God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"It\'s simple..." Jenny said as she stabbed a small blade into the chest of a devil, carving its devil core out. A spurt of blood squirted out of the gaping wound, dying her face and dirty clothes with another layer of blood...

"From the first time I saw you, I realized something..." Jenny said as she stared straight into Cain\'s eyes. Evangeline had long gone into the shadows, so they had a certain level of privacy between themselves.

"You\'re not socially adept"

"But you don\'t know anything about me." Cain couldn\'t help but raise a brow at that. While he didn\'t deny the fact that he lacked adequate positive human interactions due to his complicated past, he sincerely doubted it was so obvious, someone he had met a few hours ago would be able to see through it so quickly.

Hence, he immediately sensed foul play...

"As I said, I have a good intuition. Plus, it\'s painfully obvious as from what you\'ve told me, you just keep creating reasons for conflict." Jenny said to Cain as she carved another devil open.

"Intuition, huh... Well, what do you suggest I do then?" When it came to learning new things, Cain knew when to drop his pride. He was always open to change, as he had come to realize over the past day that he had a lot of growth to do.

Hence, he was very open to suggestions he figured could help him grow.

"For starters, you have to kill any crazy thoughts you have. Most humans aren\'t dumb. If you are trying to create a group based on trust, then manipulation and crazy high IQ plans are a no-go."

"Second is sacrifice. To build genuine trust, you need to let them know you are ready to sacrifice yourself for their sake."

"Sorry to break it to you, but that doesn\'t work. Already tried that once." Cain instantly dismissed Jenny\'s claim with a wave of his bloodstained hand.

No sane human that existed before the apocalypse would believe they would be having such a conversation covered in the blood of deadly alien creatures as though it was nothing...

His mind went back to the time when he had killed the {Crimson Demon Bear} to gain the trust of the others, but it was ruined by Hunter.

"That\'s because you lack genuineness. It isn\'t something you can force, but it will come in time." Jenny explained.

"I see..." Cain realized he had a long way to go at this point...

Due to his terrible upbringing, he lacked genuine interactions with humans. To protect himself, he had created all sorts of barriers around his heart and mind. To make sure he hasn\'t hurt again, he would never be genuine.

He would always try to come out on top of every situation. And the only way he could do that was through manipulation. If manipulation fell through, then he would just resolve it with violence. However, he was being told that tried and tested tactics wouldn\'t work anymore on the people he wanted them to work on the most.

He never had friends, nor was he invited to social gatherings, so all his interactions were limited to former bullies and his foster family, which weren\'t really good sources of social education.

In more simple terms, he was messed up in the head...

However, he knew all this and was trying to fix it to become better. Constant improvement and evolution were all he knew how to do because that was the only way he knew how to survive.

To survive his past, he acquired martial arts. To survive his present, he must acquire skills that were required to execute any circumstance he found himself in perfectly.

"There is no need to rush it. All you need to do is become more... straightforward. Say what you mean, and do not try to hide your intentions in cryptic messages." Jenny explained further with a soft expression.

"Why would I want to do that?" Cain asked in confusion as he couldn\'t understand her intentions. If he told people what he meant, then he would constantly be at a disadvantage in every interaction he made.

"People tend to trust people who are more honest or appear to be so. It will do you good to know this." Jenny said.

"Hmmm..." Cain fell into a daze as he pondered on her words.

Once they were done with harvesting the devil cores, they set out once again...

"How do you know so much about these things?" Cain asked her, a fascinated expression on his face.

"Ha... I\'ve learned from an early age the true nature of humans. But that is none of your concern." Jenny told him with a straight face, "What you should be worried about is how you will fix the mistakes you\'ve made in the past."

Eyes flashing with beautiful radiance, Jenny turned her bountiful backside to Cain, then once again activated her stealth, disappearing from his sight.

However, Cain had no brain space to even bother about the beautiful scene that escaped from his vision.

His mind was completely preoccupied with words of Jenny.

\'Straightforward... Genuine..." Cain could only ponder on the true meaning of these words...

\'I will deal with that later.\' Since he couldn\'t draw a reasonable conclusion, Cain decided to shelve the matter to the back of his mind and bring something more important to the forefront.

Survival...

\'From what I\'ve seen so far, although the entire place is crawling with these devils, there are a few cracks to slip through...\' Cain\'s eyes sparkled with intelligence as his thoughts ran deeper.

\'For some reason or the other, a lot of these devils aren\'t spreading out, but are staying in one place protecting these {Appendages}. If no signals are sent to the roaming devils, then we might be able to reduce the fighting force of the devils here by at least half before we make any further plans.\'

\'System, how many {Appendages} are left within the forest?\'

{Replying to host: In this stretch of the forest, there are currently 22 {Appendages} of various levels present}.

\'22? That sure is a lot. Can I know where the next one is, and how far away it is from my current location ?\'

{Replying to host: The closest one from the host is one kilometer from the host. However, it is heavily populated by devils}.

\'Since when have I ever been scared of a few devils?\' Send me the directions." Cain said as he stared off into the grey horizon revealed between the gaps of the leaves.

Once he received the information he had purchased from the system, he planned to adjust his directions, before continuing onto the correct path plotted by the system.

***

"How are the preparations?"

Exactly one kilometer away from Cain, the huge figure of J\'orntz, the {Phantasma} that had attacked Cain previously stared at an {Appendage} that was fairly bigger than the ones Cain had come across. Not only that, but a few bright red fruits, the size of walnuts hung from the tumor-like protrusions that sat on the {Appendage}.

Although the devil was small compared to the {Flame Devil}, it was still a true devil as opposed to the other spawn devils around it. It was bigger and bulkier than that the {Hulking Behemoths}, but it had a lean stature. On its back, were two bright green chakrams the size of tractor tires.

The blades of the chakrams were a color that seemed to alternate between green and silver depending on how the light from the surroundings hit the blade.

Beside it were ten {Hulking Behemoths}. However, these {Hulking Behemoths} all looked a bit different from the ones Cain had fought.

"Lord J\'orntz, everything has gone according to plan for the most part. The mother has completely taken control of this stretch of the forest. However, most of the nutrition in this part has also been consumed." One of the smaller {Hulking Behemoths} by its side said. This {Hulking Behemoth} was bigger and more muscular than Gadon, its devil core tinted a very deep orange.

"Jameil, What of the other plans?" J\'orntz, the {Phantasma} said to another {Hulking Behemoth} with a cold evil look on its otherworldly face. It stared at the surrounding desolation with cruelty and hunger in its eyes.

"My Lord, the building the target dwells in has been isolated from the forest. The surveillance from the drones shows that the target entered the forest alongside a few other humans a few hours ago. However, since they activated a few stealth techniques, it has been difficult to track them." Jamiel said, a cruel light flashing through its eyes as it spoke.

This {Hulking Behemoth} was a bit shorter and leaner than the other one but was even more terrifying to look at. Its body was covered in small protrusions that oozed a weird pungent liquid that seemed to irritate even the devils standing beside it. It was obvious by the apprehensive expressions on the other {Hulking Behemoths} faces that Jamiel was not to be messed with.

"It doesn\'t matter... As long as they are still within the forest, then all is according to plan." J\'orntz said dismissively. Moving toward the humongous {Appendage} that sat before him, J\'orntz reached out, gently rubbing his hands across the surface of the grotesque entity, prompting a slight tremble from it.

\'Yes, Mother...\' The face of the {Phantasma} stretched out into a murderous grin as he turned around.

"That human is something Mother greatly desires. Therefore, it must be attained at all costs. Do whatever is necessary to bring it to her, dead or alive."

Hearing this, the {Hulking Behemoths} all took a knee before the much larger and stronger devil in servitude.

The fate of a devil was in a way, cruel...

From birth, they are cast into an endless cycle of bloodshed and slaughter that never ceases until they are sent to hell. They are born into the void, doomed to never have a place to call home. Due to their inherent bloodthirsty nature, they even consume one another to grow stronger at birth.

When they are grown, they become harbingers of death and suffering to other species due to their natural lust for power that cannot be satiated.

This vile nature causes them to become public enemies amongst the infinitely vast races that populate the universe...

However, that didn\'t mean the devils were just a bunch of insane brutes that knew only how to slaughter. That was very far from the truth. Not only did they have incredibly

"Our forces are about ten thousand strong, which I believe is a sufficient number. Once we have completely drained this forest of life, we will move to greener pastures." J\'orntz said looking down on the powerful spawn devils bowing their heads to him.

\'Just you wait, human. Very soon, I\'ll show you what it is like to fall into a pit of despair. You will suffer such that you shall wish the sweet reprieve of death upon yourself.\' Unbridled cruelty flashed within the eyes of the {Soul Devil} as it gazed into the far off distance.

Another notable trait of devils; they held onto grudges for a lifetime, and wouldn\'t stop until they completely consume the target of their vengeance...