God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 848: Rumors of a Demon in the Night (2).

Valestorm...

A strange parody of the dying human civilization, teetering of the edge of destruction everyday.

"Did you hear about it?"

"About what?"

"The destruction of that entire portion of the city that belongs to the Iron Beetle."

"Yeah, I was close by when it happened. What about it?"

"Well, it's big news. Carrion and all most of his supporters were all killed overnight. There were barely any survivors."

"What?! Is this true, or is it just a rumor?!"

"Well, I heard from someone that..."

"Eh?! Who could have done something like this?! Have Devils already begun their invasion?"

"No... From what I heard, it was all done by—"

"By a what?"

"A Demon."

"A Demon? Wait... You mean!"

"Exactly! The Demon Leader of the Golden Asura!"

Often times, rumors are baseless and empty like the souls of those who spread them.

In this case, the rumors were indeed founded on truth.

For the most part...

"Demon Leader of the Golden Asura. What a fancy title..." Steve said with a suppressed chuckle.

"Knock it out." Cain grumbled.

Staring at the piece in his hand for one final inspection, he let out a silent sigh then shook his head before placing it into the {Armament Armory}.

During the battle with Carrion a week ago, the chest piece, helmet and arm guards of his armor had been destroyed completely. Although the armor had not been anything special, it had served him fairly well.

Dark images flashing through his mind, Cain shook his head, clearing them away.

Then he turned to glance at Steve.

He has a light smile on his face, his fingers gliding through the air as though coordinating an ethereal symphony.

'He's Tier 2 now. Same as the others. I guess there is a rather obvious change.'

It was rather glaring too. The world around him seemed more mysterious, with the colorful flair of magic and wonders.

Cain shook his head and turned his attention back to what he was doing.

"By the way, how are the plans going?" He said offhandedly.

Steve raised a brow, then frowned,

"The preparations are complete. All that's left is to pray to all the gods for goodluck."

Cain paused, then chuckled,

"I doubt we'll need any goodluck."

Steve snorted, "Not getting goodluck before a suicide mission is a bad idea, I tell you. Then again... It really is a miracle you are still here with us."

Cain smiled grimly, "Praying on my death I see..."

Steve snickered, "Those prayers don't seem to work anyway. I might as well give it a rest."

They both chuckled then fell into a comfortable silence.

'It's relaxing...'

Unfortunately, times like this were few and far in-between.

They were currently making preparations to make a straight journey through City Z to get to Divine territory of the Celestial Beast of Fire and the Forge within the city.

For the journey, he has to make several preparations. Most of them had been completed. The final preparation was to make a new set of armour, but he was currently facing a problem.

'Pudding has been unable to find anything very good yet.'

He frowned,

'As the days go buy, I keep getting reminded about the need for high quality equipment. Battles with tougher opponents require more sturdy gear.'

'But without high quality materials, everything I make will only be second rate.'

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He had just completed a new piece; the {Fury-Iron Carapace}.

Unlike previous armor, this one functioned with Ki instead of mana.

It possessed a single skill, {Fury-Iron Shield} that created a thin layer of condensed Ki over the armor, beefing up his defense against both physical and magic damage.

Quite frankly, it was a good piece, but not anything mind-blowing. Good enough to provide vital protection at the very least.

He sat up with a light groan, his joints popping.

"You're done?" Steve asked.

He nodded, "Yeah."

Steve chuckled, "In that case, shall we go?"

***

"Plotting a safe path through the city's ruins is not very plausible. At least not through normal means." Cain said with a frown.

He pulled a large piece of paper from his inventory and spread it out on the table.

"Here is a map of the city. Or rather this was a map of the city. Now, as you all know, that is not the case anymore."

A rather spacious room on the second floor of a building was packed with people. Some were Beastkin, others were not. Some were part of the Golden Asura, others were not. freewēbnoveℓ.com

Cain spoke calmly as he looked around.

He couldn't help but feel a bit nervous with so many eyes keenly placed on him.

This was an alliance meeting after all.

Not just the top members of the Golden Asura, but the higher ups of the Iron Beetle and the Temple of Sands were gathered here as well. Some stronger Hunter squads, as well as independent alchemists and blacksmiths were also gathered here.

He cleared his throat and continued.

He pulled out another map from his inventory, only this time, it was a bit different. It was much larger than the previous one. About five times as large, spilling over the sides of the table.

Steve's fingers twitched, and the map perked up, held by an invincible force.

Pointing at the very center of the map, Cain explained,

"That right there is the Devil Tower. Most streets have been expanded and broken, so there is no way to use them as a path to reach the other side of the city. Instead, we can only chart a new course through. And that means encountering Devils along the way. The last time, we snuck our way through, but I don't think that will be possible this time around."

A hand darted up from the crowd.

Cain sighed internally,

"Lukas... So you have something you want to share?"

Walking a few steps forward, Lukas stared at Cain passively.

His eyes narrowed,

"Although I understand your reasoning behind this, I will still go ahead and say that this journey you have in mind is too dangerous. This time, the Devils have not only occupied what's left of the city, they also have eyes and ears everywhere within Valestorm. Who is to say they aren't listening in on us as we speak?"

Cain answered confidently,

"You don't need to worry about that. You can be certain this place is secure. I'm not that careless."

Lukas folded his arms,

"Fine then, but what about the actual journey. I'm all in for some exciting danger, but this feels like us just throwing out lives away."

Floki raised his hand and added,

"Unfortunately, I agree with him. The last time, we barely managed to reach here with our lives intact. And that using a more tame approach. Now, you suggest something different?"

Cain smirked confidently,

"Indeed, I do. I call it the Bait and Fake strategy."

Sitting to the other side, Gilead calmly asked,

"Could you shed more light on what this so called Bait and Fake strategy is?"

Cain chuckled,

"I'm glad you asked. There are two important ingredients for this plan's success." He began.

"The first is the Bait. The function of the Bait is to draw as much devilish attention as possible."

"The second ingredient, is this handsome fella right here. He is the most important part of this operation." Cain said as he tapped Julio's shoulder.

Julio chuckled nervously.

Lukas raised a brow,

"Excluding how strange that was, explain how your plan works."

Cain shrugged, "It's quite simple, actually. It also works in accordance with the current plans to bring the Dome down."

Alvi frowned, "In other words, we are the bait."

Cain snapped his fingers,

"Bingo."

Murmurs spread through the crowd,

"We are the bait?"

"This sounds like a freaking trick. Why do we all have to act as bait."

Cain rode out the storm, waiting for the crowd to settle down,

"I on the other hand, will work covertly with Julio over here to reach our destination. In the meantime, you all will be responsible for keeping the Devils at bay."

Gilead sighed as he stood up,

"That means the battle for the City of Zoan, one for the ages, will begin today."

Cain grinned, "Isn't that exciting?"

Gilead turned to face him. A small smile tugged on his lips,

"It is."

The fall out after the battle with Carrion had been terrible.

However, Gilead had handled it wonderfully. He truly deserved the title of Guardian.

Although many lives had been lost, most of them were the hired swords of Carrion and the Iron Beetles fighters. For the most part, the regular civilians were safe.

In the end, they had managed to sweep everything under the rug.

The only thing still in circulation were the rumors.

The atmosphere in the room boiled.

For the first time, the humans were taking the initiative to be on the attacking side instead of defense.

How that would play out was up to fate to decide...