God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain chuckled, \'Tell me about it.\'

They were currently trying to find the quickest and easiest way to get to the nearest Magic Shield. According to Evangeline, these three places were the places to look for humans.

\'Could it be a setup?: While he wouldn\'t want to believe that, he also knew he had no reason to doubt. Probably...

Still, he couldn\'t help but feel uncomfortable.

And so, with that goal in mind, every one of them had gone into the city. On the wide streets, both commercial and not, thousands upon thousands of Devils crawled.

They went about all sorts of strange businesses, such as killing the many smaller Mutant Creatures that still crawled in the darkness of the City and harvesting their bones, flesh, blood, and essence.

They also seemed to be searching for any more humans hidden within the City.

Cain frowned, \'They hunt us for both power and sustenance.\'

Staring at the dead City surrounding him, Cain was again reminded of just how many people used to live here;

They were in the millions...

But now, they had been reduced to god knows what. The rest of the City had already been reduced to dead man\'s land.

While the Devils patrolled the City, their surveillance didn\'t cover everywhere, giving Cain and the others the prime opportunity to sneak in.

However, not all things were rosy...

In order to escape detection, they had to make sure they watched out for all sorts of flying, crawling, and rooted Devils.

Staying away from the {Sentinel Drones} proved to be the hardest to accomplish, as the dastardly Devils had a way of seeing through walls and shadows.

To crown it all up, they couldn\'t kill any of the Devils they encountered, as that might alert the entire hive.

Staring at the distant black spire, Cain tried shaking off the feeling of dread.

\'Susan, Jenny and Roselle... Where are they?\'

Hunter replied after a few seconds,

\'A few blocks ahead. Beside the building close to.the fountain.\'

Cain nodded, \'Okay. Let\'s meet up with them there.\'

In order to reduce the risk of being caught, the had decided to split up into teams of three\'s and two\'s. Evangeline was out of the equation, so all was left were the other.

Cain and Hunter moved together, while Susan, Jenny, and Roselle followed the same route.

Lukas and Floki followed another, while Manny, Luke, and Rollo were one team as well...

They approached the City from different directions, and with Hunter being the connection between them, they were able to make it a distance without getting caught so far.

\'Still... This City is huge.\'

Cain had once lived in this City, so he knew how huge it was. However, with the recent expansion of the world, it had become even bigger.

It was strange...

In some places, there were large swathes of land unoccupied by buildings or any other structures. In others, the buildings were more dispersed than before, and in some regions, some buildings were smashed against one another.

The entire City was like something a three year old would create during play time. There was a sense of profound disorderliness that irked the mind, simply looking around.

With no time to hesitate, Cain and Hunter ran through the broken streets, hiding periodically behind anything of substance.

Eventually, they arrived at a plaza located a little Cain reckoned wasn\'t very far away from where he once lived.

However, thanks to the geo-transformation, he couldn\'t be too sure anymore.

Crouched and hidden away from view were three beautiful young ladies, each armed with a deadly weapon in their own right.

Susan frowned as she watched Cain and Hunter approach. She spoke in a hushed tone,

"What took you so long?"

Cain sighed, "The {Sentinel Drones} around that part were incredibly numerous. Getting here was no easy feat."

Ignoring Cain\'s words, Susan proceeded to thoroughly search Cain\'s body for any signs of injury.

Jenny raised a brow, "This..."

Roselle\'s brows tightened, "What are you doing?"

Susan dusted Cain\'s shoulders. Turning to the other two, she smiled lightly,

"Checking for any injuries. What do you think?"

"What about me..." Hunter asked, but was deftly ignored by Susan.

Jenny sighed, then turned to Cain,

"So what\'s next... Do we wait for the others here, or do we move on."

Cain turned to Hunter who closed his eyes for a moment.

A few minutes later, his eyelids slowly drew open,

"The others probably won\'t be making it here on time, so we can leave without them. They\'ll catch up."

Roselle frowned, "Don\'t you think moving like this is dangerous?"

Cain nodded, "It is. But it is our best bet. We can\'t afford to move together."

Jenny sighed, "In that case, let\'s keep going."

Cain stared at her, \'Hmm...\'

He could sense something was wrong with her. She didn\'t seem as calm and collected as she usually was. In fact, her aura was suddenly very similar to Hunter\'s perpetually gloomy aura, which wasn\'t a good thing.

\'Whta could be the problem?\'

Although he would have loved to get to the root of it, unfortunately, he didn\'t have the time, nor mental faculties to spare.

\'Maybe later...\'

With just the five of them, they began preparing to make a move.

Then, suddenly, Hunter made a sign for them to stay still.

Cain frowned. Just as he was about to say something, he noticed it as well.

At first it was faint, but then, it became fate more evident.

The ground shook violently, as a giant Devil approached their general location...

This Devil brought with it the stench of sulphur and chaos. A {Flame Devil}, just like Forza, the True Devil Cain had killed back then had been.

\'Everyone, stay still. Don\'t move at all.\' Hunter relayed to them calmly.

Not only was this {Flame Devil} bigger, it was also stronger that Forza. For one,bthe Gen embedded at the center of its chest was incredibly huge, shining like a lighthouse in the darkness.

Tens of thousands of {Sentinel Drones}, one-eyed, troublesome bastards, surrounded this enormous Devil like moths around a flame..

Cain\'s frown deepened, \'Where did this thing come from?\'

Roselle tilted her head slightly out of their hiding place. Staring at the giant Devil, she narrowed her eyes.

Then, they suddenly widened,

\'Oh, no!\'

Cain turned towards her, \'What\'s wrong?\'

She gritted her teeth,

\'Its the Spire...\'

Cain raised a brow, \'The Spire?\'

With no other choice, he also peeked from behind the wall.

And he was lucky enough to watch what Roselle was trying to get across.

The Devil Spire shone briefly with light. That light traveled from the base of the Tower to the top in a split second, condensing into a single beam of dark light surrounded by more than a dozen complex magic circles.

The ray of dark light traversed a huge portion of land before coming in contact with the ground. The dark light quickly morphed into the enormous shape of a gigantic Devil, this one just a bit different from the {Flame Devil}.

\'What the hell was that?!\'

There was no logical explanation for what he just saw. Well, besides it being the work of magic, or a Divine play.

Hunter frowned, \'This changes things completely.\'

Susan sighed, \'If we make even the slightest mistake, it is very possible that the weight of all the Devils in the City would come up on their heads.\'

The range of detection for the {Sentinel Drones} was wide, but the were currently outside of it, luckily for them.

However, that was bound to change very soon.

\'Are they on to us?\' Cain thought.

If that wasn\'t the case, then why had this happened just now?

Cain fought back the urge to smash the nearby wall down in frustration.

\'The {Sentinel Drones} are headed into the streets. We have no choice. We have to make a move now.\' Hunter said, his voice laced with a bit of urgency.

Cain fell into thought, the gears in his mind spinning rapidly.

\'Escaping from this situation isn\'t going to be incredibly difficult. The problem is leaving this place undetected.\'

As his thoughts churned, a hint of an idea was birthed.

\'That\'s it!\'

Cain turned to Hunter,

\'Tell the others to head towards us. Now!\'

Hunter gave him a suspicious look.

\'Are you sure?\'

Cain nodded rapidly, \'Quick! Hurry!\'

Hunter nodded, then closed his eyes.

Cain turned to Susan, \'In the mean time, cast a protection spell on us. We can\'t have the Drones discovering us now.\'

Susan had a grim smile on her face,

\'I\'ll have to chant the incantations out.\'

Cain summoned {Wilted Tears} from his inventory and handed it to her. Susan took it with wide eyes,

\'This...\'

\'Thid will solve the problem, no?\' Cain asked.

Susan nodded, her expression determined,

\'Of course.\'

Without wasting a second, she waved the staff. Mana swirled around her in waves, threatening to alert every being with the ability to sense magic in a fifty mile radius.

However, the subtle glow from a ring on her finger managed to keep the waves confined.

Cain nodded, a dark substance in his eyes,

\'Perfect...\'

If all went according to plan, not only would they get out of this alive, they might even reap a few benefits. Around these parts, there were fewer {Zombies} and more Devils. Although that seemed like a bad thing, in this case, Cain wouldn\'t have it any other way.

Roselle and Jenny stared at him, a question in their gazes. Unable to hold back, Jenny asked;

\'What are you planning to do?\'

Cain grinned,

\'I\'m going to cast a net.\'