God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

\'This girl...\'

"Enchantment? What are you even saying, you bastard?!" Leah said, her bright yellow eyes flashing dangerously.

"Ask her. She knows what I\'m talking about..." Cain said, messaging his temples.

\'Ha... I don\'t have the patience for this...\' He thought painfully as he turned around. Looking at Stan and Li who were now awake, but a little disoriented, he let out a sigh of relief.

"You! Don\'t take another step!" Leah said, her palm wreathed in bolts of lightning. Ignoring her, Cain slowly walked toward the chasm, a deep bothered look marring his features.

\'Do I really have to? I just came back from that awful place. Surely, Hunter is a big boy... He\'ll manage.\' Cain desperately thought. However, his feet shuffled forward as though they had a mind of their own, bringing him closer and closer to the rupture in reality that stretched for more than a kilometer long, and a few dozen meters wide.

"Don\'t move, damn it!" Her voice descending into a deep growl, Leah took a step forward. Turning to her with a mocking grin on his face, Cain shrugged,

"Or what?"

Stunned by his answer, the woman with the graceful body of a feline fell silent. Beside her, the shorter girl, Sisi, had tears building up at the corners of her eyes,

"Leah, just... just let him go. We... We have more important things to do right now." She said through gritted teeth.

"Sisi... What enchantment is this villain talking about?" Leah said, her electrifying eyes still staring daggers at Cain.

Hesitating for a few seconds, the shorted girl finally relented,

"Leah... There\'s something I have to tell you."

Turning to stare at the shorter girl with cold eyes, Leah pursed her lips and nodded. Despite the frigid coldness in her eyes, there was only affection radiating from them when she turned to face the smaller girl,

\'Who are you calling a villain?!\' Cain yelled in his mind.

"Angel... She... It is not an Angel. It is a very scary monster!" Tears began falling from the pretty girl\'s cheeks as she let out a silent sob.

Frowning, Leah simply shook her head,

"What are you talking about, Sisi? That is impossible. How can you even say that?! Angel has helped up so many times. She is our-"

"No... She might have helped us many times, but always asked for something in return. Plus, don\'t you feel that sacrificing all those men, regardless of how many of them are truly evil and disgusting, is wrong?" Sisi said, her voice growing quiet and timid.

Falling silent for a few seconds, her head bowed in deep thought, Leah failed to respond.

"Don\'t mean to ruin the chat, but I have more important things to do," Cain said mercilessly as he gazed at Leah coldly.

"Because of you idiots, I have to go jumping into some unknown place. Thanks a lot!" Gritting his teeth, Cain walked over to Steve, Susan, and Jenny.

Glancing at Stand and Li who still seemed a little out of it, he turned to Susan. However, before he could say anything, she interrupted him in a tone that showed that she wasn\'t taking no for an answer,

"I\'m going with you."

Turning to look at him, the same stubborn light in her eyes, Jenny said,

"I\'m coming as well..."

Staring at the two ladies for a while, a bitter look appeared on both men\'s faces,

"Why don\'t I ever get to go on adventures..." With a pout, Steve glanced at Stan and Li, then spoke seriously,

"You guys should go quickly. Who knows what will happen soon? We\'ll guard this place and keep these girls from coming close."

Kicking Li who let out a startled and anguished yell, a simple appeared on his lips,

"Am I right, guys?"

Rubbing his hands, Steve stared at Cain, his eyes glowing brightly,

"Come back with more goodies!"

Rolling his eyes, Cain simply waved at him. Turning to the two girls who had determination etched onto their faces, Cain let out a tired sigh,

"Are you sure about this?" He was very reluctant to bring these two girls with him to surf the unknown realm they were about to plunge into. If he could, he would rather not leave the planet anytime soon, but he had a slight feeling that things were about to change, and the only way to adapt to those changes was if he dove to the bottom of the chasm to get to the bottom of the problem...

The evil aura radiating from the chasm was similar, but not quite the same as the evil abomination that called itself \'Angel\'.

It was much more vast, deep, and ancient. But most of all, it exerted an invincible pressure on him. The streams of energy in his body slowed down the closer he got to the wide chasm.

Actually, calling it a chasm would have been doing it a disservice. It was more of a gigantic rip in space but was surrounded by fissures that crackled with ominous red lightning for some reason. A vicious and vile miasma also seeped from the depth, rushing out to the world beyond it and corrupting it.

This vile miasma was apparently, Aether. However, this energy appeared to have been twisted into a reverse version of itself by an unknown entity.

If Cain had to make any guesses, he would say it was the so-called \'Lord\' that was more likely than not, the culprit of this corruption. There was also a chance that he was wrong, and the being responsible for this corruption was a much more sinister and harrowing entity.

"Let\'s get going..." Susan said a distressed expression in her eyes. Her face, on the other hand, remained stoic.

"Alright, then. Here goes nothing..."

Activating the {Divine Essense of Mettalury}, Cain wrapped the two ladies in a cocoon of metallic fibers. Simple runes that enhanced defensive capabilities were etched onto the cocoons, making them stronger and more resilient. Although doing this ate at his mana reserves, he couldn\'t have them dying on him.

He attached the cocoons to a pair of metal chains that surrounded his body. Making sure they were secure, he prepared to jump down.

Just before he jumped, a subtle white radiance enveloped his skin. Shivering a bit, Cain realized that the fatigue from the previous battle and the stubborn wounds that had refused to close up despite his use of {Blood Regeneration} were both fading away, like a distant memory...

Staring at one of the cocoons, a grin made its way onto his face,

\'Don\'t worry... I don\'t see myself dying anytime soon.\'

With that, he sent his body over the edge with a single step...

***

Watching Cain fall into the chasm from the edge, Steve let out a despondent sigh,

"Crazy... We must all be crazy."

Turning to glance at the group of girls who were slowly stirring from the ground, a smile made its way onto his face,

"Rise and shine beauties..."

Forming a strange hand sign with his left hand, he stretched his right out and began drawing some symbols in the air. His index finger was like a miniature star as it rose and fell, forming numerous patterns.

Line after line, he wrote, the runes quickly turning into divine letters. The energy flow in the air began to change, and the runes seemed to be even more solid.

"What are you doing?!" Leah said, glaring daggers at Steve.

Letting out a nervous chuckle, Steve muttered, "Well, I was instructed to guard this place by my boss, so naturally, I have to do so diligently. Forgive me, young ladies, but I\'ll die if I dare face you all in direct combat. I can only hide, like the coward I am..."

There was a wide smile on Steve\'s face that directly contradicted his words. Glancing at the group of more than a hundred people who had grown silent and were starting ahead with empty looks in their eyes, he simply shook his head,

"Ah... What a tragedy. Even in death, there\'s no rest offered. That being is truly the most evil thing I have ever come across." The people had seemed alive one moment, but the next, they had all turned as quiet and still as corpses. It was a strange and deeply unsettling sight. Their eyes were glassy, and they had no emotions in their eyes.

However, all these girls seemed completely oblivious to the fact...

\'So damn scary...\'

"I said, what are you doing?!" Infuriated by Steve\'s muttering, Leah took a step forward, a single push away from attacking.

Raising his hands up defensively and taking a step back, the smile on Steve\'s face fell for a bit, then brightened again. As the floating symbols grew brighter, his face turned paler and paler by the second.

"You might not know this, since you don\'t seem like an avid pursuer of truth and knowledge, so let me enlighten you a bit. You see, Sorcery comes in various forms. It is a concept that is formless and shapeless. Like the boundary between planes. There are numerous interpretations of sorcery scattered throughout the universe, but there is one that is quite a standard."

A grin made its way onto his pale face as he continued,

"The runes are the most fascinating language I have ever studied. They contain deep power, and the very laws of nature can be influenced and manipulated by them. You can, in a sense, speak to the universe through the runes."

"Cut the crap! You are just buying time for your spell to be completed, right?!" Leah said coldly.

With a chuckle, Steve simply shrugged his shoulders,

"Who knows? You asked what I was doing, and now you are interrupting me. How rude..."

"You!" Gritting her teeth, Leah seemed to be on the verge of attacking,

"Leah, stop! This man... He... he... Just don\'t get close to him. He is dangerous!" In a high-pitched voice, Sisi suddenly moved back and stared at Steve with panic and resentment in her eyes.

"What is it?!" Leah said, her gaze not leaving Steve\'s pale and lanky body that seemed on the verge of collapse.

"He... He stole my skill!" Sisi said through gritted teeth.

A mad grin forming on his face, Steve stared at Sisi with dark interest,

"It seems you know your stuff well, kid. This ability of mine has been cultivated for a long time, now."

Staring at his hand that was still emanating the bright light that now seemed ghastly, Leah paled and took a step back.

Glancing at them, Steve simply smiled and shrugged, "Relax... I didn\'t steal anything. Merely analyzed and modified it."

Staring at him deeply, a frown appeared on Leah\'s face, "But how?"

A flash of light appeared on Steve\'s hand and an MP potion appeared. Throwing the contents of the bottle down his throat, the unhealthy pallor on his face faded away a bit.

"I call it the {Divine Hand}, but for some reason, the system calls it the {Wicked Hand}. Pretty ironic, right?"

Turning away from the confused girls, Steve stared down at the deep, unfathomable chasm, a complicated expression on his face,

\'This thing will only last for thirty minutes. You guys should hurry up, or I might really die here.\'