God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 849: The Opening Act (1).

Visions.

Memories of the past.

Strange recollections.

Nostalgia.

A faint thrum of the heartstrings at a familiar sight.

Cain could feel it, for some reason.

He felt a deep sense of nostalgia at this feeling, as though this wasn't the first time he was doing something like this.

'How odd...'

All of Valestorm had been awoken.

Shops had been closed, and those who couldn't participate directly in the battle were moved into the Temple of Sands. Since the Temple's interior was enormous, it was more than enough to contain such volumes of power.

The rest surrounded the small city of Valestorm.

They were a motley crew.

With different weapons, different armor, different hearts, they all gazed into the distance one thought;

To protect the last bastion of hope they had.

"The key is to make the battle line and keep it as tight as possible. To prevent exhaustion, there will be constant rotations..." Gilead said calmly.

Since he was the Guardian of Valestorm, naturally, he had assumed the mantle of commander.

And there was no one better suited for such a position.

"No matter what, remember that our goal is not to last long, but to exterminate the Devils as fast as we possibly can. Once the barrier is lifted, the Devils will come pouring in by the thousands. It will take some time for the first ones to reach us, I'd say five hours tops. That means we don't have a lot of time."

Gilead sucked in a deep breath.

This time, he was not leading an army to march on his fellow humans.

He was leading them to take back what was originally theirs.

Their freedom.

Their lives.

The souls of their deceased...

Their world.

The ground trembled under their unified roars.

It was truly a marvelous sight to witness.

Unfortunately, Cain couldn't admire it for too long.

He stood in the White room, watching as the light of mana died all around him.

Until eventually...

"It's gone."

The change was instantaneous.

Every being within the borders of Valestorm suddenly looked up.

It was as though am enormous bolt of lightning had struck across the sky.

The dome had a faint gleam and radiance about it. So it was easy to see it crackle, then shatter before turning into motes of sparkling mana rain.

The density of mana in the air spiked abnormally for a moment before tanking rapidly, close to its original state. Then it rose again, remaining in a state of flux.

Steve glanced up at the Evernight sky. His nostrils flared as he took in a deep lung full of air,

"Is this a good or bad sign?"

Cain suddenly appeared beside him. He was already decked out in the {Fury-Iron Carapace}.

The armor was sleek and stylish. Although it was a full body suit of armor made mostly of metal with leather straps at the joints and other areas, it still looked rather light.

However, if a normal person wore it, they would be crushed under its weight.

"Damn, there's so many people out here. It might give me performance anxiety."

Cain turned to see Vincent walking up to them.

The chubby bastard grinned at them,

"Yo... You both are looking rather fine today. Must be the special occasion."

Cain chuckled,

"You seem in a good mood today." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

Vincent shrugged, "To me, everyday is a good day, so long as the belly is full, and the sack is empty."

Cain sighed then turned back to Steve,

"How are things looking on our side?"

Steve nodded,

"We should be able to break the first wave apart with little to no casualties. We can only leave the rest to fate and fortune."

Vincent snorted, "Hopefully, they are in our favor today."

He paused for a moment then turned to Cain,

"Hey, are it true?"

Cain glanced at him from the corner of his eyes,

"Is what true?"

Vincent pursed his lips.

Pulling out his large rifle, he waved his hand and a large mount appeared out of nowhere,

"Well, those rumors... Of you killing off Carrion and his other goons and leveling an entire portion of Valestormcs elite residential area." Vincent said with vieled sarcasm.

Cain paused for a moment then nodded,

"Yeah, I'm guilty as charged. Does it bother you?"

Vincent shrugged then shook his head,

"If anything, I'm relieved. I was worried you wouldn't be a ruthless leader. Back when this shit started, I knew you had a fewarbles lost, but at some point it was as though you found them. I'm glad you are a reckless bastard."

Steve chuckled, "Is that any way to speak to your leader? How rude."

Vincent snickered,

"I'm deeply sorry, leader. To make up for my transgressions, I'll blow out the brains of a hundred Devil commanders. What do you say?"

Cain couldn't help but genuinely laugh,

"That doesn't sound like a bad deal."

"Right?" Vincent exclaimed smugly.

Cain chuckled again.

Silence...

'It has been a while, hasn't it...'

They had once faced an army of Devils just like this in the past.

Back then, he had split an enormous {Flame Devil} open with his swords, inheriting its blade as his own. That weapon had also become nothing but a memory.

He chuckled again,

'How nostalgic.'

The plans had been made.

Quite frankly, the odds were significantly against them.

With him failing to convince the ant queen, they simply lacked bodies to throw at the coming tides, not to even mention cutting through it.

'Well, I'm sure it would all work out somehow.'

"Probably..."

"You said something?" Steve glanced at him and asked.

Cain paused, then shook his head,

"It's nothing."

Then he turned around, calmly placing the shining sliver helmet on his head.

With the two holes atop of it, the horta jutting from his head slid right through.

He clicked his tongue,

"I have to find a way to get rid of these things." He muttered to himself.

***

The moment the dome was broken, the world turned dark.

This darkness was different from the darkness of the Evernight.

It was like tar, coiling around their bodies..

Suffocating life itself.

Even the light of the moon was not spared.

"The mana reading are going insane." Suki muttered her eyes wide from shock.

Lukas frowned as he glared at the sky,

"We should worry more about the miasma. How did it spread so quickly?"

Luke answered him from the side,

"It's probably the Devils that are already in here."

Lukas glanced at him then clicked his tongue,

"Well, whatever it is, it's annoying."

Like smiled. The blade in his hand hummed faintly as a thrum of energy pulsed through and around it.

A similar miasma surrounded his arm, causing it to mutant and change form into something more grotesque and terrifying, almost Devil-like.

He gripped the sword handle tightly with his mutated hand,

"Is that so... Gilead said we have five hours at most. How soon do you think they'll arrive."

Lukas chuckled,

"There is no need to guess ,is there?"

His eyes lit up. Then his brows creased,

"They'll be here in three hours."

Floki nodded,

"Good. This first wave will mostly be {Zombies} and the weaker ones. It should go smoothly."

Although they said that, their hearts were still unsettled.

After all, it was impossible to remain calm with the promise of death so closeby.

They had all ascended to the second tier..

This made them all even more aware of their own mortality.

Luke paused for a moment, then turned to Lukas,

"By the way, it looks like you've finally accepted Cain's position over you. How does it feel to finally be the subordinate?"

Lukas glared at him, then chuckled.

Luke raised a brow.

"He's a selfish bastard from what I can tell. The power will get into his head and he'll end up driving us all to our deaths." Lukas said with a sneer.

Floki glanced at him,

"If you think so, then why are you here?"

Lukas shrugged,

"Isn't that obvious? I have nowhere else to go. Plus, once he gets himself killed, I can easily snatch the mantle and stake my claim at this... whatever the hell this is."

Luke laughed,

"That sounds like a rather decent plan. I like it. But I don't think it's careless..."

Lukas shook his head,

"If you don't think, then it would indeed appear that way."

Luke snorted,

"I believe this might be our best course of action. I'll let you two on a little secret I just found out."

Lukas stepped up to him and leaned forward,

"A secret you say?"

Even Floki had his ears perked up.

Luke grinned then raised his index finger,

"How about this; if all the coming Devils are wiped out within the hour, I'll tell you."

Lukas grimaced.

Floki fell silent. Then he nodded,

"You've got yourself a deal."

Lukas shook his head, "How can you be bought so easily?"

Then he sighed and chuckled,

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway, does it?"

He turned to Suki,

"Keep monitoring the mana readings. If there is a significant spike again, inform me."

"You've got it, boss!" Suki exclaimed, an excited look on her face.

Lukas muttered to himself, a small grin pulling at his lips,

'An hour, huh... I bet I can do it in half that.'