God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Something is coming..." Cain said as he directed his gaze forward.

"Cain, what do you sense?" Seeing Cain's serious expression, David asked, his body looking tensed already.

Cain shook his head in response and said something that was supposed to calm them, but in fact, did the opposite,

"From the looks of it, whatever is approaching doesn't seem to be a mutant beast, so it is most likely humans. However, the only question left to ask is whether they are friends or foes."

"Hmph! The probability they are for is much more likely." Hunter said with a grunt.

"Why do you think so?" Li asked Hunter with raised brows.

"Have you forgotten our first encounter?" Hunter said with a sideways glance, causing a look of realization to wash over Li.

"Since time immemorial, the major reason for human strife has always been a conflict of interest. The war a thousand years ago is more than enough proof of how destructive we can get if interests don't align." Steve said with a profound look as he also gazed toward the direction they were headed to...

Cain shook his head in response, "You are wrong, well not completely wrong I suppose..."

Steve had a look of surprise on his face as he directed an intense stare at Cain, "Oh? You think so?"

"The main reason for a majority of human wars and battles is stupidity, which, unfortunately, is quite abundant. Idiots who will do anything and go to any lengths for the sake of their selfish reasons and ambitions exist everywhere. However, war and conflict are also major driving forces for civilization, so I can't say I'm mad about it..." Cain said.

"Hmph! In my eyes, wars have always been about the battle between good and evil. Those concepts are counterparts that oppose for all eternity, so it's only natural for wars between them to occur so frequently."

Cain turned toward Blaze with a half smile,

"Good? Evil? Can humans truly be the arbiter of such things?"

"It is inherent to know what is good and bad. That is why we have a conscience. Those who try to deny this, make up excuses for all the evil atrocities they commit, saying there is no good and bad, then proceed to burn down entire towns and massacre and rape its inhabitants..." Blaze said as he pulled his spear that had been lodged into the ice road for a long time and swung it sideways.

It was clear that this topic had touched upon a sore area for him as a dark frown had appeared on his face.

"Regardless of what you think, I believe we should wait for whoever is approaching here. We can't afford to act hostile yet." Cain said seriously. The appeal of having new allies in such times was too good for him to pass up.

He realized that to survive in the current world, the power in numbers was just as important as individual numbers. Defeating opponents alone would not only increase danger levels, but it would also mean lessening the number of goals to achieve. Gathering resources would be much slower, and seeing everybody that came as foes would eventually become tiring.

Plus, to Cain, there was no reason for him to adventure alone. He had reasoned out a long time ago that he would rather create a group of his own even if it meant sacrificing a few benefits, which, when thinking about it, wasn't that much of a sacrifice, to begin with...

"Let me be the mediator..." Jenny said to Cain who simply nodded his head.

"Then let's wait..."

They didn't need to wait for too long, as the distinct sound of engines in action made its way into their ears from the distance.

"It's those from up east. That part of the school indeed does have a few speed boats. So lucky..." Li said as his posture relaxed. He reasoned that whoever was coming definitely wouldn't be coming to them with hostile behavior. After all, humans would naturally band together to increase their chances of survival during perilous times, right?

"Oh? I have a few friends up there. I hope they are still alive." Vincent said casually, earning him a side glance from everyone.

A few minutes later, Cain could see the outline of a few sea vehicles breaking past the horizon. His perception made it so that he was able to see the inhabitants of the vessel with relative clarity even though they were so far away.

'They are covered in tattoos. No runes! ...' This was the first thing Cain noticed when he gazed into the vessel. He also noticed a man with a bulky frame and a huge broad sword attached to his back standing at the helm of the boat.

"Hahaha! That guy doesn't look friendly at all!" Manny guffawed as he pointed at the approaching fleet of boats that consisted of four speed boats in total.

The boats moved closer and closer until they eventually stopped adjacent to them. With the group of 19 system-less individuals standing behind the main group, they formed a blockade with David standing at the very front with his shield out and Jenny by his side. Because of this, they didn't seem hostile, but rather wary and defensive.

'Master, I smell a lot of blood. These guys don't look friendly.' Ruby, who had been silent for some time suddenly said to Cain.

Cain said nothing but calmly watched as the group of people in blood-red garments got off their boats and landed on the Ice bridge.

Hunter who had stood just a little bit behind David had an expression of shock on his face when he got a clear look at the man who seemed to be the leader of the group. However, that soon quickly changed into pure rage.

'How is he...' Although Hunter was eager, he suppressed his bloodlust and silently made preparations...

There were about 20 people on each speed boat, making them a total of 80 individuals who gathered. Together, the Ice Bridge was supporting more than a hundred people's weight. Despite this, it didn't seem to be giving in any time soon...

Both teams stared at one another in silence for a few seconds before Jenny cleared her throat and shuffled two steps in front of the group,

"G-"

However, before she could even get a word out, she was stopped as a single pressure that felt like a thousand ghostly hands pressing down on her throat stopped her from speaking.

Cain who sensed this immediately broke away from the group with incredible speed and supported her by releasing a pulse of mana. He incited his {Mana Heart} to beat faster as he sent his aura out as well.

"You don't seem very friendly..." Cain glared at Rollo straight in the eye as he contemplated killing him on the spot. He had come to see Jenny and everyone else as his people, so harming them wasn't too different from harming him.

The others who were behind him immediately summoned their weapons and glared at the opposing group with hard stares.

"Now that you have decided to come forward, let us have a discussion." Rollo, in his thick voice, said as he took a few steps forward. Maybe due to the contract they all had with the Blood god of War, every single one of them was clad in red clothing. It didn't matter what type of red clothing though.

Their clothes just had the same sanguine hue as blood, giving them a sense of uniformity that Cain's group lacked.

"Discussion my ass!" Li yelled from the group as he pushed his way forward.

"Li, go back!" Jenny yelled at him as she stood to her feet and gazed at Rollo with calm serene eyes.

"Oh?" Seemingly surprised that she could still stand, Rollo stared at her with a mixture of puzzlement and indifference.

"I apologize if we got off the wrong foot, but attacking people right off the bad doesn't look good for diplomacy, you know?" Hearing her words, Cain looked at Jenny with newfound respect. Hence, he decided he would leave it to her to handle for now. However, should any from the opposing team try to attack again, he would spare no one.

'That being said, the fact that none of them have even made a sound all this while is unsettling...' Cain thought as he ran his gaze through the crowd of people standing before him.

His {Spirit Sense} was activated, and he immediately picked up one thing.

'Just as I thought. This is most likely the power of a god remnant. How the hell do these things keep popping up? If these so-called gods are so powerful, why do all of them keep dying like this?' Cain was baffled by this. In just a few weeks, he had encountered three situations where he had to deal with dead gods, four if he was willing to bring Ashur into the mix.

"While I commend your bravery, we aren't under any diplomatic agreements, nor is this a negotiation. We came here for one thing and one thing only. To gather followers for the Blood god of War, Azimuth."

Steve and Susan turned to stare at one another with understanding in their eyes...

"Gather followers? Why would you want to do that?" Jenny asked with a frown.

"All that is none of your concern. Submit and follow us back so you can offer your divinity to the Blood god. Failure to do this means death..."

The moment those words came out of Rollo's mouth, the men behind him let their bloodlust overflow. Their sported malevolent grins as there drew their weapons and pointed them at Cain and the group.

"Oi... These guys look like they want a fight." Manny said, an excited gleam flashing in his eyes as he smacked his blades together, producing a spark.

"It seems so. Unfortunately for them, that doesn't seem like a bad idea." Blaze said. Rollo's arrogance already getting to him. However, he chose to stay calm for the moment as he didn't want to be the first to attack. Although he had no intentions to kill, he would defend himself when attacked, even if that meant putting a hole or two in some people.

"Death? That seems like an arrogant thing to say." Cain said as he grabbed ahold of Jenny who now had a worried expression on her face.

"Arrogant? I'm simply telling you your fate should you think of anything foolish like disobeying..." Rollo said coldly.

"Is that so? Well, I'm feeling just a bit foolish today. Threatening people right off the bat sure isn't the way to go." Cain said with a grin. However, despite his words, he still didn't draw his weapon. He stood, staring at Rollo with a condescending expression.

Rollo narrowed his eyes as he started at Cain as well,

'He doesn't look familiar, but the aura he emits reminds me of someone like The Boss. However, he seems a bit different.' Rollo thought to himself.

"Can we just calm down? Isn't there a way to solve this without any bloodshed? Fighting now would do us no good as it is. We should be working together!" Jenny yelled at Rollo with a frown. She couldn't understand why they wouldn't want to work together with them.

"You heard the lady. What's got you so stuck up?" Cain asked curiously. Had it been him, he would have tried a lot of peaceful methods before even considering force as an option. From what he could see, it seemed as though the man standing in front of him didn't care if they agreed to join them or not.

Almost like to him, their life and death were of equal value...

However, Cain was not worried in any way. This was because not only was he extremely confident in his strength, the combination of his {Spirit Sense} and {Eye of Clairvoyance} made it so that he was able to make a rough estimate of the strength of the opposing team. Despite their numbers, he was confident in snatching victory without too much of a hassle...