God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'Master, I, the great demon Bear, am back!' The bushes to Cain's left squirmed before the huge figure of Ruby was revealed to him.

Ruby, who had served as diversion had made her appearance after she had led some of the devils away. Cain had communicated to her the distance, as well as the exact time she could kill her pursuant.

As Ruby was a very strong mutant beast with the ability to create her skills, she was able to easily accomplish this task.

Within the effective range of {Seal}, they could kill as many devils as they wanted without alerting the enemy as long as it was done in the time frame of a second.

However, with their incredible speeds, the number of things that could be done in under a second was a plethora...

Staring at the huge mutant bear, Cain couldn't help but wonder...

"How do you know what you are, Ruby?" Cain asked.

'That is because of the system, Master.' Ruby said as she licked some of the blood stuck to her now very red paws. Cain could only imagine the type of carnage she could have inflicted upon the devils that had pursued her...

"What do you mean by that? You also have a system?" Cain couldn't help but ask.

'Yes, Master. Even my mother and brothers all had systems before you and the other humans with you killed them.'

Cain could swear he noticed a tinge of anger and grievance within Ruby's voice...

"I'm sorry. I wished there was a way to bring your mother and siblings back." Hearing what Ruby had to say, Cain couldn't help but feel a bit bad in his heart.

'I do not bear any grudges against you, master. It is normal for the strong to eat the weak.' Ruby said as she approached Cain.

"How were you able to acquire the system? What's even more intriguing is the way we can communicate without any inconvenience." Cain couldn't help but baffle at the complexity of the system.

'That, I do not know, Master. I do not have good recollections about events that occurred over five days ago.' Ruby gazed into Cain's with her docile, yet ferocious sanguine eyes.

Staring back, Cain could only raise a brow in suspicion...

'That's odd.'

From what he could get from Ruby, this meant she could only begin to understand the human semantics of language the day the apocalypse began.

Since many things didn't add up completely, Cain decided to ask the system...

'System, why can I converse with Ruby so well without having to worry about her understanding of the human language?'

{Replying to host: The host currently lacks the number of system points necessary for this transaction...}

'Is that so?' Since it was unattainable for now, Cain decided to do what he usually did with his unanswered questions...

Turning to the mutant beast, he roughly rubbed its smooth fur as he opened up her description...

***

{Crimson Demon Black Bear} level 25 (deadly).

Strength: 400.

Agility: 320.

Defense: 90.

Mana: 100.

HP: 15,000/15,000.

MP: 7,500/7,500.

Skills: Blood Berserk, Blood Armor, Shockwave Stomp, Blood Spikes, Crimson Blast, Red Claw level 1.

***

Cain was extremely pleased with what he saw...

"How did you create so many new skills?" Cain said with a smile, impression written all over his face.

Looking at Ruby's stats, Cain was pleased to see that not only were are skills increasing, but her stats were also higher than that of the average mutant beast at her level.

'Hehehe...' The bear let out a cute giggle in his head, but a very coarse grunt physically, causing Cain to reel back a bit.

'So weird...'

However, Ruby was so ready to tell her story, she completely disregarded her master's feelings, 'This is due to the contract between you and me, Master. I have been able to understand the blood element exceptionally. That is why I was able to create so many skills that I can use to kill and eat.' Ruby said with a grin on her beastly face, making her appear oddly human to Cain.

Although he was a bit creeped out by this fact, surprisingly, he felt something he had never felt before his entire life. It wasn't as comfortable as the feeling Susan gave him, but it was very close...

The feeling of familiarity between him and the mutant bear grew even further as they talked about the skills she has created during their time apart.

***

Running through the dense foliage with Ruby by his side, and a blanket of darkness covering them, Cain stared at his status screen, analyzing his skills and stats.

***

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 31.

Strength: 356.

Agility: 423.

Stamina: 209/219.

Vitality: 157.

Defense: 198.

Control: 16.2.

Perception: 15.4.

HP: 15,700/15,700.

MP: 14,700/14,800.

Magic: 449.

Ki: 136.

Spirit: 189.

Resistance: Poison- 80%.

Skills: Golden Blood, Mana Blade, Lightening Edge, Blade Mastery Lvl. 2, Burst Step, Metal Creation Lvl.2, Golden Severance, Metal Manipulation, *Fear, *Bloodthirsty, Blood Regeneration, Azure Burst, Mana Heart, Seal, Hollow Judgement, Devil's eyes: Eye of Clairvoyance, Elemental Body.

Spells: Fireball, Air Whip, Poison Blood, Blue Lightning, Blink, Golden Halo.

Titles: Champion of Ashur (locked), Sorcerer's Mind, Blessed by Mana, Pioneer.

Free attribute points: 1.

System points 15,720.

{Inventory}. {Shop}.

***

Since he had to travel in silence, Cain had enough time to go through his thoughts...

He hadn't gained much from Gadon, only a few extra stats and a level up. To go up a level, he would need to kill a very large amount of devils.

'Not only does the amount of exp required to level up increase, the amount of exp I get from each mutant drops as well.'

Cain had noticed quite a few trends in the way he acquired exp from the system...

The stronger he got with each level up, the greater the amount of exp he needed to move to the next level. It was just like how because of the speed the earth was evolving, the system had begun to activate its measures set in place.

The number of potions, runes, and even equipment, dropped on the death of a devil or mutant had decreased significantly. This was especially the case for equipment because the drop rate of equipment was abysmal before the activation of these measures.

To make matters worse, all of these couldn't be purchased from the system store anymore...

'If my guess is correct, then the system will probably stop offering the purchase of mana shards very soon...' Cain said as he contemplated all these...

'If this keeps going on, then what exactly will system points be useful for aside from purchasing information?'

{Replying to host: The host should not forget what the system has mentioned previously. The system shop is calibrated to offer the most basic items that are of the utmost importance to the host at that particular time frame. At the start of the devil invasion and the inception of mana onto the host's planet, the fundamentals needed by the host were weapons and Regen potions}.

{For now, they are mana shards, so until further change, that is all the system will offer for purchase...}

{It is also important for the host to note that the offers of the system shop might vary with location...}

Cain fell deeper into thoughts as he pondered on this new information...

'If this is so, then how will we be able to get these essentials? They are still very important.' Cain asked the system with a furrowed brow.

{Replying to host: The only other way possible, host... Making them yourself...}

"Pardon?"

***

Cain stared in shock at what was displayed in his vision...

On the holographic display, the system provided to him was a list of special ingredients necessary to create a small HP potion and MP potion.

***

HP potion ×10

1 liter of pure elemental water.

3 stems of Valerian.

5 leaves of Hernia.

1 Blood bismuth lily.

1 grade 9 blood elemental mana shard.

1 mana stone.

{Note: It must be brewed within a sterile metal container over a magical flame of exactly 500°C}.

***

MP potion ×10

1 liter of pure elemental water.

1 Death's Nightshade.

1 teaspoon of crushed Valerian.

¼ of a liter of devil blood.

1 Stem of Blue Vervain.

1 mana stone.

***

'Where the hell am I supposed to find these damned things?!' Cain couldn't help but groan in frustration.

{Replying to host: All of these ingredients can be found within this forest. The host just hasn't looked for them. Further information on the nature and characteristics of these plants and ingredients would have to be purchased from the system store...}

Cain fell silent for a while before letting out a sigh...

'All that can wait. These devils are still producing HP and MP potions, so making my own isn't a priority right now.' Cain knew better than to pile so many bricks all at once.

He would deal with things one at a time according to their level of necessity, and currently, what was of most importance, was finding the next {Appendage} and destroying it.

Suddenly, Cain stopped, as the figures of both Evangeline and Jenny materialized before him...

"There's a problem..."

Before Evangeline could complete what she wanted to say in her usual cold and raspy voice, she was interrupted by the system.

{WARNING! The host should proceed with caution, as you are in the vicinity of the Soul Devil that attacked you}.

'What?! I didn't expect to encounter it so suddenly!' Excitement burned within Cain's eyes as he stared forward.

Before he could even take a step forward, he was brought back to reality by Evangeline...

"Let's go back." She said coldly.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment, as Cain turned to her, a sinister golden flare sparklingly within his eyes.

"What did you say?"

"I said let's go back." However, there was nary a change on Evangeline's face as she stared straight at Cain without a single bit of expression.

"There should be an {Appendage} just right up ahead. I see no reason for us to turn back now."

"There are devils up ahead that are too strong for us to fight, not to talk of beat. If we go another step, not only will we not be able to beat them, we might even forfeit our lives. Hence, we must go back." Jenny added to the side.

When they entered stealth mode, both Jenny and Evangeline left Cain behind and had gone to scout their surroundings, only for them to come across the {Appendage} the {Phantasma}, J'orntz, was close to.

Not only J'orntz but the other devils beside it were also not pushovers. The {Hulking Behemoths} were the strongest mobile spawn devils in the entire forest, so it was only normal for every single one of them to be formidable opponents in their own rights.

However, at a crucial moment like this, Cain wasn't prepared to listen to reason...

"Move."

Due to the interference of the {Phantasma}, he had been forced to revisit a few scenes from the past he had locked away, which had caused his emotions to fluctuate madly throughout the day.

His rage toward the devil wasn't something they could understand, and yet, here they were telling him he had to go back when he was graced with the opportunity to finally get its head.

"If you aren't ready to listen to reason, I don't mind putting you down right where you stand. If you go ahead, those devils will end up spotting you before we can escape, and that will put us in danger as well." A deep bloodlust that could only arise from a killer seemed to spread from Evangeline's body at that moment, yet there wasn't a single change on her face.

This only caused Cain to get even more pissed...

"Do you think you can beat me?" Cain couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"I don't think..." Before Cain was able to even blink, the Evangeline standing before him had already disappeared.

Cain immediately felt all the hairs on his body rise on end, as a bloody killing intent that seemed to reach the grey skies washed over him.

Before he was even able to register what was going on, his vision turned hazy and he saw black before collapsing onto the ground unconscious.

On his head, was a huge gash that would kill a normal person, but luckily, Cain wasn't normal.

Standing only 3 feet behind him with her hand on a bloody sheath, Evangeline stood over Cain's fallen body with a calm that could put the dead to shame...

"I know..."