"I warned you."
As they rushed forward, I felt Alicia's trembling hand clutch the fabric of my hood from behind. Her breath was ragged, her expression tight with something between pain and helplessness.
"S–Senior…"
"Just hang in there," I said over my shoulder without slowing down. "Give me a minute to deal with them, and then you can drink as much blood as you want."
My gaze dropped to the lance, still embedded in the corpse of the guy who'd tried to kill me moments ago. His eyes were wide in frozen shock, his blood pooling beneath him like a dark halo.
I grabbed the shaft of the weapon and yanked it free with a wet, slick sound. With a smooth spin, I twirled it once to shake off the blood, then gripped it in both hands, shifting into the Septem Treina stance.
It had been a while since I used this form.
Honestly, I might've gotten a little rusty.
But muscle memory's a beautiful thing.
"Take that!" One of them shouted, charging with his sword raised high.
Too slow.
