God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Nursing a bump on his head, Cain glared daggers at Lucia...

She wore a strange, almost apologetic look on her face, but seemed too hesitant to give in and apologize.

"You were asking for it, okay?"

Cain snorted, "Sure, sure... Whatever."

With his healing factor in place, the bump would disappear in a few seconds. However, that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Lucia sighed and sat on the bed. Her face turned dark,

"We truly don't have any other options. Although this dome protects us, it is also a prison, in a way."

Cain frowned. Turning around, he stared at her.

A true beauty in her own right, Lucia had slightly tanned skin with very busty proportions. However, her demeanor was on the rougher side, so she seemed less feminine than the women he was used to.

That also made relating with her far more easier.

Cain sighed, "Well, I can understand that."

Lucia turned to stare at him,

"What were you up to after the world began breaking apart? Did you fight Devils? Or have you been seated on your ass all this time?"

Cain smiled, "Hehe... How I wish I could sit on my ass. How unfortunate indeed..."

Noticing Lucia's curious gaze, Cain eventually gave in,

"When the apocalypse began, we were first attacked by Devils. We managed to fight against them for a while, but we lost a lot of people in the process."

Cain frowned, trying to pull the memories from the depths of his mind,

"So far, I've fought terrifying mutant creatures, traveled to different dimensions, gone through hell and back, multiple times, even. So yeah... No time to rest on my ass at all."

Lucia's eyes widened, "You aren't joking?"

Cain rolled his eyes, "Do I look like I am?"

Lucia sighed, "That's amazing!"

Her eyes sparkled like the old sky filled with stars,

"What different dimensions? Did you go to another world entirely?! Or is there something even beyond our realm of existence that-"

Cain had to call a time out as he pushed Lucia back a bit,

"Chill out, would you?"

A slightly sweet smell, like cloves and cinnamon assaulted his nose.

'Too close!'

Clearing her throat, Lucia scooted over a bit, leaving him.a bit of breathing space.

Clearing her throat, Lucia gave him a serious stare,

"Over here, things were quite different..."

Cain wanted to say something, but decided not to. Perhaps he could gain a bit of information from her this way.

For all he knew, while he was somehow a prisoner, he was still being treated with respect.

Maybe because that bastard general needed him still. It wasn't clear...

Lucia continued,

"The Devils came to stay. Most, if not all of the Mutant Creatures were killed by them. Before the domes came to be, we managed to hold them off at various strongholds, doing everything we could to scrape by and gather survivors."

Cain frowned, "Was this before or after the bombardment?"

Lucia fell silent for a second before replying,

"After."

"Is that so..." Cain said, prompting her to continue,

"Then, the Major was the first to find a god remnant. At first, we were all relieved..."

A smile appeared on her face, but it was quickly replaced by a dark look,

"But that didn't last long. Although we are safe within the boundaries of the dome, we still need to find water, food, and other basic utilities."

"All the squads sent out on missions were either wiped out, or a few barely escaped. Most of the time, those that did escape were corrupted by Devils Essence. With no way to fight it because they were top scared to battle even more Devils, they slowly fell down the path of corruption until they turned into frightening abominations."

Cain remained silent as she explained their circumstances...

He sighed internally, 'In the end, our circumstances aren't too different. We are all trapped in this place for now. Well, only temporarily.'

The greatest obstacle Cain had currently was the domes magic dampening effect. If he could find a way to circumvent it, he would create a {Spatial Gate} to the ship. From there, it was only a matter of how many mana shards he was willing to burn through.

Cain sighed, "So... Now that you've said all this, what do you want me to do?"

Lucia stared him straight in the eyes,

"I'm asking that you sincerely consider the Maj– the General's offer. Losing your life and the lives of your friends for something like a ship isn't justified. I can tell you are plenty strong. Don't you think that would be wasteful?"

Cain shrugged, "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just trying to be a daredevil and push the line. However..."

His eyes became menacing,

"One thing I don't respond kindly to, is a threat. Call it all you want, and dress it how you like. A threat's a threat. Besides, why do you earnestly believe I'll lose my life if it comes down to it."

From what he'd seen so far, the only one in the entire camp that could threaten his life, was General Arltzwalt.

Although Lucia was a potentially strong opponent, she wasn't enough to take him.

The only thing he believed could be the cause of his end, was the stupid dome. Maybe there were other functions he didn't know the blasted thing had besides

So he would rather bid his time patiently, learning more before deciding what to do.

Lucia fell silent. Cain had no idea what she was thinking, but he didn't care. Although he didn't want anyone to die, he would still do things his own way.

Nothing no one said or did would change that...

Lucia got up from the bed and calmly walked towards the door.

Her eyes were filled with determination,

"I haven't given up. I'll come back when you've thought about it. Hopefully, you'd have changed your mind."

Cain sighed, "No I won't."

His mind churned, 'Does she plan on using this to keep an eye on me?'

Although this lady didn't seem threatening, he couldn't be too sure. After all, she was on the enemy's side. He absolutely couldn't trust her, under no circumstances.

Cain wasn't under the illusion that all humans felt the need to work together during these trying times.

There were some humans that would still selfishly pursue their goals. He was one of those people...

However, what made him different, was that he wouldn't do so at the expense of others. Some humans didn't share the same sentiments.

With a huff, Lucia spun on her heels and exited the room.

Cain waited for a few minutes, before getting up. With a casual check using {Eye of Clairvoyance}, he was able to see that while there were no guards directly outside the door, there was still tight security.

'Escaping from this place without drawing blood will prove to be difficult. I haven't heard from Hunter since too.'

Cain walked back to the bed with a sigh, feeling defeated.

He smiled, 'On the other hand, perhaps this truly is a chance to rest.'

He had been on the move for a while now. The tension, and the back to back battles he had fought had surely taken a toll on him. Hell, he had even died at a certain point.

A little rest was well deserved.

'I'll think about escaping tomorrow.'

With that, he curled up into a ball on the bed and closed his eyes...

***

"So, how did it go?" Khan asked, a subtle smile on his face.

Lucia snorted, her face twisted in a scowl. She remained silent for some time, leaning down the railing of the outpost.

"He's not stupid, at least."

Khan raised a brow, "At least?"

"He's not stupid."

Khan chuckled, "Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

Lucia frowned, "He's not stupid, and yet he let himself be captured by us."

Khan laughed. His accented voice traveled softly into the ear of the listener,

"Perhaps it wasn't his choice to make? You believed he was dead when we rescued him. I'm sure he didn't have a say in what happened next."

Lucia sighed, "But what if he let himself and the others get captured intentionally? What if this is all a part of his master plan. I'm telling you, Khan. I couldn't see through him at all!"

"Is there a point to it?"

"The general plans on getting something from him– a ship that can let us leave this place safely. However, we can't make it to the ship without his help, I'm sure the general knows of this already. If he doesn't agree to it, we might as well just starve to death here. If he does, I want to make sure he had no ulterior motives."

Khan nodded thoughtfully, "So on other words, you don't trust him."

Lucia shook her head, her expression the definition of unsettled,

"No, it's not that.'

Khan was surprised, "Then what could it be?"

Lucia painfully wished for a cigarette at this point. Perhaps she could use the full pain of addiction to numb out everything she was feeling.

Staring at the sky above the dull brown, shimmering dome of mana, her eyes were misty.

The moon hung in a portion of the sky, swallowing the horizon in some areas.

A portion of the city was bathed in the glorious celestial light, while other parts were shrouded in darkness and eternal shadows.

Within those shadow lurked creatures worthy of the most harrowing nightmares.

A strange feeling welled up in her...

"The problem is I already trust him too much. He must be using some sort of magic on my psyche, or something..."