God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

It all happened so fast, there was no time to process anything that was happening...

Obed stared at the world around him covered in smoke, dust and flames.

"W-what is this?! What is happening?!"

He was shocked, confused, and appalled.

Before his confusion had the time to set it, he was hit with another revelation.

Hunter cracked his neck and let out a sigh...

The silver moonlight seemed to streak in through the blanket of smoke and dust, slightly illuminating his form.

His eyes seemed to glow menacing in the light, as he stared at Pilgrim standing before him.

Reaching for his neck, he grabbed the collar on his neck and pulled, snapping it in half.

"Ha... Feels good." He said with a sigh.

Grand, who had been standing nearby finally snapped out of it.

He yelled as loud as he could.

"Get a hold of yourselves, men. Gather these bastards up!"

With that, the other men snapped out of their daze as well and began moving towards the laborers.

Grand menacingly stepped towards Hunter, drawing his giant cleaver.

"I don't know where you found your lost balls, bastard. But I can assure you. That chain is going back on your neck."

Hunter merely stared at him languidly.

Lukas stepped forward, a smug grin on his face,

"Do you want to take care of him, or should I?"

Grand sneered as he launched forward, violently splitting the air before him,

"Shut up, bastards! I'll cut you all down at once."

Without saying anything, Hunter took a step forward...

A pair of daggers appeared in his hands as he calmly waited for Grand to approach him.

'This idiot! He doesn't know my blessing allows me to bind my targets and swiftly move behind them. Even if he is strong, which I doubt, he won't be able to react before I send his head flying!'

Having been a practitioner for many years, Grand knew a thing or two about faking. In fact, he was proficient in it, to his credit.

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He had felled countless opponents just like this. Make them believe he was charging in recklessly, then appeared behind them. If they tried to evade, they would be bound by shackles of sand, preventing them from moving an inche.

His cleaver would fall like the scythe of death, claiming their lives in an instant.

With this blessing, he had managed to climb his way out of obscurity. Despite his muscles, he was also a scheming bastard.

Just like his previous enemies had all fallen, this one would not be any different.

The Mana within him churned as he activated his blessing.

In less than a split second, he was gone, reappearing behind Hunter.

'Now!'

Chains of sand sprouted out from the ground, binding him in place.

'Got you!'

However, something felt wrong.

Usually, his prey would have at least made a move to react. However, this guy had not reacted at all. In fact, he was still standing there. He had not moved an inch.

'Could I have overestimated him?'

Either way, it didn't matter. All that mattered though, was that he was going to kill this bastard the Pilgrim had failed...

His eyes suddenly widened.

He knew it! Something wasn't right!

The Pilgrim had definitely attacked this man, so he shouldn't be standing right now. He should be dead!

Yet, here he was. Grand was not under any grand illusion that he was stronger than even the lowest Tier Pilgrim.

So if this Pilgrim had failed to kill this man, then...

He tried his best to disengage. But it was far too late. He had already fallen for the trap.

"Y-you bastard!" He groaned out.

His blade fell to the ground as he clutched his chest.

There was a dagger, no, many daggers sticking out of his chest.

Not just his chest, but also his arms, legs, stomach, and even neck.

As someone with access to the system, he had incredible stats. Although he wasn't a Tier 1 yet, his stats were very impressive, especially his vitality and strength. He could casually swing a one ton sword like it was child's play.

His vitality was enough for him to be unaffected even after going an entire month without eating or drinking anything.

And yet, here, he could feel his life slowly draining from his body.

Hunter calmly sheathed his daggers. At the same time, the many daggers stabbed into Grand's body disappeared, leaving behind gaping holes.

The dagger possessed the {Lacerate} passive skill that prevented wounds from closing right away, even if they were healed by potions or healing spells, or even natural regeneration.

Meaning most of his targets were bound to bleed to death in a matter of seconds even if they had strong vitality.

Grand stared at Hunter, his gaze filled with spite and hatred.

Hunter turned around, staring him straight in the eye,

"Tell your false God I said hi."

His eyes widened in rage, but that was all he was able to do. With that, Grand's body fell to the ground, now a still, cold, corpse.

Hunter sucked in a deep breath,

"Attack."

The words had barely left his lips when Manny let out a loud battlecry cry and launched himself at Obed.

Startled, Obed swung his blade just in time, as Manny's swords were already crashing down on him.

His feet sank into the sand under the weight of the blow.

'Crap!'

Manny unleashed a flurry of blows in the span of seconds, with Obed doing his best to dodge, Parry, and block as many as he could.

'I have to do something, or I'll be killed!'

Rollo turned to Hunter, "Are you sure we should leave that guy to handle this?"

Hunter shrugged, "He'll be fine. Let him let off some steam. On the other hand, let's go set the others free."

Rollo shrugged, 'Manny's not the one I'm worried about.'

Meanwhile, Obed tried his best. He wasn't the greatest of swordsmen, but his Blessing gave him the ability to create small objects from sand. This way, he always had a medium to defend himself.

'I... I really might come out of this alive.'

Just when that thought appeared in his mind, he made the great mistake of looking into the eyes of his assailant.

Immediately, he was overcome with fear. So much so, he stopped dead in his tracks.

With a frown, Manny stopped just before his sword could cut off the man's head.

"What are you doing?" He said with a frown.

"Ah...a-ahh!" Obed tried to speak, but the words couldn't come out. Right now, he was paralyzed with fear.

'This... This thing isn't human! I'm dead! I am going to die!'

Manny let out a sigh, "Of you are just going to stop, where's the fun in that? You are afraid of dying, right? Well, let me tell you. Even if you stop, you will die still. Isn't it better for you do die fighting? Fighting for a chance to live?"

The words were meant to be words of inspiration, but they simply sounded like death's verdict in Obed's ears.

The fear in him seemed to ignite something primal in him. A desire to love on.

"Ahhh!"

His hand tightened over his blade as he rushed forward.

He didn't want to die here! He had so much potential! He could do so many things, he could have the world, so long as he survived this!

And so, he dashed at Manny with all him might.

A smirk appeared on Manny's face as he took a stance, his body leaning forward, his blades helped horizontal to the ground, and his feet stretched wide apart.

"This is it... You don't get to defeat yourself! I'll be the one to defeat you!"

He exhaled,

"Blade Paradox: Seven-fold."

His body launched forward.

His swords streaked forward as well.

He turned into a phantom, with the wind chasing him into nothing.

The world was still.

Obed saw it.

Right before it made impact, he saw it for a moment.

It was like a flower made of blades. It was deathly beautiful. Even with the heavy smoke and dust, the moonlight glinted along the edge of the blades, making it even more stunning.

'Ah...'

It was a swift death.

Manny stared at the chunks of finely diced human flesh on the ground.

A fine cloud of blood was mixed in with the smoke and dust in the air.

He sighed to himself, "I feel I can get to fourteen if I try hard enough."

He sheathed his blades. When he looked around, the battle was still ongoing. It wasn't the time to sheath his blades yet.

Just as he was about to draw them again and join the battle, he caught sight of someone standing at the edge of the site, staring blankly with an odd smile on his lips.

"Hmm... Looks familiar." He said to himself, his eyes narrowed.

Then they widened, "Cain! Is that you, Cain?!"

Cain turned to stare at the person calling out to him. There was blood covering him from head to toe.

Cain smiled, "You look awful, Manny."