God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Their light brown, slick coat made them blend into their surroundings perfectly. They had bushy tails that were ignited by a seemingly inextinguishable flame. Their faces were contorted in a vicious snarl that seemed to work wonders in intimidating smaller and weaker creatures.

However, these monstrosities were put down by the four girls in less than a minute. Well, three, since Evangeline decided to sit on the sidelines and observe as well. Although she earned a few hard glares from the other girls because of this, she didn't seem to care.

What surprised Cain the most was the diversity of the skills and spells each girl had. He knew that Jenny was affiliated with the metal element, but he still had no idea if she had any other lethal spells or skills apart from the bullet that had nearly claimed his life...

He had been aware of Susan's abilities with the light element, and he had to admit that she was the most diverse spell caster he had ever seen. Well, he hadn't seen a lot of spell casters in his life, but it was still impressive.

Compared to her, Cain's achievements with the metal element seemed laughable. Then, there was Ignis. To be honest, despite the binding contract between them, Cain still thought that the Cherufe Spawn was an oddity. The damage output of her skills and spells was just too frightening. No matter the place or time, the heat of a volcano's magma was not something to be trifled with.

Cain barely had time to observe their progress before the battle was concluded. As such, they quickly continued on their journey.

Laying uncomfortably on the makeshift stretcher, Cain spoke to the system mentally,

'System, why are the skills and spells we make so... customizable? Why aren't they all restricted to a certain database or something?'

It was a strange question to ask, but it was one based on logic. To him, the rules of the system were just too loose. Freedom was not always a good thing after all.

The ability to create spells and skills was something that offered limitless possibilities. However, it was also an uncontrollable variable...

{Replying to host: Skills and Spells are created based on an individual's understanding of their body, energy, and the world. No two individuals in existence can have the exact same thought processes and environment to influence these processes. It is simply impossible. Some spells and skills might be very similar to each other. However, they do differ in one form or another}.

Cain fell silent when he heard what the system had to say...

{The system was created as a guide for those chosen by the grace of the Nomad and Destiny. It is a helper, but it isn't meant to be used as a crutch. It offers assistance, but the ball remains in the court of the host}.

Cain could understand this. His skills and spells had their sense of individuality. Susan, Hunter, Evangeline, David... Every single one of them had skills and spells that reflected who they were and how they were affected by the changes around them from the time of the god ash inception till date.

'Still... Creating a database would have been a far better choice.' Cain stuck to his guns.

He could almost feel the system shrug at his words,

{Replying to host: As the Nomad said, 'Where's the fun in that?'}.

Cain was stunned...

'This Nomad... What was he like? Who exactly is he?'

Cain knew that the Nomad was supposedly a being that had used maan and all other forms of energy to create the universe.

{Replying to host: The Nomad is the supreme being that created the vast, boundless universe and all the entities that dwell within it. No one knows where he came from, and no one knows where he went. True to his name, he is... }

Cain's face wrinkled a bit,

'So... Is he like a god or something?'

{Replying to host: The Nomad is far from being a god or a celestial being. He created them all after all. He doesn't desire to be worshiped by his creations. Rather, he only creates and destroys on a whim}.

'Then why did he do all this creation? Why did he make the devils the way they are, only for him to exile them because he doesn't like the way they are?'

{Replying to host: The Nomad indeed created the devils. However, contrary to a majority of the history books and records, the devils were not always like this...}

Seeing that he was about to receive a crash course once again, Cain settled into his stretcher to make himself more comfortable.

{The Seven Devils of Antiquity... Inixi, the Devil of Disaster, Lurpith, the Devil of the Void, Og-Solath, the Devil of Madness, Gorgoth, the Devil of Violence, Mormon, the Devil of Gluttony, Bemethshal, the Devil of Chaos, and Lyx, the Devil of Death. These Seven devils were the first being created by the Nomad. However, they didn't always bear those titles...}

{Inixi, Devil of Causality. Lurpith, Devil of Space and Time. Og-solath, Devil of Souls. Gorgoth, Devil of Battle, Mormon, Devil of Growth, Bemethshal, Devil of Elements, and Lyx, Devil of Reincarnation. These were the monikers they went by during when they still ruled the universe}.

Cain frowned, 'Then what happened? Why did they stop bearing these titles?'

{Replying to host: In simple terms, they were corrupted...}

A large feeling of foreboding hit him like a freight train,

'Corrupted? By what?'

{Replying to host: I do not know. It was not recorded. However, they were indeed corrupted. It is unclear if this corruption came from the outside or within. In any case, the Nomad deemed them unfit to inhabit his domain. As such, he confined them to forever wander the void.

No world would ever be able to accept them again}.

{Cursed to live and die without a home, the devils tried many things. They even built their world from scratch but it was destroyed eventually. Eventually, they resigned themselves to fate. Since they couldn't benefit from the universe, why not destroy it...}.

With the system's explanation, Cain felt that he had gotten a clearer picture of what the situation was like. The Devils were victims of circumstance as well. However, they had chosen to take the path of darkness, instead of the path of redemption. That was their own fault.

He had absolutely no sympathy for them...

Suddenly, he remembered what Lyx had said to him,

"I would like to ask you to discard your inhibitions about my race. While that may seem like a tall task, just remember that we are living creatures as well. Not all of us are warmongers who know only violence and destruction. Most of us simply fight for a place to call home..."

'Hmm...'

When he looked at the story deeper, he realized he wasn't in any place to judge. Sure, these devil's were creatures of mass destruction. However, they were doing it for reasons they deemed worthy enough. Just like how he had murdered thousands of innocent... not so innocent Chaos Creatures.

He had his reasons as well. To the Chaos Creatures, he was not better that those devils. In fact, he was arguably worse...

'Whatever.'

Shaking his head, Cain continued to discuss with the system...

He had a lot of things he needed information on. The system was priceless because of this. Although there were limits to what he could learn, what he did learn was incredibly vaulable nonetheless.

Soon, after engaging in numerous battles and crossing over to a few floating landmasses, they finally arrived on the mountain island. This landmass was very big. However, the mountain at the center too up a majority of the space.

The moment, they stepped foot on the island, Jenny put up her left arm. Her face was filled with apprehension as she spoke,

"I can sense many lifeforms on this island. Most of them are very weak, but they all have something in common."

Evangeline shot her a look, "Which is?"

Turning to face everyone, she spoke the words carefully,

"All of them aren't very happy to see us. However, they don't seem eager to attack either."

Cain frowned, "Are you sure this is the island you saw the white wolf on?"

Jenny nodded. Cain furrowed his brows,

'Could it be that I was wrong?'

Turning his head to Jenny, he spoke up after a second of hesitation,

"Can you tell if any of them is human, or something close to human?"

Jenny had a contemplative look on her face,

"I do have a spell for that. However, it will take a while to cast."

Cain nodded, then turned to Evangeline, "Do that. In the meantime, I need you to scour the island and check for possible threats."

Although Evangeline was hardheaded, she was surprisingly cooperative when it came to Cain. Seeing her lack of resistance to the idea of being ordered around by Cain, Susan's eyes narrowed dangerously. However, she said nothing...

Once Evangeline melted into the shadows, they waited for a minute before Jenny casted her spell.

Her eyes glowed with a deep purple light for a few seconds. Once the intensity of the light began to subside, she spoke up,

"You are right, Cain. There are indeed humanoids on the island."

Cain's brows shot up, "Humanoids?"

Jenny nodded, "Yes. Whatever they are, they aren't fully human."

Cain heaved a sigh of relief. As if it was to further solidify his conclusion, an ear splitting howl rang out.

A snow white wolf suddenly appeared on a pile of rocks in front of them. The wolf was very beautiful, with intricate runic patterns in its fur. It stared at the group with its beautiful, big eyes that were filled with an almost human-like intelligence.

Before Cain had any more time to appreciate the creature's beauty, a familiar, thick voice entered his ears,

'Took you long enough!'