the creature’s eyes on them from that spot.

  The creature hissed and slithered through the ground. It had a sleek, dark appearance, with red eyes full of anger.

  “I guess I won’t even need to use Raguel for this one.” Karina pointed out.

  “Alright, but we need to be careful.”

  Karina jumped in the direction of the ghoul. She spun, and her leg kicked close to where the ghoul’s head was. The creature fell back, surprised, its claws left marks on the ground. It moved like a lizard, as it reached for May, hand raised for an attack. But Karina was fast and moved swiftly, her leg raised high.

  But the creature seemed to sense the danger and once again jumped back, avoiding the attack.

  “It’s so cowardly. I hate fighting coward creatures; they’re always the most treacherous.” Karina pouted.

  “That’s the thing about ghouls, they hate fighting. They would rather kidnap children and live in the dark. They’re like the vultures of creatures.” May passed her hand through her hair, “Let me try something. Oh, you filthy thing, you shouldn’t have tried to get close to me.” The girl said while she picked something off the ground, a hair of the ghoul.

  “Do you know what this is? It’s some kind of binding.”

  The ghoul didn’t seem to understand or react to May’s words, yet it looked with anger at the girls. It hissed and drooled; it appeared to be trying to retreat.

  “Oh, no. You won’t.” Karina ran again, this time her arms back, ready to punch the creature. The ghoul tried to run again, but this time, it was trapped in May’s spell. Its feet were glued to the ground, like a mouse in a trap. It didn’t even have time to lift its arms to defend before Karina punched the creature. And maybe the girl had forgotten how weak ghouls were, because her punch illuminated with sheer power, and she blew the head of the beast completely. Ghoul guts flew all over the place.

  “You know, I really dislike it when you do that,” May said, her face contorted.

  “I was getting tired. I don’t like fighting these kinds of creatures; it just doesn’t give me the emotion.”

  “Yeah, yeah, right.” May kicked a piece of the ghoul on the ground. “Now we gotta be sure that there wasn’t a nest. Do you feel any other ghouls?”

  “Actually, no. I don’t think so. I guess this one was working alone, or at least just starting something here.”

  “Are you sure? I hate when they hide, and then they send us again to ‘finish everything off’, you know.”

  “I’m sure, May. Once I got track of its presence, I would feel others of its kind if they were close.” Karina raised her shoulders.

  “You know that it makes everything even more mysterious. Why send us to fight just one ghoul? The people around probably hadn’t even realized its presence yet.”

  “I know, now that you say it, I don’t feel it was some kind of test. I mean, it couldn’t be that easy. Maybe it was something else, I don’t know.”

  May thought about what her friend had said, and in a sense, she felt that the ‘something else’ couldn’t be good.