God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The worst thing about it all was that it seemed as though they hadn't made any progress at all.

'Although they are doing their best, it isn't enough. Should I...'

The thought to intervene flashed through his head, but Cain quickly reigned himself in with a bitter expression forming on his face.

He was currently in no situation to even think about helping out. For one, the moment he lost focus, the Astra Avatar would come undone. Not only that, but the tremendous amount of Ki and Devil Essence used to manifest it into reality would go down the drain as well.

'They can do it.' He had to force himself to believe this. He was so used to doing things himself. So much so, that he found it quite hard to trust in others and their abilities. That was one of the reasons he always ran off on his own.

However, after their long, tribulation riddle journey through the fragmented lands, he had come to realize that this was just arrogance on his part.

To put it simply, he was looking down on others...

'If not for them, the battle with Stingè could have gone so differently.'

Now that he had the time to reflect on his actions, he was able to see through his mistakes. Correcting them was one thing, but acknowledging them was the first and most important step.

It was as simple as, 'If I allow them to do their part, I will be able to do mine better.'. Although no one had told him explicitly, he knew that this coup become a bigger problem down the road.

'Still, if something isn't done soon, we are all going to die here.

Thankfully for them, they were already on the last leg of their journey through this harrowing abyssal void.

Susan took a deep breath as she paused her chants and stopped firing spells. The Jade Alter she had summoned was strange. Cain had no idea where it came from. However, he was sure it gave her the ability to cast spells despite the restriction placed on their mana.

"We are almost there." She said to a certain white wolf that had been seated on the back of the Golden Devil Wyrm. This was the contracted Aether Beast Hunter usually used to make contact with others without having to be physically available.

Either way, it allowed for the smooth flow of information between Susan and Hunter who was busy reading into the Realm Walkers.

Hunter furrowed his brows as a stream of information made its way into his brain. Then he suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs,

"Don't let up, men! We'll soon be home free"

This seemed to work wondered, as the Beastmen who were already low on stamina seemed to be reinvigorated.

Susan suddenly let out a sigh. A bright smile appeared on her lips as she turned to Cain who was seated cross-legged close to the head of the gliding serpent.

"See? I told you we'd do it!" She said.

Cain was happy as well. However, he wasn't going to celebrate before they were out of danger yet. He merely shrugged,

"We can't celebrate just yet. We still aren't out of the danger zone." Cain spoke slowly with his eyes still closed. He had to do as much as he could to preserve his focus.

Susan nodded, "Indeed. The final leg of every journey is always the most tasking."

Cain shook his head, "Not only that. Evangeline hasn't come back since..."

Susan fell silent for a while before shrugging,

"Perhaps there are no Commanders or Generals within the Realm Walker hierarchy. For all we know, she could be sitting in the shadows, waiting for another moment to steal what isn't hers." Susan said with a bit of scorn.

It was obvious to anyone who had eyes and could see that Susan and Evangeline didn't get off pretty well.

Cain chose to simply chuckle...

"There must be a bigger reason why she hasn't shown up once."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth the sound of something wet hitting something hard rang out.

"That's because I was on a hunting spree, you idiot."

Although he couldn't with his own eyes, Cain could still see using the eyes of the {Dark Soul}. He also could hear quite well. That was why he was both taken aback and relieved to hear Evangeline.

His tone was urgent, "Did you do it?"

Without hesitation, she kicked the object she had dropped on the ground. A strange smell hit him a second later. He turned a bit of his attention to the object and found out that it was the mangled head of a very terrifying-looking {Abyssal Realm Walker}.

It had two bull horns on top of its head, seven eyes, and a mouth filled with shark-like teeth. All in all, it was very unpleasant to look at.

Cain also recognized the smell as {Abyssal Realm Walker} blood. It didn't smell, feel, or taste like that of a human, or mutant beast. Instead, it was like a viscous, putrid darkness. Cain had no idea how such a creature came to be, but having such foul blood on his body rubbed him the wrong way.

Collapsing to a heap behind him, Evangeline let out a tired sigh,

"Not only was he hiding amongst the lower-level Realm Walkers, he was also looking for the best time to strike." She said, throwing Susan a sideline glance.

Cain didn't notice this, but Susan threw a grim glare at her as well...

"Then it's a relief you found it in time, right?" Cain said, hoping to find a positive response.

Instead, what he was given was a stale wind. Evangeline shook her head,

"This can be a terrible thing depending on how you look at it."

Susan who had been observing the battle soon understood why,

"Damn it!" She cursed under her death as she stared at a Beastman get ripped into two by an {Abyssal Realm Walker} that had gone ballistic.

She then noticed the other Realm Walkers become increasingly agitated and rabid. Almost like the death of the commander was the trigger for all this...

More and more Beastmen continued to perish. However, they didn't back down and continued fighting with vigor. That was because Hunter, Floki, and Galip still battled with all their might. Although they were also getting tired, they couldn't afford ti show it yet.

As such, morale was at its highest...

Cain's brows furrowed, "A terrible thing? How?"

"Killing the army commander is the trigger for these Reapk Walkers going on a rampage. They've become much more powerful as well. The only good side to this is that they no longer seem to be cooperating. I don't think it's a very big advantage though."

Cain sighed, "What-"

Evangeline shook her head and spoke with a glint in her eyes,

"The only thing you need to worry about for now is getting us out of here. We'll handle the rest. Remember?"

Cain was about to say something else. However, he paused in his tracks. Seeing this, Evangeline let out a sigh,

"You are strong. But your here is in the clouds. Bring it down a little would you?"

'Oi...' Although he was a little offended, he couldn't argue, as what she said was true. He had been acting very selfish for a while. This was no way for someone in a group or team to act. If he couldn't understand that, then it would be best for him to ride solo from that moment on...

With that, Evangeline turned around, preparing to dive into the shadows once more,

Susan wanted to say something but ended up staying quiet when she saw Cain's expression.

She sighed, 'This could be good for him too...'

Evangeline suddenly spoke, "A Realm Walker, much more powerful than the commander was released upon his death."

Susan frowned, "A last ditch effort."

Evangeline nodded, "Not just any last-ditch effort. I think he was going for mutual suicide. That thing started killing the Realm Walkers around it without any regard for anything. It can't be controlled."

"Meaning..."

Evangeline sighed, "I can't beat it on my own. We have to get out of here as fast as possible."

Cain, who had been lost in his thoughts for a bit suddenly spoke up,

"Remember, we don't necessarily need to beat them. We just need to outlast them."

Evangeline's brows shot up. Susan nodded,

"We are almost there. A few minutes... Just a few minutes."

Evangeline fell silent for a while. Eventually, she simply dived into the shadows without saying a word.

'Just a few minutes...' Cain though to himself as he poured more mana into {Wind Weaver}.

Looking at Cain's pale expression, Susan moved over to him and placed a palm over his back. A gentle light seeped into his pores. The contact from her chilling fingers made him freeze up almost immediately. Now, he couldn't move even if he wanted to...

However, his mana was being reolenished slowly. Although it wasn't enough to offset what he was burning, it still helped a lot.

He wanted to say something, but didn't...

Instead, Susan spoke up, "You've always been like this, you know..."

Cain was tempted to shout, 'Eh?! Like what?!'. However, he held his tongue.

Susan wore a sad look on her face. However, Cain couldn't see that as he had now turned his hundred percent attention on making the Astral Avatar move faster.

"Trust us a little more. I know you want to. If you didn't, you wouldn't have joined us that day..."

Cain felt his heartbeats stall for a second...

'Trust, huh...'

Trust was the foundation of every relationship. Although it seemed easy, putting complete trust in another was ironically a very hard thing to do. It was the same as putting your life in the hands of another...

But that was what he had done the moment he had agreed to join them all those days, weeks ago. He had tried moving solo. However, he realized that it was no different from a death sentence. There was only so much a single human could do.

The moment he made that decision, he owed them his trust, because they trusted him as well...

He managed to let out a sigh. For some reason, he felt very cold,

"I trust you."

The first step had come. Now, it was time to put it into action...

Susan chuckled, "In that case, I'll trust you to take us home."

Cain grinned, "Yes ma,am!"

With that, the Golden Devil Wyrm let out a silent roar and continued its ascension...