God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

\'So that\'s how it is, huh...\'

Then he turned back to the two Beastwomen who seemed a little tired.

"You both seem to finally realize it."

Leah snorted, "From a logical perspective, yes. However, my instincts keep telling me that whatever you are saying is a lie."

"Sweet lady Leah, if you wouldn\'t mind, allow me to inspect your body. I\'ll make that cursed magic disappear in no time!" Steve offered his hand out with a strange smile on his face.

Leah threw him a glare of disgust, "No thank you."

However, the dark-haired man moved before anybody could register it. Holding onto Leah\'s hands gently, his eyes were filled with numerous pentagrams and magic circles.

"What are you-?!"

Before she could protest, Cain calmed her down,

"Don\'t worry. Although he looks insane, he\'s just gathering information about the enchantment."

She didn\'t look like she bought it. However, she didn\'t seem to protest anymore.

While Steve was occupied with Leah, Cain turned his attention to Roselle who was staring at him with full, emotionless eyes.

"What?"

The beautiful, yet arrogant Beastwoman snorted,

"Nothing..."

Cain flashed her a smile. Although he could tell she was in a bad mood, those ill emotions were no longer targeted at him anymore.

Although Susan and Jenny were behind him, they didn\'t make any effort to engage in the conversation. When he turned back to look at them, their expressions were complicated.

Cain sighed internally, \'Looks like they are still struggling to accept it.\'

Cain could tell what they were thinking so deeply about. Because most of the people in the Northern part of the school where they had come from had died, so they had not had the chance to witness how ugly humans could get when order died.

They must have been shocked as well, seeing Cain turn a fully grown man into minced meat as well.

\'They\'ll get used to it eventually.\'

Cain turned back to Steve who seemed incredibly focused. They all waited in silence for a few more minutes before Steve\'s Devil Eyes were finally deactivated.

"How does it look?" Cain asked him with bated breath.

Steve had a contemplative look on his face,

"It\'s a compulsive-type mental enchantment."

Cain raised a brow, "What does that mean, exactly?"

Steve cleared his throat, "A compulsive-type mental enchantment affects its victims by slowly impacting and influencing already existing emotions."

\'Already existing emotions, huh... That means the enchantment acted upon the hatred they already had for the Beastmen.\'

Steve continued in a slightly darker tone,

"Mental enchantments are scary because just like a seed planted in the ground, they turn into trees, and their roots will grow over time until they have practically consumed their hosts... Very terrifying."

Cain\'s face fell, "Is it that bad?"

Steve broke out of his reverie with a start,

"Oh, them? No, they\'re good. The enchantment hasn\'t stayed for too long, so it is reversible. Their wills are also strong, and now that they realize they have been placed under a spell, it has become even weaker. The people you should be worried about, are the regular Beastwomen. Their brains will be turned into mush if we don\'t do something soon."

"That means we have to handle it now. Do you think you can do it?"

Steve furrowed his brows, "It isn\'t going to be difficult. Whoever created this enchantment lacks all measures of talent and creativity."

Cain let out a chuckle. In that case, there\'s nothing to worry about."

Steve grinned, "Leave it to me, Boss. Now then..." Turning back to Leah who had a displeased expression on her face, he weighed his fingers like little worms as he approached her again,

"Miss Leah..."

"R-rose... Help me..." Leah called out to Roselle for help. However, the latter was already leaving the room with an indifferent expression on her face.

With a snicker, Cain also left the room.

Leah clicked her tongue before glaring at Steve,

"Touch me inappropriately, and you die."

Steve grinned with his arms up, "I\'d never do such a thing..."

Snorting, She closed her eyes and fell silent, allowing Steve to do his work. If he got rid of the enchantment in Leah, the rest would automatically clear away.

Silence reigned in the room for a while before Leah\'s eyes finally opened. She stared at Susan and Jenny who stared back at her for a few seconds before opening their mouth,

"Who are you two to him?"

The question came out of nowhere, stunning both girls. When they didn\'t answer, She frowned and asked again.

Susan cleared her throat and then spoke calmly,

"Well, let\'s just say we were acquainted since even before the apocalypse."

Jenny smiled, "We teamed up to defeat the Broodmother and Devil Army on the Northern island together."

Leah sighed, "I see... Then what can you say about him? What kind of person is he?"

Leah had thought she would have to prod more to get information like this from the two girls. However, she didn\'t expect she would have broken the floodgates with just that simple question.

Susan and Jenny both answered together,

"He\'s crazy!"

Leah\'s brows shot up...

Susan snorted, "He does extremely stupid things sometimes without regard for his life, gets into dangerous situations, and then barely makes it out alive."

Jenny simply nodded in agreement. But then, she smiled,

"However, he\'s not a bad person."

Leah smiled wryly, "Really?"

Jenny nodded, "He won\'t hesitate to risk his life for others. Although he tries to seem indifferent to others, he\'s not heartless."

Leah fell silent...

"He\'s also strong. Stronger than anyone else. I just wish he would rely on us more." Susan said with a small smile

Jenny laughed, "I think he has been doing a great job recently. If it was a month ago, he would have jumped straight at that Abyssal Creature the moment it appeared."

Susan chuckled lightly before turning to stare back at Leah. Her smile was incredibly radiant, like the first ray of sun after a storm.

***

Cain walked around through the maze of destroyed buildings deep in thought. Staring at the once grand structures of steel and concrete, he let out a sigh.

\'With magic, making this place liveable won\'t be too hard. However, we can\'t stay here for too long.\'

Now that he had a clearer goal in his mind, Cain wanted to do everything he could to achieve it as fast as possible. His number one priority was killing as many Devils as he could whilst looking for a way to get rid of the god Ash who was the root of all this mess.

As he walked closer to the area of the island where the rift was located, he got to see the Beastmen hard at work.

Before he had left with Leah, he had asked Hunter to lead the Beastmen and humans in harvesting or getting rid of the corpses of the Abyssal Creatures, especially the {Abyssal Millionth Beast}.

Although the corpses of the Realm Walkers didn\'t have much of use except for them maybe containing elemental mana shards, the {Abyssal Millionth Beast} was a treasure trove. This was because of the millions of spiky metal hairs it could grow out on its body.

These metal hairs weren\'t just sharp. They were also made of a very hard material. Because of the creature\'s poisonous nature, they also had a trace of poison in them.

\'They can be used to craft spears, swords, arrows, even new bullets.\'

He was excited to see what he could do with it.

\'I\'ll feed the darkness elemental mana shards to that guy.\'

Remembering the {Dark Soul} whose growth he had neglected, he felt a bit remorseful. However, that didn\'t compare to how bad he felt for Ruby.

Seeing the large mutant Bear waiting for him with her small bushy tail wagging, he couldn\'t help but feel guilty.

Walking up to her, he rubbed her soft fur,

\'Sorry for leaving you behind again, Ruby.\'

\'Don\'t worry about that, Master. I\'m glad you are back.\' She said. Her long pink tongue stretched out as she licked Cain\'s face aggressively.

Seeing her not even angry made can feel even more guilty. He had also abandoned her and forced her to fend for herself.

\'I\'ll make it up to you. From now on, I\'ll take you on all my adventures.\'

The licking became even more aggressive,

\'Really?!\'

Cain laughed, \'Of course!\'

With a jump, he landed on the back of her back,

\'Let\'s go...\'

The mutant Besat happily trudged forward.

Seeing Cain approach, Manny called out excitedly,

"Oi, over here!"

Cain chuckled as they moved closer. Standing in a group was Hunter, Dan, Vincent, Manny, Blaze, David, Li, Sue, and Stan.

Blaze stepped forward and punted his spear at Cain. He spoke through gritted teeth,

"You... Does your luck always have to be this shitty??!"

Cain smiled wryly, "It wasn\'t my fault this time. Really..."

Hunter sighed, "Perhaps it is... It could be that your terrible luck is what initiated all this in the first place."

Cain stared at Hunter in shock,

"You say all this after I saved your ass?"

Hunter shrugged with a smile that said, \'Who asked you?\'

Cain clicked his tongue, "Ungrateful asshole."

The rest burst out laughing at their back and forth. Meanwhile, a certain small person who was too busy glaring at him.

Cain grinned at Sue, "Why are you staring? Did you miss me that much?"

Sue huffed, then spun around on her heels. She refused to even look at him.

David walked up to him then gave him a warm pat on the shoulder,

"Don\'t mind her. She\'s just glad you all came back in one piece."

"No, I\'m not..." Sue protested but was completely ignored.

David grinned, "Regardless of what you went through to get here, welcome back."

Cain felt a warm feeling in his chest. Something he had never experienced before. A smile unknowingly made its way onto his face,

"It\'s good to be back..."