God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"What do you mean?"

Cain pondered on where he should start before deciding to start from the very beginning.

He explained how it had all began.

The start of the apocalypse, how this island has originally been a small island that contained the facilities of a school attached to the main city.

What happened after that with the bridge connecting it to the mainland breaking, forcing it to drift away into the ocean. He even explained how the island had eventually expanded until it had come to be what it was right now.

"That is..." Roc seemed ammore than a bit taken aback.

Ambrosia chuckled darkly,

"That means this dog might truly just be a very well fed dog? How amusing."

Since the creatures in this island were creatures that had evolved from the beast that had once populated it, and there had been no direwolves in the school back then, it was indeed very possible, that the {Willow Direwolves} could have just been dogs once upon a time, before evolving into the terror inducing beasts they now were.

Roc's expression twisted,

"You damned—"

Ambrosia turned to Cain,

"So in essence, what you are trying to say is..."

Cain nodded,

"There is a whole other world out there. There's nothing stopping you from stepping off this island. From what I can tell, it was destined to happen either way. The island is growing far too slowly to be able to accommodate all of you."

Roc frowned,

"In other words, we get to seek out new hunting grounds?"

Cain paused for a moment, then shook his head,

"It's more of there is a lot of land to explore out there. For what it's worth, you might not be limited to a single 'hunting ground' in the near future."

Roc's eyes seemed to shine with an intrigued light.

However, they narrowed soon after,

"And what do you stand to gain from this?"

Cain chuckled. He knew that question would come. After all, it was strange for him not to just grant them access to more resources. Clearly, he wanted something.

"It is simple, really." He decided he would be straightforward after pondering for not too long.

"I want to use you."

Roc frowned.

However, he was not done.

"I want to use you as instruments. Across the coast of the mainland, there are thousands upon thousands of nests filled with wild Mutant and Aether Beasts. Further inland, there might be even more of them. There is also an entire army of Devils to deal with. The more I have fighting for me, the better."

"A classic tale of helping yourself by helping us. We get to expand our food supply, which gives us the resources we need to grow. And you get to have warriors that will fight for you at the top of your wings." Ambrosia muttered.

A strange smile spread on the lips of the Little Empress.

She looked into his eyes,

"For some reason, to be part of something much larger than a clan of beasts excites me."

Cain was a bit surprised.

Seeing this, Ambrosia chuckled,

"I have long since thought of how small this island is. Not nearly large enough for me to spread my wings. I will gladly take you up on that offer."

Cain mentally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he turned to Roc. The {Willow Direwolf Lord} seemed to still be struggling with making a decision.

Cain decided to urge him on just a bit further,

"Just think about it. I am sure your people would be grateful to you if you take this olive branch. You might not see it now, but very soon, there won't be enough food to anymore. Besides, there is absolutely nothing for you to lose."

Roc sighed, then turned to face Ambrosia. The Night Empress narrowed her eyes.

"I would like to make a truce. If we are to be on the same side, it would be best to keep the conflict to a minimum."

There was a long period of silence that stretched after those words.

Cain glanced between the two.

Ambrosia looked like she couldn't believe what she had just heard, whilst Roc looked like he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him.

Much to his surprise, Ambrosia responded much better than he had expected,

"Although I do despise your kind, I believe it is possible to work together going forward."

Roc nodded then turned to Cain. He rubbed his nose then snorted,

"Happy now?"

Cain had a wide grin on his face.

A single decision of his had flipped the situation around for the better.

'Maybe I am better at this negotiation thing than I thought.'

Suddenly, Ambrosia turned her gaze to him and asked,

"I should have asked this before agreeing and all, but are you sure there will be no problems with the rest of the humans? I know most of them look down on us, or even consider us the enemy."

Cain went silent for a bit.

Indeed, from a reasonable lens, the Mutant Beasts could be considered enemies of humanity.

Cain shook his head. Humanity didn't really exist anymore in a sense. Most of the humans still living were more or less something not totally human anymore.

However, even if that was considered.

Cain shrugged, "That doesn't matter. As it stands, we might all end up swallowed and ripped to shreds by an evil far greater than we are, and our world will be destroyed. I could care less about if you are human or not. Besides..."

He knew very clearly, that beasts were not all mindless, bloodthirsty fiends.

Ambrosia chuckled,

'Looks like I was right.'

She stared at him,

"Don't make me regret my choice Cain. Or should I say Master Cain now?"

Cain blinked,

"Master?"

The Little Night Empress chuckled coquettishly,

"Of course. After all, you have managed to bring the dignified and might Empress of the Night under your heel. I bet you must be thrilled~"

Cain could only wear a wry smile as he chuckled,

"Now, now. Let's not get carried away—"

Roc on the ither hand clicked his tongue,

"A bat that is both blind and delusional. What a common sight."

"What did you say, you rabid dog?! Want to have a go, huh?!"

"Bring it on!"

Watching the two bicker, Cain struggled to keep the wey smile on his face.

'What have I done?' He could only lament in his heart.