The scarred creature's mouth – that vertical slit in its featureless face – split wider in what could only be interpreted as a grin. It remembered her. It remembered the hunt, the terror, the sweet taste of her fear as she fled through the mist. Now she stood before it again, sword drawn, pretending at courage.
Seraphine saw that mockery, that dismissal, and something inside her crystallized into pure, focused intent. You think I'm still that frightened girl who ran from you, she thought, her grip tightening on her katana. You're about to learn how wrong you are.
She didn't wait for it to attack first. There would be no testing, no gradual escalation, no giving this creature even a moment's advantage. She was going to demolish it completely.
"Grandmaster Mana Body Enhancement," she whispered, and power flooded through her system like liquid lightning.
