God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"So what's the plan, Jenny?" Stan said as he noticed Jenny approaching.

"We split... I want you and Sue to take all these people down towards the beach on the other side. That way, they will be safe from the devils for now." Jenny said as she walked briskly.

"What?! No! I want to stay and fight with you, Sister Jenny!" Sue had a teary expression on her face as she tried to make an argument, but was immediately shut down by Jenny.

"It isn't up for discussion." She said in a warm, but strong tone.

Turning to Stan who now had a hard look on his face, "Keep them, and her, safe." she said whilst pointing at Sue.

"With my life..." Stan said seriously.

"Wait! I said I don't want to go! Besides, what makes you think that place will be any safer than here?!" Sue said angrily.

Li took this as the best moment to chime in, "Although that place is close to the beach, all you guys might come across are some mutants, the strongest of whom might be level 40. I'm sure both of you will be able to handle such threats easily. It's all good as long as you don't engage in this ruthless battle with these crazy devils."

"No one asked you, stupid!" Sue harrumphed angrily.

"Sue, I'm not doing this for just you. I need someone that will assist Stan in protecting these people. You have very high attack power and long-range attacks, which is a good complement to Stan's defensive attributes and close combat skills."

"But I want to fight with you," Sue said emotionally, on the verge of tears. Anyone who gazed into her teary eyes unprepared would instantly fall victim to the cute trap.

Luckily for Jenny, she had more than enough experience dealing with her...

Moving towards her, Jenny wrapped her arms around Sue, pulling her closer until her head was pressed up against her large breasts.

"We need your support now, Sue. I need you to promise me you'll stay strong and fight to protect."

Jenny was a binder amongst the four of them. Not only was she the oldest, but she was also like a sister figure they all looked up to. To them, she was a kind angel that would always put their needs before hers, just as they would do for her.

"Fine.." Through sniffles, Sue's tiny voice came through with affirmation of her involvement.

"Haha! All it took was a little coddling, and she turns into a puppy. Hilarious!" Li could help but burst out laughing.

"Shut up!" Sue laughed as she quickly broke away from Jenny with a blush and ran off to the group of destitute people.

"Ha... I'll go get her. We will leave now." Stan said with a sigh and a tired smile.

"Hehe... Don't have any funny thoughts about my sister!" Li yelled at the retreating Stan, causing him to nearly fall over.

"Drop dead!" Stan flipped the bird at his friend before walking to the sulking Sue and the rest of the people there.

In a murmur that no one could hear, he whispered under his breath, "Don't die..."

***

The direction of the beach was in the opposite direction of the forest. Although the area they were in was separated from the beach by a small area of foliage, it wasn't very thick and was usually scarcely populated with creatures since it was very close to the shore.

Once Sue, Stan and the people they were looking over had disappeared and were out of sight, they all gathered together...

"So what now?" Vincent asked Jenny.

"Now we begin preparations for those devils to attack," Jenny said as she summoned her magnificent weapon from her inventory.

"I agree..."

The voice of the previously unconscious Hunter rang out, causing everyone to turn their heads.

"You awake?" Li said with a laugh, but was ignored by Hunter.

Retrieving his bow from his inventory, his eyes flashed with the darkness of malice and rage as he pointed at the giant {Flame Devil} in the distance.

"That thing has the power to kill us all if we don't handle this properly. And it's not even the scariest out of them all..."

"Hoho! That's reassuring." Vincent said as he stared at the huge {Flame Devil} that seemed to come more and more alive as time passed.

"He's not lying..." Susan said as she and Steve appeared from nowhere.

"Where have you guys been?!" Vincent said, suspicion in his eyes.

"Shut it."

"Yes, Ma'am."

A single cold glare from Susan was enough for the fatty to melt down into putty.

"That {Flame Devil} is a true devil. A True devil is just a slightly more developed version of a spawn devil, the devils we have been facing up until now. It is the form they assume when they begin to attain their true power. They are incredibly powerful..." Susan said as she stared at Jenny with a deeply complicated gaze.

Not understanding the reason for her stare, Jenny decided to ignore it,

"So what do we do?"

This time, it was Steve who provided an answer, "We need to gather together to arrange all the information we have, then see what we do from there."

"I agree... Let's get Manny and Cain to come back and gi-"

Before anything could be said, a loud bang made them all turn their heads.

"What was that?!" They all turned their heads in the direction of the sound. Jenny and Susan stared in both shock and anticipation when they noticed where it came from.

However, some were quicker than others...

In a flash of light, Susan had disappeared without even saying a word...

"It's time to get my revenge," Hunter said in a raspy voice as he transformed into his werewolf form.

He quickly turned into a streak of light and he also disappeared in a flash.

"Haha... Who said you all could hoard all the fun?" Li laughed as he propelled himself forward with the power of the wind.

Steve could only shake his head in disappointment, "I thought we were making a plan first?"

"Haha... None of these battle-hungry maniacs even understand what a plan looks like." Vincent said as he also pulled his weapon from his inventory.

"Honestly... That Hunter isn't fully recovered yet, what the hell is he doing fighting?!" Dan lamented.

"That's right... What happened to him? Did he encounter some abnormally strong devil he couldn't face and suffered defeat?" Jenny asked curiously.

"Something like that..." Dan said cryptically as he didn't want to give out too much information.

However, doing so before the experienced Jenny was like trying to outplay a grandmaster as a novice,

Impossible...

"Dan, you have to understand. We all need every piece of information we can get our hands on at this point. Don't you think it will do us all good to know this?" Jenny said as she moved a bit closer to Dan who instantly became flustered.

Jenny was not only competent, but she was also incredibly beautiful and seductive in her own right. With large proportions enough to make a man go wild in his dreams, she was the epitome of human attraction.

What made her even more formidable was her ability to use her charms to her advantage in any situation she was in...

"Y-yeah... I-I D-don't k-know wha-"

"Please?" The sweet lavender scent coming from Jenny as she moved even closer was enough for any man to instantly lose all cognitive functions. A deep and enticing purple glow seemed to sleep out of her eyes as she leaned closer, a devilishly seductive smile on her face.

It was safe to say that Dan stood no chance at all...

"W-well, he was attacked by the Broodmother. However, it wasn't a physical attack, but a mental, or by his words, a spiritual attack." Dan's last bit of mental defenses had crumbled a long time ago.

"The Broodmother?" Jenny said with a serious expression.

"Yes... When he came to, he told me he had come in contact with it when he was scouting the forest. He came to know a few things from it as well..."

"Continue..."

Correction, crushed... His mental defenses had been completely crushed...

"Well, the main purpose of the devils isn't just to devour us, but all life, so it is only natural they wouldn't spare the plant life. The Broodmother said something about devouring the forest. He also said he saw that deeper into the forest, the trees and plants have all begun to die rapidly.

Some of them have turned into a black decaying rot, leaving only barren land behind when they had been drained of their nutrients."

"This is quite serious. Thank you for providing us with this bit of information. You've done well." Jenny said as she too ran into the forest, leaving a confused Dan, and a frightened Vincent and Steve behind.

"Damn! Who knew women were so dangerous?!" Vincent said, a slight quiver present in his voice.

"Ha... This is something all men have known since time immemorial." Steve said as he turned towards Dan who had a sulking expression on his face as he realized he had just been had.

"Cheer up, brother! Now you've known to be careful around these women. None of them can be trusted..." Vincent said words that were wiser than his years.

"I've learned a lot, brothers. Thank you for being here to support me." Dan said, a few tears of joy streaking from the sides of his eyes.

"Haha! There is no need to mention it, brother. Remember, we are here for you, so don't hesitate to ask for help." Steve said as he rubbed his shoulder endearingly.

It was said that in grave times, especially when another man had just suffered a tremendous loss, the men around would band together to form a pillar of moral support to help said brother get back up on his feet.

Regardless of how true this was, it could be seen happening, as the trio encouraged one another in a time of emotional distress.

"Let us make haste brothers! There is a battle we need to be part of. Onwards, we go!!!"

"Yeah!"

The remaining two yelled out their battle cries as they joined Steve and raced down toward the battle that was taking place.

Despite his large build, Vincent was able to move with questionably good agility. Like a ball shot into the distance, he bounced straight off.

"Feather feet." Casting a spell, Steve seemed to briefly levitate from the ground before he was launched forward by the spell.

Dan chose a different way as his legs and arms were coated in a thin layer of frost which eventually spread to the ground, freezing the earth in front of him solid. Stepping on the frozen ground, he was somehow able to move extremely fast by sliding across the ice that was created by the ice Sabatons he had created

In the blink of an eye, they were all gone...