God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

To storage room wasn't very big compared to the rest of the ship, nor was it anywhere as grand.

Instead, it was a simplistic room designed to store goods as fresh as possible.

As such, the walls were made of some insulating, waterproof material.

Walking into the room, he spotted Jenny having a conversation with Sue in hushed tones.

'What are they doing here?'

Before he could say anything, Sue spotted him. She grinned widely,

"Scarface! You aren't dead!"

Cain's expression immediately turned sour,

"You beat! Why would you ever thing I'd die?! Do you want me dead that much?"

Sue snorted, "Not like it makes a difference. But it is good to still see you kicking."

Cain shook his head with a chuckle. Jenny gave Sue a hard look. Sue laughed it off.

Cain turned to Jenny, "What are you guys doing here?"

Jenny sighed, "The clean up is going smoothly. We got hundreds of bird corpses on our hands. The bodies are filled with putrid blood, making its flesh inedible so we got rid of that."

Cain nodded, staring around the storage room. In here, there were many things, including but not limited to mana shards, mutant beast meat in freezer containment, and special materials from special mutant creatures.

In a corner of the room, stored within normal looking baskets were what Cain assumed to be kilograms of black, darkness-infused feathers. He quickly activated the {Eye of General Observation}.

***

{Quill of the Styx}:

Description: From the Gulls that flock nearly the shores of Hell Noir. Infused with the perpetual darkness, these feather have the ability to grant affinity to the darkness elemental.

***

Cain was a bit confused...

'Geant affinity to the darkness element? Then...'

Jenny continued, "We've learnt that these feathers can increase the potential of skills associated with the darkness element, and can be used to create armor with special skill attachments.

Susan spoke up, her eyes glittering with curiosity,

"That does seem to be the case."

She turned her gaze to Cain,

"She's right. I could probably use these things to make a lot of enchanted armor, special for assassin's or scouts."

Cain could hear the enthusiasm in her voice.

'Assassins and scouts? That makes it sound like we are in some strange fantasy game.'

Cain shook his head, 'Well, that does sound quite accurate.'

He nodded at her, "That's not a bad idea."

Jenny sighed, "There's a lot to go around for all of us. However, with this, a problem arises."

Cain frowned, "And that is?"

Sue took this moment to chime in,

"Resource allocation, you idiot."

Despite how condescending she sounded, Cain decided to over look it.

"Resource allocation? You mean some people aren't going to happy if just any one gets a share?"

Sue nodded, "Well, it's been like this for a while, but not as much as now."

Cain considered her words for a moment, then sighed,

"The mana shards, huh..."

"Bingo!" Sue said nodding in satisfaction.

"Well the urgent need for mana shards is what caused the previous situation. Resources are hard to gather when they are in constant use."

Susan walked over to the basket. Picking a single feather, she observed it closely,

"And its not just with the feathers. From this moment forward, everyone is going to understand the importance of gathering more power." She said, referring to all the people that had died due to their ineptitude.

Cain sighed, "Meaning everyone is going to demand what is theirs."

Although they were all on the same vessel, they didn't share the same mind...

For example, the people from the Western Island, the Lightslayers and Suki. Most of them were still staunchly loyal to Lukas. The others were of slightly different opinions, but their loyalties definitely didn't lie with him.

There was also Floki's group, Luke's group, and Leah's as well. Each of them had participated in the previous battle, fighting extremely hard. Many had lost their lives in the process too.

It was only natural that everyone believed a share of the loot was owed to them. Now that it was believed they were nearing land and wouldn't be needing the ship much, this feeling was even stronger.

Cain sighed...

Sue shrugged, "Of there was a clear division scheme beforehand, perhaps we would have been able to avoid something like this."

Cain turned to her, "That's not possible. Fights against Mutant Creatures get too messy. No one can tell who killed what and how many were killed by whom... A merit system will be useless."

Stepping into her tiptoes, Sue managed to pay Cain's shoulder,

"That's your problem to deal with as our wonderful leader."

Seeing the impish grin on Sue's slightly childish, but pretty face, Cain felt an odd urge to pull at her cheeks.

Suppressing his desires, he held her arms up within his palm,

"Alright, enough of that. Let's see what's in here before we decide what to do."

Sue blushed slightly, wriggling her hands free from his grasp.

"Don't you know you aren't supposed to treat a lady so roughly?"

Cain sneered, "Since when did you become a lady, little Devil?"

Sue bared her pearly white teeth, "Who are you calling a Devil?!"

Jenny stepped in with a wry smile,

"That's enough, Sue."

She glared at Cain. "Stop that, should you?"

Cain sat down on the cold floor, "Alright, don't mind me. Just go back to what you were busy with before."

Sitting down beside him, Susan fell silent. Cain smiled.

The atmosphere gradually simmered down and turned serene. He was mostly recovered, so his injuries didn't hurt that much anymore.

However, that last battle had changed something in him, the way he viewed things.

Accompanied by only his thoughts and silence, Cain realized he enjoyed silent moments too.

Sitting close to Susan and watching Sue and Jenny bucker had its own calming properties.

'Is this how fathers with lots of kids feel?'

Shaking his head, Cain let his thoughts drift away.

Considering how strong he was now, he was confident he could easily contend with all grades of creatures below Level 150. He might even be able to contend with some of those about, if they were of lower grades.

But facing a level 150, Celestial grade creature now would no doubt put him six feet under.

His thoughts slowly drifted towards his conversation with Sue, Jenny, and Susan.

He truly considered it. How was he supposed to resolve this issue?

In was impossible for everyone to be satisfied. That was almost impossible. What he needed to do was appear as fair as possible.

And to do that, he had to make sure everyone got what they fought for.

'But that might be difficult consider the circumstances. How can I tell how much each person contributed?'

This issue was far beyond their current circumstances. If he didn't figure it out now, it could very well grow into a huge problem in the future.

Cain sighed again, 'I'll think about that later. For now...'

He had come here because Evangeline had asked him to. Now that he was here, she was no where to be seen.

Cain turned to Jenny, interrupting her, "Did Evangeline come by recently?"

Jenny's face turned cold, "No. Why do you ask?"

Cain shook his head, "Oh, then it's no matter."

Jenny snorted, "Why do you even want to know where that strange person is?"

Cain chuckled, "Strange how?"

Jenny shook her head, "Its nothing. It's just..."

Her face turned a bit dark, "Be careful around her."

Just as he was about to say something, the room seemed to turn a shade darker. Cain frowned.

'Am I the only one noticing this?'

Seeing the girls not reacting to it, Cain became even more confused when the darkness deepened.

By now, he has been completely enveloped with the darkness...

The shadows flowing around him were life soft waves of dark clouds.

A voice echoed from within the dark void,

"Pulling you in here was far more difficult tham I expected, Cain."

Cain frowned, "Eva?"

The darkness parted, and Evangeline, dressed in a low cut, leather armor walked out. The piece of armor was very practical and prioritized movement and agility over protection, with greater means for protection around areas with vital organs.

Her hair was still the same glorious shade of pristine white, while here eyes sparkled like pools of blood.

Cain stared at her silently for a few seconds before looking away. Staring at the shadowy curtains, he sighed,

"I have a lot of questions, but let's start with one; where have you taken me?"

Evangeline's smile turned a bit deeper,

"Welcome to my {Shadow World}."

Cain narrowed his eyes, "And how did I get here? How did you do that?"

Evangeline deflected magnificently,

"Don't ask so many questions. Let's focus on what's truly important, shall we?"

Cain rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

Evangeline leaned in, grabbing his hand,

"Alright, let's go."

"Go where?" Cain said with raised brow.

A strange smile split across her face,

"To go meet the Champion of Light..."