"You wanna tell me just what the hell that was?" Alice exclaimed, looking behind her quickly while still sprinting back to the base camp with Cain on her shoulder.

"That was… a skill?" Cain said hesitantly, and out of breath. He was most definitely not in a comfortable position, with stomach directly on Alice's shoulder. Combined with the speed she was moving, it was becoming very difficult to breath and talk at the same time.

"Yes. A skill. I saw that. That most definitely was not something Ariana taught you so I ask again. What the hell was that?"

Cain sighed internally. He knew this was going to happen the second he let loose, but it was still an extremely awkward situation.

"It's just a skill, ok? I managed to get you out, and we have a slight breather now, so can we just…." Cain cut off mid sentence, a voice filling his mind. The sheer pressure alone was enough to give him an instant sinus migraine, his head feeling like it was being crushed from the outside and blown up from the inside.

'The skill of Geb… how did you obtain it human?'

'I…'

'HOW DID YOU OBTAIN IT?'

'I'm trying to answer you! Bloody hell, my head feels like it is about to erupt. Be patient, who ever the hell you are.'

'You know exactly who I am, mortal.'

The pressure decreased in his head and Cain let out a small sigh of relief. He could hear Alice asking something, but all that was comprehended at the time were the words echoing around in his head.

'Plaguetooth, which for some reason I don't think is your actual name. Why do all of the powerful creatures just like to intrude on my thoughts like this?'

'All of us powerful… so you did come in contact with her.'

'Geb was a her? Really? Yes, I did. I received a multitude of skills from… her.'

'Received… so YOU KILLED HER?'

The pressure was back and Cain grimaced, the pain more incomparable than last time. He was close to blacking out when it suddenly disappeared.

'Jesus. Yes and no. She gave me a skill called Mental Blade.'

'So she chose the cowards way out. She was always weak willed. I understand your strength now, as you are able to talk to me with ease, but it isn't enough. Tell the one with you Skoll is coming.'

The presence and voice completely vanished, leaving Cain in an weirdly quiet state as he came back to reality, only to realize that he was sitting in the ground. Looking up, he saw Alice staring at him, fear etched across her very red face.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

'Weird, why is everything red?' Cain wondered, wiping his hand across his eyes. They were wetter than he thought they would have been, but when he pulled his hand back, he saw that the red had transferred from his vision to his palm.

"Oh. I'm bleeding from my eyes. How cute," he muttered turning toward Alice.

"Was I going too fast?" She asked softly, nervous about possibly having injured him.

"Not at all. Something else happened. You know how I have a really strong mental communication?"

She nodded once, imploring him to continue.

"Well… something decided to intrude and say hi. It said to tell you Skoll was coming."

As Cain finished speaking, he watched all of the color drain from Alice's face. Cain had an inkling she knew exactly what was happening right now, and why Bronn had been specifically targeted earlier.

"Skoll is Norse, right? I think he was a child of Fenrir… ate the sun?" Cain asked, purposely jarring Alice's train of thought with the question. "Are all… are all of the gate bosses mythological creatures and gods?"

Alice nodded silently, color barely returning to her face. "Yes, they are. Look, we need to get back to base now before he starts moving again. We shouldn't be too far away, so do you want to walk or have me carry you again."

Cain pondered for a moment, before realizing it was a poor question. "Carry. I'm bleeding out of my eyes, probably my ears, and my energy level is so low that I probably will be so far behind you otherwise I'll get eaten."

Alice nodded and turned around, squatting in front of him. "Get on then. It's not every day I give someone a piggyback ride."

-------

Cain sat in the back of the hall, eyes closed from dizziness as Alice began addressing the surviving leaders of the expedition team. He hadn't wanted to be there but Alice had ran straight to the war room and called everyone there straight away

"I know this is sudden, calling this meeting right after the amount of damage we just took," she started. Murmurs filled the room in agreement, but no one actually spoke up against what she was saying. They could all tell this was extremely important, and with Bronn not present, anyone who wasn't on the battlefield could assume what had happened.

"All of you have been, for the most part, with Bronn since the start correct?"

A scattered amount of agreement filled the room, confusion evident at the question.

"Then everyone who just was affirmative in their response will understand this. Skoll is on the move."

Dead silence filled the room. Cain opened his eyes, risking the dizziness, only to see what he could only describe as a room of ghosts. The color had drained out of everyone's face, with the exception of three to four people.

'So there was something deeper that had been going on behind the scenes before I awakened,' Cain thought, sitting up straight.

"Are… are we sure of that?"

Cain looked over to the corner of the room at the voice, a smaller frail man who looked absolutely terrified. Standing up, he drew attention from everyone there.

'I guess they didn't pay attention to me when I was sitting in the corner. Granted I do look like a zombie right now but still.'

"We are one hundred percent sure. I don't know what you all did, but whatever that is damned near killed me just by mentally communicating," he said, causing quite a few people to flinch with his words.

"And honestly, I don't care. All I know is that we need to get everyone out of here, and fast."

Alice nodded in agreement. "The only problem with that is in order to open the gate right now, we need to kill Skoll and we are…." She trailed off as Cain raised his hand to interrupt her.

"Yeah, about that. I have a way out, I think. The system isn't entirely helpful but…" Cain trailed off as he opened his status window.

System alert: Equip titles? Y/N.

'Yes, equip title and share status'

"Cain, what are you…" Alice trailed off as the window popped in front of her and everyone else. "What in the world is this?"

"No idea. I haven't tested the skill yet, but as you can see, I have a couple titles that remain hidden. As to God-Killer… I'm sure you all know how the initial awakening gate they were using in the main city closed?"

Alice looked up at Cain in surprise, and then slight shock and worry. An understandable emotion, he guessed. He wasn't being entirely truthful about the whole ordeal, but as long as they didn't ask any in depth questions, he could probably get away with whatever right now.

"Ignoring how sudden this is, the expedition's safety is of the utmost priority, especially the civilians. Can you actually do this?" Alice asked, her tone implying that there were to be many questions asked later.

"Probably? I need to recover my energy first. The skill takes seventy five percent of my total energy, so it's not exactly an easy thing to just pull off," Cain said, yawning and sitting back down. "Shouldn't take me more than a few hours to recover, so wake me up in a bit when everyone is ready to move."

And with that, Cain fell asleep in the corner of the meeting room, multiple eyes gazing at him in curiosity, and a couple of concern.