God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

This was to make sure it was more convenient to move great numbers.

Standing on the open deck, Steve cleared his thoat and narrowed his eyes at the horde of humans ready to move through the already open portal.

He turned to Cain who stood beside him with a frown,

"Just how many mana shards are you burning through?!"

Cain chuckled nervously,

"A good chunk, I'd say."

Steve sighed, "O-our reserves. They are being shredded thro!"

Cain snorted, "What are you so bitter about? The mana shards are there to be used, no?"

With the sheer amount of mana shards Steve had provided to him, Cain was pleased to realize he wouldn't need to buy more mana cores to supplement another long distance teleportation.

With the sheer volume provided to him, he would be able to break through the barrier of quality.

'Still, I've never done this before. Having so many people go through at once. The rift might become unstable.'

Although he was concerned, Cain decided to trust himself.

After all, there was no point in doubting now.

The rift was located dead center, on the deck.

With many mana shards to power it, CIn was moving a lot of manpower. He was obviously going to leave some people behind to defend the ship in their absence, but he was moving the majority of the warriors and marksmen.

As more and more people stepped through the portal, the crowd on the deck thinned out until eventually, there was just a handful left on deck. Cain turned to stare at those left.

His chest felt stuffy.

Sue grinned at him slyly,

"What? Are you nervous?"

Cain shook his head.

He was, indeed, nervous.

Once he stepped through the spatial rift, there was no going back. Their entire ordeal would become a do or die affair.

In reality, it had been for a while now. However, the reality of it all was just beginning to set in.

Vincent waved at him as he stepped towards the portal,

"There is no point in getting cold feet now. You've made up your mind to kill the bastards, so that is what we must do."

Cain sighed, "Remember, the goal isn't to kill humans. We just need to take out the upper brass. Once we do that, we can avoid as much death as possible."

Vincent turned back, a dark smile on his face,

"That sounds a bit too optimistic, don't you think?"

Cain nodded, "It does. Still, killing many would do the opposite of what we truly intend to do."

Vincent chuckled, "Whatever you say. You're the boss, after all."

He then stepped into the portal, leaving them behind.

The rest of them stepped into the portal as well, one by one, leaving Cain and Steve behind.

Cain breathed in one last sigh before turning around,

"I'm counting on you, Haru. Keep this place safe till we get back."

Haru stood behind them, with a lustrous light blue armor donned upon his person, and a large, curved blade resting on his back.

"You can count on me, Boss."

Cain had left Haru with a squad to take care of the ship in their absence.

It was a high task to achieve, but Cain had faith. Besides, they weren't weak at all. He was confident they would be able to hold their grounds for some time.

'In the meantime...'

He stepped through the rift with Steve.

A moment later, they had appeared in the wide ground hall of the abandoned building within the Dome of Sands.

'Success.'

Cain breathed in a sigh of relief.

He had brought a little over a thousand people with him, so the entire ground hall was filled to the brim with bodies. However, they all remained extremely silent.

They could be described as a motley crew, with many groups existing within. Despite that, they all seemed to be in unison for this moment. It was odd, peculiar, and a bit unsettling.

"So, what's next?" Blaze walked up to Cain and asked calmly.

Cain walked towards the broken doorframe,

"If my guess is correct, we should have a few people waiting for us outside. Let's go greet them, shall we?"

Steve, Vincent and Blaze followed behind him, and the rest of the army followed right behind.

Upon stepping outside, Cain was greeted with the dark barrels of almost a thousand guns staring him right in the face.

The sands shifted, and the lonely moon seated in the forever dark sky of Evernight seemed even brighter.

Cain grinned at the man standing just a few meters before him,

"Greetings, General Arltzwalt. I brought you a present."

General Arltzwalt stood, a thousand of his own men behind him as well.

He let out a sigh,

"Cain... What is this?"

Cain shrugged, "Oh, this?" He gestured at the legion behind him with a grin.

"This is something I picked up along the way. I hope you don't mind."

Snickers traveled through the crowd behind Cain.

Arltzwalt seemed completely unaffected by their laughter, staring deeply at Cain. Cain also stared back,

'Now, let's see what you have to say about this.'

Standing a little behind the General was Boulder, Lucia, and Khan, all three with strange expressions on their faces.

Cain sighed internally. He didn't want to have to betray their trust, but some things just had to happen.

"You do realize I still have your friends in my custody. Do you think this is–"

Cain sneered at him,

"Try touching a single hair on their heads. I dare you. I won't be the one to take your old ass to the grave, you have my word on that."

Cain took a step forward,

"Right now, the scores are even, General. If you want us to help you, fine, we'll help. However, we will do it on our own terms. The future of humanity is at stake here, and you fools only have time to fight against one another? Fine. If it's a fight you want, then I'll gladly fight!"

A frown settled on Arltzwalt's face,

'I didn't see this one coming.' The old man thought to himself.

He had known Cain had been cooking something up. This was further cemented by his absence for three days.

Never had he expected it to turn out like this.

'Still, the situation isn't out of hand yet.'

Despite the surprise, General Arltzwalt remained calm.

He smiled, but his bushy beards hid most of it,

"If that is how you feel, then there is no reason for us not to come to a compromise. At the end of the day, our enemies are the same, and our goals are aligned."

He stared right at Cain,

"You have your own troops to command now, so that means I won't get to use you as I see fit. That was a smart move."

Cain nodded, "Indeed it was. Not, let's set some ground rules, shall we?"

***

Evangeline clicked her tongue,

"So this is what you were so secretive about?"

Cain grinned, "Impressive, right?"

Evangeline shrugged, "Somewhat. It was unexpected."

Jenny shook her head,

"It's amazing to see. So this is what magic can do."

She turned to stare at Cain, her radiant eyes filled with shock and curiosity,

"Just how did you do it? I know you've been working of something like this, but you have really outdone yourself this time, Cain."

Cain cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed by the praises,

"It isn't anything too impressive. Just a bit of spatial magic."

Jenny snorted and folded her arms,

"I seriously doubt just a little bit of spatial magic is enough to achieve something of this scale."

She sighed, "Either way, it should really help us out of this tough spot."

Cain nodded, "Indeed. Now we have some sort of ground to stand on."

The fighting had not yet started, but the war hd already begun.

Right now, it was all a matter of leverage. Cain wasn't interested in strong arming tactics. He was rather opposed to that.

However, he would hesitate to show what he was capable of if needed.

In order to truly control the flow of the inevitably coming battle, he had to become the maestro of the orchestra.

'Hopefully, that old man gets the hint.'

Cain was all to aware of General Arltzwalt's intentions. In fact, he had made them very clear to him.

Now, the command front would be split in two. However, Cain's plans didn't end here. Not only would he absorb Arltzwalt's forces into his own eventually, his end goal was to gain full control over the military camp before long.

Once that was achieved, fully defeating the forces of Valestorm when they came was only a matter of time.

As for how he would absorb the General's forces?

'Offer them a better life, a less grim fate.'