God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 232: Central Island (1).

"Long time no see, boys!"

The shadows enveloping the ice bridge were quickly chased away by the rising sun, and light, albeit dim, was returning to the world.

The figures of a few individuals were revealed not too far into the distance. Walking slowly, the shadowy figures of four people of varying features were revealed.

Staring at the approaching group with a frown, Cain only wondered what was up with them. The way they walked was strange, and the pace at which they walked was even stranger. He also noticed something that caused his frown to deepen,

'Where is Hunter?'

"They are back?" All the others stood to their feet and gathered to stare at the figures approaching.

As soon as the light reached them, every one of them let out different exclamations. Some were horrified, some were stunned, others were confused.

Cain on the other hand had a dark look on his face,

'What the hell could have done them in like this?'

The four figures were Vincent, Manny, Dan, and Calio. Hunter was nowhere to be seen...

The most outstanding about them was the fact that they were covered in blood from head to toe. Their faces were pale, devoid of blood, and there was a tired look in their eyes.

"What's going on?" Steve said with a frown as he came to stand close to Cain. Cain on the other hand, remained silent.

As they approached the group with a bleak look in their eyes, there still was no change in their expressions. It was almost as though they had been trapped in an illusion of misery.

Several minutes passed before they arrived before Cain and the others.

Staring at Cain with a pained smile on his face, Vincent shook his head slowly,

"You... You are back?"

Staring at the wounds on Vincent's body, his frown deepened. There was a thin, yet deep laceration across his chest. He was covered in numerous other smaller wounds as well, but the most serious was a huge hole in his chest that was a few centimeters wide and an inch deep.

Due to how close it was to his lungs, he had difficulty in breathing. Judging from the pained look on his face, Cain knew the experience as nothing short of unpleasant.

"Where is Hunter?" Cain said darkly.

Letting out a tired sigh, Vincent wheeze out an answer in a trembling voice,

"The... The bastard bought us time."

With those words, Cain was able to understand what had transpired.

"Who did you guys in?"

This time, it was Mannyw who answered,

"It was those crazy animal ladies! They... They are insane!" Manny yelled. Despite being in terrible condition, he was far better than anyone else. His wounds also seemed less severe.

Unable to gleam much from Manny's words, Cain decided to ask another question, but before it could escape his lips, Dan had already answered,

"A group of powerful individuals that attacked us. To buy time for us to escape, Hunter held them down. Well, most of them..." Dan said, an involuntary shiver wracking his body.

Then, he began narrating their experience to Cain...

***

Before they could reach the beach and get back to the ice bridge, their path was suddenly obstructed by some individuals who stepped through a strange spatial tear.

"You will be coming with us." One of the figures was a lithe and sexy female with the body of a wild cat. Her eyes and facial features exuded a wild feline charm as well.

"Kai, remember that we aren't supposed to kill them. Just neutralize..." The other girl said. She was shorter than the first girl but wasn't short as well. Her body was covered with a black feathered cloak, and while she was pretty as well, there was a dark look in her eyes that screamed of an abnormal wrongness.

"Lin Lin, these men are all headless animals. Isn't it better to just kill them now?" Kai said, a confused look appearing on her gorgeous face.

"Not now, Kai. These things have processes. Very soon, they'll have to die, though." Lin Lin said with a cold smile as she started Manny and Dan straight in the eye.

"Fuck! It's these bitches! Oi, untie me, or we are going to die today!" Calio yelled at Dan who held him by his collar.

"Okay." Dan didn't waste even a second. An ice dagger materialized in his hands. Swinging down, the ropes that bound Calio fell silently to the ground.

"Here... Now help us-"

Dodging a kick from Calio who now had a sleazy expression on his face, Dan moved a few steps back without a single change in his expression, almost as though he had been certain that Caluo would respond like that.

"Girls! Don't worry I am on your sid-" Before he was able to say anything else, Calio felt a chill run down his spine.

"Compress." With a creepy smile on her face, Lin Lin stretched her hands out. A dark, baleful aura enveloped her palm, and with a single movement, her palm turned into a fist.

Luckily for Calio, he had a strange sixth sense of incoming danger. He immediately crumpled into a ball and dropped to the ground to escape his approaching death.

However, that didn't mean he was completely safe...

The air above him was immediately sucked away. It was as though a greedy black hole had materialized above him and was trying to devour the world.

"Explode!" With a cruel light in her eyes, Lin Lin released her first once again...

BOOM!

Air pressure could be a very dangerous thing...

'Crap!'

A shockwave immediately sent Calio smashing into the rough sand. Blood flowed out from his mouth. However, his sixth sense was still active and he quickly rolled out of the way to get away from the huntress.

The ground caved in, but Calio was able to keep his life...

Rolling back to Dan who had a flat expression on his face, Calio yelled with malice in his voice,

"Come on, guys. Let's kill these bitches!"

Ignoring Calio, Dan turned to Manny who was wearing a very serious frown on his usually jovial face.

"Vince... Can you stand?" Manny whispered to Vincent who was resting on his shoulders. He would be unable to fight well if he was protecting Vincent.

Shifting slightly, Vincent jumped off Manny's shoulder and rubbed his stomach with a grimace.

"He should have been gentler..."

Turning to the ladies who stood before him, a charming smile immediately made its way onto Vincent's face,

"Ladies... I don't suppose you could let us go? We are in quite a hurry, and would much appreciate it."

Silence...

'This idiot...' Dan had a grimace on his face as he watched Vincent's display.

A bright smile suddenly appeared on Lin Lin's face...

"Sure! You can go."

A dark look appeared in Vincent's eyes, but he maintained his smile.

"Really? In that case, don't mind if we do..." Vincent said. Turning to Dan and Manny, a cunning look suddenly appeared in Vincent's eyes.

His magnificent gun immediately materialized in his hands, and with a single fluid movement, he turned around and fired a charged shot.

The beautiful Lin Lin didn't even have time to change her expression before a magic bullet made of compressed water slammed into her face.

"Spread!" Vincent said with a grim look on his face.

And that was because he could tell that the magic bullet had done not even a lick of damage to the black-cloaked girl.

"Good! I love it when they struggle. Kai... Go wild. Remember not to kill any of them, although you can take a limb or two..." An insane smile made its way onto Lin Lin's face as gestured to her partner.

"I like the sound of that." A wicked look flashed in the eyes of Kai as she suddenly dashed forward.

Rolling to the side, Vincent dodged the huntress's first strike. Taking the barrel of his gun up to slam it against her chin, he was suddenly met with intense resistance,

'Eh?'

Before a coherent thought could take form in his head, Vincent felt his body leave the ground. In one quick move, it was brought back to the ground with ten times more force with which it had left.

Vincent immediately saw stars as his body formed a small impact crater. A sweet coppery tase immediately filled his mouth.

'So strong!'

Realizing that he had entered a death grip, Vincent immediately did the smartest thing. Despite his vision gradually growing blurry, his muscle memory didn't fail him. With fascinating speed, he spun to his feet and slipped away from the sling of the rifle.

With that, he was able to get away from the absurdly strong huntress. Meanwhile, the huntress simply shook her head with a disdainful grin,

"All men are just so weak!"

"Manny! Hold her down!" Jumping between Vincent and the huntress, Manny was already on the job.

Holding both his slender blades in a reverse grip, he slashed forward...

"Blade Paradox!"

His blades turned ethereal at that moment and cut through the surrounding air at frightening speed. The lethality of his blade was such that his opponent would be completely unable to react to its crippling speed.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent didn't need to be able to react.

With a growl, patches of white and black fur grew onto her body. Her height immediately increased, and sharp claws grew out from her fingertips.

Manny's blade met with the white black-stripped and was immediately stopped by it, with only a dull thud to show for his results.

A vicious grin made its way into Kai's face as she drove her fist into Manny's spine.

CRACK!

He was able to twist his body at the last moment, but the fist still grazed his ribs. However, that was enough to split his skin and smash one of his ribs in.

Letting out a pained shout, Manny dodged the next blow deftly and jumped backward. However, the huntress was like a true creature of predation as she quickly followed up with a sharp kick to his legs.

If the kick landed, one of his knees would be broken immediately. However, Manny's greatest advantage in the fight was his terrifying movement speed.

He moved like a leave falling in the wind and dodged all her attacks while meeting some of hers with the edge of his sword. However, what he failed to note was that each strike of his was not only unable to deal significant damage to the huntress, but it also sent terrible vibrations into the lines of his hands.

'Crap! I can't last longer!'

"Move!" Hearing Vincent's voice, Manny immediately pushed his speed to its limit and practically flew out of the way.

A huge canon was held in his hand. Blood flowed from the sides of his mouth as his face was contorted in a furious grin,

"Die! Leviathan's Roar!"

BOOM!

The air around them boiled violently as mana rushed into the barrel of the gun, lighting the last of the runes on its body.

An ear-splitting explosion rocked the world around them as a stream of concentrated, nearly solid water and lightning elemental mana flew from the muzzle of the gun and slammed into the huntress.

A grin made its way onto her face as she suddenly summoned a huge bone spear from her inventory,

"This is more like it!"

With a deep growl, red and white lights enveloped her body and the long spear. Shifting all her weight onto her forward-stepping leg, she thrust forward with a roar.

BOOM!

Streaks of violent energy instantly consumed the huntress. Vincent had a relieved smile on his face as he took a step back and fell to his knees.

"Eat that, ya crazy bitch!"

The storm of energy cleared, and black smoke rose from the ground, obscuring Manny and Vincent's vision.

"That... That should have done her in, right?" Manny said with uncertainty.