God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

There were a lot of enormous beings that had arrived on the island...

And yet, this unholy looking apparition dwarfed it all.

Cain couldn't help but feel his breath cease in fear. The appearance of the being was not so frightening. Rather, it was its existence entirely. It instilled a primal fear in his body that made him shiver.

And judging by the silence that plagued the entire island, it was clear he was not the only one...

Even the massive creatures that claimed up large swathes of land seemed to tremble in this things presence.

The owl-like head of the creature twisted like it had no neck to speak up,

"My, my... What an interesting batch we have today."

Surprisingly, the entity's voice was not nearly as harrowing as its presence. If he closed his eyes and destroyed all his other sensory organs besides his ears, Cain didn't think he would feel all that frightened.

After another stretch of silence, the entity spoke again,

"Welcome to Sinai, the Sky Bridge. As some of you might know, I am called the Arbitrator, but you may refer to me as Viden."

Cain blinked,

'It has a name?'

Cain suddenly felt his heart stop. Much to his horror, he felt the gaze of the Arbitrator lock onto him.

His face paled, 'Shit!'

However, perhaps it was just an illusion, as a second later, he felt the gaze leave him.

His knees went weak and he fought the urge to fall face flat on the ground.

Evangeline glanced at him and asked,

"Are you okay?"

He could only nod.

"I am glad to see that there have been no rule breakers so far. Bloodshed is not allowed on these sacred grounds after all."

Cain suddenly understood. That was the reason why none of the creatures gathered here today refused to even think about murder. And he honestly couldn't blame them.

'The Arbitrator, huh...' Cain couldn't help but be curious.

A deep rumble suddenly came from the tower. However, the Arbitrator continued as though it didn't even notice,

"You are all here for the 'Trial of Heaven'. You might have heard the stories and legends. However, I would like for you to forget everything you have learned."

"To pass the Trial, you are expected to fulfill either one or more of the following criteria; Survive for a Month, Collect a Thousand Souls, or Kill a Star. The grading of your trial heavily depends on which of the criteria are met before the duration of the trial is exhausted."

Cain narrowed his eyes. The first criteria was rather straightforward. All they had to do was survive for a month. The second one was a bit more obtuse. However, it didn't take a genius to understand the meaning behind the words.

'Kill a thousand.'

To meet the second criteria, one had to kill a thousand of those gathered on the island.

He couldn't help but shiver at the thought.

And the final one; Kill a Star...

'What does that mean?'

Did he have to Kill a Star in the literal sense?

Or was there a deeper meaning to it.

'Information. I need information...'

However, where was he going to get it? He had tried asking the system, but for some reason, it had remained silent, which was rather odd.

He also took note of a particular phrase mentioned by the Arbitrator.

'If I heard that right, then more than one criteria can be met.'

Surviving for a month was the bare minimum. Anything more than that would be gunning for extra points.

Cain frowned. The real question was would they be gunning for those extra points?

"As the Arbitrator, I cannot say more than this. However, I can tell you this; most of you will die. Your souls shall become an offering for the progress of others, and I will get to see something interesting."

The darkness the creature was made of suddenly parted and turned into two enormous wings that stretched across the sky,

"You will be given six hours to rest and prepare for the arduous trial that awaits you. I bid you farewell for now."

And with those words, the Arbitrator flapped its pitch black wings, soaring into the sky. It turned into a streak of darkness heading towards the tower.

Dazed, Cain looked to see that the Iron gates on the Tower had opened up at some point in time. Even with his incredible perception, he was not capable of seeing beyond the darkness that shrouded the entrance into the enormous Sky Bridge.

Finally, the terrifyingly oppressive presence that came with the Arbitrator was gone.

Cain finally heaved a sigh of relief.

Jenny fell to the floor, looking dazed,

"W-what was that?"

Evangeline grimaced. He glanced at Cain who had an equally dark look on his face.

She turned around to face the other three girls,

"We might be in a bit of a dilemma."

Susan nodded, "The second criteria..."

Evangeline nodded and smiled wryly,

"Indeed. Although it is frustrating to say, we belong to the lowest rung here. The bottom of the totem pole. In other words..."

"The potential offerings to be made." Roselle said, her face dark.

Evangeline nodded,

"When the trial starts, there is a high chance we will be looked at as easy prey and will be targeted."

She frowned, "From what I can see, some of the beings gathered here might already be Tier 2 already. In that case, we stand no chance should they come after us."

Jenny sighed, "Then... What do we do?"

They all fell silent, the realization of what may lay ahead setting in.

It was very possible that they would all die here. Even Cain was not exempted. With a single glance using {Eye of Clairvoyance}, he could count at least ten beings that made him feel apprehensive in their immediate area, some of them, he didn't even Dare directly look at least he earned their ire.

'Truly, what do we do?'

Then only had one choice...

"We have to survive." Cain suddenly said.

Evangeline chuckled, "Even doing that doesn't seem likely all of a sudden."

Cain shook his head, "No, it is possible. I have an ability that can hide our presence. There is also your {Shadow World} ability. Maybe we can hide out in there for a while. As long as we don't encounter anything too terrible, I think it is possible."

They would exhaust every option they had, as long as they could survive.

Suddenly, Cain felt a gaze pierce into him.

He had {Eye of Clairvoyance} activated, so he didn't need to turn around to see who directed the heated gaze at them.

'Interesting...'

His expression turned dark.

It seemed some people wouldn't be satisfied with just surviving, it seemed.

If it came to it, he wouldn't hesitate to spill blood although it was rather bothersome. Once the trial began, things would devolve into a bloody mess. Taking advantage of the chaos would be all too easy as long as there weren't eyes on them already. However, from the looks of things, that option was already gone before the battle even began.

'Damn it.'

Dropping to the ground, Cain tried to relax. The emerald green blades of grass felt like a soft cotton pillow. It was rather comfortable.

The gentle rays from the sun in the sky were not oppressive. Instead, they gently kissed his skin, providing optimal warmth.

On Urbus, it had been a while since he last saw the Sun, making this quite a memorable moment.

He looked around him. The girls, despite having worried looks on their faces didn't seem to have given up yet.

Their eyes still held onto hope. Evangeline wore a light frown on her pale face, her brows knotted together as though she was deeply thinking about something. Cain couldn't help but smile.

'She looks rather pretty when she doesn't have that face.'

Since she usually kept her face expressionless, it was hard to figure out what was on her mind. Seeing her wearing her expression on her sleeve was quite refreshing.

Evangeline suddenly turned to him and raised a brow,

"What's the matter?"

Cain paused for a bit then shook his head with a smile,

"I was just thinking to myself."

Saying nothing else, he closed his eyes and began preparing, leaving Evangeline a bit stumped.

"Shameless..." Susan muttered under her breath.

Cain wisely kept his eyes closed...

Six hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Viden, the Arbitrator walked out of the enormous tower doors,

"The trial begins once you walk through these doors. May the favor of your god guide you. And for those of you who do not worship any gods, might as well pray to me." It said with a chuckle.

'It can also joke!'

Even after it said so, not a single soul made a move.

Cain suddenly felt the ground under his feet rumble. Then cracks began to spread from the very edge of the island towards the center.

His face went pale.

"I forgot to add, but the island will completely fall apart after a minute. Those who fail to make it in time will fall down there. Believe me when I say this; even I would rather have my soul completely destroyed than suffer such a fate."

Cain felt the world around him explode into chaos.

Some creatures took to the skies, others burrowed into the fragmenting ground, while the rest out as much power as they could into their legs as they raced for the doors of the tower.

Cain wasted no time and summoned Ruby from the {Beastmaster's Subspace}.

The soace around him exploded and the mutant beast emerged with a roar.

Cain leapt onto her back and called out,

"Get on!"

The girls wasted no time climbing onto Ruby as well. Ruby had grown big enough to easily accommodate ten grown people, so there was more than enough room for all of them.

Cain yelled out, "Hold on tight!" before spurring Ruby into action.

With another excited roar, the mutant bear broke into a frenzied gallop racing across the quickly fragmenting ground.

Cain watched with bated breath as the ground behind them swiftly broke apart, falling towards the void of white clouds down below.

He turned to glance at the Arbitrator who was now perched on the edge of the tower, watching them as they scrambled away from their doom.

Cain grimaced and spurred Ruby on even more.

Moving at that speed, the entrance of the tower quickly approached. They were part of the last set to reach the enormous entrance. Cain took one last look at this light suffused world before they dove right into the darkness.

Moments later, the rest of the island had fallen into the white oblivion below, leaving just the black tower floating there.

The world was once more enveloped in silence.

Viden stood atop the Sky Bridge Tower in silence, gazing at the stretching blue sky for a few minutes.

Then the being known as the Arbitrator dissolved into a stream of darkness that bled right into the tower.