God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Evangeline stared at him, amusement in her eyes.

Cain turned back to face her. His lips were pursed as he silently thought to himself.

Right now, she wasn\'t wearing any armor. She was dressed rather lightly, on a tank top and a pair of shorts.

Shaking his head, Cain turned around,

"Let\'s go."

Evangeline raised a brow, "Shouldn\'t you be resting?"

Cain shook his head, "It\'s all good. See? I\'ve recovered plenty."

Without waiting to hear anything else, Cain reached for the door and stepped out of the room.

Evangeline remaining on the bed for a few seconds. She clicked her tongue,

"Idiot..."

She jumped off the bed and took a step forward, disappearing into the shadows.

***

Walking around a bend in hallway, Cain saw Evangeline leaning against the wall, a cold look on her face.

He cleared his throat, and the two of them walked out of the building side by side.

The Military camp was the same as every, dreary, bleak, dry, and cold.

However, something seemed a bit different now. The soldiers seemed a bit more frantic than usual.

Most of them muttered to themselves, fear evident on their faces.

Cain turned to look at Evangeline.

A smile appeared on her face,

"News of what you did at Valestorm spread fast."

Cain chuckled dryly,

"Oh, that?"

Evangeline nodded, "Some are saying the general plans to rebel. If that happens, then what will unfold, will be akin to a Civil war."

Cain muttered to himself, "A Civil war, huh... That does seem to be the case."

Evangeline kept staring at him, prompting Cain to explain,

"Valestorm has a special... organization of Blessed called Pilgrims. They are much stronger than regular Hunters, as they have special power granted to them from Balangol. They aren\'t easy to deal with."

Recalling the few Pilgrims he had encountered himself, Cain couldn\'t help but feel even more sure.

Evangeline hummed, "If that\'s the case, then we shouldn\'t get involved."

Cain sighed, "It\'s too late for that."

Evangeline raised a brow, "You mean?"

Cain nodded, "Yeah. The General\'s intends to start a Civil war. We, unfortunately, are already wrapped up in it."

Evangeline sighed and shook her head,

"Well, what can I say? You are our leader after all. I\'m sure you have your reasons."

Cain nodded, a wry smile on his face,

"I do have a reason. Thought I\'m not too sure if it is good enough."

He stared at the road straight ahead,

"Either way, we\'ll know soon enough."

Evangeline smiled briefly. Then she seemed dto recall something,

"What was his name... Boulder, was it? He said you should meet him at his tent."

Cain frowned, \'What does he want to discuss with me?\'

They arrived at the military compound. They earned more than a few stares.

Cain had become quite popular over the past few days. It was unavoidable.

After all, he was responsible for most of the changes that had come to them, be they negative, or slightly less negative.

The stares weren\'t very friendly, either.

Still, no one approached them. They didn\'t even try to meet their eyes.

"These people don\'t seem to like you very much."

Cain shrugged, "They don\'t matter for the time being. We can worry about our reputation later. Who knows, their opinion of us might drop even lower very soon."

Evangeline\'s eyes narrowed,

"You... What are you planning to do?"

Cain smiled, then brushed the topic aside completely,

"By the way, how did you three survive in the Sea of Sands for so long?"

Evangeline huffed, then fell silent for a moment,

"I noticed something wrong with that place, figured it was best to leave before something happened. And I was right."

Her face turned a bit dark,

"I escaped with Susan and Jenny before anyone could notice. The plan was to go back and save the others eventually, but before that could happen..."

Cain scratched his head, "I came along."

Evangeline smiled softly, "Surviving there wasn\'t too hard. We had Susan, so in the case we really had no choice but to fight, she\'d keep us alive till we killed the Aether Beasts."

"Looks like you all went through a lot."

Evangeline chuckled, "From what I\'ve heard, you all went through much more than we did."

Cain smiled, "I guess you can say that."

They stepped into the military compound and found their way towards Boulder\'s tent.

There were already a lot of people standing and seated around.

Most of them were original members of Boulder\'s squad, as well as the people that had followed them from Valestorm. The rest of those that were here were soldiers from other squads. He had no idea why they were here, gathered around Boilder\'s tent.

\'This is very odd... Is something happening in there?\'

Gloria sighted Cain almost immediately.

Excitement was written all over her face as she waved towards him.

"Who is she?" Evangeline gave him a stare.

Cain coughed awkwardly, "She\'s a part of Boulder\'s squad."

"Is that so..." Evangeline muttered.

Feeling something dangerous in the air, Cain was quite relieved she let it go so easily.

They walked up to her.

Cain greeted her with a smile,

"Where\'s Boulder?"

Gloria\'s smile was sweet and radiant like a nightlight,

"He\'s in there. He\'s been waiting for you. The others are there as well."

Without wasting any time, they stepped into the tent.

Cain noticed it was a bit bigger than before, perhaps to accommodate more people.

Inside the tent were people he was already familiar with; Hunter, Lukas, Luke, Manny, Rollo, and Floki were already there, standing at one side of the room. Standing beside them was Jenny with a strange look on her face.

On the other side of the tent stood Boulder, Khan, Lucia, and a few other faces he had seen before, but couldn\'t quite put a name behind. They stood next to General Arltzwalt, who was seated at the very end of the tent, facing the entrance.

A cigar hung from his lips as he lazily flipped through a folder of papers.

Cain frowned.

For some reason, the air was so thick, one could cut the tension with a knife.

\'What the hell is going on in here?\'

"Ah, Cain... You are finally awake."

Everyone stared towards them.

Cain was silent for a moment,

"General, it\'s good to see you in good health."

Arltzwalt chuckled, "Indeed it is."

"Cain, you should be resting right now." Jenny said with a frown as she walked up to him.

Cain shook his head, "We can talk about that later. For now, what is going on in here?"

General Arltzwalt waved his hand,

"There\'s no need to whisper. I\'ll tell you what is going on."

Taking the cigar out of his mouth, he pointed it at Cain,

"You\'ve done wonderfully, Cain. Not only did you manage to rescue your friends, you also managed to turn that place upside down. Who would have know the Champion and his Priests would have been absent. You truly are one lucky Devil."

Cain waved his hand, "Where is this going?"

Arltzwalt grinned, "Where do you think? We are at war, Cain!"

Cain shrugged, "I figured as much. Is that all you have to say?"

Arltzwalt shook his head,

"Right now, we are having a discussion. Since you are a part of us now, Cain, you have equal responsibility to bear."

Hunter took a step forward,

"And I\'m telling you that is bullshit. You want us to help you clean your asses. Is that right?"

One of the people standing beside Boulder snorted,

"Is it? Weren\'t you the ones responsible for this mess? It would be easier for us to just turn you in, wouldn\'t it?"

Lukas sneered, "Heh... I\'d like to see you try."

Cain heard a voice in his head,

\'What does he mean? Cain, explain this...\'

Cain closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them once again, determination was engraved in their depths.

\'Hunter, I need you to trust me on this. I have a plan.\'

\'A plan? He plans on using us as body shields. That can\'t the the base for your plan, can it?\'

Cain sighed, \'Do you trust me?\'

The basis of every relationship, transaction, and interaction, was trust. Without it, no side would feel secure.

Hunter was silent for a few seconds before he sighed,

\'Alright. But you have to tell me what you intend on doing.\'

\'Of course. Just give me a moment.\'

Barely a second had gone by. Cain turned to stare at General Arltzwalt.

\'Crafty old bastard! You forced this to make sure I don\'t go back on my word, didn\'t you.\'

Cain chuckled to himself, \'Well, I never planned on doing that. But...\'

Cain cleared his throat,

"It is indeed true that Valestorm\'s Pilgrims are planning on retaliating because of us. You, General, do not have any obligation to help us. This should be our burden to carry, and our burden alone."

Arltzwalt waved his hands, "Nonsense. Don\'t look at it like that. I have long since grow tired of their tyranny as well. It is high time we fought back as well."

Cain nodded, "We will need to make preparations if we want to have any chance at victory. The Valestorm Pilgrims are no joke."

General Arltzwalt sneered, his face a bit dark,

"Don\'t you worry. My men aren\'t pushovers themselves."

He stood up from his seat, standing over most of the people in the tent, his presence completely filling the space up,

"We will discuss the details twenty-four hours from now. Meet me in the command center."

With that, he and the rest of his retinue standing behind him left the tent.

Boulder turned to stare at Cain apologetically.

Cain shook his head with a smile,

"Don\'t worry about it."

Boulder sighed,

"This isn\'t how things were supposed to go."

Cain shrugged, "Things never do go as planner. In any case..."

Lucia stepped up and looked him over,

"How\'s your body holding up?"

"As you can see, I am still alive. You don\'t have to worry about a thing."

Evangeline, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up,

"Now that the old man is gone and this place is a bit quiet, Cain... Why don\'t you start explaining what you plan on doing?"