God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

However, there would always be exceptions to the rule...

Beasts like the {Devil-Eyed White Primate} and Ruby were beasts that exhibited uncharacteristic intelligence compared to other Mutant Beasts. As they advanced, their intelligence would sky rocket as well.

Still, there were beasts that existed as exceptions to the exceptions...

Beasts that possessed intellect far greater than that of any human or beast. And these beasts most of the time, also possessed ungodly power as well.

Some grew to become powerful enough to devour entire worlds and even stars.

These beings could even become as powerful as the Celestial Deities that ruled most of existence, if given the time. However, that was unlikely as these beasts were seen as massive moving treasure chests, and were hunted down the moment they were spotted.

***

Cain let out a sigh as he weakly collapsed to his knees. Before he could hut the hard ice, his body was propped up by Ruby.

'Master... Are you alright?'

Cain shook his head to dispel the lingering headache,

'Yeah... I'm good.'

He stared at the scene before him. Using power like this that didn't belong to him had its downsides. For one, it was far more difficult to control it. If it went out of control, he could very well lose his life.

And yet...

He had still done it somehow. Controlling both ice and flames, he had destroyed Guy, obliterating him whole and wiping whatever remains he had from existence. A good portion of the glacial landscape had been blown away, and now rose towards the sky as a cloud of sublimating gas.

He let out a chilly breath,

"What a freaking day..."

{Congratulations to host... You have slain the Tier 1 human Champion of Azimuth, the Blood Celestial of War}.

{+3,000 free attribute points}.

{You have earned the ire of Azimuth. All followers of the Blood God will see you as an eternal enemy and will not hesitate to take your life even at the cost of their own}.

Cain snorted, 'Let them come then.'

He had never received a system notice like this before, but he honestly couldn't care less. Right now, all his thoughts nwere focused on recovering and joining the ongoing battle.

Spreading out his senses, he realized that he was very far away from anyone else. He couldn't sense any other living being even after extending {Eye of Clairvoyance} to the maximum.

Shaking his head he made to climb into Ruby's back,

'Let's go back, Ruby. We still have work to do.'

Whatever injuries the Mutant Bear had sustained during the battle.were already healed. Since he was currently drained of energy, he would have to rely on her for now.'

With that, they set back off towards the island.

However, before they could even make it halfway back, he came across a quite peculiar group...

***

The sound of steel clashing rose to the sky and spread out towards the horizon. Trapped in the sphere of light, Lukas was becoming more and more agitated.

If he was to engage in any one of the three women, he was extremely confident in his chances. However, they complimented one another so we'll, it was like he couldn't find any gaps at all. He didn't specialize in wanton destruction, so he didn't have enough firepower to clear everyone at once and be done with it.

Instead ,he specialized in single, fast execution tactices, each strike of his possessing incredible killing power, sufficient to out down a powerful Mutant Beast with one strike to the head.

Coupled with his swordsmanship, he shouldn't have had such a hard time.

And yet...

One attacked him from afar, another stuck to him like glue, while the last one gave the initial two seamless support.

If he tried to cut one down, a shield would appear. If he punctured through the shield, a healing spell fell on their head right away.

Normally, he would have gone straight for the healer, but the one in front of him gave him absolutely no breathing room at all.

At this rate, he would truly be unable to escape. Thinking about it, his initial calm had long turned into fuel that burned his rage.

He had lost his cool completely!

"Damn it!"

"Hmm... Could it be our Leader of Light has finally lost his cool?" Evangeline teased as she parried his vicious blade with her shortsword.

Lukas didn't say anything, merely waving his blade in the air. Dozens of sword lights shot out of the tip and made to impale her, but she simply stepped into the shadows and out of the way.

Lukas became even more enraged. Each of the sword lights he had let out we're capable of piercing through multiple layers of thick steel. However, they were just wasted energy if they couldn't hit their target.

'The healer... Everything is because of the healer. If I take her out, the other two won't be a problem.'

Lukas' forced himself to calm down. He shot Susan a glare filled with poison.

She frowned. With a brief chant under her breath, she quickly cast a barrier in front of her.

However, Lukas was don playing nice.

"Get back!" Evangeline warned, furrowing her brows as she sensed a change in Lukas.

His body began to glow with an incandescent light. A strange change suddenly came over his environment. For one, the surrounding space suddenly appeared darker, despite there being a surge of light from Lukas.

It was as though he was absorbing the light from the world. This light then coalesced into giant wings behind him. However, these wings weren't made of feathers.

Instead, they were made from hundreds upon hundreds of blades. Blades of compressed light.

"Seraph's Fall."

The blades shot every which way, seemingly attacking in random.

However, most of them congregated around Evangeline and Jenny. Even with her {Shadow World}< Evangeline could escape from them as they were relentlessly fast and pursued her the moment she stepped out of the shadows.

Jenny was in an even more precarious situation. Since she didn't have as many evasive skills as Evangeline, she had to rely on her agility, dodging and shooting down the endless light blades that rained down upon her.

While the two girls were busy fending off the light blades, Lukas turned into a beam of light, shooting straight for Susan.

Not one to panic despite the obviously terrible situation, Susan quickly retrieved an emerald green alter from her inventory.

The moment she began chanting, the element of light around her responded. It surrounded her like a soft cloak, a magic circle appeared before the alter, and a huge Golem fitted with illuminating golden armor appeared.

With no hesitation whatsoever, it swung its gauntlet fist at Lukas.

Lukas didn't stop, but infact, sped up, turning into a single ray of light that cut right through space. The Golem of Light didn't even stand for a sexond before it crumbled into motes of light.

It was at this point a hint of panic appeared on Susan's face.

Right now, there was no one to help her. Evangeline and Jenny were both fighting for their life as well.

Lukas was not weak at all. It wouldn't be a stretch to say he was potentially as strong as Cain.

Despite how bad things looked, Susan took a deep breath,

'Don't die.'

She remembered his words. If that was to be taken as an order, then she had to try her best to live up to his expectations.

For a moment, she felt strange. Things had truly changed from back then. How long had it been? A few months, maybe a bit more? And yet, Cain's position in her heart had changed drastically.

Despite letting off a beautiful radiance, her eyes were cold. She met Lukas with no fear whatsoever.

Drawing back her bowstring, she fired off a barrage of arrows.

Not even blocking, Lukas broke through the attacks and stabbed forward, sinking the sharp point of his blade into her stomach.

***

Steve twirled the staff in his hand narrowly blocking a saber aimed at his lower back. An icicle protruded from the surface of the water, stabbing straight through his assailant's stomach. Blood ran down from the punctured body and into the black water.

Not far away from him, numerous fights were still ongoing. Ignis was locked in fierce combat with Rollo, while Manny, Blaze and Vincent, as well as Sue, Li and Stan were engaged with both Lightslayers and Crimson Warriors as well.

Everything had broken down into total anarchy. Spells, bullets and arrows flew from all sides, swords, spears and axes clashed, churning up the surface of the water, mixing it with the blood of the fallen.

Things were getting bloodier by the second, but there was one constant...

The Crimson Warriors were slowly losing ground...