God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Lukas had seen many terrible things in his life. But the inside of the Devil Spire has to be the worst.

The construct appeared to be a tower that pierced through the dark sky, made from some sort of black rock with thousands of protrusions jutting out on all sides of the thing.

On the inside, he found there was a lot of space.

And not a single drop of lighting.

Or fresh air.

Instead, the every world around him was suffused with a darkness that clung to the barrier surrounding him.

And Devil Essence.

So much so, that it was harmful, even to him with the protection of a Celestial.

It was a condition where no human would be able to survive.

Luckily, he had been warned by that woman before hand. If they had tried to enter in here just like that, they would have died on the spot.

Still...

'Keeping this barrier up sure is draining.'

He turned his head around.

Behind him was an entire host of humans, consisting of the Lightslayers and the Pilgrims, armed to the teeth with all manners of weapons.

"It's too dark in here. We can't see shit." Edward said with a grimace.

'Damn it. Where this she throw us into?! It will be bad if we get spotted. Then we won't be able to do anything but wait for our deaths.'

"For now, all we can do is follow this path down. Perhaps we will find answers at the end." Gilead said calmly.

Abigail nodded,

"I agree. But that is only assuming we haven't been betrayed here." She said, her gaze burning holes into Lukas' back.

The champion of light clicked his tongue,

"Don't look at me like that. We had already planned to get in here anyways, so it doesn't matter if she has ulterior motives."

He frowned, then added,

"Besides, if it comes down to it, I'll just blow everything up. That should solve our problem quite nicely."

"That will also get all of us killed." Abigail added with a frown.

Lukas shrugged, "I never said there weren't going to be losses, did I?"

"Bastard..." Edward grimaced.

"Enough," Gilead said with a frown,

"This is hardly the time to start any arguments."

"But you can't deny my concerns are valid, Gilead. Honestly, I should have asked all this before we stepped into this ungodly place." Abigail said with a sigh.

Lukas sneered,

"That means you are slipping. You are usually particular about everything. Where did that terrible edge go? Are you panicked? That's no good, is—"

Suddenly, he came to a halt and stopped talking.

His eyes narrowed.

Abigail let out a sigh,

"The Devil Essence is thinning out."

She threw him a glare,

Lukas pursed his lips then turned to Zue who has wisely kept his mouth shut.

Zue nodded and began moving forward as he reduced the output of his mana whilst remaining cautious.

Although Zue was behind the barrier's creation, he was in charge of maintaining it. Zue was a powerful mage, but he didn't have the mana reserves needed to maintain the barrier for a lot time.

He on the other hand...

With him, the barrier and the rest of the entourage continued on.

As they walked, the Devil Essence and the darkness began to spread thin until they could finally see outside of the barrier.

The walls within the Devil Spire were made of the same dark stone as the outside. However, Lukas found that they were covered with runes.

Strange runes that filled him with an unnatural fear just from gazing at the too long.

His face turned pale.

Suddenly, there was a commotion.

He heard a groan come from behind him. Then a thud.

Someone screamed.

Hurriedly, he turned around.

A few people had fallen to the ground foaming at the mouth, their eyes pitch black as their bodies convulsed.

"What the hell?!" He exclaimed.

"Damn it! Whatever you do, don't look at the walls!" Abigail yelled on the top of her lungs.

She stopped down to observe the closest person that had fallen to the ground.

Placing her fingers on the Lightslayer's neck, she paused for a moment. Then she sighed,

"She's dead.

The eyes of the Lightslayer remained open and her body continued to convulse. However, she was already dead, with no pulse and no heartbeat.

"What just happened?" Zue asked, his voice trembling a bit.

Abigail frowned,

"I don't know. However, it seems like only a few people have fallen victim. I glanced at the runes but I am fine for the most part."

Lukas' eyes twitched.

He turned to the walls and observed the strange runes again. However, besides a terrible feeling that clutched at his heart, he was fine.

'Could it be that these guys are just unfortunate?'

Something told him it was not so simple.

"Either way, we have to keep moving. I don't want to stay here for too long." Gilead said with a sigh.

He glanced down at the dead body.

"Unfortunately, that means we will have to leave these ones behind. We won't be giving them a proper burial."

Abigail sighed as she rose back to her feet.

"Let's keep going."

Lukas stared at the fallen warrior for a few more seconds then turned and signaled to Zue.

With pursed lips and a pale face, he continued.

Anyone that was unable to to keep up and went outside the range of the barrier would be subjected to the dense Devil Essence outside.

The best possible outcome was Devil Corruption and then mutation. That, or an instant death.

So they all moved close and in sync until finally...

"There's light up ahead." Lukas suddenly said.

"And the Devil Essence has thinned out considerably. We do not need the barrier any more." Gilead said.

With a nod from Lukas, he let the shield drop. Sighs of relief exploded out as the tension in the crowd died a bit.

Falling to the ground in exhaustion, Zue couldn't help but ask,

"Where are we?"

Abigail turned around,

"We were in a corridor moments ago..." She said, looking into the darkness they had left behind.

In front of them was a glow coming from a chamber up ahead.

Lukas turned to her and they exchanged glances.

With their enhanced super human senses, how could they not hear the terrifyingly freakish noises coming from ahead.

No, it wasn't just coming from before them.

Lukas glanced up.

His blood ran cold.

He neck creaked as he slowly glanced down as well.

His blood ran even colder.

"Well, I'll be damned."