God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Calio raised a brow, a bit unsettled by what just happened.

'What the hell is wrong with this guy now? He seems tense for some reason.'

Standing close to Vincent, he was able to observe the changes in Vincent's facial expressions firsthand.

A few strange and curious gazes had been thrown theyr way, but other than that, everyone else continued their silent march.

Calio turned his gaze to the man that had stopped.

He raised a brow,

'He looks normal, I guess?'

Suddenly, he froze.

He turned to Vincent. Their eyes met.

If gazes could speak, theirs would be screaming profanitiesin synchronized panic.

"T-This is bad, isn't it? I thought we got all of them!" Calio whispered in a panic.

Vincent shook his head grimly,

"No. We were naive to think so. Obviously they would have hidden themselves better. Perhaps those we caught were the sacrifices meant to throw off our suspicions."

Calio shivered.

The implications of this were rather terrifying to think about.

"Damn it. What do we do?"

Vincent sighed,

"Don't make a commotion. Act casual. We don't know how many of them are amongst us so it will be better to hold out on any reaction."

His words had no effect on Calio however.

His chest felt queasy. Vincent had not seen what he had. These vile creatures that would attach themselves to your body and feast on your soul until there was nothing left.

That sort of vile thing was now amongst them. And now, its cognitive functions were much more fluid compared to the last time, practically the same as a normal human.

The only thing different was the strange air they gave off, like a faint scent lingering in the wind.

One you couldn't tell where exactly it came from.

He couldn't forget the disgusting terror of its malignant tentacled form as it was peeled off the spine. If it were to attack, he wondered when and how it would strike.

What was their intent and purpose? Had one already latched onto him? Was he doomed as well?

His fingers twitched and trembled.

Every stare and every gaze felt like a blank scrutinizing glare aimed at his very soul.

Sensing something off, Vincent glanced at him.

He grimaced, 'He's having a panic attack.'

He paused for a moment to think. Then he stopped walking.

"Everyone, stop!"

Although he didn't tell too loud, his words managed to reach the ears of everyone around courtesy of a small magic item wrapped around his neck in the form of a pendant.

It was a magic-powered equipment that allowed words to be projected across a large number of people.

It was especially useful in cases such as these.

"What's wrong? Are we under attack?!" Someone in the crowd yelled.

Vincent shook his head and wore a calm smile,

"No, no. Nothing like that. Let's take a break from walking. We still have a distance to travel. We best save our energy in the unlikely case we get attacked."

The man, or rather, the thing that used to be a man that had confronted him earlier turned around and spoke, its gaze calm and leveled at him,

"Would it not be even more dangerous to stay here? There are many Aether Beast nests scattered all around us."

Many voices of dissension arose within the crowd,

"It's too dangerous to stop here."

"With our endurance, we will reach out destination on just a few hours, even without rest. Why drag things out?"

"Is there something you aren't telling us?"

Vincent's eyes twitched,

'It's worse than I thought.'

To make matters worse, everything they said was valid. Staying in one place for a long time, they did run the risk of being attacked by the many aether beasts that once made Sandsea their home.

If that happened, they would be delayed even longer.

However, Vincent knew he absolutely could not allow these things to go. If he did, there was a chance he would doom them all with his own hands.

Suddenly, his demeanor changed,

"No. I've made up my mind. We will be resting here. I say this with my position as a member of the Golden Asura."

The eyes of the man from earlier narrowed.

Then he raised his hands and nodded with a resigned sigh,

"In that case, I don't want any trouble man. We'll do as you wish."

Vincent snorted arrogantly,

"Good. Let's prepare our tents. If any beasts attack, we'll cut them down."

Murmurs traveled through the crowd, but they quickly died down. The reputation of the Golden Asura has spread wide, and Cain had quickly become one of the most feared people in all of the City of Zoan and beyond...

A man had singlehandedly brought down Carrion and his people, destabilizing the power structure within the Iron Beetles, allowing Alvi to take over smoothly.

Quickly setting up the tent and settling in, Vincent turned to Calio,

"I'll try reaching Steve or Hunter. See if you can do the same."

Communication had been easier in the city because of the large neural network that had been set up. But out here in the wilderness, there was not much of that.

Magic was strange like that...

Vincent's brows were furrowed and he let out a frustrated groan.

Calio turned to him, eyes filled with fear,

"W-what do we do now? Do we just wait?"

Vincent snorted, "What else can we do? Run?"

Calio went silent.

Vincent sighed, his expression darkening.

Although he didn't think running away was a bad idea, that would leave things in a rather difficult position.

If he did that, those things would be free to continue on with the journey which could in turn lead to terrible consequences that could doom all of humanity.

It was terrible...

"We could try weeding them out... But that might unnecessary complicate things and lead to incidents that might implode in our faces. I'd rather not..."

Vincent turned to Manny. He was out cold on the floor, snoring like a bear.

"For now, all we can do is wait and stall for as much time as possible. If we are a bit late, Hunter will get across. Then we'll figure something out. What I can't have you doing is panicking. It might set them off, and the gods know we don't need that right now."

Seeing Vincent's seriousness, Calio sucked in a deep breath to calm himself,

"Yeah. I'm calm. But we still have to worry about how to stop them from infecting more people."

Vincent raised a brow,

"How does that happen by the way?"

Calio thought for a moment,

"Think of it like dogs spreading ticks or fleas."

Vincent grimaced, "Physical contact?"

Calio shook his head,

"It doesn't have to be. The {Soulfiend Parasyte} is in a way, an evolution of {Broodmother}, only a bit more terrifying."

Vincent shivered.

Calio continued, his face scrunched up and his hands restless,

"As for how they spread, it is awfully straightforward. They lay eggs."

Vincent wiped the sweat off his temple,

"Eggs?"

Calio nodded, "Those eggs quickly reach a state of maturity that allows them to detach from the original host and go look for other targets. The initial parasites were brought in by the {Hadalspawn Devils}, but we got rid of all of them. I never would have imagined..."

Vincent massaged his brows,

"We really do need to think of a way to isolate those already infected and prevent them from spreading even more."

Perhaps it was already too late and everyone was already infected.

He shifted his gaze.

There was a chance the two idiots in front of him were infected as well, Vincent thought to himself.

Then he shook his head,

'No. That's impossible. Right?'

He glanced down at Manny. He lay in the ground, his chest heaving up and down with every breath he took.

'This guy is an idiot, but he's tough as nails. I doubt he would let himself get taken over so easily. Which leaves the other one...'

His gaze shifted to Calio. They narrowed dangerously.

'There is a chance this could all be a show to get me to lower my guard down.' Vincent thought to himself.

'But he isn't giving off that air. Perhaps I am being overly cautious.' He sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose.

'Unless we can successfully identify them all at the same time, this is going to end in disaster.'. Just as the thought was created in his head, he felt something cinnect to his mind.

Then he heard a voice,

'Give me an update on your position.' A full monotone spoke into his mind.

Vincent's eyes widened, 'Hunter!'

'Stop yelling, you bastard!' Hunter responded coldly.

Vincent couldn't help but shed a single tear of relief. He didn't think he would ever be so greatful to hear that spiteful, unhappy, cold voice in his entire life.

Vincent thought quickly,

'There is no time to explain. Tell Cain to come down here quickly. He should be able to find us in no time.'

Hunter raised a brow,

'What's wrong? Are you under attack?'

He knew there were a few Aether Beast nests along that path, but he didn't think there were any stupid enough to try attacking such a large number of humans without adequate preparation.

'It's even worse...' Vincent responded.

Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he summarized their situation with a simple sentence,

"There are Devils among us."