God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

His agility had already broken through into the thousand-mark range, so he was eager to see what his top speed would be.

"Azure Burst!"

Blue flames suddenly began to appear all around his body.

'Hot!'

Cain could feel the scalding heat burning through him and into his environment, causing a chain reaction that burned the surrounding mana like fuel.

{Azure Burst} was a movement skill he created that allowed him to combust a large amount of internal mana at once, leading to the burning of mana surrounding him. As such, the combination of these two processes created a large amount of heat and energy. He would then convert this heat into propulsion, increasing his movement speed by 300%.

The Azure Flames that surrounded his body upon activation of the skill was just the by-product of extremely hot burning mana.

Suddenly, Cain's body disappeared in a flash, leaving cracks all over the ice bridge. He was so fast, he didn't even leave afterimages behind.

'The heat will burn through the Ice Bridge' Cain hurriedly jumped down the Ice bridge and began running on the water's surface.

Creating footholds of Ice, Cain was like a specter moving in and out of reality as he relied on his agility had now surpassed 3,000. He was not only three times faster, but his agility had also adjusted to support his extreme speed.

As such, he had shortened his thirty-minute journey into a ten-minute one...

Like a bolt of blue lightning, he raced alongside the bridge. The heat he produced was so intense, he boiled the water around him, creating steam clouds along the way.

His eyes had taken on a purple tint, courtesy of the skill's effect. However, he could only keep this up for ten seconds. But the cooldown of the skill was relatively short, at just five minutes, so although he wouldn't be able to get to Dan in 10 minutes, at least it would be shorter than 30.

'These crazy people are here to kill. If my suspicions are right, then whoever is holding Dan back must be someone he has known before the apocalypse.' Cain thought to himself.

He realized that if Rollo and Hunter knee one another and both couldn't wait to get their hands stained with the other's blood, then whoever was fighting Dan most likely was related in one way or the other to Rollo, which would in turn, increase the possibility of them being familiar with one another.

However, if this wasn't the case, it wouldn't change much as Cain's intentions were very clear. If he discovered that Dan had been severely injured or in the worst-case scenario, killed...

He would no longer hold back...

He was incredibly reluctant to kill another human as he still believed that every human still living was an asset that would help in protecting their planet from the devils. However, if he had no choice, he wasn't above slaughter...

Cain looked into the distance, his mind filled with complicated thoughts as he ran. He felt as though he was being held by many strings like he couldn't control his fate and the natural order of how destiny played out, and that made him want to frown and kick something.

'Thinking too much won't do any good.' He thought to himself.

Taking a deep breath, he focused on his current objective

***

"Sigh... To think it would take so long to take him down. I guess I did underestimate him." Francis said to himself as he stared down at Dan's fallen body.

'Ice magic might be powerful, but no mana form can compare to mana corrupted by a celestial's aura. Having a deity's backing truly makes life easier...'

He pulled a few mana potions from his inventory, chugging them down as he walked toward Dan who lay in a gradually increasing pool of his blood.

"He still isn't dead yet?" Francis raised an eyebrow. However, he quickly relaxed and moved closer. He drew a blade hanging from his waist, and with a dark smile, he pointed it toward the sky.

Exerting some strength, he swung down hard...

Suddenly, an intense feeling of bloodlust unlike any he had ever felt washed over him. As a denizen of the underworld, even before the apocalypse, he had come in contact with many life-or-death situations. He had killed and had been on the verge of death many times, so he was quite familiar with death.

Right now, he could feel that death was closer than it had ever been before.

"GRAHH!" With a loud yell, his eyes widened as he swung his blade forward. At that same moment, a flash of blue filled his vision.

BANG!

He could feel all the bones in his body shake violently as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He shot away like a cannonball, rolling on the ground to reduce the force of the attack.

Standing on the Ice Bridge, Cain looked down at the scene before him with cold eyes.

'He's still breathing...' Cain walked toward Dan, quickly retrieved a vial of HP regen potions, and poured it into his mouth. Unfortunately, as Dan was completely unconscious, he was unable to drink any of it.

Seeing this, Cain had a frown on his face. He turned to face Francis who was struggling to get up on his feet.

"You sure have a lot of guts..." Cain said in a deep voice as he moved closer to him.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Francis let out a grating laugh, "You hit hard, that's for sure..."

He stood on his feet and stared at Cain curiously. He then stared at his sword and was shocked to see that it had chipped slightly.

His stare returned to Cain, only now, he looked at him like as if he was staring at a monster.

'What monstrous strength...' Francis could tell that he had to do his best not to clash with Cain directly.

'He might be strong, but I bet his magic stats must be weaker. This world is all about balance. Those with large physical stats usually have lower magic stats.' Francis thought to himself.

He quickly dashed backward, putting some space between him and Cain.

"Where do you think you are going?" Cain said coldly. Stretching his hand forward, he activated a spell. Numerous magic circles appeared a few meters behind Francis. The magic circles shattered to reveal golden chains that rushed toward Francis like hunger snakes.

'What?! How can his range be so long?! He should have terrible magic stats!' Francis let out an internal scream as he doubled back. Pulling his second blade from his inventory, he began to strike at the metal chains. He was once again shocked to discover that he couldn't break the chains easily. It took him three to four hits to break a single chain.

Not giving him any space to breathe, Cain dashed forward with lightning speed. Summoning {Black Claw} from his inventory, he slashed at the occupied Francis.

"Blood Hedge!" Still occupied with the chains, Francis quickly activated a skill. Numerous magic circles appeared around Cain, spitting out extremely sharp blood thorns.

With a snort, Cain performed a full spin, crushing all the blood thorns into dust. Without stopping for even a second, he continued his dash, appearing before Francis in the blink of an eye.

'Shit!'

Using one sword to block the chains, Francis swung his other blade at Cain. Cain's eyes let out a dull glow as he switched the hand holding his blade mid-swing, completely changing the angle of attack. Francis watched in horror as Cain brought his blade down onto his unprotected midsection.

BOOM!

Using the flat of his, Cain smashed Francis down onto the Ice bridge, causing numerous cracks to spread on it.

Francis bounced back up due to the recoil, but Cain wasn't done yet. Cain kicked the rising Francis in the spine, causing him to fly forward. Landing onto the Ice bridge once again, Francis spat out a mouthful of blood again.

"B-Bastard!" Francis let out a yell. The constant smile on his face had now been transformed into a terrifying scowl. Blood ran down his head as he stared at Cain with hatred.

Cain ignored his words and continued to walk toward Francis with a still expression...

"Don't think because you caught. me unaware you have the upper hand! I'll make you regret this, Bastard!" Francis yelled with boundless rage.

Slapping his palms together, he invited the mana within him. A rune on his arm that had a similar appearance to a scorpion began to shine brightly. Blood and poison elemental mana in the air began to gravitate toward him in large amounts.

"Blood Magic: Flesh Eater!"

A hundred magic circles were created simultaneously around Cain. A fishy odor filled the air as Blood spikes that had a fatal green tint to them appeared one by one.

"Die!" Francis thrust his arms forward, his eyes bloodshot, and his mind occupied to kill.

'He will never be able to escape this. My magic stat is above 700 points. If his defense and magic stats aren't.higher than that, he'll turn into a pool of bloody guts in a split second!'

Francis could already see what would become of Cain as soon as his spell hit him. He could already feel the wind of triumph. This spell was his strongest spell after the combination of {Blood Fog} boosted by {Blood Sacrifice}. He was sure that apart from The Boss, Rollo, and a few others, no other person would be able to survive it...

After all, to have more than 700 points in both magic and defense was nearly impossible in his eyes.

However, he was in for the shock of a lifetime, most likely the last one he would even experience...

Cain stared at the spell approaching him with nary a change in expression. He pulled {White Claw} out of his inventory. Keeping {Black Claw} diagonal, he stretched {White Claw} forward.

"Abyssal Dragon Blade: Dark Dragon Orbiting..."

The phantom of an enormous dragon appeared behind Cain as his {Black Claw} began to emit thick devil essence. At the same time, his {White Claw} took on an extremely concentrated golden radiance.

Applying strength to his left leg, Cain pushed against the ground, charging straight into the storm of poisonous blood spikes.

The huge dragon phantom behind him melted into his {Black Claw}, giving it life. The eye attached to the hilt of the blade snapped open, and with every swing, a loud dragon roar was heard. In a second, Cain had destroyed the entire spell and was already before Francis who had a look of disbelief contorting his features.

"Impossible!" Francis let out a roar as his entire body burst forth with bloody light, causing all the runes on his body to light up as well.

"BLOOD FOG!"

A thick red cloud exploded from his body, completely covering Cain.

"Fool! Just because you are powerful, you think you have won! Within the Blood Fog, I am a god! Now you can't access your mana!"

Despite his arrogance, Francis had a very high affinity with the blood element. Because of this high affinity, as well as his high magic stat, he was able to activate a skill granted to those highly favored by the Blood god.

{Blood Fog} is a multi-layer spell that relied on blood elemental magic to cut a target off from their senses, body, and the spiritual plane.

Upon activation, those trapped within the blood Fog would lose their senses, will be unable to control their bodies, and will lose their ability to access mana. Even those with a higher affinity for blood mana would be unable to do anything for a while, although the effects of the skill would be lessened by a certain percentage.

Trapped within the {Blood Fog}, Cain realized that he was unable to move his body properly. His senses were also a bit cloudy. Worst of all, he realized he was unable to use mana at all...

'If I can't use mana, I'll use something else...' Cain thought calmly. With his blades still in hand, he poured his Ki into the {White Claw}. The blade immediately took on a thick crimson glow.

Despite the restraining force created within the {Blood Fog}, he was able to push against it by circulating Ki around his body, pushing the lethal blood mana that had infested him.

Once he could move his body freely, he raised both blades. Thick black flames poured out of one, and a vast amount of crimson steam was created from the other. The two mingled together to create a unique phenomenon. The {Blood Fog} was pushed back to reveal the tired figure of Francis.

"Abyssal Crimson Slash!"

Cain moved so fast, all that could be seen was a black and crimson tear. He appeared behind Francis, his body radiating intense heat. Devil essence rolled off his body in thick waves and the Ki within him boiled violently.

Before he could even be surprised, Francis was struck by the devastating attack. A huge gash appeared across his chest linking to his shoulder. He stared at his left arm twitching on the ground beside him.

With the last bit of his strength and consciousness, he turned back to stare at Cain with eyes filled with blood...

"W-who a-are y-you?!"

"I am reinforcement..." Cain said. A swishing sound was carried by the wind as he waved his blade to shoot the loose blood away, leaving it clean...