God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The body of the {Parasyte Soulfiend} let out a strange gurgling sound.

"Well, would you look at that."

Steve stared with wide eyes as the tendrils detached from the spine, causing the creature to fall to the ground.

Its body spasmed and trembled a few more times. Then it stopped.

Susan looked down at it, a disgusted expression on her face,

"Is it... dead?"

"I think so?" Steve said with uncertainty.

"It's dead." Cain said as he slowly opened his eyes.

Susan glanced at him. Her expression filled with concern,

"You look tired."

Cain chuckled, "I used up way too much Soul Essence. I'll be more mindful next time."

Susan cleared her throat, "Next time, huh..."

Cain nodded, a thoughtful look on his face,

"The strength of their souls is one thing. However, the connection of their souls to their bodies is rather weak for a creature called a {Parasyte Soulfiend}."

Steve frowned as he calmly dressed the wound, cleaning away the blood and black gunk away,

"Regardless, we should have an easier time dealing with these things."

Hunter nodded, "I and Dan will compile a list of suspicious candidates."

Dan glanced at him with a grimace,

"We will?"

Hunter glared at him, "Of course we will."

Then he turned to Cain,

"Looks like you might have your hands full in the coming days."

Cain grinned, "That's what I'm hoping for."

He stood up and stretched as he moved towards the still infected Beastman,

"Of course, I won't be the only one." He said as he glanced at Blaze.

Blaze frowned, "What?"

"I'm placing you in charge of coordinating our forces. Fights at the dome boundary will only get more frequent and even more chaotic in the coming days. We should try to reduce our casualties as much as possible."

Blaze's brows furrowed, but he nodded,

"That much shouldn't be an issue, but it will be difficult for one man to—"

Cain shrugged, "Ask Vince for help."

Blaze sighed, "That lazy hedonist? Alright. I'll make it work."

"As for you..." Cain said as he stared at Calio.

He frowned. He really didn't know much about this guy other than he had joined their clique some time back.

And since he had some skill, he had eventually cemented his place amongst the top brass of now named Golden Asura.

"Boss, I am good at many things, but espionage and shady assassinations are my specialty." Calio said with a smug smile on his face.

Cain smiled, "That's good. Then, I will assign you the task of locating and assasinating all the {Hadalspawn Devils} that have burrowed through the dome. Can you handle that?"

Calio grimaced, "That..."

"You can't?" Cain raised a brow.

"What? Of course not. I'll take care of all of them before you know it! Leave it to me." Calio said with a dry, near tearful chuckle.

"Cain nodded in satisfaction,

"In that case, I guess we can iron the details out at a later date. There is so much to be done, I can only hope we can put things in order before the inevitable."

They all fell silent.

A grim atmosphere quickly descended.

Seeing this, Cain smiled wryly,

'Damn. Did I kill the mood?'

He clapped his hands,

"Well, that's just by the way."

His eyes gleamed,

"Let's go get this over with."

***

"Thank you! Thank you for saving me."

Tears streaked down her face as she continuously bowed at the two men in front of her over and over again.

Hunter grimaced, not knowing how to feel,

"This... You still believe us?"

Hina wiped the tears and snot off her face as she nodded desperately,

"How could I not? I saw the one in that other man. I just hope he'll be okay."

Dan shrugged,

"I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Well, it's good that you do. Please, keep everything that happened today a secret. If anything gets out, it could cause more chaos than necessary."

Hina nodded vigorously, "Of course I will! Once again, thank you. If there's anything you need, you can always find me at..."

Hunter let out a sigh,

"I'll take your word for it then."

Watching the much smaller girl scurry away, Hunter felt something stir within him.

Dan glanced at the person beside him. His friend had once been human, but now, there was no telling how much beast he had in him.

Sometimes he was unsure. The ferocious expression he had when tearing into beast and human alike was rather off-putting. So sometimes he couldn't tell if his trusted friend was still in there.

He smiled,

"Do you ever miss being human?"

Hunter frowned and turned to him,

"What do you mean?"

Dan shrugged, "Don't play dumb. Even a blind man can tell you aren't human anymore, or at least fully anyways. Your body, what's it like?"

Hunter fell silent.

The dark Evernight sky made a stark contrast to the bubbling atmosphere around them.

As always, the streets of Valestorm were lively. It was always lively.

Since the night never ended, there was always activities, and the magic lamps were never put out.

It was a thing of beauty, a testament to humanity's burning spirit of endurance through the darkest of nights.

Hunter exhaled deeply, his breath visible as a misty plume in the chilly air,

"I don't think about it much." He said, his face barely changing.

"Sometimes, I am aware of the changes, most of the time, it is as though I have been like this forever. But I am not particularly bothered. They are but surface changes. It doesn't change the fact that I am still human."

Dan snorted,

"Sure, whatever you say."

Hunter glared at him, nudging his shoulder roughly,

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Dan chuckled, then winced as he rubbed his now sore shoulder,

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Hunter sighed.

Looking into the sky, he could see no stars. Just the ever present moon and an all encompassing darkness.

'The world truly has changed.'

He had changed as well.

And the changes would continue to be. There was no undoing.

The past was dead and gone, and the only path left was forward, either into more pleasant times, or damnation.

"We have a lot on our plates." Hunter said grimly.

Dan nodded,

"I'll tell the others what to look out for. Creating a net to pick them out will make things easier."

Hunter nodded, then frowned,

"The most important thing is caution. Don't cause panic. If... If we encounter anyone that is too far gone."

Dan's expression darkened,

"I'll handle it. Silently..."

Hunter nodded.

The two continued into the streets.

All around them, the dea of people continued to flow.

Within the sea of humans were scattered Beastmen of all shapes and sizes.

Simultaneously, a whisper of a thought spread in their minds...

***

Cain let out an exhausted groan as he dropped to the floor.

The exhaustion from making use of his soul was incomprehensible.

He had done nothing but sit in one spot for a few minutes, and yet, it felt like he had been running at full speed for more than a week.

His exhaustion was immediately wiped away when a soft glow touched his face.

"Feeling better?" Susan said, staring down at him, her brows furrowed.

Cain muttered, "Yeah, much better."

She nodded then turned to Steve who was busy stitching up the final patient.

"How is he?" She asked.

Steve was silent for a moment before answering,

"He'll need a bit more time to recover. His soul was much more damaged than hers. I guess we can leave him here in the meantime."

Steve stretched, forcing blood to flow into his numb muscles,

"What I'm more concerned about is the repercussions of this."

Susan raised a brow, "Repercussions?"

Steve nodded, "Having to exorcise these Devils out will consume a lot of precious time our valuable leader does not have on his hands. If there are more infestations than expected, things might become serious."

Susan frowned, "So what you mean is..."

"We might need to get our hands on some Soul Arts." Steve said darkly.

Susan frowned, "I believe talent and race are a huge limitation in learning these Soul Arts."

Steve nodded, "Indeed, but there should be artificial ways to boost the talent part. Either way, we better figure something out. And quick too..."

Susan sighed.

Staring at the resting Cain, she smiled bitterly.

"I'll see what I can do."

***

Staring at the greyish wall, Gilead'd mins slowly processed the words he had just heard.

Sitting opposite him, Abigail wore a slight smile, although the smile didn't seem to reach her eyes.

"This is indeed a dilemma." Gilead said in a low grumble.

Wearing a long flowing dress the color of red wine, Abigail looked more like the priestess of a divine goddess and less like the advisor of the plain-looking man in front of her.

"What about Cain?" Gilead asked.

Abigail shrugged, "He and his people have been making their own preparations, although there is a lot I still am uncertain of."

Gilead nodded, "Good. Just make sure to always have an eye on him."

He paused for a moment, "And our good friend Carrion?"

Abigail frowned, "The man is arrogant, but not stupid. Even now, he guards all his plans and secrets carefully. I am yet to get anything on him."

Gilead slowly raised his gaze.

The office room he had chosen wasn't anything grand or spectacular.

Despite most of the council being dead, he had not sought after their treasures of to make himself supreme.

His ambitions were far above that.

This small office room located deep in the temple was more than enough for him.

"Before the war begins, we need to thoroughly clean house and make sure there can be no undesirable incidents."

Abigail nodded, "A clash is inevitable. Its scale is dependent on what we are ready to sacrifice."

Gilead nodded gravely, his expression turning stern,

"I am really concerned about how to go about this without things devolving into a full blown internal conflict."

Just as she was about to say something, Abigail suddenly frowned.

Sensing something amiss, Gilead raised a brow,

"What's the matter?"

Abigail stood up, a slightly somber look on her face,

"Looks like we have an unexpected visitor."

"A visitor? Who?" Gilead asked as he stood up as well.

"A visitor from another encampment."