God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

A theory exists that animals evolve to fit their environments...

Creatures that live in snowy areas evolve to have thick fur to protect them from the biting cold.

Creatures that live deep in the oceans possess strange bodies that allow them to bear incredible amounts pf pressure and strain without trouble.

Creatures that live in jungles where there are predators left and right evolve to possess a natural camouflage.

Every living being in the world evolves over time. The magic of life. It's arcane nature to thrive even in the most extreme of places and climates.

However...

If an external stimuli is introduced, then things change, really fast.

Throves of creatures die out, and the ones that don't either follow suit after some time, or they adapt.

Adaptation is the seed of life. And magic... magic is the means, the ability to tamper with this base characteristic.

While not as visible in humans, it is especially obvious in Mutant Creatures. Beings that are forced to evolve if they do not want to die.

The moment Gwendolyn met the island, Cain sensed it; Thousands of eyes turned to them; the area where the most prey was. Truly, humans, with their weak, delicate bodies, would be nothing more than snacks for these defective abominations.

A strange sound seemed to spread from beneath the island like a wave, responding to their arrival. Following it was an earthquake on a greater magnitude than anything before.

"It's agitated." Hunter muttered to himself.

Dan sighed, "And hungry."

Seeing the ship dock itself on the shore, Hunter's slight creased brows finally relaxed.

Cain and the others were quick to get of the ship. Although there were hundreds of people ready to fight, in order to make things quick and simple, Cain coild only select a limited number of people that coild hold their own against a large number of creatures on their own

Cain had sighted Hunter and Dan a long time ago. He quickly approached,

"The quickest way..." Cain said.

Hunter nodded briskly, "Follow me."

Cain nodded as well and stared at the Western Island properly, perhaps for the first time. The remnants of the old world still remained. The foundations of broken buildings and a few semi-destroyed skyscrapers still lay everywhere. Thanks to this, the streets still remained the same, apart from all the rubble, skeletal remains, and broken down vehicles.

'The roads are narrow. Getting a lot of people through is going to be difficult.'

In a battle against Mutant Beasts, giving one another space was very important. This was to make sure friendly fire was kept at a minimum, and to make sure it was possible for multiple people to attack a single Mutant Creature.

Even worse was moving a tone of people whilst protecting them.

'However, there is no need for all of that.'

Indeed, the most difficult part of this was getting behind the walls. Everything else was secondary. As long as they got behind the walls, either him, or Evangeline, or anyone who had a spatial movement ability, would be able to take a large number of people away.

Activating {Spatial Jump} would consume a lot of mana, but it still won't move the required amount ot people.

This was a problem he would have to solve before the time was right.

Cain didn't need to say anything as Hunter was already on the move. With so few people, a bit over twenty, each of them at Tier 1 or almost at Tier 1, they moved quickly.

Obviously, the Mutant Creatures would not just wait there. In fact, most of them were already on their way to the ship. The rest chased after Cain and the others.

"So how do you plan on getting through the ones at the wall?" Running beside Cain, Hunter posed a question.

Cain grinned, "We don't need to go through anything."

Hunter was a bit perplexed, "What do you mean?"

Cain had already thought about this. If they were running on borrowed time, wouldn't it be better to avoid fighting altogether?

Seeing the look of confusion on Hunter's face, Cain explained,

"We aren't going through them, but over them."

"Over them?! Flying? How is that even..."

A look of realization settled on Hunter's face. Cain smiled, then opened his mouth and chanted,

"Astral Avatar: Golden Devil Wyrm."

The names of spells and skills were not chanted in the language that they were all familiar with. Although they could understand it, it was not the same. The best thing to call it would be runic language, and it was deciphered automatically by the system into something they could intrinsically understand.

{Astral Avatar} was the skill that let him manifest a portion of his soul as a semi-illusory being, object, or whatnot.

A rune born from the memory of a burningnstar, and contained within that star was a dying God.

It didn't have a lot of attack potential, but if there was one thing it was, it was big. Big enough to carry twenty plus people and still have enough room for a lot more.

The moment the words rolled off his lips, the ground beneath them rumbled, and from the darkness of shadows pouring into the streets, a giant six feet wide, sixty meter long snake-like creature emerged. This creature was a smoldering black with golden patterns and runes etched onto its body.

It was covered in pitch black scale, and it's head was adorned with a crown of horns that stretched all the way to its back. The snake had two simple razor sharp fangs protruding from its mouth, and its eyes radiated a cold bloodlust.

"Monster!" Calio, who was forcibly dragged along by Manny for this mission yelled in fright, and drew his bow aiming to fell the creature with a singular strike.

"Fuck!" Vincent yelled as well, taking aim with his gun. The others who had no idea what it was also drew their weapons, pointing it at the creature that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Only a few; Cain, Jenny, Ignis, Hunter, and Evangeline... seemed calm when facing the creature

Cain moved closer to the creature and stared at it. It stared back, a forked tongue slithering out of its mouth.

This snake was a part of him but it was also its own being. It possessed a sort of sentience that was not fully sentient in a way. It was not a beast, not in any sense of the word...

Instead it was a manifestation. Something existing between real and unreal, between two parallel realities. A creature of mind and flesh...

With a leap, Cain jumped onto the creature's head. Ignoring the incredulous stares, he caressed the creature's scales. They were hard and painful. However, they were also a bit translucent.

It was odd...

"What are you all waiting for? Hop on quickly."

The amount of Mutant Creatures that could fly around these parts was quite low, so Cain wasn't particularly bothered by anything attacking from the skies. Instead, the creatures he was most worried about were the {Sea Drakes}, who's skills made it so that sniping them from the skies wasn't impossible.

The rest exchanged glances. Having met Ruby, they quickly acceited it for what it was. Perhaps he has gone on another adventure and acquired another pet.

"Tch... I want a pet too." Vincent grumbled as he forced his body into the giant snake creature. Looking around, he frowned,

"So... What are we doing on this thing? How are we going to get there on a giant snake? Digging underground? I'm sorry, but if that is the case, I'd like to-"

"Wind Weaver."

The {Astral Avatar} didn't have the means to achieve true flight, so instead, Cain made a vacuum of air around it that reduces air resistance, whilst providing lift and air as a propellant.

"Son of a-"

The nebulous creature slowly rose from the ground. The sound of a nearby stampede echoed in their ears as the creatures serpentine body rose into the sky, rippling like waves.

The vacuum of air created by {Wind Weaver} was powerful enough to destroy what was left of the nearby buildings.

Rising the Wyrm, they rode towards the center of the island.

This way, they would arrive in a few minutes.

"Incredible... What is this thing? It isn't a mutant creature, that's for sure. Is it a skill?!" Steve chattered from behind. Cain turned to him,

"It is a skill, but a somewhat unique skill."

Rubbing his hands on the scales, Blaze muttered under his breath,

"It feels so real."

Cain chuckled. The others also seemed amazed and enthralled by the mystical creature. He couldn't blame them. Although magic has become their reality, it wasn't everyday someone got to experience something like this; flying on the back of a giant beast.

Cain heaved a deep breath. Right now he had to concentrate.

"Eva, Jenny... I'll leave the rest to you two."

Since he was controlling the {Astral Avatar} and activated {Wind Weaver} as well, his mind was going to be fully occupied. Meaning should something unexpected happen, he would be unable to do anything about it.

Sure enough, the {Sea Drakes}, perhaps noticing them, or being controlled by a high power let out shrill cries and roars towards the sky. Then, the opened their mouths.

Numerous jets of highly pressurized water shot at the {Golden Devil Wyrm} like they were seeker missiles, accurately intent on striking it fown from teh skies.

Her red eyes swirling like pools of blood, Evangeline began chanting. At the same time, Jenny positioned her rifle in her arms and fired the first shot.