Arca turned around, ready to strike—but there was no one behind him. Did he imagine it? He thought he sensed a flash of mana…
He turned away again.
Irmilla took in a deep breath and continued in a more collected voice. "We can still be if we don't understand what happened and how the assassin got close."
She wasn't standing idly—even as she spoke, a stream of blood came out of a flask on her belt, then surrounded her in a transparent pink shield.
"I think I felt something just now," Arca replied. "But the enemy is great at masking their mana. They probably don't even need an artifact for it."
"Not just their mana, but their everything. And judging by the way they dealt with Romeo, they must be a vampire. It must be Spezzian! He didn't steal his knowledge of blood magic, he is a vampire himself. A traitor!" She paused, then added thoughtfully, "If he's a vampire, then… Could it be? The—"