God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

In the end, we were unable to beat them."

Cain said nothing. However, Steve cursed,

"Damn it! How did things turn out like this?! We were gone for just one day! Damn it all!"

Steve usually didn't get so riled up, but right nowz he had every reason to explode.

Cain's face remained calm as he turned to Ignis. He could sense the complex emotions in her. Feeling his gaze, she turned to face him,

"You are certain they were just ten?"

Ignis nodded, "I'm certain."

Steve sniffled, "How could ten people do this much damage on their own? This would be possible only if they have already become First Order beings."

Ignis continued calmly, "And judging from their attires, they are most likely Followers of the Blood God."

Cain closed his eyes in silent contemplation,

"I see... Could this be in retaliation, then..."

He remembered given them a small present to scare them away. He hadn't thought they would respond like that. It was an oversight on his part...

Silence hung in the air for a few moments before Susan spoke,

"Cain... What do you plan to do?"

Cain sat up in his chair, "The first thing weneed to do in create order. Make sure the survivors are okay and fed. Send squads out to clear the Mutant Beasts that took advantage of the commotion to sneak in..."

"Steve... I need you to gather a team. Make a trip back to the Western Island. We are running low on HP Regen potions. Ignis, keep watch over everything going in here."

"What are you plotting?" Ignis stood up abruptly. She could sense that Cain wasn't as calm as he tried to portray.

Cain smiled lightly, "Don't worry. I don't plan on acting rashly."

Ignis snorted, "I recognize that look in your eyes. You definitely want to do something stupid."

Steve also tried to stop him,

"Nothing good will come out of acting rash. Those guys must be very strong to have caused all this mayham. They are most likely also Tier 1's. We need to tackle this carefully."

Cain was still calm, "You guys, calm down. I know what I'm doing. For now, let's just focus on getting things together."

Although they couldn't tell whether they had convinced him or not, both Steve and Ignis decided to leave it at that. They left the office room quickly to carry out their tasks.

Only Susan remained. She stared at Cain deeply, seemingly trying to see through him.

"What?" Cain asked when he noticed her scalding stare.

Susan didn't say a word, merely getting up from where she was seated and approached him. Although he tried to remain calm, he was a bit apprehensive. What the hell was she trying to do?

Eventually, she came so close, he could feel the subtle heat radiating off her body. As someone incredibly inexperienced in the relationships between man and woman, Cain could do nothing but try to avert his eyes from looking at where it wasn't supposed to.

Taking deep breaths to calm himself he began to speak,

"Susan, what..."

Her soft hands held the sides of his face, bringing his head up, forcing his eyes to meet here at own. A determined expression hung on her face as she gazed into his eyes,

"Calm down. You might be angry, but acting in haste will only be counter productive."

Cain sighed. In truth, David's death had affected him more than he would have liked to admit. He hadn't been there to even change the outcome, but he was still largely at fault.

He really planned on going there alone and raining down carnage. However, he knew that Susan and the others were right. He couldn't afford to be rash. This wasn't a game, and losing ones life meant it was over.

If he wasn't cautious, losing his life was an all too real possibility. Besides, there was no way the rage he was feeling wouldn't melt away. Right now, he was doing all he could to calm his frazzled nerves down.

Seeing him react uncomfortably, Susan narrowed her eyes,

"Hmph! Do you hate me touching you this much?"

Cain was too stunned to speak, ""W-what?!"

A sly smile tugged on her lips,

"I bet you let that white-haired witch touch you all the time."

Cain rolled his eyes, "Of course not. Evangeline is not like that..."

"Is that so..." Susan said as she slowly came closer. Cain felt his heartbeat speed up drastically.

Cain gulped. Since when had she been so forward! This was neither the time nor place for something like this!

Cain's enhanced senses took everything in to the point he was almost overwhelmed. Even the slightest touch, as skin brushed against skin drove him closer to the edge. Right now, Susan was extremely close, practically sitting on his laps. Their faces were only seperated by an inch.

Just before things could progress further...

"You two seem busy, so I'll come back later." A calm, yet oddly cold voice interrupted them.

Cursing the gods and his grandparents, Cain turned to see Evangeline staring at him and Susan with a mocking smirk on her lips.

Susan didn't panic and simply got off him,

"You are right. Make sure it doesn't happen again?"

Evangeline's eyes narrowed dangerously, "And who made you queen?"

Susan smiled lightly, but didn't respond. Cain wasn't oblivious to the silent sparks floating around the two, and was too scared to dig himself further into the situation.

Sometimes, it was better to steer away from the approaching storm, than to dive headfirst into danger...

So he did what any smart, self-respecting man would do...

He hurriedly changed the subject. Clearing his throat, he called out to Evangeline,

"Eva... How are the things I asked you to do?"

Susan's threw him a glare, while Evangeline wore a smug smirk on her face.

'Crap. I've definitely made things worse now...'

"The Western Lightslayers are very active right now. Chances that they will launch an attack in the next few days are high."

Cain nodded, "So the Followers of the Blood God aren't the agressors..."

Evangeline nodded, "From what I can tell,they seem to be a bit apprehensive of their leader."

Susan sighed, "I don't think our initial approach should be this aggressive. Why not try diplomacy first?"

Cain smiled wryly, "If they wanted diplomacy, they wouldn't have attacked us outrightly like this. It's too late for things to change. Besides, I'm partially at fault for this mess, so I will be making sure the Killers have some answers"

Gone were the days of diplomacy. The era of warmongers high on the power they wielded had come. If they were too soft in their approach, they would be beaten down to submission, or killed and tossed to the dogs.

Previously, David had been a voice of reason. He had always been one of those firmly against unnecessary violence.

"So what is the plan?"

Cain grinned, "He's inviting me to come over. He wants to negotiate. This was his probing attempt. Now comes the attempt to turn us into his dogs, or wipe us out if we do not allign ourselves with him."

Evangeline sighed, "Such a fool. Who negotiates like this?"

Cain smiled, "Someone's who's extremely confident in themselves..."

Strictly put, all this was a show of power. He wanted to test how powerful Cain was, while at the same time, he wanted to put on a little show of himself as well.

"However... I have no intentions of playing along." Cain's eyes narrowed dangerously. Since things were finally starting to pick up, it would be foolish to try dropping the tempo.

Susan frowned, "When do we act? Whittle them slowly from the outside, or just a straightforward attack?"

Cain shook his head, "I haven't decided yet. For the next two days, we need to focus on getting things in order, reassembling the fighters and preparing them for the inevitable."

Evangeline seemed to pick up on his intentions. A small smirk tugged on her luscious red lips,

"You have no intentions of letting them go, do you?"

Cain sighed. That was true. His goal wasn't a simple attack. He was going to make sure they were wipedout, with no hopes of retreating.

And once he was done with them, he wod move his focus to the Western Lightslayers. Once both had been defeated, he would move along to City Z. All this had happened because he was dragging his feet.

He stood to his feet,

"Eva... Pick any one you want to accompany us on a mission. Let's go pay the Western Lightslayers a visit."

Susan nodded, "Since they are already targeting the Blood God Followers, our plans allign to some extent."

"Precisely. But its more than that. I am going to have them thoroughly submit. We take the Western Lightslayers first, then obliterate those bastards. We move in two days..."

Once he had set his mind on it, Cain felt a sudden calm come over him. Once these decisions were set in stone, it would be difficult for him to change his mind.

That was why was doing it. He wouldn't even give himself the opportunity to regret his choices. He was going in headfirst. There was no backing out now...