God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Crouching down, Cain carefully inspected the corpse of a relatively intact {Blood Skyray}. This one was a bit bigger, and its exterior protective layer was also an inch thicker as well.

This had not saved the beast from death. But it had kept its body intact despite the devastating penetrative power of Vincent's bullets.

They had defeated the pack of violent Mutant Creatures with surprising ease. Steve was still out there in the distance, while he, after taking some time to make sure the toxins cleared out, stepped forward to inspect the bodies of the Mutant Creatures.

"Interesting..."

It was something he had known for a long time, that mana had truly begun changing these creatures down to their DNA the moment it had arrived on Urbus.

But he still had questions.

His curiosity burned like a fire in thso particular subject.

He closed his eyes.

On top the hanging cliff of black rock, Vincent, looking at Cain through the scope of his rifle suddenly raised a brow,

"What?"

Cain repeated himself,

"I said, have you ever wondered why mana mutates these beasts, but it doesn't do so to us?"

Vincent frowned, then shrugged,

"Why would I ponder such useless stuff? Besides, I think it's so obvious..."

Cain raised a brow,

"Oh, really?"

Vincent smiled confidently,

"Think about it. Mana is an energy that interacts intimately with our souls and spirit. That means a creature's relationship to mana is heavily dependent on its intellectual, or the significance of its spirit prior to the inception."

Cain squinted as he reached down and touched the hole that had been made in the creature's body,.

"You relate the power of a creature's spirit with its intellect? That's a rather unique approach."

Vincent shrugged, "To me, it's the right one. What other way would you have it explained?"

Cain smiled lightly,

"While you might be right, I have a slightly different approach. Yes, mana does interact with our spirits and souls. But I think the main difference between us and beasts is..."

His eyes narrowed and his demeanor changed slightly,

"Evolution potential..."

Vincent who had only been listening casually suddenly perked up. He slightly wryly,

"Evolution potential? What the hell is that?"

Cain raised a finger and poked the bloody flesh, causing a stream of hot blood to squirt out.

With a frown, he dug both of his hands into the open wound and began searching for something as he spoke,

"A creature's ability to break above its physical and mental potential."

"I believe the animals that are changed by mana become violent and ferocious mainly because this evolution goes against the nature of the natural world."

His mind drifted slightly as he recalled his first interaction with Ruby. She had been a violent beast, but she was not completely mindless.

And after spending so long with him as his contracted beast, she had continued to grow and evolve in the aspects of the mind.

Just like the mutant creatures of the Redscale Colony...

Vincent sighed, "Well..."
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Cain continued,

"Furthermore, I believe that we humans are also being subtly changed by mana, although in a much more unnoticeable level. It is quite frightening if you think about it..."

He sighed, then shook his head,

"I'm just saying a whole bunch of nonsense, aren't I..."

Vincent chuckled, "You just realized it?"

Cain chuckled as well, then fell silent.

He finally found what he was looking for.

A mana shard, and a Nexus of Ki. The mana shards was a glowing, slightly translucent rock shaped like a piece of broken glass wuth a crimson hue around and within it.

The Nexus of Ki was more intimidating. It could be compared more to a beating heart than anything artificial.

But it wasn't a beating heart. It resembled a stone with streaks of crimson lines running along it, radiating intense vitality.

Cain calmly placed both into his inventory, them he stood up.

"That takes care of most of them..."

He had already gutted and retrieved the resources he desired from the rest bof the corpses, so they had no more business here.

Instead...

"Let's go." Cain said after a moment of hesitation.

Vincent sighed once again.

Their goal in coming here has been to clear out the entire nest. That included the ones still inside the cove as well. The ideal situation would have been getting them all outside the cove and killing them one after the other.

However, things often didn't go as planned. A majority of the fiendish beasts still remained in the cove, so they had two options to choose from.

The first choice was to flush them out one flock after the other. This would most likely take a lot of time, but it was the safer option.

The second choice was a mad one. But it was the one Cain was leaning towards.

Rather than taking the time to flush them out, why couldn't they simply storm the cove and eradicate the beasts all at once?

The main issue with this choice was the toxins the creatures released from their tentaclesas they glide through the air.

Within the narrow passages of the cove, Cain figured the toxins would probably have already permeated into the very walls of the cavern.

He had no doubts that taking a single step into the cove would spell immediate death for even the stronger humans.

He smiled lightly.

Fortunately for him, he had a certain advantage he could exploit.

He had wanted to engage the beasts first to understand how their abilities, particularly the toxin they emitted worked.

Although he had a good understanding of their other skills, the one that still eluded him was the toxins itself.

The entrance to the cove was quite large. If it wasn't, the enormous {Blood Skyrays} wouldn't have been able to leave by the dozen.

It was so huge, he found it hard to believe that something like this had just spawned out of the blue one day. Of course, there had to be more to it than that, but no one was offering an explanation so he would run with his own understanding.

As they nwared the entrance to the cove, Con raised his hand, prompting Vinevtyro halt in his tracks,

"This is as far as you'll go, Vince."

"Roger that..." Vincent said with a smile. Even if Cain had paid him to go even a step further, he would have refused.

After all, he had seen what the toxins could do to a man.

'Still... Is he going to be okay?'

Although he knew Cain was special, he couldn't help but worry. After all, despite the world being filled with unreasonable things like magic, it still followed a set of rules and standards.

Even the mightiest of beings couldn't ignore that...

With every step he took, Cain felt his heart thump louder and louder.

With his sharp senses, he quickly got the first hints of the toxin.

He frowned, a bit puzzled,

'Hmm... It has a sweet fragrance, with a hint of... fish?'

Although he was confused, Cain didn't let it stop him. He waited with bated breath for the toxin to work its magic.

'An explosive reaction with blood, causing the body of the victim to explode. How gruesome would that be...'

Then he felt it...

A subtle heat that began spreading through his body.

Cain's face paled immediately. However, the next moment, it was flushed a deep shade of red.

"F-fuck!"

'It burns! It hurts!'

He coughed, and a splash of blood fell to the ground. The moment the blood made contact with the rocks, it popped and sizzle, igniting the rocks with crimson flames.

Cain fell to his knees, trying his best to fight the terrible feeling and pain.

Watching from afar, Vincent couldn't help but worry.

His fat cheeks trembled,

"C-Cain... That's enough, already. Get out of there!"

Cain raised a hand, indicating that he was still alive, albeit barely.

He could feel his lungs slowly catching on fire. As his blood circulated, the flames did as well. It invade his organs, his bones, his skin, his eyes, and even the hairs on his body.

Just when he thought he would die, his body began to react.

The veins of the Primordial Devil of Death began to consume the flames. As his blood burned up, s the flames consumed him whole, he consumed the flames as well.

Watching with bated breath, Vincent's worry had long turned into full blown panic.

"Shut. If he dies here, won't I be blamed for letting him do something so stupid?"

Just as he was contemplating risking it all and rushing in after him, Cain staggered to his feet.

There were wisps of reddish flames radiating from his pores and orifices, but they didn't seem to be doing him so much harm anymore.

Cain fought through the pain. A circle of balance had been established within his body.

As the flames consumed his blood, his body consumed the flames, turning the flames into refined blood.

The process kept repeating over and over again as the toxin spread through his entire body.

Then, his body began to devour the toxin itself, further strengthening and refining his blood.

And then, it was over...

***

{You have acquired 10% Blood Elemental Resistance}.

{Congratulations to Host. You have acquired the external passive skill; Blood Toxin Fire Refinement}.