God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"So basically, the entire island is shared territory. The beasts are intelligent, so they have something of an idea of what borders are." Cain said after swallowing.

Ignis stared at him, "You... Is that what you ran off to do?"

Cain shrugged, "What did you expect? Understanding the terrain will help us better."

His face turned serious, "The Mutant Beasts reproduce fast, so they have the numbers to spare in the event of a fight. We don\'t. Losing too many people to anything will be a bad idea."

Steve nodded, "Indeed. Even a war of attrition might cause us to lose everything."

Cain shook his head, "Totally eliminating them might be possible, but it isn\'t something I\'d be down for."

Once they were done with the meal, Cain let out a sigh after gulping down a cup of water. The people here were filled with hope, and that hope was something that could be shattered in an instant of they made even the slightest error.

Cain turned to Ignis, "How is everything looking?"

She grinned, "Everyone is ready."

Cain smiled, then turned to Vincent, "Vince?"

Vincent chuckled as he laid down a map on the cemented ground,

"Alright! To our left is the Bolenon Darkwood Forest. This is where the {Steelhead Mayflies} and the {Onyx Nightsongs} stay. Both are absolutely terrible beasts. The Nightsongs feed on the Bolenon Darkwood, and the Steelheads eat the Sapphire Bloomberries that are invasive to the Darkwood Forest."

Vincent looked around. Cain, Ignis, Blaze, Manny, and Steve. Seated around them, eating were all the people at the camp. They muttered in low voices, their faces sullen, discretely listening to their conversation.

There was nothing to hide. Besides, these men and women deserved to know whatever the hell it was they were going to be thrust into.

A smile tugged at his face as he pointed at another point on the map,

"To our right is the colony of the {Redscale Soldiers}. The reason we haven\'t been attacked by these creatures is the Beast-warding runes and magic circles scattered around this place. However, it\'s only a matter of time before even that becomes ineffective."

"So we are going to have to strike first..."

Vincent pointed at a point on the map. A point of intersection between the two parts of the forest,

"The Steelheads are troublesome, but having good sharpshooters take them out makes their threat level low. The real horrors of the Bolenon Darkwood Forest are the Nightsongs. They are all but impervious physical attacks, so we\'ll need only magic casters here."

Vincent turned to Cain, expecting his to say something. Seeing him remain silent, he continued,

"Then the {Redscale Soldiers}... Holding them back might be an issue due to their numbers -"

"I won\'t be a problem." Cain said, prompting him to continue.

Vincent cleared his throat, "Well... If that\'s the case, then we just need to worry about whatever strong creatures might be lurking out there besides the ones already mentioned. Any questions?"

Someone in the crowd raised their hand. A man with glasses on, dressed in light-brown leather armor and holding onto a glaive. He looked a bit lanky, but upon further inspection, it was obvious from his pointed ears and the tail flopping in the wind behind him that he wasn\'t fully human,

"What do we do if we encounter a stronger monster apart from the ones already mentioned?"

"Good question. You-"

"Make a signal, and try your hardest to survive. If there are others around, you should work together to make it out alive. Who knows, maybe you might even kill the damn thing." Cain said with a grin.

A few chuckles spread throughout the crowd as the man put his hand down with a wry smile on his face.

Cain chuckled as well, "Enough with the questions. We move in groups of four. A squad is to be made of four groups. Archers and Marksmen will take the Darkwood Forest and whatever mages we have will assist them. Vince, Steve... Go with them and assist any way you can.

The rest of us will take down the Redscale Colony."

"Let\'s do this!"

"Just a few mutants, nothing we can\'t handle."

Maybe they had been affected by Cain\'s nonchalance, but they didn\'t seem bleak and worried anymore.

Feeling like he should do something to raise their morale a bit more, Cain stood to his feet and turned to face the crowd.

Feeling so many eyes fall on him, he cleared his throat, feeling it a bit dry,

"You might all be scared right now... So many things have happened since all this madness started."

His brows furrowed, "Some of you might have watched your loved ones die in front of you, and some of you might have been forced to witness some very disturbing things. But one thing I can say, is that we are all bathed in blood."

Cain could see the confusion on their faces, and he didn\'t blame them.

\'Haha... I bet I look like a psychopath right now.\'

Still, he continued, "But he have every right to be bathed in blood. Because it is either them, or us. The people you\'ve lost, the people you have watched die... each and everyone of them is a victim to this demented world."

"You have a choice to make. Become a victim, or be bathed in blood. To make sure we don\'t become a casualty to this damned world, we can only pick up our swords. I cannot force any of you to do that. You need to make the choice and fight for yourselves."

Soft white light glimmered within his fingertips, and put of the void, he pulled a brilliantly shining curved sword.

Raising {Platinum Genesis}, Cain stared at the crowd,

"Live or die, we get to decide with a blade in our hands..."

Steve chuckled as he also rose to his feet,

"With a staff in our hands..."

"With a spear in our hands..." Blaze said as he rose to his feet as well, smashing the butt of his spear against the ground.

"With our guns in our hands." Cocking back the hammer of his rifle, Vincent let out a boisterous laugh.

"With a sword in our hands!" Someone in the crowd yelled as he rose to his feet.

And then, there was another...

And another...

And another...

Until they had all stood up, yelling to the grey skies, their blood boiling fervently with the top of their weapons pointed to the sky.

Cain was unable to suppress the grin that split across his face.

This was it... Some of them weren\'t even fully human anymore, and yet, they burned with the inevitable spirit of humanity. They wanted to survive, to thrive even in a world that was trying its best to kill them off.

Because of this, they were willing to adapt. To shed their previous coating of morals. To slaughter anything and everything that was deemed a threat.

It was, a beauty to behold. A perverse beauty, but a beauty nonetheless...

With a firm nod, Cain turned, "Let\'s give them hell."

***

The air was both cold and humid at the same time. Dewdrops rested on the dark green leaves, and the chirping of certain creatures resting at the treetops filled the forest with an eerie melody.

At the same time, the underground below was experiencing some changes. A species alien to the forest had come tearing right through it, slaughtering its inhabitants.

The inhabitants of the forest fought back ferociously, tearing into the ranks of the invaders and devouring their flesh.

But at the same time, many more of these inhabitants were butchered in gruesome fashion, their corpses falling to the ground, becoming one with the land.

The Beastmen possessed incredible physical might. Some of them had physiques on par with that of Mutant Creatures even. While they couldn\'t use magic, they could use Ki. With it, they were capable of boosting their already incredibly physical capabilities even further.

Putting their intellect, as well as their martial prowess together, they managed to become a sharp knife that cut through the forest.

After bathing the forest in blood for a while, they managed to break into a clearing that was totally devoid of trees.

Stepping forward, Cain recognized this place as he had been here briefly during his scouting mission.

The colony of the {Redscale Soldiers} was something that was a bit out of the ordinary in the dense forest. They moved through the catacombs they had created with a near silent fervor, their arms bearing all sorts of things. Stones, wood from the forest, and even a few carcasses of Mutant Creatures that populated the dense forest.

"They have to be the smartest Mutant Creatures we\'ve ever encountered." Blaze, who stood a little bit behind him whispered.

Cain couldn\'t help but nod in agreement...

The creatures were humanoid in more ways than one...

Not only did they have incredibly powerful bodies, their minds were also exceptional.

Staring at the mind-blowing edifice that had been built with nothing but stone, tree material, and an unknown, white substance, Cain couldn\'t help but feel a bit of fear in his heart.

\'What the hell has gone wrong with the world?\'