God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Stop..."

Cain felt a warmth, unlike nothing he had ever experienced in his life wrapped around him from the back.

Cain instantly felt all his bloodlust and anger melt away like freshly fallen snow in the morning sunlight...

"Susan?"

Although it seemed as though a lot of time had passed, it was barely ten seconds since they had been ambushed. During this time, Susan could only watch as the events played out before her very eyes happened too fast for her to react.

However, when she saw Cain about to kill Li, she snapped out of it instantaneously...

"Stop... Don't do it!" Susan said, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. The entire room fell I into a deep silence for the umpteenth time.

Cain could feel the warmth burrow into his body like the soft rays of morning sunshine. He had never felt anything like it in his life.

'What is this?'

All his life, Cain had been somewhat removed from regular human emotions. He had limited social interactions, and even those were always filled with malice and hatred. This caused him to be under the illusion that most humans were the same.

To him, they all had some sort of perverse corruption within their hearts, and he isn't excluded from that fate as well. Because he knew exactly what sort of devils he bred within his heart, he figured it would be the same for all humans as well.

And until today, apart from a handful of encounters, his theory had always been proven right.

"Cain, I know you aren't a killer," David said, his eyes filled with concern.

'David...'

Cain looked at the eyes of Li who stared at him with a sneer on his face. However, when he looked deeper into his eyes, the only emotions he was able to see within them, were fear and hatred...

'Am I that much of a monster?'

At this point, all the anger within him had turned into empty emptiness stifling sadness. All of this was because the attack of the {Phantasma} had caused the emotions he hid within his heart to be greatly amplified.

"Ha..." Cain let out a tired sigh as he put his blade down. A flash of light later and the blade had been transferred back into his inventory.

"You are right... I'm not going to kill you."

Cain had never thought taking another human's life would ever be an option. When he had fought against Hunter, he made sure to hold back from killing him as much as possible.

"However, I have no intentions of letting you all go scot-free..." Cain said as he gazed at them with cold eyes.

"If you think after all this, we are going to drop our weapons, you are greatly mistaken." Li said fire in his eyes as he clutched his broken arm, "If you want a fight, a fight is all you are going to get!"

For them to drop their weapons would be to give up their pride, as well as put their lives in the hands of another. Anyone who had survived so long would understand the gravity of doing so. No one wanted to be at the mercy of another, especially someone they barely knew.

"Yeah! If you think we are going to give up just like that, then you are some strong shit, buddy." Stan said as he got up from the ground. The metallic armor on his body barely had a scratch on it despite the heavy attack from Blaze, "Besides, that attack barely tickled.

I'm sure we can take you guys on!" he said with a grin on his metal-covered face.

Jenny who had been contemplating surrender suddenly put on a hardened expression. Her hand still on the trigger, she spoke to Cain, "You attack him again, and I'll put a bullet through you."

Although there was no wind, her hair seemed to valiantly flutter, her person brimming with a heroic aura.

Cain paused for a while, taking everything that had just happened in...

'Humans are so complicated... Some of them will keel over the instant they run into a wall tougher, while others will run back and hit that wall harder. Such a strange species...'

Before the apocalypse, Cain had run into many a bully. And every time he had shown them just a bit of his capabilities, they always ran away with their tails tucked between their legs. Now, he had come in contact with people whose spirits weren't easily shaken.

Then had shown him the other side of human nature, something he had never seen before.

"Hahaha... You guys are a real piece of work." Cain couldn't help but let out a complicated laugh.

Everyone stared at him in confusion. At that moment, the heavy atmosphere that had been weighing down everyone in the room died down a little bit They all subconsciously let out sighs of relief and lowered their weapons.

"Hey, hey, has he finally lost his mind?!" Sue said as she lowered her magic staff.

"Probably..." Blaze said as he lowered his weapon as well.

"You kids give me all sorts of headaches..." David plopped to the ground as he massaged his temples.

"Seems like we all got off on the wrong foot," Turning to the still-alert Jenny, he said with a forced smile on his face, "Would you all like to join our group?"

Jenny fell silent for a while before replying, "Why should we trust you?! You just tried to attack us. How do we know you won't attack us again in the future?!" No matter how much she tried to hide the apprehension on her face, Cain saw straight through it.

This time, rather than Cain replying, it was Susan who spoke up ...

"Because if we don't team up with us, there is no way for any of us to survive what's coming..."

Everybody was surprised when Susan said this...

Cain stared at her with a grave expression, "Susan, what do you mean? What's going on?"

"This is what I was about to tell you. We are all in great danger... I doubt if we can survive what is coming even with you on our side, Cain." Susan said, a dark expression settling on her face.

"Tell us what's going on," Li said as he retrieved a few HP regen potions from his inventory and poured them down his throat. He stood up straighter before backing up slowly away from Cain.

"The devils... they are coming."

"Devils? We've killed more than a few devils already. What's so special about these?" Jenny said as she finally stowed her weapon away.

"It's best you see it with your own eyes..."

***

This little incident had been concluded fairly quickly with no significant events occurring. From the urgency of Susan's tone, they could tell that the situation required haste.

Susan led them toward the outside of the gymnasium before she jumped up towards the roof of the building.

"What the hell happened here?!" Li said in shock as his eyes scanned the surrounding area.

It could've been just luck or protection from some divine entity that decided to look down upon Urbus at that time, but the gymnasium was surprisingly the only building that was not touched by the madness of the night and early hours of the morning.

The destroyed buildings, the scorched earth, and the faint scent of dried blood still lingered in the air due to the sheer amount of mutant beasts that had been killed.

"It seems you guys haven't been out here today?" Cain asked.

"Yeah... We needed to get food for the others still in the safe room. Also, only lunatics would leave safety when explosions are happening outside." Stan said.

"Then you missed one hell of a party." Turning to Jenny who was standing a little bit farther from him, he spoke loudly, "If things go downhill, can I count on your cooperation? Let us all fight together. I'm not asking you to lay down your weapons, nor am I telling you to obey us.

Let's just fight to live..."

Cain could see now that he had once again been looking at things the wrong way. Exerting dominance over a group of people, especially a group of obviously strong people required not only a display of strength but trust...

Cain realized that Jenny and the others attacked him even though they knew he was stronger for two reasons. One, even though he was stronger than them individually, they still could beat him. If not for his {Seal} skill, he wouldn't have been able to evade Jenny's attack.

From there, if Jenny's attack dealt a lot of damage, or inflicted a negative status effect on him, he wouldn't be able to fight with all his strength.

The other reason was they didn't trust him one bit...

Not only had he threatened them the moment he saw them, but he had also tried to attack them as well, which when he looked at it now, didn't make a lot of sense. He looked back at how he had handled things since the start of all this madness and he came to a realization...

"Different strengths should be applied at different times. Those with a blade should know when to keep it sheathed, and when it should be drawn. Only when one intends to kill, should the surface of your blade see the sunlight."

With these thoughts in mind, he turned to Hunter who stood on the side with Dan who had a weird expression on his face, "If you think I'm so easy to beat, then you don't understand me."

Hunter stared at Cain for a while before a smirk made its way onto his face, "You are right, I do underestimate you. While I admit you are stronger than me at the moment, you aren't cut out for the role you are trying to fill.

You are still a kid who hasn't seen all the gray parts of this decaying world..."

Cain had an unbothered expression on his face as he spoke with a cheeky grin "You are right... I am more powerful than you!"

Cain had always been susceptible to change. He was like a chameleon... He could change his character depending on the environment he was in, and the people he was around. It was a coping mechanism he had built during his rough childhood, and now, he was going to utilize it to its fullest.

Hunter's eyebrow twitched when he heard Cain's reply, but suddenly, he broke out into a brief laugh as well...

Dan who was watching from the side opened his eyes wide in shock, "This cardboard face dude knows how to smile?!", earning him a smack on the head from Hunter.

"Regardless of what you think of me, let us fight together again..." Cain said as he extended his hand out to Hunter.

"Heh... Although you might be strong now, we still have a long way to go, so don't be cocky yet." Hunter said as he took his hand into a firm handshake.

"Blegh! What is this, a bromance?!" Sue who was also watching couldn't help but exclaim in disgust.

"Kids should be quiet when adults are speaking," Cain replied instantly.

"You wanna die?!" The little lady yelled in anger as she tried to bite Cain, but was held back by Stan.

"What are you guys waiting for? Come on up!" Susan yelled at them from the roof of the gymnasium.

"Coming..."

Without wasting a breath, Cain slammed his feet against the ground, and like a bullet, propelled his body straight to the roof of the building.

The others followed immediately after. Everyone who was able to absorb mana had incredible superhuman capabilities, so jumping that distance was a piece of cake for all of them.

As soon as Cain reached the top of the building, his eyes were greeted with the sight of something that made his hairs stand on ends...

"Bloody hell..."