God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Watching the battle unfold, a frown slowly formed on the face of Duke Blackwater behind the mask.

Despite not wanting to believe it, he was forced into the realization.

"These people..."

Kaelin clicked his tongue,

"They are not only surviving against our forces, they are fighting back even."

His frown turned ugly,

"Even if this isn't all we have, the fact that they have managed to last against so many waves of Aether Beasts is truly commendable."

His eyes narrowed,

"And it's all thanks to that guy." Kaelin said, pointing a finger at the distant gorge.

A figure with long, flowing black hair danced across the battle field like a spectre of death. He wielded a large Greatsword, swinging it as though it weighed nothing.

He cut through everything, be it the huge, tough bones of Aether Beasts, or the resilient armor of humans.

Before his sword, it was as though everything was like butter sheared apart by a hot knife.

Kaelin grinned,

"Looks like I've found my target."

Duke Blackwater nodded,

"Indeed. I believe we should take this seriously. These opponents are quite different from Arltzwalt's people."

Kaelin nodded and turned to Seisha, the Songstress,

"How's it going?"

She let out a shaky breath, clearly under a lot of strain,

"I've managed to put it under control. It should be fine for now."

Kaelin grinned,

"In that case, it should be alright."

He then turned to Rain, the Seer, the only person who had remained silent until now, her face almost expressionless even now,

"You'll go and assist Wulf for now. The rest of us will be joining the battle up ahead."

The Seer turned to the Lord,

"What do you intend on doing about the General who is currently locked up in his castle?"

The Lord chuckled,

"Let's just say he has a few problems to take care of. His focus definitely will not be here, so you need not worry."

The Lord took a step forward and tapped her shoulders lightly,

"We can afford to lose others, but do well to guard your life well. A Seer is quite the handy resource after all."

Rain's brows furrowed, but she didn't say anything else.

The Lord cleared his throat,

"Now then..."

He turned around to stare at the rest of the army behind him. This was the bulk of their forces, more than ten times the numbers they had sent forward earlier.

This included Pilgrims of all ranks as well.

"We have fought against many adversaries and tribulations. This will just be another one. Go forth, claim victory in the name of Balangol!"

Not only did they have a lot of human forces left, the Songstress still had a few Aetehr Beasts to call on.

However, the power of the Aether Beasts left was not in their numbers, but in their individual power.

Because of their strength, their willpower was equally as great, so exerting her mental will on these creatures was fairly difficult for a Summoner like Seisha the Songstress. However, with the power of Balangol aiding her, it could be done, albeit with some risk.

In the end, their numbers were few.

But their quality, especially one in particular, was more than enough to change the tides of the game.

Staring down into the gorge, Kaelin's eyes were as dark as his heart,

"Behold my power, will of the Golden Dragon. Fuck everything else. Fuck what my God wants me to do too. I'll kill you because I want to."

He stretched his right hand forward.

Light shone on his hand before of was immediately replaced by inky black darkness.

A large three meter tall scythe appeared in his grasp..

"Come forth, Kalistik, Harbinger of Death..."

A loud roar echoed from the depths of the sand, draining out any other noise.

Behind them, the sand was violently displaced and the absolutely enormous head of a terrifyingly huge beast broke free.

It was the size of multiple buildings stacked both horizontally and vertically.

It let out a loud roar that shook the very earth itself, causing cracks to form on the ground beneath the sand.

As it exposed itself to the surface, the mere humans witnessing its beastly splendor could finally see most of its features.

Cain was one of them,

'Is that a Dragon? No, it doesn't have any wings, so a land dragon?'

He quickly checked its description through the system;

***

{Earth Behemoth Dragon}: Level 190. (Half-god,Tier 1)

Strength: 200,000.

Agility: 30,000.

Defense: 50,000.

HP: 3,000,000/3,000,000.

Aether: 1,000,000/1,000,000.

Skills: Unyielding Shell, Bellow of a Dragon, Terraverde, Molten River, Lithic Formation, Earth Dragon Bloodlust.

***

Just a single skim through its stats was enough to put Cain on edge.

'This beast is stronger than that hydra.'

The Hydra had given them a ton of headaches. If not for a stroke of luck, they wouldn't have been able to beat it.

And now, they were being forced to fight a creature that was even stronger.

'Luckily, we have more numbers on our side.'

With more people to coordinate with, Cain didn't think bringing the beast down would be too difficult.

However, there were other things to worry about, because the enemy wouldn't wait for him to defeat the damned beast before attacking.

No, they were coming all at once, from every direction, never stopping until they beat them into the ground and then some.

The Earth shook violently as human and beast poured down the slope once more.

Gilead parried a blow from the giant saber and glanced back,

'He decides to come in now?'

Blaze took a large step back and glanced up.

He gritted his teeth,

"Shit. This isn't good at all."

At the moment, a few things were happening at once. Hunter and Steve's group were attacking the archers and ranged attackers of Valestorm located on another end of the gorge.

The main force of Valestorm that was currently charging at them.

Because they were a bit separated from the main army, they would be the first to be stomped to death.

'We have to disengage and regroup–'

Gilead took a large leap forward and clashed with him. He bashed his shield against Li's head, knocking him down,

"You want to leave? You'll have to kill me first."

Blaze gritted his teeth,

"Bastard..."

He might have be strong, but the sight of thousands of yelling people rushing at them, intent on ending their lives was more than enough to put great fear in even the most dauntless of warriors.

In that moment, Cain sucked in a deep breath of air into his lungs. He knew exactly what had to happen.

Valestorm had finally seen them for the threat they were.

Frankly, in terms of firepower and numbers, they were greatly outclassed. The only reason they had managed to go on this long was Valestorm's pride and refusal to truly invest.

Not that they had gotten serious, the fight had truly begun.

And so, Cain knew they had to respond accordingly, or risk being overpowered.

So he gave the go ahead to charge right at the enemy as well.

The men behind him were fearless and filled to the brim with burning bloodlust.

They rushed together with him. If they were scared, they didn't show it as their faces contorted into hideous expressions as they roared, howled, and screamed.

'The most dangerous thing here is that {Earth Behemoth Dragon}. If we let that thing continue unimpeded, it will crush us all to dust in due time.'

Cain sucked in a deep breath once again.

His eyes narrowed, and his focus increased,

'No... That's not only the only thing i need to watch out for.'

He came to a halt even as the army behind him flowed to his sides and continued their charge forward.

Standing just a few meters ahead were two humans. One wore a silver mask and was dressed in what he could only assume to be overly formal attire. It looked far more distinguished than what the regular Pilgrims wore for certain.

And then, there was the other one. He had long black hair and his eyes looked like deep swathed pools of blackness.

He was tall and slender, but Cain could tell his muscles hid explosive power.

Worse of all, the amount of danger he emitted war far greater than that of the overly dressed man.

'Hunter, can you hear me?'

'Loud and clear.' Hunter answered as he bit off the arms of an archer and threw him to the sides.

Spitting the arms out of his mouth, he turned around and looked down into the gorge.

He winced,

'Looks like they've decided to go all out '

Cain affirmed his thoughts,

'Indeed. I need some help.'

Hunter answered, 'Help is already on the way. Eva and Lukas are headed for you right now.'

'Good.'

'I'm currently occupied, so someone else will take on the big guy.' He said as he punched through the chest of a Pilgrim wielding two powerful pistols.

As his life drained from his body, the Pilgrim managed to fire off two bullets that struck Hunter's chest.

Blood seeped out of the wounds, but Hunter didn't even flinch as he moved into the next target. His body was already covered in various wounds just like this.

Cain was silent for a while, then he spoke,

'Have Floki, Ignis, Rollo, Leah, Roselle... Anyone that is strong that we can spare; have them stop that thing. Whatever we do, we must make sure that thing doesn't get near.'

'Noted.'

The connection between their minds were severed, and Cain's focus returned to his surroundings.

The army around them were clashing.

Blood was being split as swords, shields, spears, and every other weapons clashed to produce a symphony of steel.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Cain said casually as he gripped the hilt of the {Lonely Dragon} Warblade tighter.

The Lord of the Head Priests chuckled, and bowed slightly. Then he spoke, his words drenched in sarcasm,

"Well, there's no reason to rush, is there? After all, we are in the presence of the Great Incarnation of the Celestial Golden Dragon."

He sighed,

"To think Tian, the Supreme God of the Heavens would fail. I cannot help but be stumped."

Cain didn't make any attempt to sway their thinking, as he was already sure it was useless.

Still, he was curious,

"How did you know it was me?"

The younger man with the black hair took a step forward and pointed the pitch-black scythe in his hand at him,

"Of course I would know. In the past, our patron gods duked it out in a battle to the death. I felt the eternal rage from Balangol the moment I laid eyes on you."

Cain shrugged his shoulders,

"Oh, really? I didn't sense anything."

Kaelin's face turned dark,

"It makes no difference. Tian failed to complete the task, but I won't."

His eyes widened. Pitch-black mist seeped out of his pores, making him look even more menacing

Cain watched as with every step the black haired man took, a black print was left in the ground. He readied himself and his blade, holding it firmly by the hilt, his legs spread and his core centered.

Whatever happened, he was determined to win this battle.

Kaelin growled as he dashed forward,

"Champion of Ashur, prepare to meet your death."