God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain sucked in a deep breath.

He looked around him.

There was confusion on the faces of the men around him.

He eventually stopped Steve running up to him, a scowl on his face,

"Those bastards are trying to pull a fast one! Let's tear that place down from its foundations!"

Cain sighed and shook his head,

"No can do. We can't do that."

Steve's eyes widened, "What?! Bit–"

Cain's eyes was frigid as he shook his head,

"Vengeance can come later. We should focus on what is important first."

Steve raised a brow, "Like what?"

"Like getting out of this alive. The next wave is coming. I doubt there will be only Aether Beasts this time."

Cain reached out with his mind,

'Hunter, can you hear me?'

'Loud and clear.'

Cain felt the cold air fill his lungs as he inhaled heavily,

'Pass the message to everyone. The gorge is wide, so we have enough space to create a defensive line. Whatever we do, we hold this place down.'

Hunter paused for a moment, before speaking resolutely,

'Understood.'

'Most importantly... No one is allowed to die.' Cain said, his face grim.

He turned back to Steve,

"I doubt they will let us die here, so expect their participation in the battle, regardless of how minimal."

Steve scratched his head, "Ha... So what do we do."

Cain grinned, "Isn't it obvious? We are winning this fight and pushing back all the way to Valestorm."

Cain's eyes burned,

"Since it has come down to this, I guess we have no choice. Whether it's the Champion of this damned god, or Arltzwalt, or anyone else, I don't care. Now I'm pissed. I'll tear this place apart until there's nothing or them to rule."

Steve sighed then chuckled wryly,

"I like your mindset. But that still doesn't change the fact that we just got played by a senile old man."

Cain snorted, "Says who?"

Steve sighed, his face grim,

"This..."

Cain patted his shoulder, "Just trust me, Steve. I know what I am doing."

While he hadn't expected Arltzwalt's betrayal, Cain was for the most part, unfazed.

He had truly not counted on the General or.his people in the first place.

All the plans he had made so far, was made with just the power available to him in mind.

That includes the people behind him as well.

To him, nothing much had changed. Besides his desire to even the scores once he was done with this mess.

Several dozens of huge, burly Beastmen trudged to the front of their thousand man army with large, heavy tower shields.

Because the first wave of Aether Beasts had been slowed down by the explosions, and as such, were more frantic and less in sync, they had an easier time clearing them out.

This time, Cain suspected the next wave would be far more organized.

He took this time layering another round of explosives into the sand.

As the tankier Beastman moved to the forefront, the Melee fighters positioned themselves beside and behind them, while the archers and gunslingers were behind them, ready to throw out long ranged attacks.

Cain himself moved even more ahead of the tower shields.

He calmly waited, his long hair carried by the wind.

The army behind him turned silent.

Cain heard footsteps behind him.

He turned and saw a few others standing behind him. Blaze, Manny, Luke, Lukas, Li, Stan, and others.

They all had defiant expressions.

To them, it didn't matter what had happened up till now.

If he was going to fight, then they would fight too.

He chuckled to himself.

As they waited in silence, that sinister song began once again.

It pierced through their ears and their minds.

For some reason, this song seemed even more harrowing than the first one.

Some of the Beastmen had pale faces as they fought the power of the song. Although it wouldn't be able to control them, it would certainly provide them some discomfort.

Cain just hoped it wouldn't be significant.

'It doesn't matter either way.'

He swung the {Lonely Dragon} Warblade and took a stance.

Again, a cloud of dust rose into the sky.

This time, Cain could see that the army approaching them had a large horde of Aether Beasts in the forefront, and a troop of humans following behind with their weapons drawn and ready for combat.

Cain felt his heartrate spike.

The time had come.

He took a step forward, and his body rocketed forward, blasting through the sound barrier in a matter of a fraction of a second.

He was mobile for a few moments before he leapt up.

Ruby had dashed right behind him, catching him mid air. Together, they soared for a few moments before crashing into the first line of Aether Beasts.

The others followed close behind them, kicking up a rain of blood and slaughter.

This horde of Aether Beasts was also different. They had more Tier 1 creatures mixed in, and the Beasts in general seemed stronger than the last wave.

However, they were fewer in numbers.

Cain twisted his body that was riding upon Ruby, clwaving through the bodies of three Aether Beasts at once. Ruby bit down on one baring her path, snapping it in half.

Viscous blood dripped down her chin as she continued to barrel forward.

They plunged straight through towards the rear of the attackers like a spear.

As he fought his way through, partially lost in a trance, Cain thought he heard a yell. Without thinking about it, he put a bit of power into his sword and cut down.

Hot blood splashed on the visor of his helmet.

He finally looked. The torn, mangled body of a human fighter was on the ground, internal organs spilled everywhere. {Blood Dragon} had already absorbed most of the blood, so there was not much blood on the ground around the turn corpse.

The poor soul had seen him tearing through the Aether Beasts and had taken it upon himself to confront him.

Of course, the human was not enough, eventually becoming his first victim of the day.

Behind the armor, Cain's face was pale.

Despite what he had just done, he didn't feel a shred of guilt. In fact, it felt no different than killing an Aether or Mutant Beasts to him.

Which made him feel even worse...

Rage filled his mind, and he descended into even more of a mindless slaughter.

"Stop him!"

"Kill him! Hold him off!"

Of course, the warriors of Valestorm tried to stop him. There were even a few Pilgrims there, using whatever powers they had available to kill him.

However, it was almost inconsequential. On this battlefield, Cain became an inevitability.

A sign of death.

He reaped lives, leaving nothing more than broken corpses with a bit of blood wetting the cold deceased.

It didn't matter of it was beast or man clad in leather or metal.

Before the power of the {Blood Dragon}, all loves became forfeit.

Amidst the slaughter, Cain felt his movements becoming sharper, as though a mental barrier he had long been struggling against was broken.

It almost felt as though he had been fighting with all his mind tied behind his back all this time.

His eyes widened in realization.

Everything the General had said was true.

Despite how he seemed, he had been hesitant to kill other humans. He had killed some particularly bad humans in the past, but he had been able to convince himself at that time that he was doing the right thing.

But the barrier was still there.

And now, lost in this haze of blood and death, he was completely shattered the barrier.

In his now twisted mind, everything was the same.

The edge of his blade bit into fur, scales, hide and flesh all the same. It drank the blood of all.

A Pilgrim clad in a flowy azure robe and a dragon mask let out a roar as he charge at him.

This Pilgrim with the title Azure Guard, was a powerful and famous Pilgrim in Valestorm, on the same level with Pilgrims like the Sky Guard. He was powerful, and with his peculiar weapon of a spear, most couldn't confront him in close combat.

A black spear manifested in the hands of the Pilgrim as he charged towards Cain,

"Demon! I will slay you and your abominable mount here and now! You shall take no more lives."

The Pilgrim's aura exploded behind him, propelling him forward.

Powerful Ki and Mana exploded at the tip of the spear, a deluge of energy was shot at Cain.

Sensing it, Cain raised the {Lonely Dragon} Warblade to parry it.

The force behind the blow was considerable, causing Ruby to stop in her tracks.

Behind the mask, the Azure Guard sneered,

"Can only bully the weak, huh? When faced with a true warrior you have no choice but to stop in your tracks, huh?!"

With a roar, the Pilgrim launched forward again, his speed climbing again.

He arrived before Cain in the blink of an eye, his spear thrust forward at a speed far beyond what the eyes could capture.

Cain's hands moved immediately. He used his left to grab the shaft of the spear, while the other swung the {Lonely Dragon}.

Death came like the moment where one wakes up from a dream or nightmare.

It was sudden and unexpected in many ways.

The Azure Guard had only enough time to widened his eyes. He tried to retreat, but he had overcommited to the attack. He had leaned too far over the edge and was about to fall over.

All he could think about was the wife and young child who had managed to survive in this broken world thanks to him until now.

There was a momentary flash of blinding pain, then the world began to spin and slowly fade away.

The last thing he saw the dark, faceless helm of the Demon that had taken his life swinging his blade to take another life unhurriedly.

Cold, demonic, malevolent, and evil...

The darkness came soon after, swallowing all he was.

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