God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain plopped onto the ground.

Retrieving a flask from his inventory, his gullet contracted as he emptied the contents of it into his stomach.

Once he was done, he let out a shaky sigh.

He glanced to his side.

Julio was in even worse shape than he was.

Several days had passed since they had left Valestorm.

Several things had also changed during this time.

For one, his previous understanding of their situation. Even more, their current circumstances.

'Hell... This is Hell!'

Indeed, the entire City Z, also known as the City of Zoan, had been turned into a nightmarish Hell in just a few days.

Not only did Devils cover every nook and cranny of the city, the Devil Essence in the form of Miasma seeped into the very world itself, corrupting it and turning it into a vile death trap.

Cain couldn't count the number of times he had nearly died. Even he would not survive falling into a pit filled with Devil Essence-infused digestive juices.

Many new species of Devils had also popped out of the blue, so there was that to deal with too.

However, all these things paled in comparison to the change that had come over the sky.

Right now, the entire City of Zoan had been dyed a deep shade of crimson.

The color of spilt blood...

Aside from creating a rather terrifying atmosphere that enveloped the city, it also did something more.

The malevolent radiance from the blood moon was draining him of his mana and stamina. Dangerously fast too.

Even the {Soul Deity of Darkness} could not stop the power of the blood moon's glare.

It was all-encompassing, all-powerful.

Like a god.

Feasting on the souls and flesh of the mortals crawling below.

"A god, huh... This definitely screams Divine mischief, doesn't it?" he said to himself.

Right now, they had chosen to take a break in an abandoned building.

As long as the light did not reach them, then they would be fine and could quickly recover lost mana and stamina.

Outside, the bloody light tore away most of the shadows as well, so there was little to no shelter from it.

"D-damn... I'm so tired. I don't think I can go on much longer," Julio said through heavy breaths.

One look at him, and Cain could tell the man was not kidding. His eyes were sunken, and his face pale.

Still, he couldn't allow him to fall here.

Cain gritted his teeth.

"Get yourself together. If you stop here, then how will we save all those people?"

Julio waved his hand as he plopped down, arms and legs spread wide on the ground.

"Can't do it. Go on without me."

'He gave up so easily?!'

"Enough jokes, damn it!" Cain growled.

Julio shot back up.

"I can't keep going like this. I'll die at this rate."

Cain frowned.

He was right.

Julio's spirit camouflage, or as he called it, {Embrace of Null}.

Apparently, Null is the name of the spirit that gave him these powers.

Cain sighed. Glancing through the broken window, he let his mind drift.

In the first place, he had no idea why the moon had suddenly turned crimson.

He frowned. 'No, I do...'

Although he didn't know the exact reason, it had to be tied to the Celestial Deity of Blood and the Moon.

His first encounter with those shady guys had not been pleasant at all.

He had considered making contact with them, but his instincts told him that would be a bad idea.

Perhaps they were right...

Silently nursing a headache, he considered his options.

'This really is an inconvenience.'

Energy was vital for anything and everything. If they lacked energy, they would be unable to walk, much less fight.

Granted, they had done no fighting over the last few days.

Still, if they ran out of mana in a crisis, they would be swarmed to death.

He clicked his tongue. 'What to do, what to do...'

Previously, he had tried to create a magic umbrella to shield them from the crimson light. Instead of protecting them, it had eaten right through the magic shields, leaving nothing behind.

Cain sighed.

"I've got nothing."

Slamming his back into the wall, he let out a sigh, his brows scrunched together.

Julio chuckled.

"I thought so. Instead of stressing over it, why not make our break a little longer this time?"

Cain paused. That indeed did make sense.

He nodded. "Alright. We'll extend it until I can think of something."

"In that case, see ya!" Julio said, immediately falling asleep.

Not knowing what to say, Cain sat there in silence.

The streaks of crimson that illuminated the world outside crawled into the building through all the openings and cracks.

Yet he remained still in a dark corner.

Unchanging and untouched.

'I wonder how things are going over there...'

---

Chaos.

Death.

The world broke apart.

An ocean of black clashing against a line of bodies wielding enchanted steel.

The inception of madness.

Blood.

Agony.

Despair.

Magic.

Roaring steel.

The whizzing of bullets and arrows.

The peals of spells raining from the sky.

The heat of fire.

The crackle of thunder.

Manny sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes next, they were filled with an insatiable bloodlust that consumed all his rationale.

With a hoarse cry, his speed exploded exponentially, the air around him turning into rings as he annihilated the sound barrier, approaching speeds far greater than the sound he created could keep up with.

His body mutated and changed grotesquely. Two black arms reeking of Devil Essence burst out of his body where his ribcage was meant to be.

From his upper and lower back, two more sets of dark appendages materialized, each one wielding a different sword.

A new set of armor materialized around him, one specifically made for him by Cain.

The rush and thrill of battle.

The high flowing through his bloodstream as a result of the Devil Essence within him.

Everything culminated into a single feeling.

"Die!"

Limbs, organs, blood, bones...

They splattered onto the ground in a whirlwind of terrible carnage as he cut through the horde of {Zombies} and Devils rushing at him from all sides.

"More! More! More!"

Manny was like an angel of death, reaping through the Devils like he was shearing grass. And yet they still poured at him tirelessly and without fear.

And he was not alone.

The enormous spear of humans clashed with the black blade that was the Devil Army, grinding against it furiously.

Broken bodies flew everywhere as lives—both human and Devil—were lost.

However, the advantage was overwhelmingly stacked in the humans' favor.

This was because they had a few Tier 2 humans buried in the spearhead. Manny was just one of them.

But he was the most ferocious.

Lost in the slaughter, he felt he could go on for eternity.

But his time was running out.

Suddenly coming to a halt, he let the rampant energies within him calm down.

Tilting his head back, his feet shuffled as he skillfully took several steps back, dodging the continuous hacks from a Devil standing at over eight feet tall.

With calculated movements, he slipped under a swing and snuck his blade between the gap created beneath its arm.

His blade snuck in, stabbing the Devil right through the eye.

His other hands were moving, cutting down {Zombies} left and right, in all directions.

Blackened blood spilled across the ground, and yet the tempo of the battle was never lost.

In fact, there seemed to be no end to it.

Standing upon an outpost, Steve clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"These fucking bastards!"

His eyes glowed with ethereal light as a set of fluctuating and rotating magic circles and runes floated just an inch away from them.

His hands glided through the air, forming complicated runes and arrays no one could understand.

Standing beside him, Abigail also had a frown on her face.

Glancing up, her gaze was captured by the crimson blood moon.

"You still haven't figured out a way to counteract this thing?" she asked.

Steve spat out angrily,

"Of course I haven't. You think I can decode magic with Divine origins so easily? Cut me some freaking slack here!"

Abigail grimaced.

"Well, if you don't do something soon, I reckon things will get exponentially difficult for us as time goes on."

Steve chuckled bitterly, his hands moving faster.

"I don't know if this is good or bad news, but the Devils are also affected by this accursed moonlight. If it makes you feel any better, we aren't the only ones suffering."

He wiped a bead of sweat off his temple despite the cool night winds.

Abigail sighed as she glanced at the sky again.

"I know why this is happening, but I still can't believe it," she muttered softly.

Steve sneered derisively.

"Well, believe it or not. It's happening..."

His eyes narrowed dangerously.

"These bastards don't just want to reclaim the city—they also want to send every single one of us to hell with these Devils. What a bunch of assholes!"