God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 432: Road to Tier 1.

Cain stared at the totem in his hand with an expressionless gaze. It was a few minutes to the scheduled time and everyone was slowly arriving.

The first person to arrive was Evangeline. From the shadows, she came into reality. She stared at Cain for a while before looking away.

Cain threw her a sideways glance, but didn't say anything. He wasn't surprised to see her here at all. Slowly, as the others arrived, he counted in his head.

'Three... Five... Seven.'

Eventually, almost everyone had arrived. Cain, Evangeline, Susan, Jenny, Leah, Roselle, Sue, Li, Vincent, Blaze, Steve, Dan, Hunter, Stan, Jute, Kai, Lin Lin, Manny, Floki, Sisi and even Ruby. Because Ruby was tied to Cain by the [Body and Soul] contract, she wasn't counted as an individual being, much like the {Dark Soul}. The same couldn't be said about Ignis...

All twenty of them had made preparations and they were finally ready. At least they thought...

Cain sighed, 'Finally...'

Everyone was here.

"Cain, about the security? If the others are attacked while we are gone..." Jenny said, a bit worried.

Cain waved his hand, "I've made preparations. As long as they aren't attacked by an armada of Mutant Beasts, there'll be nothing to worry about."

With Ignis and Pudding protecting the island in the case of a crisis, they wouldn't need to worry at all. Both were incredibly strong, and if the danger proved to be too much to handle, they could simply get everyone to safety.

But that wasn't all...

Cain turned to Steve, who then nodded. Stretching his hand into the air, his index finger began glowing with a soft golden light. His hand danced in the air as he inscribed mystical symbols and letters into the air.

At the same time, he chanted in a smooth voice...

"There... All done!" Steve wiped a layer of sweat from his brows, then flashed Cain a thumbs up.

Leah was puzzled, "What did he just do?"

"Increased the security. They'll be much safter until we get back."

Cain wasn't going to be complacent at all. From all Hunter and Mammy had told him, he concluded that there was no harm in boosting the defenses until they were back.

In the event of an attack, they would be able to protect themselves. However, he was very certain at attack wouldn't occur. If it did, then their luck was truly terrible.

"Is everyone ready?"

No one replied, but it was obvious they were. With a nod, Cain did as he had been instructed by the system and poured his mana into the totem.

The air around him began to vibrate. The fabric of space and time began to twist until it became wrinkled.

Cain took three steps backwards as did everybody. A few seconds passed, and the rumblings only increased in intensity until a tiny hole was torn in reality.

That hole spread slowly until it turned into a shimmering black orb the size of a grown man. This had to be the portal to the trial!

It was like nothing they had ever seen. However, Cain found it a bit familiar.

"Let's go."

Cain led the way and stepped towards the hole. His heart rate sped up. What was on the other side of this thing? What trials would meedlt him? Would he be forced to fight of a horde of Mutant Beasts, or will he be thrust into a battlefield of gods and devils...

He had no idea. However, this uncertainty didn't slow him done one bit.

One step... Then another... Then another...

He kept walking until he felt a force take hold of his body. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

The others were a bit startled. However, their hesitation only lasted a second when they saw Ruby and Evangeline follow right behind him.

In the blink of an eye, all twenty individuals disappeared, leaving the twisted portal behind. The portal shimmered for a second before it finally ppped like a bubble, scattering motes of light to the ground.

***

Ignis let out a sigh, 'So they are finally gone, huh...'

She had come from a world countless light years away from this remote part of the universe. That world had been populated by incredible being born from earth and fire. A single one of they would have been able to destroy this insignificant pebble many times over.

However, that was in the past...

Her world had been destroyed, and she was presumably the last of her kind. However, that had happened a long time ago. She had spent most of her life roaming different planets, engaging in numerous battles with different groups with different ideologies. At the height of her power, she had been at the peak of Tier 1, just a single step to Tier 2.

But it had all been for naught. All her accolades and achievements meant nothing before the frightening terror that was the Demon Azazel.

Demons...

A frightening race loosely related to the Devils, synonymous with mystery and death. Although they weren't as bad as the Devil's, they still had a terrible reputation. And one of the greatest reasons for this, was because of Azazel.

When she had been captured, she cursed her fate. Azazel's reputation precedes him after all. Most of the beings that were unfortunate enough to encounter him, were forced to rue their fate. Most weren't killed. Instead, they were captured and experimented on. The lucky ones were released after he was done, while the unlucky ones died during whatever evil process he carried out on them.

She had been with the Demon for about a year. During this time, she was forced to watch as the bastard Demon drained her power for his own means. He had told her he wanted to see if it was possible to revive her race.

And it was partially a success. However, it turned out he wasn't satisfied with the results. And then, just as she thought he had finally given up on her, she had met him...

When she first met Cain, there was no doubt in her mind that he was just lunch. Although she hadn't eaten humans before, she had hears about them and heard they tasted great. Never would she have expected nthat things would turn out the way they did.

And now, here she was...

Seated in a room that was half destroyed facing tye wide ocean, she looked around. Her world had been one of flames and lava, so it would have been impossible for technology to be a thing. However, it was home. She was in an alien world, unable to leave.

She was surrounded by humans who didn't even seem to notice she was different from them for some reason.

And now, that shitty master of hers had gone off on his own again, leaving her here to be bored.

'So tiresome.'

Still, she wasn't going to hold it against him.

'Once the contract expires, I'm leaving this dirty place and never coming back.'

The contract between them was set to expire soon. Once it did, she had already made up her mind to resume her journey across the universe. This time, though,nshe would be more careful so as not to get captured.

'For now, I'll protect this stupid island.'

Just as that thought came into her mindz she saw something approaching from the horizon...

***

Cain fell through what he could only describe as a mind grinder. His eyes were open, but he didn't know what he was seeing. His mind failed to understand it...

Thre was darkness. However, that darkness wasn't tyical darkness. Instead, it looked like the origins of darkness itself, the source of the everlasting darkness that embodies the universe.

However, it wasn't malevolent or evil. Rather, it was natural, if not a bit scary...

Soon, rays of light began piercing through the darkness. First one, then twommm then his entire line of view was filled with light.

"!" Cain's eyes were wide open.

He took in the sights and smells around him with a frown. Suddenly, something chimed inside his ear,

***

{The First Trial Begins...}

{Description: The host has been teleported through a time and space to undertake the quest, 'Blameless Heretics'. Solve the conflict of the instance to complete the quest before the time limit of three days is over. Failure to do this will result in the Trial's failure as well}.

{The host's access to the system during time time has been terminated temporarily. This includes the system shop, as well as the inventory. The host in expected to solve these problems through his own means. Good luck!}.

***

Cain was filled with confusion for a second. He quickly processed the information coming in. First, he was now dressed in different clothing. He wore a single piece of brown leather clothes with a green cape attached to his back. {Maelstrom} and {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} hung from his back, while {Platinum Genesis} was at his waist.

The houses surrounding him as well as the ground was made from cobblestone. He was currently standing at the entrance of an alleyway.

Before he could process all this, his confusion quickly disappeared, as series of yells suddenly closed in on him,

"Over here!"

"The bastard heretic is here!"

"Quick! Catch him!"

A feeling of overwhelming danger suddenly washd over him. Without even thinking about it, his hands reached for the blade hanging at the side of his belt. Withna shrill sound, {Platinum Genesis} was revealed to the world.

His legs spread as he whipped the blade around and swung.

CLANG!

The sound of metal scrapping against each other echoed in the empty alley as Cain and his attacker were launched backwards.

Cain's face paled. The webbing between tore due to the power behind the strike that was meant to pass through his body.

He immediately came to a frightening conclusion,

'This person is stronger than me.'

However, the surprises had yet to come to an end. In the blink of an eye, he was quickly surrounded by a group of men dressed in medieval looking armor that was covered in archaic runes and sigils he couldn't make sense of. Some of them wielded spears, some swords, and others bows or crossbows. These weapons were also covered in runes and magic circles.

However, they didn't look like any magic circle or rune he had ever seen.

Before he had time to register what was going on, they all attacked at the same time. Gritting his teeth, Cain swung {Platinum Genesis} again. This tike, a torrent of magical energy exploded from the blade in an arc.

"Shields!"

The men at the forefront of the skirmish all pulled at the shields hanging on their backs. The wave of compressed mana that came from his sword was blocked by the shields and was scattered into nothingness.

'Bad... This is very bad.'

The danger hanging over his head never left. Before he could thing of anything else, a swishing sound came from the corner. He managed to block the first arrow. However, he couldn't stop the second, or third. One burrowed into his shoulder, and the other into his chest.

He tried walking backward, but soon realized he was unable to, as the arrow tips were covered in a poison that began numbing his body.

His face was dark as he pulled the arrows out and tried circulating his Ki to heal. However, that seemed to make the poison even worse as he began feeling even more dizzy.

"Hmph! He's down. Grab him!"

The last thing Cain remembered, was the shiny, yet faceless visors of the helmets of the guards that approached him.

'This had to be a joke, right?' He thought as he gradually lost consciousness.

He had thought the trial would be some sort of battle against a dragon or Primordial Devil.

However, there was one thing he couldn't deny. Every single one of the guards that attacked him was just as strong as he was, if not stronger... Especially the person that had attacked him from the darkness.

Just as he was about to curse his shitty luck again, he blacked out completely...