God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The time of rest was not for long...

Just as a heavy, tired sigh left Cain's lips, he felt a sudden premonition.

He looked towards the sky.

There, falling from the heavens like a shooting star, was a blazing projectile.

He grimaced and threw his hands up.

Instantly, several dozen rotating shields appeared before him, each one with complex geometric runic patterns and magic circles.

The flaming projectile smashed right through at least five of them before exploding, destroying another seven.

Cain's expression immediately went dark,

'So it has started, huh...'

In the battles to come, there would be little to no melee squabbles. Chaos had already broken out all around him.

With thousands of humans gearing up to respond to the first shots fired by the Devils, the tension shot through the roof like pressurized steam.

He turned towards Roselle.

She had rushed back into the tent to put on some clothes.

Cain froze, not knowing how to handle the coming situation.

'Do I tell her to stay in there? No, that sounds rude...'

The tent flap flew open and out stepped Roselle, completely decked out in her battle armor, a serious, dark, and cold look on her face,

"Hm? What are you waiting for, Cain? Let's go."

'What am I thinking... With what happened the other day...'

Perhaps he had just been used as a momentary escape. An emotional cushion to soften the reality of her friends death.

He sighed, then shrugged.

Even so, it wouldn't matter much.

He didn't mind, after all.

He frowned when he realized he didn't have any armor to put on.

"It's fine. Go without me first.

With an annoyed look, he took a step back. The space behind him tore open and swallowed him up in a split second.

A moment later, he appeared beside Steve.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings. They were standing right at the summit of a large arching spire, created from the violent, haphazard, geomorphic expansion of Urbus.

"How is it coming along?" He asked.

Steve tutted,

"Hunter said the men bringing the parts will arrive in a few hours."

He turned to Cain, a strange smile on his face,

"A shootout, huh... Haven't experienced one of these in ages. More than enough to light a fire in ya, don't you think?"

Cain froze for a moment, then chuckled bitterly,

"What are you talking about?"

Then he sighed,

"In any case, we will just have to rely on self-made shields for now. Tell everyone to scatter up. Make it hard for them to take out larger numbers."

Steve nodded,

"Will do."

Cain sucked in a deep breath.

'Firepower, huh...'

Within his armory, he only had two long range weapons. His magic guns, and his bow, {Malestrom}.

At such a distance, the accuracy and power of his handguns were sure to drop.

However, the same couldn't be said about {Maelstrom}.

A terrible beast that could shoot arrows of compressed cosmic water, a form of the water element with unique properties that made it denser and more terrifying as a weapon.

He glanced into the distance.

There, the landscape seems to have changed overnight.

Several tall black spires, each one eerily similar to the Devil Tower at the center of the city had risen up, each one with several protrusions hanging from its sides.

Steve shivered,

"Those things look rather unsettling, don't they?"

Cain huffed,

"What do you think they are?"

"The earlier hits came from that one over there." Steve said, pointing to a black spire at one end.

Cain clicked his tongue,

"In other words, that's where the enemy has decided to launch their attack from."

He frowned. Having a high vantage point was certainly helpful in matters like this. For one, he also didn't know how sturdy those things were.

Still, such barriers were not something that couldn't be broken.

Steve chuckled and glanced down.

Beneath them, thousands of humans were gathered.

Most were armed with magically engineering artillery and firearms, but there were a few mages and numerous archers amongst them.

Steve frowned in annoyance,

"This is going to be a long one, isn't it?"

Sucking in a deep breath, he stretched one arm forward...

"Fire."

In an instant, tens of thousands of bullets, spears, arrows, and bolts of magic flew across the abyssal chasms.

Instantly, chaos erupted.

Explosions and balls of flames, arcs of electricity, clouds of poisonous gases, and of course, bullets like hail, rained down on both sides.

The sky was painted red, and truly, death fell from its crimson bosom.

Seeing there were no longer any words left to say, Cain glanced down at his own hands.

A subtle white radiance flashed between his fingers, like twirling mist, and the next moment, a large warbow appeared in his grasp.

Without any hesitation, he stretched the bowstring back slowly.

The essence of water, a pure, dense energy swirled and gathered at the nook of the bow, forming into a thin arrow of condensed cosmic water.

{Maelstrom}, a weapon formed from the tears of a Celestial, a god.

With a sharp exhale, he released the tension and let the arrow fly...

***

Somewhere on the road between Valestorm and the battle at the Chasms...

A procession of individuals clad mostly in a dull brownish-black leather armor marched quickly.

Standing within this rather large group, Manny wore a tired expression as he rubbed his eyes with a groan.

"You've been through a lot, kid. I pity you. Almost..." Vincent said with a casual yawn.

Manny turned to him with bloodshot eyes, a weird, trembling smile on his lips,

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. I just ended up pushing myself a little too hard."

Vincent stared at him for a moment, then clicked his tongue,

"You've been fighting nonstop for the better half of a month. Don't you think you need some rest?"

"Evil never rests! Why should I?!" Manny declared boldly,.his chest puffed out.

Vincent silently shook his head,

'He's completely lost it.'

With narrowed eyes, he glanced behind him...

They had been assigned to lead this band of individuals back to the battle at the chasm. These individuals consisted mostly of archers and mages. They would serve a much greater purpose where they were headed.

"Hey, you... Come over here." Vincent said snarkily, snapping his fingers at Calio who was just a few steps away.

Calio's tired expression darkened, but he kept up a fake smile,

"What do you need, Young Master Vince?"

Vincent rolled his eyes at the sarcasm and pulled Calio closer by the neck.

"Hey, don't you feel something strange?"

Calip raised a brow and whispered back,

"Strange? Like what?"

Vincent pursed his lips, his eyes filled with suspicion darting around,

"The strange you feel when you sense something out of place."

Their group was not just leading archers and mages to the battle at the chasm. They had been tasked with another important mission.

Apparently, the craftsmen that had been rescued from the Done of Fire a few days ago had been working hard on creating several new batches of weapons, armor and equipment.

Not only that, but they had also been working on a rather secret special something.

Their task was to get all those things safely to where they needed to be.

Since spatial rings were very expensive, he could only acquire one. It was currently around his index finger and it was filled up with the parts of the special item Cain had specifically requested for.

Meanwhile, the rest of the armor, weapons, and equipment had been distributed evenly within the inventories of those within this procession.

In other words, this was a delicate mission that called for no mishaps.

That was why he couldn't shake the terrible feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Calip sighed,

"Perhaps you are imagining things, Young Master."

Vincent tightened his hold on Calio's neck, nearly causing him to black out.

"Hold off on that..."

Vincent frowned as his mind began to church with thoughts.

'If something is about to go wrong, then what exactly could be the cause?'

He had long since learned to trust his intuition, so there was absolutely no way he would ignore this feeling.

He caressed his chubby cheeks.

'Hm?'

Suddenly, he glanced to his side.

Perhaps it was a stroke of momentary grace, or a flicker at the edge of his periphery that warned him.

Walking just beside him was a normal looking Hunter clad in duskkin armor. He had a hair full of shaggy hair and a few speckles of hair scattered on his chin meaning he wasn't very old, perhaps in his mid to late twenties.

However, none of that struck Vincent as odd.

Instead, what got him, was the oddly blank look in the man's eyes.

Not only that, but on closer observation, he realized his gait was far too measured, like a machine that had been programmed to walk, not a human that had learned how to.

Vincent observed for only a second more before a chilling realization hit him.

He trembled.

His eyes darted all around as his mind churned violently.

'Crap!'

Perhaps noticing the intensity of his gaze, the man suddenly turned to face him.

Their eyes met.

Vincent suddenly stopped in his tracks,

"Hm? What's the matter, Vince?" Manny called out, still rubbing his eyes.

The man stopped as well. Their gazes were glued together.

Suddenly, the man smiled awkwardly,

"I-Is there a problem? Did I do something wrong?"

Vincent's eyes widened as a cold fear swam through his body.

He quickly realized he only had two options at the moment.

'Shit. Shit. Shit!'

He knew exactly what was wrong with this man, and several others scattered throughout the procession.

They had been naive to think they had gotten them all.

Careless...

Vincent suddenly chuckled bashfully,

"No, it's nothing. I thought I recognized you from somewhere, but I was just imagining things now that I've gotten a better look. Don't mind me."

'It is a {Soulfiend Parasyte}.'