God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

In a world a bit different from what he was used to, Duke Blackwater, the Lord of the Pilgrims, found himself.

It was dark and alien. All he could see, were shadows.

But it should have been impossible to see shadows in the first place.

'Darkness surrounds this place, so much so the shadows can be seen.'

He suddenly remembered the words that had wormed their way into his head before he was pulled in here.

He let out a sigh, then turned around,

Standing behind him was Evangeline, seated on a throne of shadows placed upon a dias of smoldering darkness.

"Shadow World, huh. To think you would possess a domain ability."

Evangeline smiled gently,

"Don't be too surprised. I don't think it is anything special."

She leaned back into her throne and crossed her legs. She stared down at the Lord of the Pilgrims.

"Now that we are somewhere more quiet, can we finally have a conversation?"

Duke Blackwater was confused, but he didn't let it reflect in his voice,

"Conversation? About what? I don't believe we have anything to talk about."

Evangeline leaned forward, a strange smile playing on her lips,

"Oh, but we do."

Duke Blackwater frowned behind his mask,

'What is she getting at?'

For some reason, he felt a deep sense of unease.

She locked her fingers together. The shadows in this strange world began to perform an eerie dance, as though responding to every motion she made.

It was truly unnerving for the Lord of the Pilgrims, especially when the realization that even the ground beneath his feet could very well be a weapon for his enemy.

It she decided to attack him, he would die.

Evangeline spoke suddenly,

"It is a given that Cain will defeat your champion. However, I don't know what might happen from there. Who knows, perhaps the greater powers might decide to intervene, maybe not."

Duke Blackwater sneered,

"The power Kaelin holds in his hands is more than you, or the Champion of the Golden Dragon can comprehend. I stand at his side to offer him my wisdom. But his power is many times greater than mine. To believe your Champion will be victorious is nothing more than foolish rambling.

Evangeline shrugged, "You can choose to believe it or not. To me, it is a matter already set in stone."

Then she smiled,

"However, that is not what I wish to converse with you about. Instead, I wish to know a few things. Answer my questions, and I might let you out of here without harming a single hair on your head."

Duke Blackwater sighed, "Does this mean you are willing to betray your Champion? Your people? You truly are like that woman."

Evangeline's eyes twitched, but she said nothing.

The Lord of the Pilgrims was silent for a moment, then he nodded,

"Alright, you can ask your questions. I will answer them as truthfully as I can."

***

Dodging a dagger slashing at his face wildly, Hunter grasped the hand swinging it and twisted. A crack and a pop was accompanied by the sound of rendering flesh as he tore the arm clean off.

The now one armed Pilgrim let out a scream of pain as he stumbled backwards, then broke out into a full on sprint.

"No! Stay back! Stay away!"

Throwing the arm away casually, Hunter attempted to pursue. However, someone had already beat him to the chase.

A sound akin to shattering glass could be heard, and the fleeing Pilgrim fell to the ground, his head rolling away a second later.

Walking out of empty space, leaving behind shards of melting ice, Dan gave Hunter a glance.

They had both been fighting for a while now. Their hands were now properly wetted with both the blood of humans and Aether Beasts.

Hunter shrugged, "We should try to keep the deaths to a minimum. If you can, try to knock them unconscious and not kill."

Dan raised a brow at him. Right now, Hunter stood at least two heads taller than him, so he had to bend his head back a bit if he wanted to look him in the eye,

"Says the one ripping out spines and pulling off arms all over the place."

Hunter shrugged, "I only kill if it is necessary."

Dan shook his head,

"Well, we are in the middle of a battle. Every kill is justified."

Saying that, Dan let a layer of frost envelope him again and he disappeared.

Hunter sighed.

They had been fighting for a while now, and during that time, they had managed to do significant damage to the enemy rear lines.

Right now, there remained only a handful of archer and gun-slinging Pilgrims.

Steve and was still busy with the enemy mage, so all that was left to them, was taking out those that were less of a threat.

The feeling of taking a human life was not new to him at all. Continue your adventure with m|v-l'e m,p| y- r

However, for some reason, it felt different compared to the past.

In the past, a single bullet would be able to take the life of an enemy. Now, even if he shot them in the head with a gun, chances were a helm would deflect it, or the skull would be tpp think for the bullet to penetrate.

And yet...

With these claws and fangs he had been cursed with, he could easily reap lives like pulling weeds from the ground.

The feeling of having flesh stuck to his claws and fangs. The warm feeling of still beating organs in his hands.

Even the slightly sweet taste of blood he had come to enjoy a bit...

'This is a problem.'

He was becoming less and less human everyday.

But that was of little consequence now.

He quickly decided to leave the rest of the clean up here to Dan and the rest.

He dove down the slope and right into the gorge.

The battle here was still as heated as when it had begun.

Lives were constant falling to the tip of the spear and the edge of the blade. There was death everywhere he looked.

Even his fellow Beastmen dropped dead like flies. Their heads were struck open, their limbs were torn, and their organs and viscera were pulled out of their bodies whilst they did the same and more to their enemies.

As he continued his descent, his speed continued to climb. He closed in on the back of an unsuspecting swordsman and clashed at his legs, tearing them off in one sweep.

He didn't even wait to hear the screams of agony before he moved on to the next one.

And as so, he tore his way from one side of the battlefield to the next.

Eventually, he arrived at his destination. Jumping high into the air, he landed with a bang, his descent stirring up a huge cloud of dust.

"Damn it! What the hell was that?!" Someone cursed.

Hunter turned to face him. As fate would have it, it was Rollo.

He didn't look good.

In fact, he looked terrible. He was covered from head to toe in black ash and horrible burns.

His eyes were crimson red, and his skin was caked in dry blood.

Rollo's twisted expression mellowed down to a mere frown,

"Hunter?"

Hunter took a look around.

He had just jumped right over the line of Pilgrims, and the line of Beastmen and Lightslayers to arrive at the area the battle with the enormous monstrosity of an Aether Beast was happening.

'This is not looking good.'

The moment he got here, Hunter felt the incredible heat close in on him from all sides. Even with his resistance to the elements, he was still being horribly affected.

However, that was nothing compared to what he was seeing around him.

The dead lay all around, some with huge earth spikes driven through their bodies, others their bodies a mass of melted flesh, bones, and still sizzling blood.

And these were just the ones that were unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire.

It was like a scene of carnage right out of a fictional book, unlike any he had ever seen before.

The creature in question was still rampaging, as far as he could see and hear.

'Ignis and the others are engaging it, but I don't know how much they can take.'

He turned to Rollo,

"What are you doing back here?"

Between the immediate area of battle and the defensive line surrounding them, there was another small area. There were dozens of crates of healing potions available here alongside many Lightslayers and Beastmen with Divine Blessings of healing.

Those that had been injured from both sides would be taken here for treatment. The ones that could be healed would rejoin the battle once they recovered.

As for those that were too far gone...

At least there would be something to bury once the battle was over.

Rollo gritted his teeth as he pulled a few vials of HP regen potions from a nearby crate.

Downing three at once, he splashed the remaining ones onto his skin.

Gritting his teeth to fight the pain, he glared at Hunter,

"What does it look like I'm doing?!"

Hunter raised a brow,

"This is very unlike you."

Rollo sighed. He stabbed his sword into the ground,

"This beast is something else. No matter what we've done, it just doesn't want to die. We've been attacking it for so long, but none of our attacks can reach any fatal organs. Itself shell is too thick. Its flesh is also too thick!"

The wounds of Rollo's body began to heal up. He let out a lung full of hot air and wiped the blood and sweat of his forehead.

His usual calm returned. He turned to Hunter,

"You've come to help?"

Hunter nodded.

Rollo pulled his sword out of the ground with a grunt,

"In that case, a word of advice;"

The area in front of them was suffused with dim lighting that came from the pools of hot molten magma summoned by the {Earth Behemoth Dragon}.

Rollo breathed in again and brandished his sword,

"Watch where you step."

With that, he dashed forward once again.

Hunter stood there for a moment, his expression a bit strange.

After a few seconds, he drew his blades from his inventory and dashed forward as well.