God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Francis's words had barely come to an end before he dashed forward like a bullet. However, since Dan was expecting him, he met the charge with a forward thrust...

Dan had many years of training under his belt, and so did Francis. They had clashed numerous times over the years, but each had failed to best the other. Hence, what would determine the outcome of their current battle, was not technique, but strength.

As for what kind of strength, only the winner could tell...

Francis drew the {Higher Bloody Katanas} at his waist and swung them with unmatched precision. Since he was a bit taller than Dan, he used his height to his advantage, swinging one of his blades overhead, whilst he swung the other horizontally. At the same time, he displayed unmatched dexterity by twisting his body with one leg as a pivot and snapping the other forward like a whip.

Dan's eyes let off a cold sharp glare as he responded to every single one of Francis's attacks. An ice shield appeared overhead to block the descending strike. At the same time, he lowered his body, causing his midsection to be directly parallel to the ice road.

Dodging the first two strikes, he intercepted the third strike, by holding onto Francis's shin and pushing hard against it with a dagger that appeared in his right hand.

He intended to completely skewer him in the leg, creating an advantageous situation as quickly as he could. However, things couldn't be so easy...

Sensing Dan's intentions, a bloody light flashed within Francis's eyes as he shifted his leg just slightly. Suddenly, a magic circle appeared on the ice ridge, and in less than a split second, a huge {Blood Spike} shot out, shearing through the air. The pointy end of the blood spike was pointed straight at Dan's throat.

It was very clear that Francis's had no intentions of keeping Dan alive...

In response, Dan let out a breath of chilling air as he dropped the ice daggers and slapped them against the ground with all his might. An ice wall instantly appeared, shielding him from the blood spike.

Just as Dan believed he had gotten out of the danger zone, he heard a grating laugh that sent chills down his spine.

"Hehehe..."

Still midair, Dan's eyes widened when he looked down at where he intended to land. Five crimson magic circles had appeared just below him. They immediately burst into pieces to reveal 5 extremely sharp {Blood Spikes} that stabbed at him. They looked like the stingers of death that would kill anything they touched.

'Crap!' A look of panic appeared on Dan's face as he tried to twist his body midair to escape the spikes...

"Don't forget about me, Danny-boy..." Dan sensed something approaching him from the back with incredible speed.

Without even looking, two ice blades appeared in his hands...

"Grahhh!" Magic circles appeared beneath his feet and were replaced by two thin, yet sturdy ice platforms. Pushing against them with all his leg strength, Dan produced a sideways spinning force that caused him to rotate like a spinning top.

CLANG!

CLANG!

Dan landed on the ground, his chest heaving heavily as he stared at Francis who sported an expression that was created from a mix of a frown and a grin...

"I could have sworn I had you with the last attack. Seems like your reaction speed isn't too bad."

In response, Dan let out a brief chuckle as he bent his knees, "Do you think you have the advantage here?"

A look of confusion spread across Francis's face, "Do you think I don't?"

A smile made its way onto Dan's face as he dashed forward with a single push. In a split second, he had created two ice blades that were soon swinging at Francis's neck. Francis tilted his neck, dodging the first blade and parrying the second with a swing of his own.

Very quickly, the two engaged in an intense exchange of cuts, slashes, and hacks as they tried to reap the life of their opponent.

A fiery clash between blood and ice magic that although extremely fierce, didn't disturb the surrounding water.

This was because both individuals had extremely high physical control stats. While magic control was a product of the control and magic stats, physical control was a summation of the product of all physical stats and the control stat.

With very good physical stats and an abnormal control stat, Dan was able to display fluidity in his movements that were nearly unmatched in the entire group. Previously, he had been limited by the nature of his skills to the rigid movements of a bulky frame. But when he learned the new ways he could use his skills, he had begun to grow at an alarming rate...

The wind was sliced up as blades cut through it...

With a kick, Dan dodged a swing from Francis and jumped back a few steps. He panted heavily as he clutched onto a wound that had appeared on his hand with a heavy frown on his face.

Francis was not faring any better as he also had an inch-deep gash on his chest...

"You haven't lost your touch. That's good..." Francis said.

"However, play time's over. True power is no longer dictated by how fast you can move or how quick your blade is. Many other factors determine who the victor and the vanquished are. Allow me to show them to you..." Francis said in a low voice as he spread an arm out, his five fingers pointing in different directions.

"Red Fog..."

A thick red smoke billowed out of Francis into the air, quickly dying that portion of the ocean red.

"Crap!" Dan tried to love back as fast as he could, but it was too late. In a few seconds, he was completely enveloped by the {Red Fog}.

In the {Red Fog}, everything around him disappeared, leaving only a world of red. The water, the ice bridge, and even the grey skies hanging perpetually overhead were all gone.

'Shit! He caught me...' Although Dan knew Francis had been planning something ominous, he didn't expect it to be a skill. And to make matters worse, not only did he know nothing about the skill, Francis was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, a voice reverberated all around him and into his ears. The voice was linked to Francis, however, it sounded as though he was chanting a strange incantation of a spell...

"The clouds of blood follow the Blood god's envoy as they race into the battlefield, collecting the souls of the damned. Within the Red Fog, their cries turn into the herald of his presence as even their souls aren't spared for even a moment, bound to suffer eternal torment..."

Before Dan could even understand what was going on, he felt pain run through his shoulder like a bolt of electricity. He looked down to see a {Blood Spike} stabbing straight through his shoulder. He barely had time to recover before he was stabbed in his calf as well...

"You don't even realize that you are dead, Danny-boy. Your soul has long since been captured by the {Red Fog}. You just didn't realize it..." Francis said with a smile.

'When...' Dan's eyes dilated winding as he began to wonder when he had been caught off guard. He noticed that as he tried to escape from the {Red Fog}, it was as though he was weighed down by a thousand tons of steel.

'When did he do it?!'

"Had you accepted my offer, you wouldn't be in this state, but look at you now. You could have been such a good addition to my team. Then The Boss would certainly have given me a squad to manage for my own..." Francis said, his time filled with mock lamentation.

Another spike of blood stabbed into Dan's body, drawing a loud yell of pain from him...

"Yes! That's it! Let your cries echo within the Red Fog! Herald the arrival of the Blood god!"

Dan could feel his blood being drained by the blood spikes that impaled him. His strength was being siphoned. His heart was filled with anger, however...

"Even if I lose, I'll never lose to you, bastard!" Dan let out a yell of unbridled rage.

"Red Fog my ass! Blood god my ass!" Dan let all his anger out in the form of a large cloud of ice that expanded out from his body alongside a magic circle that grew at the same rate as the cloud of ice particles.

His {Ice Craft} skill was at work. His mind spun as he considered all the ways he could escape from his terrible situation and capitalize on it.

{Ice Craft} was a special skill because it allowed him complete control over all constructs of ice as long as he had the mana to support it. Following the same concept, this meant, in theory, that he would easily be able to create as many ice-related spells as he wanted since spells are just a physical reaction of mana in between the spiritual and physical realms.

During the battle with Francis, he realized that there was no way for him to escape from the {Red Fog} with normal means. He had to fight fire with fire, or in this case, Magic with magic...

It was no news that blood was denser than water. Hence, it was much harder to freeze than water. And yet, his only method of attack was exactly this.

"Ice Craft: World's End Frost..."

This cloud of ice was created from pure concentrated mana that could lower the temperature of any fluid it came into contact with, to zero, regardless of its density. It happened so suddenly that Francis who had been hiding within the fog was unable to react in time.

Without even skipping a beat, Dan seized the moment...

His body became coated in a solid, yet thin layer of ice. With speed far exceeding anything he had shown so far, he raced toward the startled Francis and slashed down with all his might...

***

"This is the fifth group so far. Although they are troublesome to deal with, at least they give good exp..." Blaze said out loud as he stabbed the corpse of a huge mutant starfish that was floating in the water and burned it to a crisp.

"Such a shame we have to get rid of these..." Vincent stared at the dead starfish lying all around with a sad expression.

"They are poisonous. Eating them is like asking for death." Hunter wore a disgusted expression as he kicked at the corpse of a floating starfish, watching as a purple fluid leaked out of it and into the surrounding water. That purple fluid was a very strong poison and neurotoxin that could turn an elephant into a block of wood in seconds.

"Hehehe... Although the poison is scary, it is actually quite useful..." Steve had a weird smile on his face as he produced a small knife from thin air and slashed at the thick muscles of the mutant starfish.

They had encountered four more batches of ferocious mutant beasts. These mutant beasts ranged from poisonous mutant Starfish to a small group of agile, yet dangerous mutant sea snakes.

Hunter stared at the Icebridgebefore them, but his attention was on something else. An ominous feeling that he couldn't shake came over him. He shifted his gaze to Cain who also had a strange expression on his face,

"Cain, there-"

Before Hunter could even complete his sentence, his words were cut short by Cain's words,

"I can feel it too..." Cain said, a tight frown making it's way between his brows.

"Something is coming..."