God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain arrived under a sky the color of a rotting bruise once he stepped out of the rift in space.

This stretch of wasteland has been created from the expansion of the world, laying comfortably between the abyssal chasms and Valestorm.

The camp lay sprawled beneath the bleeding sky.

It was still and quiet. Too quiet, almost. Uneasy murmurs drifted, their intensity increasing when their eyes spotted him, most wondering how he had appeared out of nothing all of a sudden.

Then some eyes recognized him and the whispers intensified.

Those aware of his position raised questioning brows.

What was he doing here?

Indeed, what was he doing here, Cain thought to himself.

Something was settled here. Something foul. A tension that clung to the back of his neck like sweat.

He sucked in a deep breath and relished it. To remind himself that whatever decision he made was not going to be easy.

His eyes narrowed as he slowly scanned the vicinity.

A crowd was slowly forming around him.

He recognized it rather well.

He had felt it immediately too. But he said nothing.

No one greeted him, perhaps sensing his strangely foul mood.

Some eyes followed him too, some wide, some a bit too dull...

The air stank of apprehension and a little bit of souring spoil. beneath it. Cain passed them all, unreadable as stone, and made his way to the tent where he saw Vincent, Manny, and Calio waited using {Beholder's Eye}.

They were already speaking in low tones when he stepped in. Vincent was crouched over, roughly wiping his weapon, jaw tight. Manny leaned against a support pole, arms folded, while Calio stood stiffly, gaze flicking to the entrance as Cain entered.

Seeing him step in, Vincent spoke without preamble,

"I don't think we have much time left. So what do we do.

"I know. Give me a moment," Cain answered as he dropped to the floor with a raspy sigh. he was rather exhausted. Thankfully, he had yet to sustain any serious injuries again.

"Let's discuss our options, shall we?" He said, turning to Vincent.

Vincent cleared his throat,

"In my opinion, there are only two ways for this to go. Either we continue the quarantine here, so we kill off all the infected now, regardless of if we spark public outrage or not."

Calio hummed,

"It might not be so easy, right? These people have no idea what these things are. In fact, some of them might even be family or brothers in arms with the infected. There's no telling what will happen if we just start randomly chopping off heads."

"He has a point." Cain pointed out.

Vincent clicked his tongue in annoyance,

"That means we only have one viable option left..."

Cain suddenly shook his head,

"No."

Vincent raised a brow,

"What do you..."

Cain's expression was dark,

"I said he has a point. However, that method is undoubtedly the most effective. If we can kill them all at once, not only will we be able to avoid losses, we will save a lot of time and resources as well. As it stands, we can't afford a quarantine."

Vincent and Calio went silent while Manny continued to snore.

Cain rose to his feet and stood motionless for a while, gaze cast down. Then, as if made of iron coming awake, he straightened,

"I've decided. We'll burn them out," he said.

Vincent stiffened. "You mean—?"

"I can see them," Cain said. "The ones infected by the {Soulfiend Parasytes}. They don't wear their human skins well. Not to me at least."

"But what if you make a mistake? What if you end up killing an innocent? Won't things be bad?" Calio asked.

Cain's voice went colder than steel,

"I don't make mistakes easily..."

He paused for a moment,

"And on the off chance I do... No. Let's just pray I don't."

He was rather confident in his senses so he wasn't going to be worried about making a mistake in identifying the foul nightmares wearing human skin.

He turned without waiting for a reply. The tent flap whipped as he stepped into the open air. Vincent and Calio exchanged brief looks, grim and resigned, then turned to grab Manny who was already half-awake before following.

Cain walked with his head bowed in thought.

There were many things to consider, especially the things that could go wrong.

'If they can pretend to be human, then the human soul in question is already far gone and cannot be saved.'

Although he knew that, it still left a sour taste in his mouth.

It was truly unfortunate that he would have to wet his hands with blood in such an awful manner once again...

It didn't take him long.

Just beyond their stretch of tents, a man sat on a cracked boulder in front of a tent, sharpening his blade.

Every motion his hands made was smooth, proving it was something he had done numerous times before.

The man's eyes were blank, perhaps from focusing too intensely on his work...

He was even humming a soft tune.

Cain didn't speak as he fixed his eyes on his.

Then he began to walk forward towards this man.

White radiance danced on his fingertips as a massive sheathed blade appeared in his grasp. {Eidwyrm} came free of its sheath with a hiss like flayed wind.

The body of the greatsword trembled as though it could already smell the blood to be spilt.

Sensing someone approaching, the man broke out of his reverie and turned to him with a smile that reached his eyes,

"Is there anything I can help you—"

Cain struck before the remaining words could fall off his lips.

The blow split the man down the middle. Bone crunched. Viscera sprayed in a grotesque fan, splattering on the tent and earth.

There was no scream or yell of agony. The man fell to the ground in two halves, a dark river of blood quickly pooling under the corpse.

The blade crashed into the ground, creating a loud bang that sent everyone rushing out of their temporary tents.

A shrill shriek cut through the tense air.

Gasps immediately followed. Cries of confusion as even more and more people rushed out of their tents, quickly donning their armor, their expressions hard as they readied to confront the enemy.

Then their eyes would be left wide open as they stared at Cain, blade bloodied, standing over the split corpse with a terrifying expression.

Even sensing the gazes of bewilderment and horror, Cain ignored them still.

He walked into the center of the silent camp, {Eidwyrm} now coated in red-black gore. His eyes scanned the crowd.

He could see them clear as day. The subtle tremors. The slackened expressions. The too-quick attempts to seem human.

The infected thralls. The Devil Corrupted.

Another moved maybe to run, or to blend in inorder to avoid death.

Cain didn't give it the chance.

He lunged, blade flashing, and cleaved the man from shoulder to hip. Blood soaked the dust.

People screamed.

"What are you doing?!" Someone shouted.

A group of men and women rushed toward him, disbelief and panic on their faces. Cain didn't falter.

"He's killing us!" Another rushed to the forefront and cried loudly with an expression twisted with malice.

It was the one Vincent had first noticd.

The thing could definitely play the part of a human well.

"He's gone mad!" It shrieked. "He's killing without cause!"

Cain's reply was a flat monotone. "I don't care."

He stepped forward and drove {Eidwyrm} into its chest violently, brutally tearing and ripping through its ribcages.

Its eyes widened,

"Why..."

Cain snarled as he twisted.

Its back exploded out, releasing blood and torn organs from the splintered spine and ribs.

The camp erupted. Chaos. Screams. The infected broke from the crowd, now revealed, trying to stoke panic and use the confusion as cover.

"Stop him!" One of them cried. "He's lost his mind!"

Vincent, Manny, and Calio moved in, their weapons drawn.

"Well this is quite the situation we have on our hands now, isn't it?" Vincent said with a bitter chuckle.

"It was inevitable." Calio said with a sigh as they flanked Cain from both sides.

"I don't know what's going on, but I can tell we are going to be killing people. Isn't that right, Cain?"

Cain snorted,

"You bastard. Don't just go start killing people."

Cain's mind churned.

Then his eyes widened,

"The ones with rings! Those are the only ones you should kill."

Vincent turned to him with raised brows,

"Rings?! What do rings have to do with anything?"

"Idiot. Those are spatial rings. Devils do not have access to the system, but they can create their own Spatial rings."

Vincent's eyes widened,

"I see..."

Since it did seem like he was the aggressor, the rest of the humans had now drawn and pointed their blades at them.

Although he could take some time to clear the misunderstanding, Cain felt it would be far more convenient to just fight through them and kill the infected.

While his words wouldn't get through to them, once those infected with the {Soulfiend Parasytes} begin to retaliate, the truth would be opened to their eyes.

'Then everything will resolve itself. Hopefully...' He thought to himself as he rushed forward.