God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Damn it! Get back!" Floki yelled as he stashed his head tower shield into a Devil. However, he failed to push the baleful creature back.

With a snarl, the Devil swipe with its claw, tearing through his face. Floki yelled as he took several steps back, blood dripping from his face.

Just as the Devils was about to land another blow, Rollo came in between them. Raising his Greatsword, he parried the first strike, but a shorter Devil running on all fours took advantage of his destabilized center of gravity to lunge forward, pinning him to the ground.

His eyes contorting in panic, Rollo tried pushing it off, but to no avail...

'Fuck!' was the only thing he could think as the Devil's jaws snapped towards his head.

A brief second later, said head was sent flying, a fountain of blood the only link between the severed head and its shoulders.

Appearing from the ether, Manny swung his blades like a demonic being. Leaving multiple shadows and after images behind.

The larger Devil that had nearly plucked Floki's eyes right out of the socket lunged at him, but he deflected the monster 's strikes continuously.

His speed picking up, Mannb manifested the two extra {Devil Arms}, now wielding four blades at once.

Spreading his feet apart, he let out a short yell as he burst into lethal action. His eyes glowed with a strange power, and his blades became enveloped in the power of the winds,

"Wind Mutilation!"

His body and blades turned into a blur as a series of shallow cuts his blade made turned the Devil into a bloody mess in half a second.

Blood running from his nose, Manny paid it no mind, simply wiping it off with his sleeve.

He turned around,

"Are you guys okay?"

Floki struggled to get up, "Yes."

Manny nodded, a look of doubt on his face,

"Are you sure? You look like a Devil almost clawed your eye out."

Floki suppressed his budding anger,

"What do you think happened?! Forget it."

Manny laughed, "This isn't how to say thank you, you know..."

Rollo frowned as he picked himself up. Scowling at the blood covering his armor and hands, he spoke in a gruff tone,

"Luke and Hunter... Where are they?"

Manny scratched his head, "They are running from a giant Devil with four arms. They said my help is far more needed here."

Rollo sighed, then mumbled to himself,

"Just how many Devils are here?!"

Manny shrugged, "According to Hunter, a little over a two thousand, minus the {Sentinel Drones}. He also said; 'Ninety-five percent of them are Tierless Devils. Do with that information what you will.' I think..."

Floki frowned, "'Ninety-five percent of two thousand is nineteen hundred."

Rollo sucked in a deep breath,

"Which means there's most likely than not, a hundred Tier 1, or higher Devils trapped in here with us."

Floki dismissed his shield. Leaning against a wall, he took a shaky hand to his face. Wincing in pain as his hand made contact with the open wound on his face, he summoned a bottle of HP regen potion from his inventory.

Wiping what he could onto the wound and drinking the rest up, he frowned,

"Why would Cain want to trap us here with so many Devils?"

Manny grinned, "Isn't that obvious? It's so we can kill as many as possible."

Rollo frowned, "But to what end? It isn't necessary, so what could it be?"

Floki chimed in, "Perhaps he has a personal vendetta with the Devils."

Rollo nodded, "Or he has something to gain from killing many Devils." He said, not very far from the truth.

Manny stared at them with confusion on his eyes,

'What are they talking about?'

Every the oblivious one, he had a hard time seeing beyond the seams of the fabric.

Still, because Cain was, for a lack of better words, their leader, he had put them in this situation. Meaning their lives were on his head. Which wasn't comfortable for anyone involved in the dynamic.

Now that the initially large number of Devils was dying down, things would get much more dangerous.

For some reason, the more terrifying Devils were bidding their time, not yet striking.

If what Hunter said was to be trusted, then of the hundred Tier 1 Devils, they had only seen three so far, which were the giant {Flame Devils} and {Frost Devil} that had landed dead center of the black dome.

Rollo picked his Greatsword,

"Regardless of how this plays out, we now have a score to settle."

Staring at the darkness embracing the distance, his eyes narrowed as a terrible wave of bloodlust washed over him.

'Its finally time, huh...'

Floki nodded, his deep voice booming as he resummoned his tower shield and war axe,

"I couldn't agree more. That Cain has some answers to give. And I'll make sure I live to hear them."

***

Cain, clueless to the repercussions of his actions, was busy heaving for breath.

"Damn it! Shit! Hurts so bad!" He tilted his head, eyes dilating rapidly as he tried to fight through the pain.

His main motivation for attempting to wipe so many Devils out at once, was the quest that had been given to him by the system a fairly long time ago. He had forgotten about it for a moment, but was quickly reminded after killing the {Miasma Devil}.

***

{System Quest}: Your mandatory quest from the system has been updated.

Stage 1: Kill 10,000 Tierless Devils and Save 100 humans. (Cleared)

Rewards: +100 to all stats.

Stage 2: Kill 100,000 Tierless Devils, 10,000 Tier 1 Devils, and save 1,000 humans.

Rewards: Part II of the Scar of the Astral Seeker Rune.

Stage 3: ???

Stage 4: ???

Stage 5: ???

Quest Reward: You will acquire the title, {Pioneer}. Details of the title will be released upon completion of the quest.

Note: Failure to complete this quest in 12 months will result in the death of the host.

***

'The hill just got a lot steeper, huh...'

The {Scar of the Astral Seeker} was one of the few runes Cain had attached to his body.

***

{Scar of the Astral Seeker}: There once was a creature who dreamed of a burning star. Enamored by its splendor, he decided to paint a picture. In doing so, his world, body, and soul were consumed by the star...

And so, by a twist of fate, the creature became a star as well...

{+300% to Control. Comes with added skill, Astral Avatar lvl 1}.

{Astral Avatar} lvl1: The manifestation of an Avatar that grants the host incredible control of all the energies flowing within his body. The skill remains active until it is deactivated by the host.

{Note}: This rune is a part of a series of runes and the skill, Astral Avatar, will be taken to the next level when the host acquires another part of the series.

***

He had gotten it a while back, and has thought it would be very difficult to obtain the other parts.

'Well, it still is difficult. But at least I now know how to go about getting it.'

The ability, {Astral Avatar} was one that was, for lack of better words, situational. It wasn't an ability he used often, but something told him that it was something very important.

The story behind the piece of arcane knowledge was quite tragic.

A mortal creature witnessed the death of a Celestial, and tried to recreate the power it exuded upon its death. In commiting such a a folly, it ended up destroying its world, body, and even its own soul in the process.

The only good that came out of it, was that this creature achieved its wish, and became a star as well.

Cain had no idea who drew the rune, nor if the story was true or false. All he was sure of, thought, was that the story wasn't complete.

This meant the power of the rune in his hands also wasn't complete. Curiosity killed the cat, and in this case, Cain might as well would be growing whiskers and a tail soon.

He was eager to get to the bottom of this mystery, as he could tell there was far more to it than what the system was willing to tell for now.

Still...

"I've really gone and outdone myself this time, huh..."

Fighting Devils was far more exhausting and dangerous than going against Mutant Beasts.

While the Beasts were more ferocious, the Devils were wicked and vile creatures that had no care for their lives and bodies. They came at him without regard, trying their very best to at least inflict a wound on him.

Cain frowned to himself,

'So far, I haven't managed to come across many Tier 1 Devils apart from those two idiots.'

Since his first attack, Cain had made sure to stay as far away as possible from the center of the black dome he had created. From what he could see, the {Frost Devil} was assisting the {Flame Devils} to heal its severed arm.

Once that was taken care of, they would both come looking for him, leveling the entire place down in the process. Before that happened, he had to make sure he had taken care of most of the Devils running about.

Evangeline and Lukas were already handling one of the {Flame Devils} in the {Shadow World}, so that was that...

His job was to stay alive as possible, and distract the two huge Devils from the others.

This was his idea, and so, he had no problem shouldering most of the weight.

With a sigh, Cain got back up to his feet.

His wounds were closing far much slowly than before, but they were closing at the very least.

He had lost a lot of blood, but that issue was also slowly being fixed by {Blood Restitution}.

Raising his slightly bent head, Cain stared at the squadron of Devils standing before him.

'So this was their plan...'

The Devils were smart creatures. They were well aware of the cruel restrictions that existed on them the moment they stepped onto this world.

So to make sure they killed these humans, they sent the chaff; the weaker and easily replaceable Devils their way. The stronger, more resourceful Devils would then come in and reap the benefits.

Now that most of the weaker Devils were dead, it was time for them to clean up.

Taking a step forward, a Devil with a far more human look than Cain had ever seen on a Devil spoke. Its lips parted into a smile to reveal two rows of shiny, pristine teeth,

"Human... Are you well rested?"

Sensing something different about this Devil, Cain summoned {Platinum Genesis},

"I'm rested enough."

The Devil's inverted, reptile-like iris's expanded with glee,

"I've never smelt a human as strong as you before."

The Devil raised its hand. The rest behind moved quickly, attempting to surround both of them.

Cain quickly recognized his error.

A grim chuckle escaped from his mouth as he got into a stance,

'Shit. I'm screwed...'