God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Impending death was coming, and it was coming fast...

If action wasn't taken in less than a minute, they would all die.

Cain turned to David, "Mr. David, I need you at a time like this to lend me a hand. I noticed your skills are mostly defense-oriented. Maybe you can do something to help." Cain spoke rapidly as they didn't have a lot of time left.

Cain had done a bit of calculation, and in less than forty minutes, they could be blasted into pieces.

The lightless eyes David seemed to light up with a bit of hope as he stared at Cain.

"What do you have in mind?"

Cain didn't even pause for a breath as he kept making his preparations. The metal elemental mana gathering in the surroundings stirred up. The air began pulsating as the specks of concentrated golden-hued mana flew toward Cain.

"I'm not sure it will work, but it's worth a shot. But it depends on whether you can help out." Cain said as he concentrated, the outline and foundation of the skill he was about to create began to form within his mind.

"What do you want me to do?" David had lost all his hopes when he saw certain death approaching. He had tried his best to make sure he and the rest survived, but he had made up his mind that their journey had ended when he saw the streak of light and smoke swiftly approaching them.

Although in the present day, they weren't seen or used at all, the history books never lied. There were also a lot of movies featuring the sorts of catastrophes that could be caused by weapons of such mass destruction.

No human being could be able to survive such a thing...

But they weren't normal humans anymore. During the past few days, they had begun to greatly deviate from what was known as a human being before the apocalypse. They had attained extraordinary powers that granted them the ability to do the impossible.

David didn't want to die. Although he didn't have much to look forward to in the world, he still didn't want to die. He had been heartbroken and even traumatized when he learned that all the others had died, killed by the {Miasma Devil}.

His former students, colleagues, and everyone except those currently with him. And he blamed himself for it.

If he had been more persuasive with his words, he believed he would have been able to do more, to save more...

The guilt ate away at his conscience, so he decided to atone by making sure he protected the remaining survivors. David didn't want to let anyone else die, so he had taken on the responsibility of leading the rest. He thought things would be easy at first, but they weren't.

The boys were always at each other's throats, trying to show their dominance, and everyone was still cautious and suspicious of each other...

And this frustrated him to no end. It frustrated him so much, he nearly snapped. If not for Cain earlier, he would have done something he most likely would have regretted.

But he still wanted to do what he had set his mind to. That was the type of man he was. Even though he had almost lost all his hopes, even if there was a silver chance of their survival, he would grasp for it like it was a madman.

"Use your most powerful defensive skill to protect us all from anything, such as residual shockwaves, or debris that manages to break through the defense I'll create in a second," Cain said as he concentrated on what he was doing.

"Can I help as well?"

Looking perplexed, Cain turned to the owner of the voice, "Steve?"

"Why sound so surprised?" Steve said with a wide smile.

"Just didn't seem likely with the kind of person you are and all that..."

"What?! Just what do you take me for?! I'd rather use a mere skill than see the pearly gates so early in my virgin lifetime!" Steve huffed out as he stretched his arms out.

A serious expression appeared on his face...

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"Do you have any protection or defensive skill?"

"Sure. I have tons, but their durability isn't the best..."

Cain fell silent for a while, before he made up his mind, "That's fine as well. But the timing has to be just right... Tell me how they work."

"Well, they are called elemental barriers. Thanks to a skill I gained at the beginning of this shit show, called {Battle Mage}, I have all sorts of skills. Exactly three types of barrier skills. One ice type, one metal type, and one earth type.

I can only use the three of them 9 times a day, which adds up to a total of 27 times. They also take a decent chunk of my mana afterward..." Steve explained at a stretch...

Cain looked at him surprised, "I didn't expect you to have such a powerful skill."

Steve said with a wink and a chuckle, "Me neither, but such is life, my friend. Can't frown at the cards I've been dealt, especially when they favor me."

"Hohoho..."

'Interesting...' To others, it might have not been noteworthy, but to Cain, every bit of new information was like a new piece of the puzzle being put in place.

'Turns out things aren't as simple as I thought.'

And with every new piece uncovered, the more he realized how little he knew about his current situation and predicament.

Cain turned back to David, "Mr. David?"

"Well, my skill utilizes blood elemental mana to create a shield dome that can block out a large percentage of damage. It's weak to direct physical damage, however..."

"Hmmm... We don't have any more time. As soon as I activate this skill, Steve, I want you to activate 3 of your magic shields each. That should be enough.

Mr. David, I need you to activate yours as soon as Steve does so. The order cannot be messed up."

With just a bit of description, Cain could tell how each of their abilities worked.

He guessed that Steve's magic barrier skills would be stronger against physical attacks than magical attacks because if he was to place things into groups, Steve would be classified as a magician.

And the greatest enemies of magic class fighters were those who dealt a lot of physical damage, not magical damage. This skill was created with the purpose to counter it.

Cain was sure Steve thought of and created the skills by himself...

As for David, he already knew his attacks would be weak against direct physical attacks, but to make up for it, its magical defense must be very strong...

Cain's plan was very straightforward...

He would use up most of his mana to create a very strong shield dome of metal. This skill would be the one to do the brunt of the work. Cain guessed it would stop and absorb most of the physical debris and impact, but would most likely be destroyed in the process.

The next layer of his bulwark was Steve's nine magic barrier layers. These would absorb the damage from the shrapnel as well as some of the heat produced from the explosion.

The rest would be handled by David's layer of defense, which would deal with the rest of the heat, as well as the shockwaves from the blast.

'If all goes according to plan, we should survive this. Probably...'

The uncertainty behind this plan made it seem dumb at first glance, but he had considered all sorts of factors. As a teenager, he knew a lot of unnecessary information he didn't need, and fortunately for him, this information would save his life today.

Most people in the people would have no idea about how a bomb or explosive works so they would be clueless in this sort of situation. But one of Cain's hobbies was reading.

He got into reading old books when he started his research of martial arts and his mysterious master. This had grown into one of his most fond past times in recent years. And of the numerous books he had read, a few contained basic information on tactical weapons and explosives.

Although the media decided to hide most of the information about the old world, historians never even tried to do so. Information on the old world was ever present in libraries, but because most people would never visit one in their entire lives, it might as well have been...

So although he wasn't entirely sure of his plan, by what the books said, they might be able to survive. The only factor left to consider was their powers were strong enough to stop a ballistic missile.

'Only one way to find out.'

Cain placed his palms on the ground with his fingers spread out wide on the ground. He pumped out all the mana he had gathered out of his body, directing his mind to shape it to his will A magical runic array comprising of various mysterious and arcane runes popped out of the ground from nowhere.

"Metal Creation: Golden Dome of Protection!"

Almost simultaneously, they could all see the shooting star of death approach from afar.

"Brace yourselves! Activate them now!"

Just as soon as the dome of metal closed up;

"Are we still gonna share grace?" Steve said jokingly.

"I don't think this is the ti-"

"Here it comes!"

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