Cain stared at the freckled brown haired girl for a little while before shaking his head as he walked towards the teenagers who numbered ten now excluding himself

A series of gulp sounds could be heard in the silent cave as they subconsciously stepped back when Cain approached them. He saw this but didn't care as he stopped when he reached the brown haired girl who was still dumbstruck, he looked at her again before resuming his walk

He eventually stopped in front of a teenager who looked at him with a smile on her face, she had blue hair with crimson eyes, a few cuts on her body which did a poor job in masking her beauty.

She walked up to him as she spoke in a warm tone "Brother Cain, I-"

Before she could complete her words, she realised she was stuck and couldn't move, Cain however kept staring at her with his pitch black eyes

"Time to test my second theory" he muttered under his breath as he stroked his smooth chin

The girl panicked as she tried to move with all her might but nothing seemed to work, the other teenagers noticed the strangeness and moved even further back to distance themselves from this maniac

Cain quietly placed his hands on the girl's stiff body as he heard a prompt

[ *** Commencing ]

[ Target Health Stable ]

[ Proceed? ]

He nodded as the same phenomenon repeated itself, only this time the girl in question was in a much better condition than the first person.

"argh wh-wh-wh-what are you doing? we-we're family" the girl screeched and screamed as the cacophony of bone crushing sounds eerily echoed in the cave and blood began to flow from her eyes and ears.

Cain however stared at the girl blankly before speaking coldly "yes we're family, so you'll be assisting me in a little experiment"

Her skin began peeling as her muscle fibres were displayed, and in a split second her screams were drowned as she was crushed into a black puddle before entering his body

[ Bloodline Match identified ]

[ Assimilation In Progress ]

[ Locating critical areas ]

The prompts sounded in his mind but he didn't pay attention to it as the delightful feeling filled him once more, only this time it was more intense and longer. He closed his eyes as he became lost in this feeling.

The teenagers stared at him in horror before some of them decided that they had stayed in the second level of the cave long enough as they ran deeper into the third level of the cave to escape this little demon.

The brown haired girl with freckles bit her lips and clenched her fists so hard it started to bleed as she stared at Cain, the tall green haired girl wanted to leave but couldn't because she had to wait for her brother, the red haired boy however had already long left the second level

Cain was still immersed in the bliss but his awareness was still alert, eventually the feeling subsided much to his dissatisfaction

[ Ashel Purity Increased - 5.9% ]

[ Medium Energy Increase ]

[ Body Modification Incomplete ]

[ Excess Energy Detected ]

[ Breakthrough Is Advised ]

[ Proceed? ]

The ever so timeful prompts sounded again as Cain frowned and checked his body, he felt his body was going to burst any minute, the energy contained inside him was too much for his Rank 0 body to bear.

'I was careless, seems like I've hit a limit' he sighed as he felt it was a loss since the moment he becomes a Rank 1 Blood Mage he'll be kicked out of the cave. He turned and looked at the two girls, the brown haired girl was filled with fury and the tall green haired girl was already on guard and in a battle ready stance.

Immediately he commanded in his mind 'do not proceed, activate temporary level 2 protocol and begin the stabilisation process'

[ Affirmative ]

[ Level 2 Protocol Active ]

[ Stabilisation In Progress ]

[ ETC ...2 minutes ]

*(Note: ETC means Estimated Time to Completion)

He then sighed as he spoke to buy himself some time "why didn't you leave?"

They looked at him before the green haired composed herself and spoke with caution visible on her face "I'm waiting for my brother, he isn't here yet so don't mind me"

He kept quiet and waited for the brown haired girl to speak, however he was met with silence as she didn't respond

He cracked first and asked "and you?"

The brown haired girl was so angry that whatever fear she had earlier was thrown out the window "Why did you kill her? Wasn't she part of your family?"

Cain looked at this girl and was really disappointed, honestly he wouldn't even stand here wasting his time talking to these girls but his body felt stiff and it threatened to burst any second now. He couldn't fight or move much in this situation, he had to buy time for his body to stabilise.

So he decided to play along "it is precisely because she was part of my family that she died, just label her an unlucky-"

The girl interjected as she shouted at Cain in a high pitched voice "that's evil, don't you have a heart? don't you see that everyone is doing their best to survive, are you really so bloodthirsty that you would forsake your humanity?"

The green haired girl heard this and shook her head, she also wondered how this kind of person was allowed into the cave of beginnings, perhaps her family wanted to introduce her to the harsh reality of the world.

Cain however was calm as he stared at the girl before speaking plainly "you seem to be so hung up on your own idea of the world so let me tell you, this world isn't the paradise you want it to be"

His voice dimmed as it became sinister and chilling "I will do whatever it takes to achieve my goal, if forsaking my humanity gives me power I will do it in a heartbeat, if it requires me to damn the world, I will do it in a heartbeat, if I have to sacrifice my family I will do it without blinking, why? because weakness is a sin, a sin that we're born with and I will rid myself of these shackles"

He then paused and spread his arms "why are you here? to use the cleansing pool isn't it? to become a rank 1 mortal isn't it? to get closer to the apex of strength isn't it? now tell me, aren't you forgoing your weakness and seeking strength?"

The girl remained quiet as she listened to the strange ideology of this young boy who wasn't even yet a teenager

He continued in a cold tone as he pointed at her "without strength you can't protect, or in your case seek justice. You think the strong care about the thoughts of the weak? Nonsense. You feel the urge to kill me right? But you can't, why? because you're weaker than I am"

Shaking his head he continued "Justice itself is ironic, it was created by the weak to seek help from the strong to fight against the strong. Do you see where this is going? Only equals can talk, the weak have no place in the food chain of life. Take away the strong from Justice and all you're left with is a bunch of pathetic fools screaming righteousness with no strength to back it up"

The green haired girl felt a chill run down her spine as she immediately wondered why a five year old's view on life was extremely deep but the brown haired girl immediately spoke not wanting to back down "so are you saying the strong can do whatever they want and get away with it?"

Cain then clapped his hands as spoke "precisely! the weak have no say in the presence of the strong. Do you care about the opinion of an ant when you step on it? No, because you know that no matter what, an ant can never threaten your existence"

The girl instead retorted "But many ants can take down a human"

Cain however heard this and chuckled before he answered "that is precisely what the weak tell themselves, that with numbers they can pull through but I say, that analogy is foolish. Only dead humans will allow themselves to be cornered by mere ants"

[ Stabilisation Complete ]

[ Body Functions Temporarily Active ]

[ Duration...6 minutes ]

He heard the prompts as he looked at the girl and his cold visage deepened "an ant will forever be an ant, always beneath a human and their lives always in the palms of others. They were born weak, that is their crime and sin. The same applies to you and also to me in this world"

He stopped speaking as he rushed towards the girl with incredible speed and prepared to end her poor life once and for all

*bang*

He threw a punch but shockingly, he was sent flying back by a terrifying force and crashed on the wall of the cave as his bones broke before he landed on the floor. He looked up and saw the girl staring at him in anger

The brown haired girl looked at him and spoke "do you think I'm so foolish that I would remain here without a plan?"

As she was speaking, her energy spiked as she directly entered Rank 1 early stage but strangely enough, the cave wasn't rejecting her as she stood there majestically

"Cain Ashel contrary to your belief, I Celestine Austair won't kill you but I will defeat you right here and hand you over to the royal court for punishment" said the girl with all confidence and righteousness

The green haired girl was first shocked before she relaxed a little as she thought 'so she's from an Archduke family, she must be quite important in the family but is she serious right now?"

She knew how powerful the Archduke families were, and she knew that they wouldn't just send their core members here without adequate insurance but she severely underestimated Celestine's bullheadedness

'Can't she read the situation, he's also from an Archduke family even though they're the most reckless' she wondered as she was confused about Celestine's declaration

Cain slowly pulled himself up but his ribs were broken, his right arm was practically useless. He sighed to himself and shook his head

'Guess I should go all out' he thought as he cracked his neck

He then looked at Celestine and spoke "An Austair huh, no wonder, I see where your confidence stems from but..."

His body began healing slowly as he spoke again but this time in a cold, mechanical and monotonic voice "I don't know what you did and I'm guessing it's temporary, nevertheless if your confidence comes from just this, you are severely overestimating yourself"

As he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the cave became heavy and suffocating as his black membrane covered his whole body but this time it was different as it released wisps of deep black smokes with two pitch black katanas appearing on both his hands. He looked just like a shadow, almost as if he became darkness itself

The expressions of Celestine and the green haired girl changed as they immediately sensed extreme danger, the green haired girl activated all her magical defences as she shot a glance at Cain before biting her lips as she spoke to Celestine

"Hey you, my name is Abigail Brunhild, I've got a plan so let's work together if we want to have a shot at killing him"

Celestine looked at the girl and nodded before answering "I agree but I do not want to kill him, that is not my aim. I only want to m-"

Before she could finish speaking Abigail's pupils dilated as she shouted "watch out!"

Celestine couldn't react in time as she saw a slim and deep black sword descending on her with ruthlessness