God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

It was night.

Yet the world was a little like it was day.

The bleeding moon hanging in the Evernight sky. Like as though reality itself had been gutted and left to drain out.

The shards of the shattered Dome of Fire floated to the ground slowly.

It was a symbol that the last of the goddesses protection had ebbed away. This place was no sanctuary anymore.

It had turned into the stage for a living nightmare to play out.

"Stop! Please, no—"

A pale-faced man scrambled on his behind, crawling on all fours as he begged for mercy from a hulking Devil the size of a building.

The Devil mercilessly plunged its blade into the man's chest, ridding him of his life in the list gruesome manner.

Another woman running as fast as she could was unable to go any further as a moment later, her head was selt flying. Seconds later, her body was torn to shreds by a pack of rabid {Zombies}.

The destruction was quick and brutal. Rivers of blood flowed through the buildings left behind, splattering on their walls and soaking into the dirt.

In their frenzied panic, the humans ran as fast as they could towards the largest building that had been at the center of the now shattered Dome of Fire.

The same building Cain stood within, watching the terrible massacre occur.

He took a few steps back then stretched his arm forward.

The space behind him split open to reveal two enormous mutant creatures.

One was mutant bear with pitch black fur and streaks and runes of crimson running across its length.

The other was a terrifying looking snake-like beast with wings on its back.

It let out a shrill hiss the moment it stepped into the world, coiling around its master protectively.

Ruby raised her snout to the crimson sky and roared furiously.

Then she dug her metal claws into the ground and leapt towards the ground in a single bound.

The {Argent Amphithere} spared into the sky, letting out another sharp hiss.

The ground suddenly rumbled. An enormous hole suddenly appeared in the ground, and from that hole, a titanic worm-like creature the size of multiple buildings stacked end on end rose up, swallowing a huge number of {Zombies}, before diving back into the depths of the earth.

The moment the mutant bear hit the ground, it began to gallop, turning into a crimson blitz.

A huge Devil tried to stand in its path, but it was crushed and blown to bits by the force of the charging bear.

Snarling, Ruby lunged at another Devil, biting down on its neck.

Her jaws clamped down, easily biting through the thick, steel-like exosteletal armor. With a violent tug, she twisted the Devil's head off its neck, before tanking it back, pulling its entire spine out as well.

Black blood splattered all over the crimson bear's face, making it appear even more vicious and terrifying than it already was.

Under Cain's constant nourishment as well as her own hunts, Ruby had grown up rather well, with more than enough stats in strength to tear a weaker Devil to shreds in a matter of seconds.

Spitting out the carcass, Ruby was suddenly enveloped by a black dog. The black fog rapidky spread to envelope the area surrounding the crimson bear.

The Devil's rushing forward all halted in their steps.

One particular Devil with four arms, each with extraordinarily long and sharp blades forearms snarled.

While Devils grew to be more powerful in the long run, at this stage, most mutant beasts still held the advantage when it came to raw physical might.

However, they could still be overwhelmed by wits and numbers.

And yet...

A terrible feeling overcame it.

The dark fog was quickly spreading.

It caught a glimpse of pair of crimson eyes radiating a tremendous amount of bloodlust.

Just as it contemplated a strategic retreat, it was robbed of that choice completely.

A jet stream of blue, scalding flames came pouring down from the skies, bathing that Devil, and every other one behind it in obliterating blue fire.

Dark ash rose into the sky moments later...

With a shrill cry, the {Argent Amphithere} shot back up. Swimming through the air like the world was its ocean, it kept a relatively low altitude, diving through buildings and structures.

Its maneuverability was so impressive, the {Sky Devils} were unable to keep up with it. So, they could only try shooting it down.

However, the silver-blooded beast was quick and cunning...

Belching out jets of blue fire from its maw, it shot down Devil after Devil, their smoldering corpses smashing into the houses and buildings, setting them on fire too.

Watching all this unfold, Cain sucked in a deep breath.

Although he wanted to join in on the fun, he unfortunately has more important things to do.

He turned to Julio and Mira,

"You two. Guide everyone to the teleportation circle."

After saying that, he activated {Spatial Jump} and disappeared...

A split moment later, he appeared within the room he had drawn the spatial anchor magic circle.

He had returned because he would be needed to stabilize the spatial anchor.

"If the mana flow patterns become too agitated, there is a chance I could be dooming all of them. And myself." He muttered quietly.

Then he chuckled,

"I suppose I can't let that happen."

He only had to wait for about a minute when the sound of feet thumping on wooden floorboards and desperate screams and yelled filled his ears.

There was a moment of silence.

Then the doors flung open.

Julio stood at the door alongside Mira, dark looks on their faces,

"The others are holding in for now. But they won't last long." Julio said quickly.

Cain nodded with a serious expression. Then he walked out of the room and into the hallway.

A long line of humans stretched from the door down to the opposite end.

Men, women, and even a few children, their eyes despairing yet desperate.

There was old and there was young.

The scent of blood and piss filled Cain's nostrils the moment he stepped into the hallway.

He frowned,

"Do not rush. I'll throw anyone who gets aggressive down the freaking stairs..."

***

Outside, the tempo of the battle continued to climb. Although there weren't a lot of human warriors, for some reason, they were able to hold the army of Devils and Zombies back.

This reason came in the form of Legarde and the four creatures that had appeared on the side of the humans.

A flying silver serpent, a nightmare crimson bear, a man-like creature of golden metal, and an enormous all-devouring worm.

However, there was one more creature. However, since it struck from the shadows, its existence was able to go by completely unnoticed.

On the inside of the building, another type of battle was taking place.

Beads of sweat poured down Cain's face.

Maintaining the stability of a spell was always a crucial part in the development of any type of magic.

A spell could only be considered effective if it was stable. There would be no point in using magic that immediately kills you afterwards after all...

Different elemental properties called for different levels of stability.

Spells that made use of the water and earth elements usually didn't call for a lot of stability since these elements are calm and stable by nature.

However, the spatial element was uniquely different.

Without disturbing it, the fabrics of space would remain completely stable.

However, once a single flunctuation appeared, it would inevitably create a ripple effect.

That ripple could either be contained, or it would spread and turn into a volatile tidal wave that could destroy everything.

It was dangerous.

Very much so.

Which meant it had to be handled delicately.

Unfortunately, since they were pressed for time, they would not be able to treat space delicately.

A flash of light appeared in Cain's dark eyes like a shooting star in the night sky. Standing outside the room, he activated a small magic circle on the door.

A flash of light came from underneath the door.

He exhaled sharply them swung the door open.

'Looks like the room finally has had enough.'

The ceiling, all the walls and the windows had turned into rubble falling off the side of the building, leaving only the magic circle drawing into the ground.

Looking around, he detected multiple dark skits and holes— rips in the fabrics of reality.

The rest of the room had been unable to handle it and had fallen apart, revealing the chaos happening on the outside.

He looked behind him and sighed.

After working for over an hour, he had managed to transport a decent chunk of all the humans that had survived up until now away from here.

So far, the people had been well behaved. Mostly because they didn't want to lose their chance at salvation.

This was why Cain didn't have the heart to break the news that the magic circle would probably not hold out long enough for all of them to make it through.

To make matters worse he could sense that Ruby and the rest were nearing their limits.

After fighting for so long, it was a miracle that they had not yet been swarmed and killed.

He glanced beside him. Mira's vibrant red hair has dulled, dust and dirt caked up on it. Her eyes were tired but still filled with determination as she led more people into the room calmly.

'How do I convince her to follow this batch?'

He looked over to Julio who kept shooting through an open window. Everytime a spell came flying at them, his bullets would rip through it, disabling it completely. He assumed the bullets were special, or it was a unique skill or spell Julio himself possessed.

He also didn't seem intent on leaving anyone behind.

'Although he acts like a coward sometimes...'

Cain heaved a heavy sigh...

'Damn it.'