God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

They gathered the bodies of the deceased and burnt them. Leaving them like that would allow their corpses to rot, attracting all sorts of horrors to them. As they currently didn't have the manpower to deal with something like that, it was best to just cremate the dead.

The casualties were terrible. Numerous Beastmen had been killed, almost fifty percent. The ones that survived were lucky. The people they had brought from the Western Island had been lucky enough to have been far away from where the attackers had targeted. As for the original team...

Staring at a corpse that had been mutilated beyond recognition, Cain almost forgot to breathe. The corpse held fast onto a tower shield that looked more like scrap metal than defensive equipment now.

Cain felt a quiet rage bubbling within him, like the calm before a storm. How had this happen?! How had he let this happen?!

***

Cain lifted his gaze. He was seated in a small office room. In the room with him was Steve, Ignis and Susan...

Steve had a black expression on his normally carefree face. Even Susan could barely contain her rage.

Cain sighed...

"He's really gone, huh..."

The biggest hero in the entire debacle, was David. If not for him, the casualties would have been greater. However, what he had given up in exchange for that...

David had been a teacher before the world turned into hell. He had been welcoming and full of smiles, such that struggling students didn't have any problems sharing their troubles with him.

He had a good heart... And that had been the death of him...

He had held off the attackers for some time, alongside Ignis. However, to give Ignis the chance to escape, he had been cut down in her stead.

Ignis had a complicated look on her face,

"He sacrificed himself for me. I will forever be indebted."

***

A few hours after Cain and the others left for the Trial of The First Order...

The ocean was like a blotch of ink in a lightless world. Beneath the inky black waves were creatures of unfathomable horror, becoming more harrowing by each passing breath.

Yet, the humans on the surface of the planet were to busy with their own ordeals to worry about that...

Guy, Francis, Rollo, Idris, accompanied by six Tier 1 subordinates arrived at the Central Island by boat.

Francis' eyes lit up as he scanned the island,

"I can only sense two particularly strong beings, probably Tier 1."

Idris sneered, "Just two? Then we don't need to be careful. Let's kill them all."

They all wore devilish expressions as they drew in closer. Guy chuckled,

"Proceed with caution. Let there be no casualties..."

"Yes, boss!"

The moment their feet landed on the shore, they began their assault.

Francis and another mage began chanting. A huge cloud of blood colored magic gathered overhead, bringing with it an ill omen.

Arrows and spears of blood began to manifest within this blood cloud.

From his lookout, Calio could see ten people dressed in the garbs associated with the Followers of the Blood God.

He sneered,

"Heh... These fools dare to-"

Suddenly, his eyes widened. He concentrated on the crimson cloud following them.

"Shit!"

The thick scent of blood hit him like a sledgehammer.

Without waiting a second more, he carried his weapons and jumped out of his outpost. He began to run like a Devil was biting at his heels towards the buildings

"Fuck! The big guns are here!"

The only thing on his mind was to flee as fast as possible.

"Calio! What's wrong?" One of the Beastmen on guard duty stood before him. These Beastmen were in charge of protecting against the weaker Mutant Beasts that made their way over.

"Fuck! Ring the fucking bells! Everyone, run!" Calio screamed out loud. He didn't wait to clarify and quickly ran past the Beastmen.

Shock on his face, the Beastman turned to look at his companion,

"He's crazy, right?"

His companion snorted, "That's what happens when you get too powerful. If you ask me, I'd rather keep my sanity than-" Before he could finish speaking, a shiny blood arrow pierced through his throat. Even more blood arrows fell from the sky and pinned him against a wall.

The Beastman's eyes went wide as he stared at his now dead friend in shock. Power raced through his body as he circulated his Ki. He wanted to follow Calio's example and flee quickly.

However, it was too late for him...

The blood arrows stabbed into his legs, pinning him to the floor.

"No!"

Another pierced his back, and another stabbed into the back of his head, ending his life in an instant.

Calio skillfully dodged the raining blood arrows, sometimes using his magic threads to pick objects up to block them. Although the blood arrows and spears weren't very destructive, they were absolutely lethal against living beings. The moment they met living flesh, they became more powerful by feeding on the blood of the victim until eventually, the victim was killed.

As he ran, screams and yells of pain and anguish rocked the world around him. He grit his teeth as he ran faster and faster.

'Coward... You are a coward!' He ignored the voice of morality in him and picked up his speed. At the same time, mana flowed through his body and into his fingertips. More and more threads of mana were spun out by the second

Spreading his fingers, the threads of mana slithered through the air, and attached themselves to anyone he could find, pulling them alongside himself. This way, he was able to alleviate the guilt he felt.

However, he was certain of his choice to flee.

If there was one thing he felt sure of, it was that facing off against these fiends would lead to an early grave...

Meanwhile, the moment David heard the commotion, he picked his tower shield and ran towards the conflict.

Ignis was already there glowering down on three men standing side by side...

David frowned, "Who are these people?"

M

Then he noticed the signature blood soaked garbs they wore. The frown on his face turned deeper,

"These kids..."

Ignis turned to him, "We'll hold them back."

David nodded. Together, they both raced towards the invaders.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to roll in on itself as a giant monster rose from the depths of the earth and charged straight for the invaders.

"What is that?!" David stopped in his tracks to stare at the behemoth of a beast.

Ignis' face showed her disgust, "One of Cain's pets. Come on, let's go! We can defeat them with its help."

David, Ignis and Pudding charged straight for the three. Rollo took a step forward without any hesitation,

"I'll deal with them."

Guy chuckled, but didn't say anything. He merely stood still, leaning against his giant battle-axe.

Idris let out a hollow laugh, "Don't think you can take all the glory this time, Rollo. Besides, its been a while since I got to stretch my legs and let loose a bit."

Rollo completely ignored him and charged forward. Idris clicked his tongue and followed suit. Ignis narrowed her eyes.

'These fools are Tier 1 already?!'

Although she was Tier 1 as well, thanks to Azazel, her power had been sealed, so she was going to be forced to fight with her hands tied behind her back.

Flames erupted from her body as she barreled towards the one with the broadsword.

Rollo snorted,

"Devil Claw: Grasping Devil."

With a wave of his hand, all the flames surrounding Ignis were extinguished. Then he opened his palm, and her body zoomed towards him without her consent.

Seeing this, David let out a yell as his speed picked up. In the blink of an eye, he was standing between Rollo and Ignis. His shield flowed with both darkness and light,

"Crimson Guard!"

Surprisingly, David's shield held firm against Rollo's attack. Rollo's brow shot up.

"Stop playing around, Rollo." Idris snickered as he closed in on Ignis.

With a frown, Ignis finally freed herself from Rollo's supernatural grip and turned to face Idris.

She took a step forward and ticked her body beneath his.

"Eh?!"

Sweeping his body up with a single fluid movement, the human was airborne before he knew what was happening. What followed was a sickening blow to the head, and a violent crash-landing onto the ground.

Ignis took a deep breath in as she stared at the other two opponents. David was currently keeping Rollo occupied, and she had just out the other one in the ground.

That left...

Guy's eyes narrowed, 'Impressive...'

Just as he was contemplating taking action, a change occured that made him stay his hand.

"Freaking bitch!" Idris yelled as his dagger erupted with the sickly green aura of poison. Like a wicked snake, it tried finding purchase in Ignis' side.

Fortunately, she was extremely alert and deftly dodged to the side. Twisting her hips midair, she swung her flaming legs at Idris, who knocked them away like he was swatting flies.

Ignis frowned, 'Sure enough. They are Tier 1.'

This was not good. If the third one decided to engage, things could turn very ugly, very quickly.

She needed to end this as fast as possible without giving them the opportunity to ready themselves. She turned into a pire of living flames. Even restricted, Idris was no match for her.

Just as she was about to overwhelm him, she realized that the third assailant was already on the move.

Suddenly, her pupils dilated and her eyes stretched wide open...

A voice whispered into her ears,

"Absolute trash..."

A bright searing pain assaulted her from behind. Something had cut across her back. As she fell to the ground, she could see David rapidly approaching her and blocking another strike.

"Get up!"

Just as David was about to get overwhelmed, Pudding joined the fray. Shaking her head, Ignis fought off the pain and continued the fight...

***

A/N: So, for the mass release that will be happening on the 16th, I'm not quite sure I will be able to meet up, as I have various IRL problems I have to deal with right now. So I can't find the time to write 10 whole extra chapters. I'm sorry if there is any disappointment, but if you truly want extra chapters, are are generous enough to throw in a few gifts for good measure, I'll see what I can do.

Cheers!