God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain looked around and realized where he stood wasn't conducive for reading at all. The air was very hot, and there was little to no level ground. The dismembered parts of the {Flame Devil} were like mini hills scattered along the expanse of the space.

Immediately, Cain activated {Blink} and traveled to the other edge of the Island, the beach where Sue and Stan had fought with the mutant sandworms.

Quickly sitting down, he retrieved the [Records of Akasha] and placed it on the sand...

All the parts that Cain had just read through were just the introductory part of the time, as well as the index for herbs, gems, special stones, ores, creatures, and devils.

He placed the tome on a slightly elevated rocky platform and opened it to where he had last stopped, which was the section that introduced runecraft. He began reading...

"Runecraft is the essence of drawing out the laws of the world as a manifestation of power. It involves using special tools and substances to manipulate mana of all elemental forms to obey the laws that have been set out for."

"The nature of mana is to flow continuously. Mana occupies the entire expanse of the Cosmos and guides all the natural phenomena that occur in the universe. Runes allow us to be able to control and or alter the flow of this mana to benefit us and work in the direction we want it to go."

"Runecraft obeys certain rules and laws itself. It is governed by its structure and set of instructions it operates under. Runes are created only by understanding the basics of the arcane energy called mana."

"To truly understand and command mana, one must first know how to draw out the arcane symbols or alphabets. Following a particular set of patterns will allow the mana to flow in a particular path. The reaction of a group of arcane symbols will result in the formation of a unique rune. A collection of runes will lead to the formation of an array."

"Runes can be created from scratch or copied. The rune-master must have a compound understanding of the various elements involved in the rune he was planning to draw out."

"Runes can only be transcribed on surfaces that possessed the sufficient ability to conduct mana flow. Runes were very important aspects of magic, and runecraft was a very respected profession across the starry sea.

The only ones who could truly understand the essence of mana, being able to grasp the profundity of its ever-changing forms and flow patterns were only the special ones, or those who had dedicated hundreds of years in their studies. Even then, it is not a guarantee that an individual would be capable of runecraft.

Most individuals are not able to sense the faint and delicate flow patterns of mana, that was ever-present in the background of reality, just waiting to be bent at will."

"The first step in runecraft was being able to sense mana flow patterns. Through concentration, internal mana power could be used to interact with the external mana, with the soul as the anchor as well as the catalyst. Only those with powerful souls and a good affinity to mana would be able to sense it."

"The second step is being able to come in contact with these rogue streams of mana. Using a mana-rich liquid as the base, this mana will be able to be manifested in the physical realm. The two planes of existence would have to be interacted with at the same time, simultaneously.

The soul of the individual would have to hold on to the spirit realm, while the physical realm would be in contact with the mortal body of the individual trying to inscribe the rune."

"The balance required for this is very hard to achieve, and losing one's self is very easy. Only those with strong minds and souls would be able to accomplish this without losing their souls to madness after some time."

"The next step is the manipulation of mana. When the soul has come in contact with the streams of mana in the spiritual realm, it would have to manipulate it according to the set of patterns the physical body will be used to inscribe the runes. This process has to be completed with no margin for errors and simultaneously as well.

Once this is complete, the rune would be able to work as a direct manifestation of the spiritual in the physical, allowing the very laws of reality to reshape themselves."

"Mana shards, mana cores, and even devil orbs can interact with runes only on the basis that the runecrafter knew how to create sockets. Objects devoid of mana or that don't support the flow of mana are not compatible with runes at all."

"There are all sorts of runes, but the most common type, and also the easiest by far to transcribe, are the bestow runes. These types of runes were fairly easy to make, and grant certain boosts in specific or multiple stats, depending on the concept it is created with."

"When skills or spells are activated, or cast, a link between both realms is temporarily made, enabling the natural flow of mana to be altered, creating all sorts of strange and magical phenomena. This is the basis on which all skills and spells are created."

"Runecraft is a delicate art, as well as a science that involves the study of various magical and geometric theories, as well as planar mathematics that involves the interaction between the physical realm and the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm isn't a place that really exists separate from reality but is more like the flip side of a coin connected to the physical realm.

It is the background world that governs the magical aspect of reality. The spiritual realm and the physical realm were two sides of the same coin."

"All in all, a runecrafter must possess the aforementioned traits to be capable of growth, or even to be able to transcribe runes at all... "

Cain stared at the pages of the book before him with bated breath. Got lost in the contents of the following pages, completely enraptured by the knowledge within.

'There are so many aspects to runecrafting... Geometry and Planar mathematics are mostly of the physical aspect, and are not hard to grasp, while understanding mana and its relations with the physical and spiritual realms seems like a bunch...'

Cain had his brows crinkled as he flipped to the next page...

Meanwhile, as Cain had his head buried within the pages of a book, seeking out the mysteries of the universe, and the others rested, trained their skills, or searched for herbs, the flow of time was as uninterrupted as ever in other parts of the world...

***

EASTERN ISLAND...

A group of people gathered in a hall while surrounding someone who was seated in the only chair in the entire hall. They were all dressed like gangsters, however, they held various weapons, from swords to daggers to crossbows to spears. Some even held morningstars and huge wooden clubs. All of them had runes on exposed parts of their bodies as if to directly show off their power.

As for the person seated on the chair, a huge battle axe rested beside him, leaning against the chair. The ground beneath the axe was cracked, telling of the immense weight the axe possessed. The young man seated on the chair was also dressed like the group of cronies that stood all around him, except he radiated a far more sinister air.

Although he had good looks, the aura he gave off was just too foreboding, that those who saw him only recalled being stared down by a beast afterward. Runes also covered his body, even more so than the others, which told of the amount of power he had.

In a deep menacing voice, he called out to his goons;

"Alright boys! Let's go hunting! This Island has been cleared of those vermin devils. It is time we moved the conquest!"

Amidst the loud and wild cheering, he processes to pick up the axe that probably weighed over a ton like it was a twig. With a skillful spin, he balanced the axe across his shoulder as he walked out of the hall with his crowd of goons following in step...

***

WESTERN ISLAND...

A group of people could be seen fighting off a small group of {Blade devils} while trying to help a group of people into the building behind them, guarding them in the process. Amongst them, a young man in his teenage years was coordinating the group at his command as they cut down monster after monster.

Suddenly, a stronger {Hulking Behemoth} came rushing from the side, intending to destroy their formation by killing one of the people on that side.

Suddenly, with a bright flash, the young man flashed towards the monster with a pure white sword in his hands. As he swung the blade, the monster's head was immediately sent spinning, cleanly separated from the body of the monster.

The white body of the sword was still spotless. After killing the monster, he moved back toward the group that had almost killed all the monsters without a single casualty.

Letting out a sigh, the young man looked up stared, and stared at the grey skies overhead. His face was incredibly handsome with a head full of white hair that had glowing streaks.

"It's going to start raining soon isn't it Chloe?" he spoke in a soft voice towards a woman that stood beside him. The woman had extremely beautiful features, with raven black hair, and skin that was milky white.

Turning to look at the man, she replied in a voice laced with concern, "You should go rest, brother. Although it is important to save these people, the most important thing is still your health."

Shaking his head, the man replied in a determined voice;

"Soon, you will understand why I do all this Chloe. The only way we can stand against these monsters is if there are enough of us capable of pushing them back."

"But you defeated the {Broodmother} already! Isn't that enough?! Why can't we just spend the rest of our lives here now that it is safe?!"

"Ha... You will understand soon enough, Chloe..."

Upon saying this, he began walking into the building with the girl who still had the same worried frown plastered across her face...

***

SOUTHERN ISLAND...

Here, a group of people could be seen jumping from building to building. they moved as agile as monkeys, carrying the carcasses of slain mutated creatures on their backs. Leading this group was a girl who was the leader as she directed those behind her to move skillfully inorder to avoid the destroyed ground beneath. them

Although she was gifted with exceptionally beautiful facial features, why had a wild look in her eyes as though she was a female predator? Her body was lean and flexible, like that of a female cheetah, with all the right curves and angles in the right places with no excess fat in sight.

Upon reaching a particular building, they quickly entered inside. Inside said building, a lot of disheveled girls could be seen. There were no men present in the group.

Only when her eyes met this group of people did her expression soften. As soon as the girls in the crowd saw her, they called out excitedly,

"Big sis Leah is back!"

"Look! She even brought back some meat..."

"Yay! Meat!"

The girls looked very excited seeing her. As she walked up to them, one of the older, more mature-looking girls came forward and said to her with a tone filled with appreciation, "Thank you very much Leah. Without you, God knows what would have happened to us out there!. Truly, thank you!" the girl said while sobbing.

"Hey, it's ok, Naomi. As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to us. I'll make sure I protect you all." she said.

"However, I need you guys to do your part. If we want to survive, we need to fight against these damned creatures. We might even have to fight against other humans. So I need you guys to fight! Once we have eaten and regained some strength, we'll go out there and kill those monsters!"

Although they were scared, the words of Leah had managed to rile up the spirits of these girls.

"Yes! We will do as you say!" Naomi said whilst looking at Leah with eyes full of determination.

One of the girls following behind Leah whispered something into her ears, which caused her eyes to brighten up a bit...

"I just got a report from Sophie. All the devils have finally been cleared up after you defeated the {Broodmother}."

"Good... We move at dawn... Nothing is going to stop us from reaching the city." Leah said with conviction in her eyes.

***

All across the Campus now turned separate Islands, Devils of all shoes and sizes, most different from the ones Cain was familiar with, as well as mutant creatures infested the entire place. At every nook and cranny, creature affected by the {God Ash} lurked, and even the flora that had grown up to sizes way above normal were ready to claim the life of nearby unsuspecting victims.

Many groups of people had managed to gather together to either hide from these monsters or fight against them...

The ones who could fight and had survived so long were only able to do so because of their power which was on the same level as that of Cain and his group.

With the initial stages of the devil invasion complete, those who had the time to grow would finally have an opportunity to bare their fangs. They could be allies or the worst of foes.

Only time and fate could tell...