God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Shaking his head, Cain stared at the results of the shot he had just fired.

The bullet contained two things...

All the metal mana that had been stored in the Vault, as well as a manifold magic circle. When the shot had reached a position above the flying abominations, the magic circle unfurled and rained down golden hell on them.

A large portion of the flying abominations had been wiped away in a single instant...

'I definitely won't be able to replicate such a move again. Besides, my mana has been terribly depleted...'

The fighting had gone on for quite some time now, possibly a few hours, he couldn't tell. The only things he could sense were blood, sweat, cries of anguish, and roars of fury. Everywhere was a mess. Although the line of shields was still holding on, he could tell it was only temporary. Struggling against the brutal strength of the {Blood Abominations}, the beastmen pushed back as hard as they could.

The worst part about all this was that the sea of writhing scarlet bodies still seemed as endless as before. There was seemingly no end to them. Even as Hunter and Ignis rampaged, they were being pushed back constantly injuries of different magnitudes appearing on their bodies.

Malcolm, Floki, and Galip were also being pushed back. Almost fifty beastmen that had rushed into battle with them had disappeared into the horde of {Blood Abominations}.

And the worst part about all of this?

They weren't killed by the {Blood Abominations}. Rather, these seemingly mindless, yet twisted aether beasts tore their limbs away and passed them deeper into the horde. Their muffled screams of horror and anguish as they disappeared into the horde were horrifying, to say the least.

It made the terrified beastmen huddle closer together. The beastmen of Floki, Malcolm, and Galip camp weren't too far away from Cain's group, so it wasn't too hard for the group to merge.

As Cain fell to the ground, his body was caught by a pair of gentle hands.

"Don't push it too hard," Susan's whispers managed to enter his ears even through all the loud sounds that existed on the battlefield.

With a sigh, Cain nodded. He wanted to rest for a brief minute to recover...

Now that the majority of the aerial creatures had been shot down, he could finally have some rest.

Jenny stooped down beside him, wiping the beads of sweat that had settled on her forehead,

"That was... Intense."

Cain wanted to smile, but he just winced through the pain.

"It wasn't anything impressive, really..."

Rolling her eyes, Jenny checked her guns briefly before she fired several bullets into the horde. Turning back to Cain, she yelled,

"These creatures are getting serious. We need to push them back somehow and gain some ground."

Right now, they were in a really bad spot. If something wasn't done, they would be crushed very soon.

"Hunter and Ignis can hold on for a while. But these beastmen are on their last legs. I'm also running low on mana." Susan said with a disheveled look. Despite that, her face and voice were incredibly calm...

"Still, we might be able to hold on just a little longer thanks to the crazy stunt you just pulled. Honestly... how do you even do it?" Jenny said with a wide smile as she fired bullets into the horde. The slight recoil from the handguns made violent ripples spread across her bountiful chest.

Cain turned his eyes away from that sight and focused on healing the damage caused by overexerting his brain.

True to his words, a few seconds later, some color returned to Cain's face.

'Although my mana is low, I can still activate a single {Burning Spirit} enchantment.'

Cain quickly activated the water enchantment. Now, all he had to do was wait patiently for his mana to get back to full.

But of course, he was in the middle of a fierce battle. There was no time to rest...

Standing back onto his feet, Cain glanced around. Turning to Jemny and Susan, he spoke with a grim tone,

"You both need to keep the beastmen together. I'm entering the frontlines with Hunter and Ignis."

Susan frowned, "What are you planning to do?"

"We are going to drill a straight hole through the {Blood Abominations}. I need these beastmen to be ready to run like hell's chasing once we start."

Jenny frowned, then tilted her head backward,

"Then what do we do about those guys? I thought you said we aren't cooperating with them?"

Cain grinned at her words,

"That bird guy is smart. However, I don't like leeches. I'm not going to leave them to die though."

Susan was surprised, "Just what exactly are you planning? Could you be trying to..."

Cain's grin turned into a wince of pain as he held his head and nodded,

"Yeah. They want to run, but I won't let them. If they try to desert, I'll make sure they die here."

Cain's words came out cold, but that was what he believed. He already knew Malcolm, Galip, and Floki planned on abandoning their camp and using them, Hunter, and the rest of the beastmen which included Cain and the girls, as bait.

Despite how much more complicated it would make things be, he didn't feel comfortable leaving all these beastmen to die.

They were different from those people that had accepted their fate and were just waiting for death, or for somebody else to come save them. No...

These men took up weapons and fought for their right to live. It was nothing short of impressive.

Even though they were weak, they didn't give up. It was an honorable thing. And so, Cain decided to give these men an opportunity even though this opportunity made things more difficult for him. He was going to make it possible for them to get out of this alive.

However, the greatest obstacles to this were the three leaders behind him. They would never allow him to ruin their plans. He could tell...

He honestly didn't know if he could take all three of them on in a fight simultaneously. However, there was one thing he could do...

If he managed to get all these beastmen to safety, then it wouldn't matter either way.

But did he have the strength to see this resolve through?

'Let's find out...' A wild grin cracked on Cain's face as he returned one of his guns to his {Armament Armory} and summoned another weapon.

In his left arm of a {Hand of Midas}. In his right, was the black and crimson blade of the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame}. Waving the blade around, a layer of dense, crimson flames rolled off his arms and consumed the blade and the firearm. However, the weapons were not damaged.

"Ki Fire..."

Cain turns to look at the two girls. They were complicated expressions that he couldn't understand on their faces. Right now, Cain looked like a being created with the sole purpose of engaging in battle.

The sharp edges of his armor, and the violent-looking weapons in his hands as well as the waves of boiling Ki flames made him look even more terrifying.

Taking a step forward, Cain jumped over the line of shields and dashed into the horde of creatures.

Brandishing his weapon, he lopped off the head of three {Blood Abominations} at once. Dozens of sharp claws lunged at him at the same time, but he was ready. With a loud grunt, an explosion of dark energy exploded out of his blade.

"Dark Dragon, Orbiting..."

The dark dragon coiled around his body, deflecting all the attacks from the {Blood Abominations} that had launched their attacks.

Aiming, Cain fired a few shots into the crowd, dropping a few of them dead. The rest were able to adjust their heads in time to receive the bullets either on their horns or completely avoid them.

Clicking his tongue, Cain continued attacking. Eventually, after a bloody showdown, he managed to reach Hunter and Ignis who were fighting off the {Blood Abominations} as well.

They too were covered in terrible injuries. Cain had been covered in a few terrible injuries as well, but they all healed rather swiftly. The trio stood back to back, engaging the enemy without leaving any blind spots. Cain swung his blade and shot into the horde, Ignis threw flaming kicks and punches that turned a multitude of them into ashes, while Hunter mauled and tore his victims into shreds.

Amidst the sounds of battle, Cain yelled,

"We need to tear a hole through to the other side!"

Hunter had the head of a {Blood Abomination} in his jaws. With a sickening crunch, the creature's head split open like a walnut, and blood, as well as brain matter spilled down from Hunter's mouth.

"Say less..." Hunter said after spitting the dead creature out.

Ignis punched a {Blood Abominatoon} to the ground and stepped on its chest,

"We'll be surrounded. Any space we make will be filled back up in seconds."

A burst of flames ignited at the soles of her feet and consumed the {Blood Abomination}, turning it into ash.

Cain sliced another {Blood Abomination} open,

"The rest will be pushing right behind us. We just need to clear them fast and hard."

Hunter and Ignis nodded. With a grin, Cain stabbed his blade onto the ground and grabbed the arm of a {Blood Abomination} that was reaching for him. With a sickening crunch, its arm was broken. Cain aimed for the back of its head and pulled the trigger.

The bullet tore through its skull causing blood, bone fragments, and brain matter to fly everywhere, staining his armor red.

Reaching back to the ground, he charged up his Ki and the thick Devil Essence flowing in his veins. The crimson flames and the dark energy swirling around his weapon thickened as he dragged it through the dirt and swung it with a grunt,

"Abyssal Crimson Slash!"