The explosion of stone and dust had barely settled when a massive slab came hurtling through the air like a guillotine.
Cain felt it before he saw it.
A coffin pall, thick as a fortress gate and soaked in ancient blood mana, tore free from the shattered coffin and slammed straight toward him.
There was no warning, no time to think, only the instinctive scream of danger echoing in his bones.
Before his mind could catch up, his body moved.
He stepped forward and pulled Cornelia in, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as he turned his back to the impact.
The pall smashed into him with a deafening crack, stone grinding against bone, blood mana exploding outward in a violent wave.
And then it shattered.
Fragments flew in every direction, reduced to dust before they could even touch the floor.
Cain blinked.
Cornelia blinked too.
For a brief second, they stared at each other in stunned silence, her face inches from his chest, his arm still firmly around her.
What the hell?
