God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Hiding under the remains of a dilapidated building that still had a decent portion of its roof intact, was Cain and the others.

The house was small, so it was a bit crowded for all of them.

Cain had a frown on his face as he slightly peeked through a small window.

Under the soft glare of the moonlight, the remains of a once great city could be seen.

"It's really been destroyed, huh..." Hunter muttered under his breath.

Luke sighed, "And that's not even the worst part."

Staring at the City, especially the center of the city, one wouldn't find it hard to see the absolutely enormous black spire that reached towards the heavens.

Staring at it filled Cain with dread, and a major reason for this feeling, was the sheer numbers of Devils going on and out of this spire.

The sky above was filled with Devils taking off or landing from numerous protrusions on the surface of the Tower.

Across the body, Devils of various sizes crawled along the walls of it.

And to top things off, the most terrifying thing about this Tower, was the existence of a creature coiled around the surface of it.

If one didn't look closely, one might thing the creature was a part of the Tower itself.

Cain sucked in a deep breath, "That thing is at least Tier 2."

The creature resembled a giant serpent witj its blueish black scales and horned head. Apart from that, for some reason, he couldn't make out any more details of the creature. If he didn't feel the threat of death coming for

Lukas' face was black as he stared at Cain,

"Let me tell you now... I have no plans to get killed."

Cain frowned, "No body is telling you to do anything."

Then he sighed again, "We have to think of something."

Hunter shrugged as he gazed out a window. The house they currently occupied, was a house located on the outskirts of the City. It was fairly detached, and must have been part of a local community close to the City.

However, the destruction that had come had completely destroyed the other houses in the neighborhood, and had partially destroyed this one.

"For all we know, there cannot be any survivors left in the City. If there are any at all, its best not to think of the things they are going through."

Jenny hugged her knees closer to her body. Her nose was a bit red due to the freezing cold,

"So what do we do now? Do we wait and see? Or do we try and enter the City to check for survivors?"

Lukas snorted, "Absolutely not. We might as well just give this up for now and come back when we are stronger. Enter the City, you say? Isn't that stupidity?"

Jenny frowned, "So what? We should just give up on them? If we could survive,then there's no doubt in my heart that others would as well."

As much as Cain wanted to smack Lukas in the mouth to shut him up, he couldn't help but agree with his reasoning.

At the same time, he could understand Jenny's sentiments.

It was conflicting...

Luke shook his head, "As much as I hate this bastard, he's right. We can't afford to risk our lives playing hero. Just the thought of stepping into the City makes me nervous."

The sheer number of Devils in the City was alarming to say the least. And this was based on what they could see.

Underneath the destroyed foundations, perhaps there were already ten times as many Devils as they could see.

Worst of all, Devils are smart. Much smarter than Mutant Creatures, and perhaps even more than Humans too.

Staring into the darkness, Hunter let out a foggy breath of air,

"Talking about all this now is pointless. It's best we get some rest first."

Roselle finished wiping her blade before sheathing it,

"I agree."

Cain sighed. Silence fell asleep everyone became engaged with their thoughts.

'Hunter, what do you think?'

A voice spoke within his mind,

'Personally, I'd like to believe that all hope isn't lost, although that doesn't seem likely.' He said indifferently.

Somehow, Cain didn't believe him at all...

Hunter continued, 'In the end, nothiyis for certain.'

He stared out the window, 'Look over there...'

Cain turned his head as well to stare out the window. He frowned,

'What am I looking at?'

'Look... See those scorch marks? They show the City was bombarded by those missiles. However, look closer...'

Cain followed his words and looked a bit closer. Sure everyone, he noticed something odd...

Although most of the high-rises in the Cithw were destroyed, it was only to a certain extent. Many of the smaller buildings were still fairly intact too.

The only part of the City that was extensively destroyed was the outskirts. Apart from that and a few scorch marks, the City wasn't in terrible shape.

'I see...' Cain said, brightness returning to his eyes.

If what Hunter was implying turned out to be true, then perhaps all hope wasn't lost.

Hunter sighed, 'Still... We can't be hundred percent certain. Also, we are only seeing one part of the City. Perhaps...'

Suddenly,the mental connection was broken.

Cain turned around and stared at Evangeline. A subtle, but strange smile hung from her lips.

Cain spoke hurriedly, "What did you find?"

Everyone paid close attention. Evangeline chuckled lightly. Walking slowly, she picked a toppled chair and sat down,

"For starters, there are still humans alive in the City."

Lukas frowned, "Really?"

Evangeline threw him a passive stare, "Yes."

Cain rubbed his forehead,

"Okay then. But how have they managed to survive with all those Devils around?"

Cain had thought as much, but he still found it hard to believe.

Evangeline raised three fingers,

"There are actually three groups of humans still living in the City."

Cain's eyes narrowed, "How so?"

"From what I could see, these communities of humans still alive are being protected by large magic domes that keep the Devils out for now. They are in different parts of the City surrounding the spire, and these parts have all been affected by magic to some extent."

Cain placed his fingers on his chin as he thought,

'So they managed tofond their own way to survive. A magic barrier, huh...'

Evangeline continued, "But they only cover a tiny portion of the City. The rest of the City is overrun by Devils and {Zombies}."

"Even more {Zombies?" Jenny said with displeasure written all over her face.

Evangeline sighed, "Yes. To make matters worse, the Devils seem to be using the {Zombies} to try to find a way through the barriers."

Cain nodded, "Then this means there are indeed survivors. However, the point still stands. Do we make contact or not..."

Cain turned back to Evangeline, "Also, what do you mean by 'affected by magic'?"

Evangeline stared at him with indifference,

"The magic from the barriers seems to not only guard them, but also affect the area surrounding it, changing the landscape greatly."

Cain frowned, "But that seems..."

Evangeline cut him off, "Far stretched? Doesn't seem so to me. This is magic, after all."

Cain sighed, "Is that so..."

Hunter spoke up, "What you say might be true, but what sort of human magic can create barriers that can keep these Devils out?"

Lukas frowned and spoke up all of a sudden,

"What if they aren't the work of humans?"

Cain turned to stare at him, realization building up in his mind...

Everyone seemed to thing of the same thing all at once,

'The Celestials...'

Lukas walked briefly to stare out the window as well,

"It is possible. There's no rule stating that the remanats of a god can't fall into the City and spread its power. In fact, knowing how things have been, I expect it to be even more probable, consider the initial population of the City."

Just like how at the beginning of the apocalypse, a larger number of Devils were spawned at locations with a greater number of humans, then perhaps the same could be said for the god remnants as well.

"So the humans re using the power of the Celestials to keep the Devils at bay."

Evangeline nodded, paused for a moment, then added,

"For now."

Cain sighed...

He clasped his hands together, then shut his eyes.

Making rash decisions now was a recipe for disaster. If he wasn't careful, they would all die. Even he wasn't confident of getting out of the City alive should something bad happen.

The Cithw have off a heavy stench of Death, so Cain knew for a fact that a lot of it must have happened already. He liked to believe he wasn't better than the dead. If they could die, so could he...

In the end, he had to make a decision...

"I've decided. We go in."

Lukas sighed, "Are you sure? For all we know, the remnant humans could view us as hostile too. If they are making use of a Celestial's power, then more likely than not, they are also under it's influence."

Cain nodded, "I'm aware of that. But it still has to be done."

He frowned deeply, "If we want to put things in order and get rid of these parasites, we need to face the issue head on."

Lukas sighed, but eventually agreed.

"Eat, rest up and prepare. In a few hours, we head for the City..."