God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Hm... It just doesn\'t make any sense. I couldn\'t sense him before, then all of a sudden, he just reappeared."

"It does look a bit suspicious."

"Right?!"

Cain shivered. Jenny and Ignis were seated beside him. Because of the heated conversation they were having, they had yet to notice that he had awoken.

\'What are these two on about?\' He decided to close his eyes and eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Which is why I think we should conduct further tests, to see if he is the real Cain." If his eyes were opened, Cain would be able to see the evil grin Ignis had on her face.

Jenny nodded innocently. However, a playful glint shone in her eyes,

"I totally agree with you."

"Right?!"

"Right!"

Cain gritted his teeth, \'Since when did these two become partners in crime?!\'

Sitting up, Cain decided to put an end to their plans before they even began.

"You are awake?" Slightly taken by surprise, Jenny moved in closer.

"Careful! For all we know he could be a fake. Let\'s test him first!" Ignis yelled at Jenny with a stern frown.

Cain rolled his eyes "What sort of proof do you need? The existence of the [Body and Soul] contract should be more than enough proof."

Ignis snorted, "Still... What if this fake is very good at what it does?"

"Don\'t go making conclusions..." Cain said with a sigh.

Jenny let out a laugh. Staring at Cain, her eyes turned to half crescents. Clearing his throat, Cain asked seriously,

"How did the battle with the {Blood Abominations} go? There really were a lot of them."

Ignis shrugged, "They are easy to handle once you\'ve figured them out. Those casters were a headache to deal with, but with Susan\'s barrier, they were no longer any trouble."

Cain nodded, "I see... Speaking of which, where is Hunter?"

Both girls fell silent...

Sensing something wrong, he was about to question them when Susan suddenly appeared,

"He\'s getting the beastmen ready for departure. We need to leave here soon."

Evangeline chose this moment to appear from the shadows,

"This place is safe for now. No powerful creatures are lurking around. However, if that Demkn isn\'t dead like you said, we will need to leave soon."

Cain nodded, "I\'ve mostly recovered. We can get going."

Jenny nodded, "In that case, I\'ll go scout the way ahead."

Cain stopped her, "Wait. There is no need for that."

Cain then turned to Evangeline, "How far away is the rift?"

"When I came through, it had already moved a bit further inland. My guess is that it orbits around that thing." Evangeline said, pointing at the giant pillar of light that could be seen from anywhere in the fragmented lands.

Her face darkened, "Not only that, but that rift is not the only one that exists."

Cain shrugged, "I sort of figured that out. According to Stingè, Urbus is not the first world he had invaded. Then those rifts must be portals to other worlds."

Jenny frowned, "Then entering the wrong rift would be terrible."

"Indeed. Although they all look the same, the good news is that the rift we all came through is located far away from the others, so it can\'t be mistaken for any other one. I guess it should take roughly three days if we rush, five if we are more careful." Evangeline said.

"Hmmm..." Cain folded his arms and gazed at the ground.

When it came to scouting, Evangeline was truly the best. Since she could move through the shadows, most of the dangers of the fragmented lands could be avoided if she was only interested in gathering information.

Physical obstacles were also not a problem for her. She could also move very fast when inside the shadows.

That was how she had managed to gather so much information during the few hours Cain had been asleep. Although the {Dark Soul} was quite similar, it was restricted to a radius around Cain, so it wasn\'t nearly as effective.

Cain\'s eyes suddenly narrowed, "Any news on Malcolm?"

Evangeline had a rather strange smile on her face,

"I do, actually..."

Cain was a bit surprised, "You do?"

"Let\'s just say he ran into a mess."

Judging from her expression, there was no way that mess was a simple one.

Cain waved his hand dismissively,

"Whatever the case may be, it is none of our business now. I was merely curious."

"That\'s enough talk. When are removing out?" Ignis said dryly. It was obvious she was already getting bored.

Cain smiled, "Soon... First, we need to plot the safest and quickest path to the rift."

Getting to his feet, Cain stared at the beautiful girls seated around him. He couldn\'t help but feel some type of way.

"Wipe that look off your face," Ignis said with a glare.

Letting out a chuckle, Cain walked away,

"I\'ll be back in a second."

"Even when I told him not to push it..." Susan muttered under her breath with a bitter expression.

Evangeline shot her a sideways glance,

"He\'s doing all this because he wants to get stronger."

Susan some indifferently, "You think I don\'t know that?"

Evangeline shrugged, "If you know that, then don\'t act selfishly." With that, she dissipated into the shadows.

Jenny stared at Susan for a few seconds with a contemplative look on her face before opening her mouth,

"Well, I also don\'t want to feel like a burden all the time."

Susan shit her surprised look...

There was a faint smile on Jenny\'s face as she continued,

"I get it... It doesn\'t feel good to always be taken care of. I want to contribute something meaningful as well. I don\'t want to hold him back as well."

Then her expression turned into one of conviction,

"Which is why I\'ll get stronger. Relying on anyone but myself has never been my style after all."

Susan let out a sigh, before burying her face in between her knees, "Indeed."

Ignis had a weird look on her face, "You humans are so... complicated."

***

Cain and Hunter stared at the bleak clouds of the fragmented lands with serene expressions. The chilly wind blew across their faces, blowing their hair all over the place.

"You didn\'t die..." Hunter said without a hint of emotion in his voice.

Csin chuckled, "I told you I had no intentions of dying, didn\'t I?"

"Hmm... Did you beat him?" Hunter asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Of course I did! He had no choice but to run off with his tail between his legs."

Hunter let out a heavy sigh, "I see..."

He then turned to Cain. He looked like he wanted to say something, but the words got stuck in his throat,

"If you have anything to say, just go ahead and say it. It isn\'t like you to hesitate to speak your mind." Cain finally said after a few seconds of Hunter hesitating.

Hearing this, Hunter finally spoke,

"I ran away."

"What do you mean?" Cain said calmly.

"I ran away during the battle with Stingè."

Cain scratched his head, "Okay... And?"

Hunter snorted, "What do you mean by \'okay\'? What I did amounted to betrayal!"

Cain shrugged, "But I\'m the one who told you to leave. Technically, you just listened to what I said, no?"

Hunter gritted his teeth, "That doesn\'t matter. I still left you to fend for yourself against that demon. After all the big talk I made, that\'s all that I could do."

Cain sighed. He then started at Hunter with a frown,

"Tell me something..."

Hunter frowned and turned to stare at him as well,

"What?"

Cain gently placed his hands on Hunter\'s shoulders and looked him dead in the eye,

"Are you an idiot?"

Hunter looked like a fish out of water, "Huh?"

Cain spoke seriously, "If you had not listened to ke, we would have all been dead right now. To put it bluntly, you were in the way..."

Hunter made a face, "You bastard! I helped out a bit, didn\'t I?"

Cain shook his head, "No. You were quite useless."

Hunter had a bitter look on his face. Thinking about it, he realized that Cain was right. All of a sudden, Cain burst out laughing,

"Hahaha! You should see the look on your face right now."

Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye Cain sighed,

"Don\'t think about it too much. Everyone has a part to play if we want to get out of this situation alive."

A grim look flashed across his eyes, but it disappeared like it never existed.

"To be honest with you, I truly thought I was going to die at some point."

Hunter ran his fingers through his hair,

"The fight with that bastard made me realize something."

He took in a deep breath, "We are too weak. Weakness is the greatest sin. Weakness makes you run from death. So..."

His eyes stared into Cain\'s, burning with a fierce flame,

"I won\'t run away again."

Cain smiled, "I\'ll take your word for it..."

***

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.