Lola didn't see the attack coming, but her instincts, honed over years of life-or-death contracts in a dozen different worlds, screamed at her to move.
She threw herself to the side,landing in a practiced combat crouch. The ground behind her where she'd been standing erupted violently, a deep ten-foot-long trench gouged into the dirt and stone as if an invisible giant had swung a massive blade through reality itself. Dust and pebbles sprayed outwards in a cloud.
Lola stared at the fresh scar carved into the road, her heart giving a hard thump against her ribs. 'What the hell was that? That wasn't normal mana.'
She looked back at Nox, reassessing the threat level drastically upward. The vibe around him was heavy now, oppressive, a palpable weight in the air that made her skin crawl. Dark energy leaked from him in visible wisps. He stood there with that corrupted scar on his chest pulsing faintly with black light, and then he was gone.
