God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'Here it goes...'

After going through all that planning, it was time to execute their plan. They were going to drown the goblins...

Cain knew the changes in mana that were going to be happening soon would not go undetected for long, so he was already fully geared up. It was up to him to make sure none of the creatures made a disturbance Evangeline.

"Ha..." He exhaled a steamy breath from his nostrils and they seeped through the openings on his helmet.

In his hand was {Maelstrom}, and embedded into the ground were the two blades that made up the {Hand of Stinge}.

'They haven't noticed yet...' Cain thought to himself. Because of their great resistance to mana, it was difficult for them to sense changes in it. However, that did not mean they couldn't sense these changes. Evangeline's spell was aloof of great magnitude, so the physical changes it would make would be absolutely phenomenal.

Cain listened to the subtle chanting even as he continued to wait. {Eye of Clairvoyance} was active as he observed the mana flow patterns change drastically. The most predominant color that filled his field of vision was the turquoise blue of the ocean.

Cain took a deep breath as he mumbled,

"Here we go..."

Sure enough, the chief was the first to notice it. A loud roar that made his home rattle spread across the cavern.

Then all hell broke loose...

BOOM!

Cain took a deep breath before he turned away from leaning against the boulder and kicked against the hard stone causing it to explode and shatter.

Without even a second of hesitation, he let a volley of arrows loose. The first of the arrows cut through the air and met their targets. Cain sucked in a sharp breath as he took in the entirety of the army.

There were literally thousands of them, all yelling at the top of their voices, getting ready to tear him limb from limb. Cain suspected they had been ordered for something like this happening with how they methodically prepared.

He hadn't even made a splash in the ocean when the first of the retaliations met him. Although they were in a narrow space, Cain's face called when he saw the sheer number of spears flying in his direction. However, there was no way he could move. After all, Evangeline was seated right behind him. Moving out of the way meant he would put her in harm's way.

As such, he rolled his mana up. However, this time, he didn't let it turn into a gushing floodgate. Rather, he controlled the flow.

Layer after layer of metallic sheets appeared in the air before him. Dozens of spears slammed into it, but Cain held on steadfastly.

Rocks fell to the ground due to the impact of the spears against the rocky walls, killing dozens of {Chaos Goblins}.

Seeing that they were getting nowhere, they stopped throwing the spears and began calling the walls.

As soon as he noticed that the barrage of spears had ended, Cain dismissed the metal walls and resumed showering them with arrows, his main focus on the goblins claiming the walls.

However, as the Chaos creatures were a lot, they could conveniently distribute their forces. Some climbed the walls, while others threw the spears.

'Crap!' Cain grunted when one of the spears struck his armor, creating a small dent.

He realized he would be unable to work well whilst protecting Evangeline. As such, he did the only logical thing he could do in his situation.

And that was to divert their attention away from her...

Taking a few steps back to dodge a few spears, he gathered momentum and jumped. As soon as he exited the cave, he sealed it immediately. As soon as he was airborne, the Chaos creatures below let out excited screams and fired numerous volleys at him.

Cain let out a steamy breath as he activated {Wind Weaver}. At the same time, he materialized several metal shields.

Shielding himself from the onslaught, he kicked against the air and descended. {Flame Orbs} materialized all around him as he dove toward the ground.

They accurately flew into the skulls of the {Chaos Goblins} trying to scale the walls. The {Flame Orbs} were like bullets, penetrating through their heads and dropping them like flies.

The {Hand of Stinge} had been following behind him all this time. As soon as he hit the ground, the two blades exploded with unrighteous fury as they graduated into his hands.

He swept forward with a horizontal cleave...

Hot blood wetted the helmet of his armor as he dismembered a dozen {Chaos Goblins} at once.

Cain stared down the approaching army. His face was calm. His breathing was steady. His heart rate was steady as well...

Then there was a spike...

He threw his head and let out a roar...

"Come on!"

Underneath his armor, his body was encased in a red and black exoskeleton. The demon of destruction, Rakshasa, had appeared.

Cain immediately turned into a whirlwind of blood and death. The heads of two goblins flew his legs turned into whips as they lashed out, kicking them at two other {Chaos Goblins}. The decapitated heads turned into projectiles that smashed the heads of the other two goblins.

The {Hand of Stingè} moved with grace cutting the limbs of every creature that dared approach him with a weapon.

The ground he stood on suddenly turned volatile. However, he was prepared for that. A chain was attached to his waist and pulled him back. At the same time, three two-headed {Chaos Troll} jumped out of the crowd at him, their large obsidian battle axes headed straight at him in a downward swing.

Cain twisted his body and pulled on the chain, dodging the blows. The ground caved in as their axes fell.

He immediately recalled {Maelstrom} and fired a few arrows. One of them embedded itself into the eye of one of the {Chaos Trolls} causing it to let out a scream of pain and agony.

He dismissed the weapon as the other two came racing at him. At the same time, another volley of spears was thrown at him. There was no way he could dodge the two trolls rushing at him, so he materialized a wall of metal in front of him using a considerable amount of mana.

At the same time, the {Seven Golden Stars} was activated. Seven glowing swords materialized from magic circles. In the blink, the wall of metal was destroyed by the falling spears and the {Chaos Trolls}.

Cain took a deep breath and dashed forward. The seven swords spread out as well and began parrying the flying spears.

Just as one of the battle axes was about to fall again, his body phased out of reality and was replaced with one of the swords that were orbiting his body. Cain appeared directly above one of the {Chaos Trolls}.

A grunt escaped his lips as he thrust downward. His sword made contact with the thick skull. However, a little bit of his ki propelled the blade forward and broke through the hard skull.

Blood and grey matter flew everywhere as Cain shifted away, causing the other {Chaos Troll} to decapitate its already dead brethren.

Cain continued to fight, but the pressure on him multiplied with every passing second. In just a few minutes, he was covered with bruises and minor injuries.

The Chaos creatures were very shameless as they continued throwing bodies at him with the intent to bury him alive. However, with the existence of {Nexus Tether}, they were unable to do so.

However, the brutality of the fight was escalating quickly. And the main players in the game had yet to make a move. Cain could see from the corner of his eyes that the majority of the Chaos creatures were not even engaging him. Rather, they treated the battle like an exhilarating show.

The Chaos Chief just looked down from his throne in mock amusement. The two guards didn't even look in his direction the three-headed {Chaos Trolls} on the other hand looked like they wanted a piece of him.

However, they made no moves. Cain could only grit his teeth in anger...

'Hmph! Let's see who gets the last laugh, Bastards!'

Cain let out a growl as his aggression grew. Apurplecloud mixed with droplets of blood had been swimming around him for a while thanks to the passive ability of {Hand of Stingè}.

Cain dexterously climbed onto the neck of a rather large {Chaos Troll}. Stabbing his blades into the creature's shoulders, he used his gloved hands to pull at the creature's head.

The goblins seemed to cheer even louder when they saw this. With a sickening crunch, its head, as well as its spine was dragged out from its body. Blood sprayed everywhere as Cain continued his brutal slaughter.

His feet turned into blurs as he swam through the army. However, he barely made a dent in their numbers. If they wanted, they would simply crush him...

However, he was too fast...

But his stamina was limited. He let out a yell of agony as an axe slammed into his shoulder. A sickening crunch meant that arm was temporarily useless. However, {Draconic Transfiguration} came to his aid. Because of the amount of injuries he suffered, his Ki reserves were draining fast. Luckily for him, his job wasn't to wipe the army out.

Rather, he was merely a distraction...

Even amidst the heat of battle, he made sure to keep an eye on where he had left Evangeline.

That was why he was able to see when a blob of shadows appeared just before the cave's sealed entrance.

Cain could say he had never seen a being as beautiful as the one that appeared before him.

Evangeline looked like a goddess who had descended upon the mortal realm. She was simply unreal...

Her long, white hair floated behind her as an eerie aura enveloped her. Even the Chaos chief who had been calm all this while stood up from his throne.

Evangeline looked down at the scene below...

Then she let out a sigh...

Her lips parted,

"Come, Charybdis..."

A deep rumble echoed through the cavern. And then the floodgates were opened...