God of Destruction: Living Among Mortals

As Nova spoke, an Ether Wyrm phased through a concrete wall, its transparent dragon-like form radiating with a pale color, as if it were a ghost. Its claws tore through an Adventurer's chest, slicing through armor and bone like paper.

Blood drained as the man's heart was shredded, his body hitting the ground as the wyrm phased back into the wall, leaving only a puddle of gore. Griffins dove from above, talons ripping heads left and right, arterial blood painting the sky a beautiful, bloody red.

One Adventurer's decapitated body ran a few steps, blood spurting from the neck, before collapsing in a twitching pile.

Marcus continued to focus, as the Adventurers united to just keep him safe. Some of the Adventurers were able to kill an Ether Wyrm, all the B-rank's and A-rank's, of course, while others slayed more Trolls and wolves.

The trio was focusing on its own battle, fighting a Troll and two wolves. Both of which outclassed them by miles. The Troll jumped up in the sky, thinking of smashing his club down to eradicate Nova for good, but Nova held the club back, knowing that if that club had connected with the ground, the entire neighborhood would have collapsed.

Every dungeon and dungeon break had a circle-like structure, like the Circle of Pillars, that marked how strong the dungeon was, so when this dungeon break occurred, it was marked with three diagonal lines, with ten pillars. But now...

"Why is the difficulty changing?" One of the Adventurers pointed out, before being torn in half.

In fact, from the beginning until this point, the circle for the dungeon break kept on changing, evolving, forming into something otherworldly, but now all that appeared at the center of the circle was three question marks.

???

That was more terrifying than the A-rank Ether Wyrm and all previous creatures. Knowing that not even the highest rank in the Circle of Pillars was able to define a dungeon break of this magnitude.

Fear crept into the Adventurers' ranks as more and more lower-rank Adventurers faded into oblivion. The creatures were just too much, and everyone, including the trio, was struggling; only a miracle could help them at this point.

From the corner of Nova's eyes, a large, intelligent, powerful creature jumped the Troll, killing it in an instant. That creature then went on a killing spree, murdering everything in its path. Soon, the entire battlefield was cleared.

The Adventurers panted hard, some dropping to their knees, as others dropped to one knee. Nova looked as the creature leapt towards its master. Cain.

Cain had arrived at the battlefield with his crew. He didn't give off any evil aura; in opposition, he gave a very creamy, intimate aura, as if he had just had sex with Hana before coming to the battlefield.

He met up with Nova, smiling at him. Nova was panting hard, as Elesch came to his side, Adam was confused, as he didn't know who that was. Elesch then went to Adam to explain the story, as Nova and Cain began their conversation.

Nova straightened, meeting Cain's eyes. "Didn't expect you to show up," he said, a grin tugging at his lips despite the exhaustion.

"I see you're doing well," Cain said, teasingly, his voice low, so that only Nova could hear it. "Must be hard to defeat creatures such as an Ether Wyrm while being an E-rank."

"Yeah," Nova replied, arrogance arousing his bones. "But we make it work, even if I still don't have fancy creatures or abilities like you."

Cain chuckled, clapping Nova's shoulder. "You've got guts, kid. That's more than enough." He glanced at Elesch and Adam, who were catching their breath nearby.

Elesch leaned closer to Adam, whispering about Cain's reputation as the leader of the most powerful syndicate in the entire world.

Cain turned, striding toward Marcus, who was still levitating, his yin-yang symbol suppressed with power enough to destroy an entire planet and beyond. The two locked eyes, Marcus from the shadow realm, as Cain's face lit up with a grin, one that symbolized brotherhood.

"Marcus, you old bastard, still floating like you own the place? Remember when we took down that second-degree evolved Behemoth in Chicago, just the two of us?" He said with a bright smile, getting flashbacks. "You nearly got your ass roasted, and I had to drag you out of the flames. Been too long since we spilled blood together, huh? Don't die on me now, you hear? I'd hate to carve your name on a tombstone."

Marcus's face softened as he said, his voice happy that he was here: "Cain, can you shut the fuck up. I am trying to focus."

As Cain was about to respond, their moment was cut short as the rift vibrated again. A new monster emerged, an evolved D-rank Bone Serpent, its skeletal body coiled like a living whip, spines carved through venom that sizzled on the ground.

Its skull-like head hissed, eyes glowing red, as it slithered forward, its tail lashing out. An Adventurer lunged, but the serpent's tail impaled him through the cut, lifting him off the ground.

Blood poured from the wound, his scream choking as venom melted his insides, organs liquefying into blood-like liquid, though less rough than blood.

Cain didn't flinch; in fact, the serpent had interrupted his conversation with Marcus, which he didn't like. "Eidolon, finish it," he said, his voice composed, but authoritative.

Eidolon lunged forward. It leaped, slashing the serpent's skull with a single swipe. Bone shattered, fragments flying like they had special effects for a movie, piercing a nearby dead wolf's eye.

The serpent fell, as its venom sprayed all over, but the Eidolon's jaw clamped around its neck, crushing its vertebrae with a snap. The serpent's venom melted the ground, then it went limp, collapsing once and for all, becoming a carcass mixed with blood and venom.

Nova watched, impressed but not surprised. Cain's power was leagues above theirs, but he was just happy that, for now, Cain was on their side, and not the opposition.