God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

In a world of chaos, the flow of time was rather variable.

Sometimes, the tempo was swift and upbeat.

Other times, it was painfully slow and gruesome.

Blades cut through armor, flesh and bones.

Spells scourged the skin, turning people into mounds of burning and decaying flesh.

Reality itself shook as the armies of humans and Devils clashed over and over again right at the edge of the spiraling abyssal chasms.

As a mage, Steve had the liberty of observing it all as he muttered and chucked his spells forward.

The groove has already become slick with blood and corpses, both from Devils and Humans.

Of all the large Beastmen wielding tower shields, only Floki and a few others were still alive. That line has already been broken a long time ago.

Because of this, humans were forced to constantly retreat until the battle line had been stretched across the edge of the chasms.

It wouldn't be an understatement to say that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Across the battlefield, several terrible battles ensued.

The humans had their strong warriors; those that differentiated themselves from the rest and could take on legions of Devils on their own.

But while the dark devilish army was filled with foot soldiers, they also possessed rather terrifying entities within their ranks.

These terrible enemies quickly sought the stronger humans and did battle with them.

They fought somewhat separated from the rest of the armies as whoever came close to them ran the risk of being torn apart by the shockwaves of their battles.

Although the human warriors were powerful, the Devil experts were also powerful as well. Plus, they still outnumbered them three to one.

This means the powerful humans were unable to lend a hand to the other humans.

Whatever advantages the humans thought they had was quickly squished out.

Each clash pushed them closer and closer towards the abyssal chasms behind them.

Breathing heavily, Floki raised his shield again, tanking an explosive slug that came from somewhere in the distance.

He made sure to always keep his shield up.

After all, the moment he put it down, he would be shot to death.

The snipers hidden somewhere far away in the distance has quickly become the most terrifying existences on the battlefield.

Their aim was true and they excelled in picking off target that made a showing of themselves on the battlefield.

He had almost been shot and killed three times already.

Luckily, the humans had their own snipers as well.

Vincent and Jenny had remained behind and were currently working on taking out all the snipers.

Still, it would take a while.

He grit his teeth as he bore the weight of a terrible spear strike.

His white coat was covered with red and black patches , thoroughly wetted with his blood and the blood of the Devils he had slain already.

At the moment, there were two rather troublesome Devils on both his flanks.

Adding the sniper that seemed rather determined to take him down, he was already on a dilemma.

The others were occupied with their own troubles, so there would be no one coming to his rescue this time.

And these ones were not your average Devil. They managed to keep him completely suppressed, not allowing him to exert his full strength at all.

The moment he overcommitted to an attack, he was severely punished by one or the other, earning himself a few rather terrible wounds already.

And this was just the beginning...

Hunter found himself surrounded by half a dozen Devils.

The Devil at the head of the assault was smaller than the rest. However, its exoskeletal was thicker and more streamlined, making faster.

It radiated a rather insidious energy and it wielding two long swords made from some unknown, treated metal.

Summoning five clones, Hunter himself engaged this Devil in battle.

His body was covered in several wounds already while he had only managed to crack the Devils armor in some places.

The clones he had summoned were already on the verge of dying out.

From time to time, he would switch places with a clone and launch an all out attach to kill some specifically troublesome attackers.

However, that plan quickly fell through as the head Devil would quickly slaughter his clone, forcing him back to square one.

"Humans are quite persistent creatures, aren't they?" The Devil said.

Hunter raised a brow.

Devil's acted high and mighty all the time, but for some reason, they enjoyed making full use of their superior numbers.

Where was the honor and pride in smothering enemies with numbers.

He had no doubt that he could take on this arrogant Devil in a one on one.

But the presence of the other Devils made it so he was not willing to take that risk.

'Then again, perhaps the concepts of pride and honor do not exist to creatures such as this.'

As though it could sense his thoughts, the Devil chuckled.

It gave a signal to the other Devils.

Suddenly, they stopped attacking his clones and rushed back.

Hunter frowned when he saw this.

"What are you waiting for? You want a fair fight, right?"

Hunter's eyes narrowed dangerously.

He twirled the daggers in his hands.

He stood a whole head taller than this Devil. In this form, all his physical stats were greatly enhanced too.

He was very certain he could at the very least physically overpower the lone Devil.

Still, he he couldn't help his suspicions.

This Devil most definitely had a trick to play.

The tempo of the battle had shifted in the favor of the Devils for a while now. It had every reason to be arrogant.

Hunter sighed and relaxed his muscles.

Suddenly, his body snapped.

The blade in his hand fles like a dark, reaching the Devil before him in the blink of an eye.

The Devil reacted quickly, knocking it out of the air.

Time seemed to slow down.

The dagger spun in the air.

A clawed grip wrapped around its hilt.

Without hesitation, Hunter roared furiously as he drove the blade right into the Devil's eye.

It was sudden and it all happened fast.

The Devil cried out in pain.

Hunter's face was dark and cold, his eyes glowing red with suppressed rage and bloodlust.

He had decided to act quick instead of waiting to find out whatever it was the Devil was planning.

"Humans and Devils might be different, but we all die the same. A knife is more than enough to kill you." He said coldly,

Playing around on the battlefield will cost you your life, Hunter thought to himself as he viciously stabbed the Devil through the eye one more time and twisted.

A spirit of blood splattered all over his body, drenching his hand in black blood.

He let out a deep sigh as he raised his eyes to the sky.

The next moment, however, he was completely surrounded.

Flicking the mangled eyeball off his blade, he twirled his faggers and dove right back into the fray, his teeth bared viciously.

With heavy steps, he rushed forward. He dodged a heavy cutting slash from one of the Devils but was unable to stop the second from running a spear right through his stomach.

He was unable to switch places with a clone fast enough so he was forced to endure it.

With a growl, he tightened his stomach muscles, gripping the spear in place as he stabbed forward with his daggers, tearing into the Devil's chest.

An explosion of Ki rushed into the Devil's body, turning its organs to mush.

Hunter didn't wait for its corpse to fall to the ground before he switched places with another clone.

A moment later, the close was cut down into bloody chunks.

Breathing heavily, Hunter swung his blade at the spear embedded in his guy, cutting it in half. Then reaching behind him, he pulled the other half out and threw it to the ground.

The remaining clones turned into motes of light that were absorbed back into his body, healing his wounds.

In less than a minute, he had killed two rather powerful Devils. However, his expression was still as dark as ever.

Because regardless of how many he killed himself, there was no sign that the tide of the battle would shift any time soon.

They were still being pushed back.

And to make matters worse, the four Devils that now surrounded him were going to be more cautious. He would not have an easy time taking care of them.

He suppressed an agitated sigh.

***

As he watched thousands of smaller battles play out all over this worn out battleground, Steve never stopped chanting.

A few meters away, the ground turned over and twisted like the fingers of an evil god as several black spikes shot out, impaling several dozen Devils at once to their death.

When it came to battles this grand, mages and healers made the most impact.

With their immense firepower, ability to cast spells with large areas of influence and control effects, they were the most deadly existences on the battlefield, capable of wrecking maximum havoc.

About sixty percent of all casualties so far at been at the hands of those chucking spells from a distance.

They were absolute tyrants of Death.

But they were also the most vulnerable.

A loud bang resounded close to him as another magic barrier surrounding him shattered into pieces.

He snorted coldly.

"There's no end to them." Sisi said, her face pale as she downed her tenth mana regen potion, quickly summoning another barrier.

Steve chuckled.

There truly was no end to them. The moment one was killed, there was another to take its place.

The humans were being pushed back relentlessly as more and more of them succumbed to their injuries and died.

Steve couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

In the end, they were outmatched in both combat potential and numbers.

Thinking they could win was not just optimistic, it was also...

He huffed,

"It's time to retreat."