God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'Hopefully, this doesn't take too long.' Cain thought to himself.

Over the last two weeks, he had tried to get his hands on as much information as he possibly could.

Which meant pulling out all the stops. He had even made use of the communication device Azazel had handed to him to contact the elusive Demon.

He recalled the words of the self-proclaimed Demon of Sorcery...

***

"The Trials are in and of themselves, not a test of your power. Instead, they are a test of your fate." The voice coming from the communicator said.

Cain frowned. Although he could hardly Azazel's words rather clearly, he could also hear a lot going on in the background.

There was the sound of metal clashing against metal, wet thuds, a few screams and screeches here and there as well. It all came together to form a rather strange mental picture.

"You... Where the hell are you?" Cain could only ask, equal parts exasperated and amazed.

Azazel tutted, "Why ask questions of no consequence? Do you want to receive good information or not?"

Cain sighed.

Azazel continued, "As I was saying, the Trials are a test of fate. Every creature connected to the system, this includes beasts as well, undergo a trial of some sorts to progress to the next Tier..."

"Some might very well seem like a simple test of brute strength, or power. But what has been agreed upon by most schools of magic across the cosmos, is that isn't the case."

Cain could only imagine the Demon having a rather dubious grin on his face as he spoke.

He shook his head as Azazel continued,

"The system is a phenomenon none can explain. It is as primal as mana itself, I believe. However, it is rather dubious. There is not much sense in trying to predicts its actions, but it also follows a set of sequences. If you have lived as long as I have, you will be able to spot them out. The Trials it gives out are a measure of fate, in my opinion."

Cain frowned, "Is it even possible to measure something as intangible as fate?"

Azazel huffed. There was a slicing sound that came through the communicator, followed by a disgusting gurgling noise.

Azazel's voice came half a second later,

"For us, yes. For something like the system that transcends our understanding? I wouldn't be so certain."

"Fate is unpredictable. Hence, the Trials the system will provide will also be the same. All fates diverge and converge at different points too, so expect to be surprised. In other words, pray for the best, and expect the very worst. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

The connection was promptly disabled from the other end, leaving Cain to wallow in his thoughts.

***

Recalling the events of that day, Cain couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

'I wonder if the communicator will worse inside the trial.'

He paused, 'If it does, wouldn't that count as cheating? Will I get disqualified because of that?'n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Cain shivered. He didn't even want to take the risk.

After they went over the details of their preparations and possible actions to take once the trial began, Cain got the totem out.

It was a long cylinder object with a torso that was slightly wider than both ends. It was black, but had empty markings and patterns all over it, which made him wonder if the object was hollow. Of course, these markings were just tiny engraved runes, and each tiny runes was just a small part that created the actual rune itself that was scratched into the surface of the object itself.

It was incredible, using a rune to create a rune. The runes themselves were also things Cain had never seen before. They were also absolutely incomprehensible, and staring at them too long could give him a nosebleed, so he was rather cautious.

He began pouring his mana into the item, causing the runes to light up beautifully.

Slowly, a rift began spreading out with the totem as its epicenter, exerting a subtle drag in their bodies.

Cain looked around and saw that all four girls looked extremely prepared. They worse serious, and perhaps a bit dark, determined expressions. All besides Evangeline, who.had the same uncaring expression. However, her gaze seemed a bit more intense that usually as she stared at the rift.

She suddenly spoke,

"Well, what are we still waiting for?"

With no other choice felt, Cain took the first steps towards the rift. They followed closely behind. Read latest chapters at empire

In a few seconds, they all disappeared into the rift. The huge gash in space sputtered a few times before it finally recovered, the rift closing over as though it was never there to begin with.

In a building in the center of Valestorm rather far away from tehre...

Alvi looked down on a set of documents, staring at them with calm narrowed eyes.

On the other hand, Kaius seemed almost giddy with excitement.

"This is incredible! We are pulling in at least three times more mana shards that before everyday!"

There was a plain faced middle-aged woman seated beside Kaius, the same woman that was there the night Cain had first paid him a visit in Death's Jackal.

She seemed a bit suspicious,

"Frankly, I think it is too good to be true. The items the Iron Beetle sells look like sticks in comparison."

Alvi slapped the stack of papers in his hands into the table and sighed,

"I've run the distribution through our nameless outlets. It shouldn't be traceable to us."

The woman shook her head and said,

"That devil, Carrion surely knows we are behind it. However, he chooses not to do anything."

Alvi shook his head with a grim smile,

"Do you think I don't know that? The reason even that madman, Carrion won't do anything for now, is Cain."

The woman shivered lightly and her face turned pale.

The masked man from that night was also present. He took visibly reacted to the mention of Cain's name.

The masked man sighed,

"Do you think Cain can be trusted not to stab us in the back?"

Alvi turned to stare at the masked man,

"Of course not. We can trust absolutely no one."

Kaius snorted, "In the face of this much resources, I doubt we even need to trust any one."

Then he grinned darkly,

"I believe I can progress to the next stage of alchemy with these much resources in no time, Father!"

Alvi sighed.

How would things be so easy...

Although Carrion was obviously apprehensive of Cain, the damned devil was also rather prideful.

'There is no way he will tolerate Cain's existence here for long. I have no doubt he's plotting something.'

Unfortunately, this was the absolute worst time to be plotting anything.

A terrible, malevolent darkness was looming just around the corner. It danced right in their faces and mocked any reaches for salvation they made.

If a fight broke out at such delicate times, there was no doubt everything would fall apart.

They would all die.

Alvi looked up to the sky.

There was mostly darkness overhead. Only the lustrous illumination of the silver moon bathed the world below.

The stars were gone.

'Such a terrible sight...'

Standing in the shadows cast by the moonlight, Jack smiled lightly, listening to the conversation unfold.

Feeling Alvi's gaze turn on him, his smile couldn't help but widen a bit.

He walked over and leaned down just enough so that he and only he alone, would be able to hear Alvi's hushed words and vice versa.

"I need you to do something for me..."

***

Black smoke billowed from the top of the forge. However, their black smoke was not the mundane kind. Instead, it was smoke laced with traced of mana.

This smoke was gotten from burning the wood from a certain type of magical tree that grew in the most arid conditions. That meant it was rather common around Valestorm.

A group of rather dangerous Aether Beasts had made those areas their nesting grounds though, so procuring the wood was a dangerous and risky endeavor that cost a lot of mana shards.

However, this forge burned through the wood like it was any regular wood.

Standing in front of the forge room was Carrion. He wore a dark scowl that marred his handsome features as he waited impatiently.

Suddenly, the door to the forge flew open and a petite figure covered in soot walked out.

The scowl on Carrion's face melted away like ice on a summer day.

"I take that you are done with my request, Elder Baruch."

The rather short old man with a beard full of stubby white fluff which was now blackened by soot looked up and spat out with a scowl,

"Of course I am done. You better have what I asked for as compensation."

Carrio nodded and bowed lightly, a sadistic grin on his face,

"Of course. It will all be delivered into your chambers tonight."

The short old man, cleared his throat and chuckled,

"Still, your request this time really cost me a lot of stamina. I have to say this is my best work yet." The old man said as radiant particles began dancing on his fingertips, a clear sign he was about to summon something from his inventory.

Carrion could only nod in agreement. How could he not. After all, this was one of the best blacksmiths in the Iron Beetle as well as one of the only Advanced Blacksmiths they had.

Although he was a lecherous old bastard, his equipment was absolutely top notch.

Laying his eyes on the items laid down in front of him, Carrion grinned.

He completed forgot all about how much he had spent to appease the old dog.

"Yes, this is all up to standard." He said, placing them all into his inventory.

Baruch shrugged and scratched his head,

"From your expression, I can tell a lot of things are about to change. But that's none of my concern. I'm already almost dead anyway."

Carrion smiled and shook his head,

"You certainly are humorous, Elder Baruch. You will surely live a lot longer than this."

Baruch snorted and waved dismissively as he walked away,

"Enough with the ass-licking. It's creeping me out."

Waiting for the old man to be out of sight, Carrion turned around and walked out of the building that had been turned into a private quarters for the elderly blacksmith.

When he stepped out, he stared at the four individuals waiting for him.

His gaze turned dark and his smile sinister.

With a chuckle, he declared,

"Now then, who's ready for a challenge?"