God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"You guys are back already?"

Snapping out of her daze, Jenny nodded, "Yeah. We just hit level 99."

Cain's eyes turned wide, "That's great..."

Ignis sneered at him, "What? You thought you'd be the only one at level 99? We aren't that weak, you know..."

Cain chuckled, "Relax. I never said you were."

Jenny threw a concerned look at the beastmen behind him who clearly looked like they were about to fall over and die.

"Um... Are they okay? They look like they need treatment..."

Cain glanced at the beastmen behind him and rolled his eyes,

"Relax. They're fine. They are just being dramatic!"

'Dramatic?!' The ten beastmenb wanted to curse out loud, but managed to but their tongues.

Cain nodded upon seeing this, "See? They're fine."

Ignis shrugged, "Whatever. I'll be going off to rest now."

"Wait," Cain said all of a sudden.

Throwing him an annoyed glare, Ignis spat out,

"What do you want?"

Ignoring her tone, Cain spoke bluntly,

"Wanna have a spar?"

A fiery blaze was ignited in her eyes,

"A spar, you say..."

A grin appeared on Cain's face, "Yeah. Since you are level 99 as well, then it would be a mostly fair fight."

Ignis fell silent for a few seconds before speaking in a menacing tone, "No weapons, skills, and spells of course. Just fists... If you agree to those conditions, then sure... We can have a spar."

Although he was confident, Cain couldn't help but feel like the {Cherufe Spawn} had bad plans in store for him. Still, he couldn't back down now,

"Deal."

The beastmen behind him couldn't help but put on uncertain faces. Haru tapped Cain's shoulder,

"But, boss... Why would you want to fight now? We just defeated an entire den of {Blackmane Greyhounds}. Surely, you must be exhausted, right?"

Cain shrugged, "Really? Didn't feel like I did a lot though."

Those who heard him couldn't help but feel shivers race down their spines. They had fought tooth and nail to make it out of the basin alive, and yet, Cain was telling them that he had barely broken a sweat.

'Just how powerful is he?!' They couldn't help but ask themselves...

Still, Haru didn't relent, "But, Boss... I can tell that she's strong. Are you sure you want to fight her?"

Cain chuckled and whispered said back, "I'm sure. Besides, it will just be a friendly spar. No need to fret."

"Yes... Friendly... Of course, it will be friendly..." Ignis muttered under her breath with an evil look in her eyes, successfully scaring the beastmen out of their hides.

Cain waved his hands at the beastmen,

"Alright. You boys should go get some rest. Once you've rested well, meet me at the foot of the hill. We'll continue our hunting tomorrow."

Walking away, Cain's mind was filled with different thoughts. During their hunt, he allowed the beastmen to handle the grunts while he focused on the stronger creatures, earning a sizeable amount of system points.

'I managed to make almost a hundred thousand today by cleaning out an entire den of them. However, if I do this two or three more times, none of them will be left.

Although the {Blackmane Greyhounds} were fearsome foes, they were no match for Cain. Not even in the slightest...

'If I manage to clear all the Aether Bessts from this floating landmass, I'll definitely acquire at least a million system points in two weeks.'

Now that he was done hunting for the day, he planned to sharpen his skills. During the battle with Stingè, he had been completely dominated in a melee battle. Hence, he wanted to spar with someone who had tons of experience with fighting so he could properly gauge his skills.

"Are you sure you want to do this? She's pretty strong. Also, you and she seem to have some bad blood between one another, so I doubt she'll go easy on you."

Cain shrugged, "I won't go easy on her as well."

Walking behind Ignis, Cain and Susan chatted with one another until they eventually arrived on a relatively flat ground with lots of grass covering the hard earth.

Cain raised an eyebrow, 'Does usually use this place to beat people?'

Noticing the weird gazes on herself, Ignis shrugged and cleared her throat,

"I come here to train."

"I see..."

Cain said nothing more. Jenny quietly backed away from the two, as she didn't want to get in the way.

"Remember, no weapons, skills, or spells. I don't know what mad spirit possessed you today, but I'll definitely beat it out of you, so you don't need to be worried too much." Ignis said with a nasty grin.

Cain chuckled, "Alright then. Let's see what you can do."

Although Cain had mostly trained with the sword, he was still a little bit familiar with hand-to-hand combat.

Cain acknowledged Ignis as a strong opponent, which was why he planned on taking the fight seriously from the start...

He also knew that despite her looks, Ignis was one of the hardest hitters in their group. As far as he could remember, her blows were very powerful. However, she had definitely become stronger since the first time they had fought one another.

Both fighters quickly got into their stances. Spreading her feet apart, with her left foot a few inches behind her right, Ignis had her right hand balled up into a fist, resting on her waist, and her left hand was held parallel to the ground, with her pal facing Cain.

Cain's stance was simple. His hands were curled up into fists, and his legs were spread apart with his left foot slightly behind his right.

There was a moment of inaction between the two before they suddenly exploded into a fit of primal combat.

Ignis threw a simply don't forward as she approached. Cain brought a hand up to block it. However, she simply stopped her action midway and moved quickly to the side, throwing her other fist at Cain's ribs.

As though he had anticipated that move, Cain blocked with his elbow. A loud bang, followed by a shock wave caused the air to ripple, and the grass to sway in a different direction.

Cain's face paled, 'What the hell?'

If not for his incredible reaction speed, he would have been caught completely off guard just a second ago.

Of course, Ignis was not going to give him the opportunity to recover. Instead, she pressed forward with an unstoppable network of chained attacks that completely suppressed Cain. He had assumed his superior stats would allow him to come out on top. However, he didn't imagine he would be this wrong.

'Damn it! I can't even defend properly?!'

The way it is fought was something he was completely unfamiliar with. He had had a decent amount of fights back in the day. However, all that experience seemed to be for naught, as Ignis completely dominated him in the fight.

And so, the battle was over almost as quickly as it had begun...

Cain stared at the petite fist in front of his face with a bitter smile,

"Okay, okay... You win."

Ignis slowly withdrew her first from his face with an indifferent expression.

"You might be strong with all your skills and spells assisting you. However, if you do jit know how to fight, you'll meet someone who does one day. And then, you'll lose..."

With that, she turned around and began walking away...

Jenny who was standing a few meters away had a complicated look on her face,

'To think she would beat him so efficiently.' As they had been together in the Garden of Self-Reflection for a long time, Jenny knew that Ignis was very powerful. However, she had never understood the true extent of her power.

Although he had beaten her before, Cain could tell that she had been severely weakened that time. Even then, he had only managed to beat her by activating his most powerful spell, nearly dying in the process.

'No wonder she's so proud.' Cain thought to himself with a smile.

Just before she could walk too far away, Cain called out to her,

"Would you like to spar again some other time?" Cain yelled out.

Stopping n her tracks, Ignis turned around and stared at Cain,

"Do you like having your ass handed down to you so often?"

Cain shrugged, "If you are down, I plan on having a spar once a day." Although it was difficult to calculate the amount of time that had passed without the presence of clocks, or even celestial bodies, it was not impossible.

They had simply resorted to counting the hours manually or creating a timer with the system. That way, they were easily able to keep track of time.

Ignis thought about it for a few seconds,

"You'll have to pay me with mana shards."

Cain grinned, "Deal."

'I should have done this ages ago...'

He had always wondered what use Ignis would be to him when Azazel had told him that she was now in his possession. Now, he could see that she would be a very reliable asset to him both in the present and future.

That was if he played his cards right...

***

A/N: Special Mass release of chapters incoming!!!! Just like last month, special chapters will be released till the end of the month. If we can meet the goal by the end of the month, I plan to release an extra chapter every day for the first ten days.

Conditions: GIFTS!

Yes, people... Your gifts and active use of coins motivate me to write more and more of this book I'll seem to enjoy so much. So... Here's how we are gonna do it

Gifts worth 1000 coins: 3 extra chapters.

Gifts worth 2000 coins: 6 extra chapters.

Gifts worth 5000 coins: 15 extra chapters.

I really appreciate the continuous support. From the bottom of my heart. These gifts go a long way. Cheers!

P.S: Gifts higher than 5000 will also be factored in depending on if I have the time or not. For gifts below 1000, I'll try to sum up collective gifts to make it up. If it doesn't reach the mark, I'll still release an extra chapter by the end of the month...