God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain sat on the ground facing Steve. They both stared straight at one another.

"Ahem... Before I tell you this, you must swear by all the gods, old and new that you will never disclose this piece of information I'm offering unto you!" Steve said, his voice serious.

"Or at a bare minimum, don't tell anyone I told you anything..." A sly grin played at the corners of his lips.

Cain just rolled, "Alright... Get to it already!"

Steve cleared his throat before he began...

"After the war a thousand years ago, violence around the world had reduced by about 90%."

He continued after he saw Cain paying close attention, "The war had left the world in ruins, but from these ruins, the basis of this new civilization was built. However, just like many times in history, humanity never forgets its roots.

Various memoirs of the past had been dug up and discovered from the ruins of the desolate civilization."

"From these ruins, numerous invaluable pieces of knowledge and information that even a war of catastrophic proportions and the corrosion of a thousand years couldn't destroy were discovered and improved upon.

Information on things like advanced technology, robotics, genetic engineering, and many more was discovered. Information on how to cure several terrible diseases and even numerous ways to solve major global concerns like famine and population crisis."

"These invaluable pieces of knowledge served to improve the quality of life for all the human species. There were many other things discovered within the ruins, but the one thing modern-day humans seemed to pick an interest in the most, was martial arts...

Pay attention cause this will be important later." Steve said using a lecturing tone.

Cain: "..."

He continued, "Although the humans had learned from their past mistakes, and had worked tirelessly for a thousand years to build civilization back to the behemoth it had become, history was always doomed to repeat itself."

"Although the various powers of the world had come together to sign a global peace treaty to end all wars, and use 'special' means to greatly reduce the number of crimes and acts of violence in the world, this method wasn't foolproof."

"They might have been able to get rid of the majority of crime with their special methods, but one thing they didn't account for was just how deep organized crime could go when it began to foster."

"The new government created a world that was paradise to some, and hell to others..."

His tone dropped by a few pitches. He paused for a while before he continued in a deep voice.

"So, to escape a hell where they were shackled by the moral constraints of society, these individuals decided to create another world within this world..."

"A world that coexisted with the paradise, but didn't mix up with it. The creators of this world knew that should they let the world they wanted to create so much as touch the borders of paradise, they would be doomed to fail..."

"So after years of development, they were finally able to create it. A world within a world..."

"The Underworld..."

"The underworld is where the dregs of society go to breathe. Just like earthworms crawling out of the dirt when it rains. Denizens of the underworld hide in plain sight or within the shadows.

Everybody knows they exist, but because the two worlds must never mix, they don't know what they are staring at."

"Since arms trafficking is very strictly monitored by the government and military, the denizens of the underworld resort to the sticks and stones of combat. Martial arts and cold weapons..." The twinkle in his eyes when he said this made Cain recoil a bit.

Steve stared straight into Cain's eyes...

"And because of the way these two worlds relate with one another, no ordinary person can know, or better yet, be sure of its existence. At most, they may be influenced one way or the other by it, but that's all."

"So it is my turn to ask you, dear comrade. If you are an ordinary person, you should know nothing about the existence of the underworld. If you do, you should have been dead by now. Trust me, the higher-ups know how to cover their tracks very efficiently.

After all, they've been doing this for a thousand years."

This time, it was Steve's turn to ask the questions...

Cain thought about it for a while before pulling something out of his pocket. It was a piece of paper...

"Do you know anything about this person?"

On that piece of paper, was a very good and detailed portrait of Cain's master. It was so good, it was borderline realistic, almost like a photograph.

"Hm? What's this? This is just a person in all-black clothing." Steve raised a brow in confusion.

'Seems he knows nothing as well. Ha... Another dead end?'

"I'm looking for this person. He seems to have ties with the underground world. Have you ever seen or heard of someone matching this description?" Although Cain was sure he knew nothing about it, he still decided to ask.

"Hmmm..." Steve narrowed his eyes as he stroked his chin whilst staring at the picture.

'Man in all black... Man in all black... Man in all'

'Damn!' A sudden look of realization and fear hit Steve like a bullet train. However, with tons of effort, he was able to conceal it a great deal, but not completely from Cain this time around.

"What is it?" Cain asked him.

'i can't tell him...' Steve quickly made up his mind.

"This image looks very similar to one I've seen somewhere else," Steve said. Although what he was saying wasn't a lie, it couldn't be described as the whole truth either.

Cain felt his heart speed up. Staring at Steve intensely, he said, "Go on!"

GULP!

Steve swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he continued, "I learned somewhere that one of the founders of the underworld, a thousand years ago used to clad himself completely in black robes.

He was known as the Deviant Saint of the dark." Even as Steve said his name, a look of respect could be seen on his face.

"However, I highly doubt he should be the same person you know. After all, he was alive a thousand years ago. Till this day, I have never heard of someone with the same getup existing within the underworld." Steve concluded.

"I see..." Although Cain didn't let it show on his face, he was inwardly dejected.

'Once again, it's a bust. Although I've gotten a bit closer this time.' Cain could feel that he was getting closer and closer to finding out more information about his master.

"By the way, what exactly does the underworld specialize in?" Cain had some knowledge of the underworld, more than the average person, but he didn't know too much.

"Haha! You can find anything and everything in the underworld." Steve said as he let out a crazy laugh.

"As I said, the underworld is just basically one extremely huge cesspool of degeneracy. Prostitution, drugs, assassination, and other forms of organized crime exist within it. However, some things still aren't allowed."

"Like what?"

Steve put his teacher's look back on his face, to which Cain responded with an eye roll.

"The number one rule in the underworld is to never involve civilians. Ever... Those who even attempt this get removed very quickly. That is because doing this will bring the government and military's attention.

Even the most insane of degenerates have this at the back of their mind anytime they go about their business."

Cain looked a bit perplexed, "But surely, there are going to be a few of them who still go ahead and break this rule, right?"

"Right..." A sinister grin appeared on Steve's face as he continued.

"But a fate worse than death is probably the worst fate anyone on this planet will probably do all it takes to avoid, right?"

A look of understanding spread across his face, "I think I understand."

"That's good then. So is that all for the questions?" Steve asked with a smile that screamed 'Please do not ask me anymore!'.

"One more."

"Damnit!"

Regardless of Steve's reluctance, Cain asked his final question...

"Are you a part of the underworld?"

Silence...

"W-what do you mean by that?!" Steve said in a panicked voice.

Cain tilted his head in confusion.

"Aren't you the one who just called me by my name?! What do you mean am I a part of the underworld?!" Steve was seeing red at this point and was almost yelling.

"Keep it down, will you? And I didn't know that was your name. I only know that someone within this school was called that. So I decided to try my luck out with you.

I just thought you might know something, so I decided to ask you." Cain answered with the most innocent expression he could muster.

"Liar! That doesn't even make any sense."

"Maybe..."

"What do you mean by maybe?!"

"That will be all for my questions. Now shut up." Cain said as he threw 10 more earth attribute mana shards at Steve.

Like a leaf dancing in the wind, Steve's long fingers plucked every single one of the mana shards from the air before they could touch the ground.

Like nothing ever happened, Steve's expression went back to normal instantly.

"Nice doing business with you, comrade." A small satisfied smile was on his face as he gestured Cain away.

"The pleasure is all mine, comrade." Cain let out a small smile as well before walking away.

'He will be of great use in the future.' For once, Cain had been satisfied with his decision to join this group of survivors.

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