Yenna came out of the guild hall into the main street with her mind running faster than her legs were carrying her.
She did not notice the crowd opening around her, nor the merchants leaning out of their stalls to catch her attention as she went past.
She was still inside the last five minutes, turning them over for the piece that would let the whole thing behave like sense.
'Are you truly sure you can kill me,' the words went around her head again without wearing down, and behind them came the memory of his mana putting itself against hers.
"It doesn't make any sense," she muttered at the road in front of her, "he didn't use an artifact, he didn't use some trick spell."
Her hand found the hilt at her waist without being asked, then closed until the wrap creaked under it.
"That was raw mana," she said, quieter now, "so how does an unregistered rookie carry a presence like that?"
The Guildmaster had taken that answer away from her.
