God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Sitting up, Lucia let out a wince.

Her eyes widened as she was suddenly sent into a coughing fit, blood streaming down her lips.

"That damned bastard." She said through clenched teeth.

Pushing away the rubble, she leaned against a broken wall and sighed.

During their battle, Khan had not gone easy in her in the slightest. She felt as though she was cut on every inch of skin on her body.

And yet, he hadn't death the killing blow. Instead, he had knocked her out and collapsed the scene of their fight.

'What exactly is he doing, that idiot...' She thought to herself.

Her ears twitched slightly.

'Someone's coming.'

Light flashed through her fingers and a handgun manifested. The darkness surrounding this part of the Military camp was rather thick, as a few buildings that remained managed to block the moonlight from reaching her.

Therefore, she was rather on edge.

Sparks of mana gathered within the runes of the gun, manifesting into a physical bullet. Despite the wicked chill pervading the air, a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

The sound of footsteps quickly approaching were like the ringing of death's bell tolls.

'Maybe he's come here to finish me off...'

She grinned bitterly.

A shadow appeared, gradually moving closer until the figure was revealed.

With a sigh, Lucia let the gun fall out of her hands as she let her head drop.

Cain smiled softly as he looked down at her,

"You look terrible."

Lucia's face was filled with tears as she glanced back up, unable to say anything.

'Damn it. What do I say now?'

Eventually, he gave up on saying anything.

Instead, he plopped down to the ground and sat down beside her. Cain could feel her body temperature through their touching arms.

'She's cold.'

"I thought I was dead for sure." Lucia started.

They were both silent for a moment.

Then Cain pulled a health regen potion out of his inventory and passed it to her,

"Here. You're roughed up quite a bit. It might not do much, but it will ease the pain slightly...'

Muttering her thanks, she snatched the vial from him and downed the entire thing.

Then she frowned,

"You stingy bastard! One isn't enough!"

Cain chuckled then pulled a few more out, handing them over.

With a snort, she uncorked a few and splashed them on her wounds. She winced as the liquid sizzled, doing its work.

Cain watched quietly, not saying anything.

His heart was in turmoil after all, so he doubted anything he said right now would make much sense.

Once she was done, Lucia leaned her head back against the wall. She let out a tired sigh.

Then she turned her head towards Cain, a strangely sad expression in her only visible eye,

"Khan... Is he–?"

Cain's dark expression turned grim. Then he sighed and nodded,

"Yeah. He's gone. I'm sorry."

Cain contemplated.

Was Khan's death his fault?

If he had stopped General Arltzwalt, perhaps Khan would have lived.

However, he could tell that behind the smile he wore on his face, were demons he could live with.

He and the people he led had killed a lot of potential innocents in their revolt, but Cain doubted that was all.

'His eyes were tired, and relieved. Like he had finally gotten what he wanted.'

"That idiot..." Lucia muttered, burying her face between her knees.

Judging by her trembling shoulders, Cain could tell she was letting the tears fall once again.

The moment before he died, Khan had told him the truth. The Lucia he had found was merely a sand clone, made to resemble a human by an artifact of mana tech. It had been so perfect, even he, with his sensitivity to mana, had not noticed a single thing.

A second search had revealed her location to him.

'I wonder how Boulder would feel when he wakes up.'

He shook his head. That was for future him to deal with. The him of now already had his hands full.

"Who did it? Was it you?" Lucia suddenly said, turning to face him, her single eye red with tear trails still streaked across her cheek.

Cain smiled and shook his head,

"It was Arltzwalt."

Lucia's eye widened with rage,

"I'll kill him."

Cain chuckled, his voice drenched with mirth,

"You're too late. He's dead as well. I made sure of it."

Cain looked up at the giant silver disk in the sky. He had only been here for some time and he was already so sentimental. This was not a good sign at all..

He chuckled to himself.

Sniffing, Lucia grumbled,

"Why the hell are you laughing, bastard?!"

Cain turned to her, a light smile on his lips,

"Who wouldn't? Isn't this situation just a mess?"

Lucia huffed, then smiled as well,

"It sure is..."

***

With General Arltzwalt death and Cain's return, Evangeline saw no reason to wait in front of Valestorm anymore for the time being.

They quickly made their way back to the military camp, arriving in just a few hours.

The bodies littered across the large swathe of mostly empty land before the military camp were being gathered to be burned. Although tejri bodies held sentiments, it wouldn't be a good idea to leave it unattended for too long.

Evangeline watched as the people in the camp dragged the bodies, their faces filled with sadness and fatigue.

This was the reality of their existence now. Here, they were forced to interact closely with death, to understand the cruelty of what the world had come to be.

Evangeline wrinkled her nose at the sight of this.

She turned her head slightly,

"I'm leaving."

Hunter nodded, "Go. I know what to do."

She nodded and stepped through the shadows.

Hunter turned around, his presence growing and commanding as he addressed the Beastmen behind him,

"The bodies should be cleared out within the hour."

The Beastmen answered by springing into action immediately.

With their incredible physical capabilities, it would be very possible, even though there were a lot of bodies.

Standing just to the side, Lukas snorted.

Without even turning around, he addressed Zue, who had been released from Gwendolyn's Brig a while back,

"Assist the mutts. Burn all the bodies with {Sacred Flame}."

His eyes narrowed, "They fought well."

Zue adjusted his spectacles, the air around him heavy,

"Indeed they did..."

With that, the Beastmen and the Lightslayers, the two main groups that made up Cain's fighting force got to work, clearing the rubble and carting the corpses away to be buried.

***

Staring harshly at the idiot standing before her with a foolish grin on his face, Susan let out a tired sigh.

She had done a lot of work during and after the battle had ended.

As a healer, a lot had been expected of her, and she had performed to the best of her ability. But she was no goddess of life, and so many souls had departed right before her eyes, even as she tried to save them.

Now that the battle was over, she really wanted some rest, as she had expended a ton of mana and needed time to recover.

Cain cleared his throat,

"I would have gladly healed her, but I am currently going through something. I can't use my spells as I would like."

Suaan's frown deepened, "I can tell. Your spirit is wounded. And it seems to have gotten worse from the look of it."

Cain raised a brow, "How did you know?"

Susan have him a sly smile, "That's enough questions."

She turned to Lucia, who seemed a bit uncomfortable.

A smile appeared on her face as she spoke, her voice calm and soothing,

"It's okay."

Light spread out of her open hands and drifted over to Lucia.

They caressed the cuts on her body.

"They are only shallow cuts. Only a few of them cut bone deep. The worst of them will be gone in a few hours."

Lucia muttered, "Thank you."

Cain gave her a weird look,

"Since when were you so polite?"

Lucia kicked his shin, "Shut it!"

Cain winced, but he had barely felt the kick.

Once she was done healing Lucia, Susan turned her attention to Cain,

"Now that it's all over, what do we do now?"

Her face turned more serious, her golden locks dancing with the wind.

Cain thought about it for a moment,

"Right now, the most important thing is fostering unity. We need to get this place under control. Luckily, we have Jenny, Eva, and Hunter with us, so things should go well on that front."

Then he frowned,

"But there's still Valestorm and the rising threat of the Dome of Sands deactivating at any moment."

Susan's thin lips were pursed,

"In other words, another battle can break out at any moment."

Cain nodded. But then, a smile made its way onto his face,

"But it won't."

His smile turned sly, "I'll be paying Valestorm a visit soon."

Susan frowned, "You... What are you planning?"

Cain chuckled, "I'll give them an offer so sweet, they'll practically be begging for it."

He slowly stood up and stretched his hands,

"Besides... I'd rather not see any more human blood spilt for some time. I've seen more than enough of that."

He nodded and looked towards the sky. Khan's death had made him understand something.

'Perhaps this is what he wanted to achieve...'

If that was the case, then his death was certainly not worthless. Instead, he had given him a new burden to carry.

"Yeah. No more of that."

Cain felt his conviction solidify even more.

From now on, he was determined to make sure every drop of human blood spilt, was done so with purpose.

Susan stared at him. She could see the change.

'Why does he look even more radiant today?'

Then she chuckled,

"Now, can we address the elephant in the room?"

Cain turned and gave her a confused stare. Lucia nodded as well and pointed at his head, particularly, the pair of horns jutting out of it,

"How the hell did you get those?!"