God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain\'s eyes glowed with white brilliance as he activated his devil eyes. Standing on the roof of the gymnasium, they were able to see the devils swarming within the forest.

He could {Bladeless Devil Imps}, {Bladed Devils}, and even a few {Miasma Devils} roaming around the forest, killing and feasting upon the mutant beasts that occupied the forest.

There were also other types of devils he had never seen before that were present as well, both on the ground and in the sky.

He watched as they also killed some mutant beasts, but didn\'t directly consume them. Instead, they carried them deeper into the forest.

Using the abilities of {Eye of Clairvoyance}, he was able to see the gigantic monstrosity that was being fed by the smaller creatures through its wide open mouth. Towering over the trees within the forest by at least a full story was a massive devil.

Vanta-black with scales the size of doors, the devil looked like a bladed devil on growth hormones. It had bladed forearms as well. The only difference was that this devil had a single horn jutting out from its forehead. Its face had two hollow sockets where its eyes were supposed to be.

Its razor-sharp fangs were visible as it had its mouth open in a perpetual screaming posture.

Its bulky muscular yet lean body looked capable enough to destroy an entire building with a single punch. Its most defining features, however, were the gigantic translucent tubes that were connected to various parts of its body.

A thick viscous blood-like fluid was flowing through the tubes into its body.

At the center of its chest, a pitch-black devil core with a strange tint of red hue lay dormant. Despite the absolute aura of death the creature exuded, it just stood there unmoving.

Cain and the others just stood there without moving, staring at the devil with grave expressions...

Cain looked around and counted that the devils within the forest were about ten thousand strong.

"Ain\'t he a beauty?" Vincent who had been on the roof longer than anyone said in a dreamy voice.

"How the hell are we supposed to escape that thing?!" David couldn\'t help but say with a bitter expression.

"How long have you been here?" Cain asked Vincent who was seated on the roof leaning against his ocean blue rifle.

"Since they started building that thing..." Vincent said, his glowing eyes still peering into the distance as he pointed at the gigantic devil.

Cain was confused, "Building? So that thing isn\'t a devil?"

"I can\'t be certain. What I do know, is that one moment it wasn\'t there, the next moment, those disgusting tree things twisted into one another, the devils on the ground began doing some stuff, and poof! That thing appeared."

Cain fell into silence when he heard what Vincent said...

"There are so many devils within the forest. Getting everyone out of here has just become many times difficult." Jenny had her seductive eyes radiating a soft purple light as she gazed into the distance as well.

Vincent said solemnly, "Yes, it will..."

Vincent paused after he had said this, then turned back to gaze at the others.

With wide eyes, Vincent\'s eyes turned into saucers, "Eh?! Who are these guys?!"

"We found them hiding inside..." Blaze said with a frown.

"Who says we were hiding?!" Stan said angrily.

"I did. Got a problem with that?"

"I most certainly do!" Stan said with steam coming out from his nose.

"Can you guys can it?!" Hunter couldn\'t help but shut them up. Turning to Cain who was still lost in his thoughts, he said in a gruff tone, "What do you think?"

"Give me some time to think. We don\'t have all the necessary information yet. We have to make even more preparations before we even think of making a move."

Turning to Jenny, he said in a calm tone, "Do you still think you can save them?"

Jenny had a dark expression on her beautiful pale face. She balled her hands into fists before relaxing them.

"You can do whatever you want, but I\'m going to make sure we all survive." The determined expression on her face told Cain that her resolve wasn\'t something that could be fazed so easily.

"Good... I hope you keep that same energy when those devils have their fangs around our throats."

"I\'ll keep that in mind...."

\'We need to find a way to defeat whatever that thing is. Even when I look at it, the system doesn\'t provide a description, so I\'m just going to guess that that thing is very strong. Not to mention the delirious number of devils within the forest.

They\'ve killed almost all the mutants within the forest!\'

All of a sudden, Cain felt as though he had forgotten something...

"ROAR!"

A roar suddenly resounded from the forest. It wasn\'t a very loud roar, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear it even when the distance between the edge of the forest and the gymnasium was taken into consideration.

With lightning speed, everyone on the roof apart from Cain readied their weapons. Guns were cocked, bows were drawn, and blades were unsheathed.

They all stared as the trees at one edge of the forest trembled due to the speed of the approaching entity.

Cain suddenly exclaimed, "Teddy!"

Almost at the same time, a gigantic black bear with crimson patterns etched onto its flesh dashed out of the forest at lightning speed.

"Roar!" The creature let out a roar again as it rushed towards the gymnasium. Chasing behind it were a few {Bladed Devils} and {Bladeless Devil Imps}. They all had enraged eyes as they chased after it with shrieks of anger.

"A mutant beast?" Everyone was surprised, but none had fearful expressions as they all fired their attacks at the mutant beast and the devils chasing after it without hesitation.

"Right?!" The mutant beast let out a... surprised roar, sounding almost human in the process. Stomping its hind feet on the ground, with an agility that didn\'t match its size and physique, it blasted crimson-colored mana from beneath its paws, blasting its robust body sideways.

In doing so, it was able to completely evade the attacks meant for it. The devils behind it weren\'t so lucky...

Both the attacks meant for them and the mutant beast were borne by them alone.

BOOM!

The devils were instantly torn apart by the torrent of skills and spells.

"Tch! Missed..." Vincent clicked his tongue before aiming at the mutant beast again.

"Stop!" Cain yelled at them when he saw that Teddy had almost been torn apart.

"Boss, do you want to kill it yourself? You want to, no one can stop you. Hehe..." Vincent said with a stupid smile on his face.

"No, you dumbass. All of you, don\'t attack the mutant."

"Okay." They all lowered their weapons in confusion.

The mutant black bear, Teddy, once again resumed its journey toward the gymnasium.

\'How the hell did it know I was here?\'

{Replying to host: Due to the {Body and Soul} contract you created with that {Crimson Demon Bear}, it will be able to roughly sense your location at all times. The contract also creates a certain level of telepathy between the host and the mutant creature.

However, telepathy can only be used when the host and the mutant creature are within a certain range of one another}.

***

A few seconds later, Teddy was seated on the ground near the gymnasium with its little bear tail wagging like that of a dog.

All those who were on the roof had come down to the ground and surrounded the bear like it was a zoo animal.

"Wow... It\'s so fluffy!" Sue had stars in her pretty eyes as she rubbed the lustrous fur of Teddy. Even though she was arrogant, the beautiful Sue was still a girl and was weak against cute things.

"It isn\'t a summon," Hunter said as he looked at the beast before him with narrowed eyes.

Cain was surprised when he heard this, "You can tell?"

"I\'m a summoner... It is easy for me to tell if a creature is a summon or not. It is dangerous to have a creature you don\'t have total control over running all around."

"You don\'t need to worry about all that. Teddy!"

The mutant black bear enjoying all the attention it was receiving immediately stood up from the ground as soon as it received the order from Cain.

\'Telepathy, huh?\' Cain thought as he stared at the beast standing before him.

\'System, how do I activate this telepathy thing?\'

{Replying to host: To activate telepathy with a contracted beast, simply speak to the beast with intent...}

\'Do you understand me?\' Cain thought as he tried to speak to a bear, something that would have been thought of as crazy 4 days ago...

\'Yes! This queen hears you loud and clear!\'

\'What the hell?! It worked!\' Cain thought with wide eyes.

\'Hehehe... Seems like the master is surprised by my beauty.\'  Teddy said smugly.

\'I\'m surprised that you are female...\' Cain had previously thought that the rabid mutant beast was male, but apparently, he was wrong. Instead, it was an overly confident bear, who for some reason, had no problems understanding human speech.

\'Perhaps it works the same way we can understand the devils without knowing their language and vice versa...\'

\'Teddy... No, I have to think of another name. Let\'s see...\' The name Teddy was too masculine for a female bear after all.

\'Yes! That name fails to portray me. I\'m a ferocious beast who hasbeen through several battles, and is the sole survivor of my-\'

\'Yes! That name fails to portray me. I\'m a ferocious beast who has

been through several battles, and is the sole survivor of my-\'

\'Let\'s go with Ruby...\' Cain said with pride on his face. He had chosen the name because of the ruby red runic inscriptions on the beast.

Ruby stared at Cain blankly for a while before letting out a satisfied roar.

\'Ruby it is...\'

Turning to the others who were looking at him as though he had a few problems with his head, he introduced the newly named mutant beast.

"Everyone, I\'d like for you to meet Ruby, my mutant beast."