God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

A city of everlasting night.

Now tainted with the hue and decadent scent of blood.

The earth shook, the world trembled.

With a grunt, Allen raised his shield above his head, blocking a terrible blow from a large Devil with four arms and a barbed tongue that viciously struck from on high.

Blocking another blow, he dashing in quickly, delivering a swift stab into the Devil's chest with his glaive.

A tremendous amount of mana exploded from the blade of the weapon, turning the Devil's internal organs into mush in a moment.

Amidst its dying thoes, the Devil struck out furiously, trying to drag him down to hell too.

Allen's eyes were as cold as blocks of solid ice.

With a single stroke, he mercilessly struck down with his glaive, splitting the Devil's head down from its forehead to its chin.

It was a gruesome sight. Black blood and brain matter splattered all over his armor.

Allen didn't even seem to notice, because the stain on his soul was far more fetid, far more wretched, than what could be done physically.

Dislodging his weapon, he severed th Devil's head with another hack.

A dark grimace on his face, he spat on the corpse then turned around.

"That should be the last of them here." Winstrom said to Allen, a tired look in his eyes.

Winstrom was a rather large man.

Decked out in full metal armor, he has opted to lose a few heavier pieces not for convenience, but to conserve his energy.

"Crap like this always happens. Why don't we ever fight under fair circumstances?" Winstrom grumbled as he used the enormous war hammer in his hands to crush the chest of a Devil.

Sinking his hands into the bloody gunk, he pulled out a shiny mana shard. It disappeared in his fingers, transfered to his inventory.

Allen frowned,

"We were lucky this time."

He pulled a strange looking item from his inventory. It was made of a strange glass-like crystal, and on this crystal was a miniature map of the terraformed city.

On the map, there were thousands of coloured lights moving at varying speeds in different directions.

"Other's not so much..."

"Allen, we have a smaller horde approaching from the west."

Appearing from the ruins, Barrte said, landing softly on the ground close to Allen.

Allen nodded, his face dark,

"Yeah. Cyna's squad almost got wiped out by them. Luckily, they managed to get away with just a few deaths."

Winstrom shook his head, his expression grim,

"It's only been a week, and yet things are this terrible? At this rate, we'll all be dead in a few days."

Allen sighed,

"For now, we have to move quickly. Let's harvest the mana shards and head west."

They quickly pulled the shiny mana filled jewels from the dead Devils and Zombies they had slain before heading west.

Currently, the entire City Z had turned into a warzone.

A week ago, the humans that had previously occupied the Divine Territory of the Celestial of Sands and Death had decided to make a bold move.

The large human army had broken up into smaller squadrons that spread out in all directions into the city.

Normally, this would be an incredibly stupid move, but it was currently their best option.

The Devils already had a net that covered the entire city, so it had turned into a case of Hunter and Hunted.

While it was difficult to distinguish at first, it became rather apparent after the first week that the humans were at an obvious disadvantage.

However, items like the magic crystals that helped them track the movements of the other squadrons as well as allowed them to communicate with one another were vital in their situation. The little lights within the crystal represented each squad. The moment the light went out, it meant that squad had been wiped out.

Although the Devils had their net set up, the humans were also establishing theirs.

Several small and large scale battles broke out throughout the ruined city, all with varying casualty rates for both the humans and Devils.

However, the fundamental difference, was that the losses on the side of the Devils could be recouped relatively quickly.

Meanwhile, the humans had no way of replenishiytheir losses.

As such, they had choice but to choose the least damning option. And that was for each squad to survive for as long as possible whilst they slowly wrestled control of the city away from the Devils.

And so far, the plan had worked fairly well.

Allen frowned,

'Still... Who would have expected the casualties to be this terrible?'

Close to a third of their forces had been killed in the first week in Hell.

A third of more than fifty thousand humans was no small number.

And the reason for this was simple;

'The Devils are too powerful.'

On the individual basis, the Devils proved to be the greater adversaries. It was a terrifying thing to live through, watching as they were slowly being overpowered.

If not for the several Tier 2 fighters influencing the direction of the battle, perhaps the losses would have been even greater.

What made this even worse, was as the days went by, the humans grew weaker under the crimson light of the moon.

On the other hand, the Devils didn't seem too affected by it. That, and the fact that their movements were being tracked by the {Hadalspawn Devils} made moving through the city all the more difficult.

Even worse than that, were several human squads simply disappearing for no reason, all contact with them lost mysteriously.

The fear was evident

The advantages were totally stacked against them.

'If not for that lunatic, perhaps we'd all be dead right now...' Allen thought to himself.

He sighed and glanced around him.

Right now out of his original squad of seven, only four of them were still alive.

Himself, Winstrom, Barrte, and a Pilgrim that always kept to himself.

Currently, their situation was far from ideal.

Especially his.

Not only was he nursing several injuries, he had to do so whilst managing the gradual and continuous loss of his mana and stamina.

He constantly felt tired and empty. It was sickening. They were constantly downing potions to keep the effects as minimal as possible.

However, the potions were quick running out and the intensity of the moonlight was only increasing.

While he could think about all this, he couldn't dwell on it too much.

He looked down at his communicator.

Barrte spoke quickly,

"They are up ahead. That guy is already engaging them."

Allen frowned,

"Let's hurry." He said, increasing his pace.

They quickly arrived to find an area with the cracked stone ground shattered more than usual.

Several Devil corpses lay strewn, black blood staining the surface of the rubble.

A {Sky Devil} tried flying away, but a masked figure wearing the signature Pilgrim duskkin robe and cloak soared through the air.

The next moment, the masked Pilgrim stabbed a thin, curved jian through the Devil's back, inciting a shrill scream from it.

The terrible creature fluttered like a falling leaf, but a few more stabs out its miserable existence to an end.

A moment later, it fell like a rock. Landing in the ground, the masked Pilgrim pulled his blade out of the Devil's chest, wiping his blade and the beautiful mana shard he had pulled out of itself chest with the hem of his cloak.

Allen's frown deepened as he summoned his shield and glaive from his inventory.

"I told you not to engage the enemy alone. Are you planning to get all of us killed?!"

He stared up. The horde of Devils that had been headed their way were {Sky Devils} which were notoriously one of the toughest Devil species to deal with.

The masked man turned to him. Since he face was covered by a plain black mask, it was impossible to see his face.

However, his eyes were visible through the slits, so Allen knew he was staring at him.

"Too slow..." The man said casually.

"This bastard;" Winstrom said through gritted teeth.

"If you want to throw your life away, be my guest." Barrte said grimly as he also drew his weapons.

He turned to Allen, who had only managed to compose himself just now,

"This one isn't going to be easy."

The {Sky Devils} arrayed themselves, glaring down at the humans with malicious intent and bloodlust that could cut through bones. The {Sky Devil} the masked Pilgrim had just cut down had been a mere scout. His death has not fazed them on the slightest.

Allen pursed his lips,

"Get ready. Focus on shooting them out of the skies, Bartte. I and Winstrom will finish them off."

He glanced at the masked Pilgrim then clicked his tongue,

"You... do whatever you like."

The masked Pilgrim let out a laugh,

"You don't need to tell me that."

Taking a step forward, he vanished from sight, reappearing behind a {Sky Devil}.

His blade flashed, chopping its wings off.

The Devil let out a furious screech as a jet of blood spurted out of its back.

The next moment however, its claws shot out and wrapped around the Pilgrim's neck.

BOOM!

They both crashed into the ground, sending dust and rubble flying.

The other {Sky Devils} shot down as well, ready to tear him apart.

Barrte sneered,

"Serves you right, bastard."

"Now!" Allen barked as he shot forward as well.

The blade of his glaive glowed as he sped up even more, a torrent of energy enveloping his form.

Clicking his tongue, Barrte drew two magic guns from the holsters in his waist and began firing.

Summoning his helmet and shield, Winstrom huffed like a furious bovine and charged forward, hefting his war hammer.

A {Sky Devil} shot at him.

With a practiced swing, his hammer went flying, screaming through the air furiously.

It crashed into the {Shy Devil}, crushing its arm and side, but the Devil didn't relent, its claws stabbing right through his armor, and tearing off a chunk of his flesh.

With a pained hiss, he took a step back.

Several more {Sky Devils} shot towards him.

Winstrom clicked his tongue,

"What a pain..."