God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

BANG!

"That's the last one down," Blaze said as he pulled the tip of his spear from the chest of the devil he had slain. Around him were a few other devil and mutant beast corpses. Standing very close to him, was David who had his shield up with a black pulse radiating from its center every once in a while.

"Who would have thought that this skill would come in handy later," David said to himself as he stared at the shield in his hand in marvel.

"I've learned so far that there are no such things as useless or low-ranked skills. Only its user can be inept..." Blaze said. He got down to one knee and went straight to work.

Harvesting devil cores and mana shards was dirty work since it involved getting up and personal with the guts of a corpse, but it was something they had all become accustomed to. Most of them looked forward to it...

"{Dark pulse} completely masks the auras of those within its radius. This also causes the magic signals sent on their deaths to be rendered ineffective. I think this skill is a very useful one." Blaze said with a chuckle.

"I guess so," David said as he drove the edge of his axe head straight into the skull of a dying devil, cracking it open like a walnut. Blood, bits of bone, and grey matter splattered everywhere giving the usually modest David a barbarous aura around him. Despite all this, he still had a troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Blaze couldn't help but ask when he saw David's expression.

"I'm just thinking is all. No need to worry about it too much."

"Is that so? Well, it doesn't matter anyways. Besides, we aren't too deep into the forest, and we will be able to retreat to safety once we go back." Blaze said as he wiped the blood away from the tip of his spear.

"It is still really dangerous, so I suggest we be careful. We have no way of contacting any of the others from here, so we are on our own should anything go wrong." David said as he stood up from the ground as well after having harvested his portion of devil cores.

"Relax... We are just leveling up and gathering resources just like we usually do. I have a feeling that the more devils I purify from the world with my flames, the stronger it gets." Blaze said as a wisp of a bright orange flame appeared on his fingertips dancing back and forth with the wind. There was a maniacal expression on his face as he flung the tiny flame onto the dormant corpses.

The moment the flame touched the corpses, it began to consume them instantly. After a few seconds, the devil's corpses had been reduced to charred embers, a putrid stench perforating the air...

'Such a terrifying flame...' David couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine as he saw the effects of the flames produced by Blaze.

"With the power of my flames, I will bring retribution to those who deserve it," Blaze said, righteous fury burning in his eyes as he thought back.

Blaze's eyes burned with the memory of his loss to Hunter. Despite him bringing his best out, it still wasn't enough, and if not for Cain's intervention, he would have taken a lot more blows to his body and pride...

However, he had his ego to protect...

Therefore, he bore resentment towards Hunter and Cain. This resentment wasn't borne out of ill will but out of a fiery desire to surpass them.

The fight between Cain and Hunter had opened his eyes to the possibilities of the power he could obtain with his own two hands, and as a result, he had become eager...

To seize such power with his own hands as well...

He had made a promise once, that he would never shake his principles, even if threatened by death. Because if he did, then he would no longer be worthy of the name Armstrong, one of the most influential names on Urbus.

And to keep his principles unshakable, he needed one thing and one thing only.

Power...

Because if there was power, then he would be the arbiter of his morals. No one would be able to tell him what was right and wrong, only him...

He needed this power to show the world the strength of his will and resolve.

"Ha... You kids keep taking all this too far." David let out an exhausted sigh. At this point, he was completely fed up...

The main reason David followed Blaze was to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't do anything rash. He also wanted to grow stronger and even faster so that he would be able to protect those he needed to protect.

In the entire group, apart from Cain, Blaze was the one with the most brute firepower, while David was the owner of the strongest defense due to his disgustingly powerful defense skills and abnormal shield.

With the two of them occupying the extremities, they made a very good team when leveling up. Blaze didn't need to worry about protecting himself and could kill as much as he wanted as fast as he wanted to, while Blaze handled protection.

To award exp, the system calculated the amount of effort put in by the parties involved in the fighting. When two persons kill a monster, the system would calibrate accurately how much effort each put in that resulted in the death of the mutant, thereby ensuring equality amongst those who decided to team up and work together.

Hence, even though David didn't kill as much as Blaze, they both got their fair shares of exp...

"At this rate, I will be able to level my main and auxiliary skills, as well as my flame arts very soon," Blaze said, visible excitement rolling off of his body.

"That is true. Our efficiency rises a lot when we fight toge-" David suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

"Hm?" Confused, Blaze turned to his partner who had his eyes widened with caution.

"Stay still." Instead of answers, all he got was an order to be still. Turning towards a particular direction, David cast a spell, "Blood sense."

'What is going on?' Blaze could only wonder. He knew there was no way David would call wolf without any justification, so he raised his guard.

With a slight twist of his wrist, his spear spun in his hands as he took up a defensive posture.

Since they were surrounded by trees and vegetation, they weren't are to completely see what was happening in their surroundings. Although they had decent perception stats, it still wasn't enough when considering the darkness within the forest.

"Crimson Guard barrier: Shatter!"

Out of nowhere, David let out an explosion shout. The black pulse radiating from his shield instantly changed into a blood-red floating shield. in a split second, the shield crashed straight to the ground.

BOOM!

All the vegetation in that area, including the huge mutating trees were instantly uprooted. They flew in all directions as debris, making what was hidden within the leaves become revealed.

The dull illumination provided by the grey skies above revealed what was hidden within the foilage...

Just up ahead, a few meters away from the duo, a large {Hulking Behemoth} accompanied by a few {Devil Fighters}

"How did you know?" Blaze couldn't help but ask as he turned from a defensive posture straight to an offensive one.

"Call it intuition... I can tell that guy up there isn't good news." David said with an ugly expression on his face.

"That doesn't matter regardless of how strong it is, I'll kill it with my spear," Blaze spoke with a burning resolve that could illuminate the world.

However, resolve wasn't all it took to triumph...

Staring down at the puny humans before him, Jutè spoke with surprise.

"Lord J'orntz said they should all still be within that place. Could it be they are all over courageous?" The devil spoke to another {Hulking Behemoth} by its side while looking at Blaze and David with a weird expression in its eyes.

This devil was one of the devils that had been with J'orntz beside the huge {Appendage}. It was a fair bit larger than Gadon, but nowhere near in size to J'orntz. Its devil core glowed a very faint and deep orange color as a few wisps of flames flew back and forth on the surface of its body.

Many orange fiery connective lines reached from the devil's core, all the way to the creature's face. These lines only served to enhance the creature's malevolent look.

Contrary to the usual shape of the spawn devil claws, its claws were shaped like axes as opposed to the usual straight edge bladed forelimbs.

The other {Hulking Behemoth}, Katl, was just as large as Gadon. Its devil core was tinted a very deep shade of black, far blacker than any other devil they had seen so far. It also looked very similar to the normal spawn devils, only the look of savagery on its face made it look even more menacing than the normal devils.

"It appears so... The humans in this world should still be incredibly dumb creatures. Hence, they might not be able to tell the difference between life and death when they see it." Katl said as he stared longer at the duo of David and Blaze, licking his lips as corrosive saliva dripped down to the forest ground, sizzling noises popping out with every drop.

"These are powerful. Especially the smaller ones. It was the reason why I couldn't sense them earlier. Just existing alone is giving off so much darkness!" David couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

However, there was still a neutral expression on Cain's face as he stared straight at the devils.

"We kill them, just like we killed the others. Nothing more, nothing less. Same as always, give me support when needed, and I'll handle the rest." Blaze said. Suddenly, the spear in his hands caught fire.

These bright orange flames spread across the surface of its body, yet they didn't sing his hair, nor burn his clothes.

"Ha... Alright." When David saw this, he simply resigned himself to his fate. There was no way he would be able to convince Blaze to turn back and retreat.

"To become powerful, I have to surpass my limits. Which means fighting and challenging enemies that might be stronger. That is the way those with wills of iron can be born."

A spark that couldn't be hidden lit in his eyes as he pointed the tip of his spear toward the stunned devils...

"Baptism through the flames of battle..."