God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Grimm wore a dark frown.

He had only taken his eyes off the battle for a moment, but in that time, a change has occured.

What happened?

Why was the {Flameskin} keeled over, gripping onto its bleeding side, its face contorted in pain and its eyes filled with an enraged madness?

On his home world, he had worked as a mercenary and rouge assassin for a couple hundred years. He was the head of a mercenary guild, and had decided to take on the Trial due to am opportunity that had presented itself.

His realm goal was to assassinate another participant that had entered the trial, something he had completed a while back. So he had no interest in the trial itself.

However, his interest has been piqued by one of these humans.

The human female with the stunning white hair and the tantalizing red lips.

Her cold, indifferent and unfeeling crimson eyes were like jewels he wanted to snatch away.

What he felt for her was a mad lust.

But that was just his nature. Dark Elves are very lustful creatures, quite the opposite of other elven races.

The barbarian blood in his veins did nothing to help either. Yet at the same time, both bloodlines mellowed and enhanced themselves within his veins.

He was not a slave to his lust nor his rage. Instead, they were his weapons.

Most targets of his lust usually didn't get away. He would have his way with them, and when he was bored, he would carve them up, or simply do away with them.

This human on the other hand didn't seem to be interested in him one bit.

She didn't hate him, no. She just didn't look at him. To her, he was nothing.

And that filled him with even more lust.

The desire to conquer this indifferent beauty was all the encouragement he needed to continue the trial.

And yet, staring into her glowing crimson eyes, he couldn't help but feel fear blossom in his heart.

Those eyes were the eyes of death itself, staring into the soul of a mortal.

He stared at the human beside him. For some reason, he didn't seem to be scared of those eyes at all.

He had noticed that the eyes she stared at him with were quite different from the ones she used to look at him.

He couldn't deny that it made him feel envious.

So envious, he wanted to stab his sword right through his belly in this moment and he done with it.

However, he couldn't.

He was many things, but an idiot was not one of them. Contrary to what he had said in the past, he had met a few humans.

Most of them would cower and look at him with fear in their souls.

He would carve them up still, regardless of how much they begged and pleaded.

These humans in the other hand didn't see him as a threat. If they battled, he didn't think he could come out victorious.

He was an assassin, a murderer, not a warrior. Honorable confrontations were not his style.

He shook his head and turned back to observe the battle.

The tides had already shifted and Olirod was constantly being pushed back.

Evangeline was like a mix between brief afterimages and a whole lot of shifting shadows.

She made no wasted movements, accurately and precisely targeting the weak spots of the {Flameskin Troll}.

The attacks that pierced through those weak spots dealt a bitter blow that caused the huge creature to let out pitiful roars, while those that didn't and only left glancing blows drank the blood right out of his veins.

It was punishment.

A wicked, cruel punishment.

She inflicted hundreds upon hundreds of cuts in mere moments.

It didn't matter that the {Flameskin Troll} covered his body in flames. The new weapons in her hands left a bleeding effect that would not allow the wounds to close up.

Drops of sizzling blood constantly fell to the ground, turning black after a while.

It was a rather grotesque and brutal display.

It a final desperate move, Olirod let out an enraged scream,

"I'll burn you to death!"

The flames around him expanded wider than they had ever did, forcing everyone but Asteron and Avalon to back up.

The {Wind Drake} mumbled,

"Pathetic." Before turning to Avalon who began chanting.

A few moments later, a semi-transluscent magic barrier had been erected stopping the flames from spreading further.

The flames were meant to kill..

Evangeline's flesh was immediately burned. Stands of her white hair caught on fire, and her leather armor was in the verge of igniting, constantly producing smoke.

Olirod grinned. His body had turned into a conflagration,

"Witness my rage! Witness my flames, you human coward!"

Her lips parted and she let out a hoarse breath of air from her lungs.

Despite the fakes licking her skin, leaving burns, she didn't react at all. It was as though she was a block of ice, a cold, soulless imitation of a living being.

She didn't say anything. Instead, the shadows cast by the flames swam right through the barrier and enveloped everything within.

Murmurs spread.

What was going on?

Asteron turned to Cain, but he was busy observing closely.

His left eye had turned completely bone white ass he peered beyond the barrier of shadows.

Within it, the flames had been extinguished.

Chains of shadows covered in spikes shot out of the ground and walls, wrapping tightly around all the limbs of Olirod.

The one-eyed creature looked up at her, unacceptance, disbelief and despair in his eyes,

"But how... Y-you— you are just a human!"

Evangeline slightly tilted her head.

For the first time, she humored him with an answer,

"And so? A blade is a blade and it will cut regardless." Her slightly raspy voice still had its seductive edge. However, it was many times colder now. Like the whispers of death in the ears of its next victim.

She stared down at the {Flameskin Troll},

"I would have preferred not to kill you, but unfortunately that would leave to many issues I am not willing to endure."

Olirod fell silent, his head dropping.

He remained that way for a moment.

Then his muscles bulged as he violently tried to break the chains that bound him.

He roared violently, spittle flying everywhere as he tried to grab Evangeline with his burly arms. Flames erupted out of his body once again, burning the shadow chains away

In response, Evangeline snapped her fingers, and new chains, these ones thicker and more gnarly looking than the former l, burst out of the ground and walls, binding the one-eyed creature so tight, the barbs and spike on them pierced through its skin and flesh, drawing blood.

Thousands of crimson runes appeared on the chains, slowly draining the burly creature of its blood.

Its eye turned bloodshot.

It could do nothing but look into the cold, ruby eyes of this evil demon in the flesh of a human as his life was slowly drained away and his body withered.

"The battle was enlightening. I discovered a few things as well as my new limits, so you can at least die at ease knowing that your death was of some use." Evangeline said coldly.

This was the final nail in the coffin.

She had nothing left to say.

Clenching her hands, the chains tightened further. With one swift plunge, she stabbed her dagger into his jaw and twisted.

Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire

Gurgling sounds came from Olirod, but they stopped after a while.

Pulling her dagger out, Evangeline wiped it across her armor then placed it back in her inventory. She pulled another dagger out of her inventory, this one with jagged edges. She methodically stabbed it into the chest of the dead Olirod and pulled out a still beating heart covered in a deep orange flame.

Placing it into her inventory, she waited for a moment before dispelling the chains and undoing the barrier of shadows...

Revealing to all those present the result of the duel.