God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Seated on a cold stone chair, in front of a cold stone table, Cain had his fingers locked together and his elbows resting in the table as he stared hard and long at the two in front of him.

'Honestly. It feels like I'm trying to get two kids to stop fighting.'

Granted, their humanoid forms being as child-like as they were didn't help.

Cain gently massaged his brows then turned to Roc who wore a rather dark, almost seething expression,

"First of all, what even was the plan? To storm the place and tear everything down? The best case scenario would have been the mutual destruction of you both."

Roc huffed,

"That wouldn't happen. These bats are not that difficult to beat."

Ambrosia scoffed.

Cain raised a hand,

"That's enough."

He let out a sigh and glanced between the two, wondering how he could settle this dilemma and untangle the mess.

Ambrosia leaned back in her chair and glanced at him.

There was still a hint of apprehensive awe in her eyes.

What he had revealed to them had been rather surprising after all. She had known the human was rather capable when she had first met him. That was why she had been hesitant to act adversely.

Now, however, she was even more certain that of she had been overly hostile and had struck out, there was a huge chance she would be too dead to show some regret.

Thinking about it sent a shiver down to the tip of her wings.

'I need to get him on my side.'

"Cain," she said coolly. "The views of these dogs clearly do not align with ours. They are simply too pious and prioritize the existence of their God over everything else. That, and their gluttony."

Roc grimaced,

"You have no ground to speak of when it comes to gluttony. Those demons of yours drain half the forest dry with every night of feeding. There is barely enough for the rest of us!"

Seeing things quickly beginning to spiral, Cain cleared his throat, forcing the two of them to fall silent again.

They had moved the confrontation into Ambrosia's throne room.

The rest of the {Willow Direwolves} were on standby outside the cave, while the other {Blood-Curse Bats} had returned to continue their rest.

Steve and Blaze were directly outside the throne room standing guard.

"Clearly, this runs deeper than I anticipated. However, there is no difference that cannot be overcome."

He paused for a moment then sucked in a deep breath,

"What I'd like to happen, is for an alliance to be created."

"Impossible."

"Absolutely not."

The corners of his lips trembled,

"No, it is definitely possible."

He cleared his throat,

"The main cause of your differences, for lack of better words, is your affinity."

Ambrosia raised a brow,

"Affinity?"

Cain nodded, "If we can find a way to handle that, I believe this problem will not be as insurmountable as before."

Roc shook his head,

"She has not only insulted my god, but she has also insulted my kin numerous times. There is a limit to the—"

"You will just have to let it go, Roc." Cain said with calmly.

Roc's expression darkened. However, Cain refused to give ground.

He turned to Ambrosia who already had a cheeky grin on her face,

"And that goes for you to..."

Her smile quickly turned into a grimace as well.

Eventually, Roc sighed,

"Besides that, there is also the issue with food."

He pointed a finger at Ambrosia,

"The nature of these things is to drain the creatures of the land of its vitality. Like a plague that consumes life, just like their god."

Ambrosia clicked her tongue but remained silent.

Roc continued,

"Most of the time, the flying fiends disregard the boundaries of our territories and come to hunt in our hunting grounds."

Ambrosia smirked,

"And where is your proof of that?"

Roc raised a brow,

"The thousands of dried out husks I have sitting in my camp is more than enough evidence."

Ambrosia shrugged and leaned forward,

"Well, what do you want me to say? If my children are hungry, they have to eat. For some reason, even with his large this forest is, the number of game to hunt keeps reducing."

She paused for a moment, then shook her head with a chuckle,

"No. I know exactly why."

Cain turned to her with raised brows.

She quickly explained,

"The bug queen keeps offering all our food asylum. At this rate, we'll either go hungry, or be forced to go to war with her."

Roc nodded,

"The earth goddess the ant queen serves is one that protects all the creatures that walk the lands and crawl beneath it. She makes them more peaceful and grants them intelligence."

Cain frowned, "If that's the case, then what do those guys eat?"

Ambrosia shrugged,

"Although he said that, there are clearly some biases. Some creatures that are not fortunate enough to receive such protection. Creatures like us for example. Those guys that can't hold their ground, however, are free game."

She bared her teeth into a sneer,

"That just shows you how hypocritical these celestial slaves are."

A chilling wave of bloodlust gushed out of Roc as he glared daggers at the Night Empress.

Cain hummed as he leaned back and considered all he had just heard.

The roots of the matter ran rather deep. It was not something that could be resolved with just one conversation it seemed.

And besides, there were still other parts of the story he had yet to hear and analyze. Without that, he could come to a decision.

He massaged his brows,

"All that aside, for now, I recommend calling a truce. At least for the time being. If you need food, I don't mind sharing some with you."

Roc's expression changed,

"No offense to you, Cain, but we the {Willow Direwolves} are strictly meat eaters. I doubt that will—"

Cain shot him a look, forcing him to stop.

"Relax. There's plenty of meat for you."

Suddenly, an idea entered his mind.

He grinned,

"Instead of giving you food, how about I give you the opportunity to hunt it yourselves instead?"

Roc frowned,

"What do you mean?"