God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'I need to end this fight, now!'

Cain felt increased urgency when he saw what happened to David. Even though they were all powerful in their own right, their power was still limited. They had fought for as long as they could, and now, their stamina and mana reserves were already at the bottom of the barrel.

The only way they had survived so long was because of MP and HP regen potions...

Not that their main defense was crippled, the only thing they could do was try to finish off the rest of the devil army before the {Flame Devil} made its way over and slaughtered them all.

'However, it isn't so easy...' Cain felt a cold sweat slide down his temple as he clashed blades with the {Phantasma} for the 1001st time. Because of the {Phantasma}, he was unable to interfere with the main battle. The {Phantasma} was just as strong as he was, if not stronger, and he as well was running low on his stamina and mana reserves.

'I'm keeping {Hollow Judgment} for the big guy, but I need something to take this bastard out as fast as possible.'

Cain's most powerful offensive skill was the skill he had derived in a moment of inspiration when fighting against the {Devil-eyed White Primate}. The skill was created from a derivation of the concepts of his most powerful skills all muddled together to produce a single strike filled with chaos.

They guessed the reason the system had named it {Hollow Judgment} was that despite being so powerful, it was, in a literal sense, empty...

The difference between skills and spells was that while spells might need an intermediary, skills on the other hand could be created from the reaction of the body with mana. It wasn't as complex of a process as spell crafting...

'What skill or spell do I currently have that will suffice?'

Cain opened his status and perused through it to the skills and spells section.

'Blue Lightning?' Cain stared at the description of the skill with shining eyes...

***

{Blue Lightning}: Summon a bolt of judgment from the heavens to decimate your enemy, turning them to dust. This is a single-target skill and will deal 4 times your magic stat as pure magic damage to the enemy. It requires two minutes of charging before it can be activated. Can be used three times a day, and requires at least, a 1-second break between each {Blue Lightning} bolt.

Cost: 1000MP per activation.

***

Cain took a look at his status screen again and discovered that he had 500 magic points.

'Four times that is 2000 points of pure magic damage. If it doesn't possess a magic negation skill, I will be able to shave off a good percentage of its health away.'

The {Phantasma} possessed 20,000 health points, so the skill, when used three times, would shave off 6,000 points of health in total as long as the devil didn't have some sort of disgusting magic resistance.

Because the HP was a direct representation of a creature's vitality, once it reached zero, that would mean the conclusion of the creature's existence.

'So what is the chant?' Cain immediately came across his first obstacle...

The spell's description clearly stated that he would need two minutes of chanting before he could activate the spell, but he didn't know the chant.

'System, how do I get the chant for this spell?'

{Replying to host: Only the host knows the chant to this spell. After all, the spell was created by the host himself...}

'Me?! I didn't create the spell!' Cain was a bit baffled when he heard that.

{Replying to host: The spell was created by the skill, {Elemental Body}, which is also the body of the host. So technically, it was created by the host...}

Cain: "..."

Cain had a displeased expression on his face as he twisted his blade around the neck of J'orntz, only for him to see the devil's blade approaching his neck from the other side.

'Crap!' If he continued with his attack, he would also lose his neck instantly. He chose to draw back as fast as possible, dodging the pitch-black blade aimed at his neck.

Since the start of the fight, neither Cain nor J'orntz had managed to land a single blow on the other. Because of the extent of their martial skills with a blade and their power in general, they were unable to harm one another.

'System, do you have any idea how I am supposed to acquire this chant?!' At this point, Cain could feel his frustrations building up slowly...

{Replying to host: The only advice I can give the host, is to search within and ask yourself...}

'As myself?'

{Replying to host: Affirmative...}

Cain let himself drift off in his thoughts as he contemplated the system's words...

'Maybe it isn't that complicated. I can control the blood, fire, and metal elements very well, so I doubt the lightning element would be any different.'

'Lightning...' Cain could feel it again...

That profound feeling of enlightenment came over him when he found himself in a pinch...

Cain broke away from the fight by taking a few steps back and entering a defensive posture.

"Hm? What are you doing?" J'orntz had a confused expression as it began moving closer to Cain when all its senses began to flare with warning signals, causing him to stop in his tracks.

Cain took a deep breath as he lay the flat of his blade on his shoulder and placed his finger on the edge, before activating a skill...

"Lightning Edge..."

Chaotic mana instantly blazed along the edges of his blade as violent arcs of electricity began racing all over the blade.

Cain had no idea if what he was doing would work, but he decided to try it out.

He had created the {Lightning Edge} skill during his first-ever fight with a {Miasma Devil}. Not only had the devil pushed him to the edge, it had nearly killed him. That situation caused him to push past his limits and create a brand-new skill.

He didn't know if the skill had a connection with the lightning element, but he was willing to bet on it...

As soon as he placed his finger on the edge of the blade, he could feel the magical current passing from the blade into his body.

The electricity was created by the magical currents rubbing violently against the edges of the blade. Although this was a unique occurrence, it still lacked that element of magic Cain sought. It wasn't the lightning element he was looking for.

'According to the {Elemental Body} skill's description, I have 100% affinity to the lightning element, just like I have with fire. Getting a hang of the flame element wasn't as difficult as this...'

"Could it be that you have finally run out of options?" A smirk appeared on the face of the {Phantasma} as it walked slowly toward Cain. The feeling of danger it had felt previously had completely disappeared, so it wasn't even a bit worried.

Despite hearing Phantasma's scornful words, Cain maintained maximum concentration as he focused on the feeling on his finger...

'Mana in the atmosphere is a combination of all the various elemental forms of mana. Why is isolating one much more difficult than the other?'

{Replying to host: The nature of each element is different, and thus, needs a different approach. Take the fire element for example. It requires the host to tune his mind into the violent nature of the element...}

'The nature of the element...'

Something seemed to click in Cain's mind as he clenched the blade in his hands with all his mind, causing blood to flow. The lighting element in the air stirred, causing J'orntz's eyes to widen drastically as he pulled back as quickly as he possibly could and put his blade up as he stared at Cain in shock.

Cain had his eyes closed as he could feel the chaotic and extremely violent energy wrap itself around him. His mind instantly leaped in fear as he nearly dropped his blade.

'It is way more violent than the fire element! It is also so chaotic and unpredictable!' On the black blade of the {Devil's Broken Claw}, light blue arcs of lightning buzzed on the blade. Previously, the electricity created by the {Lightning Edge} skill was too weak and supported him mainly in increasing his attack speed.

Now, he could feel the lethal power in every single arc of lightning...

'I have no doubt I cannot currently adequately control this violent and chaotic power...'

"How can you control the element of lightning?!" J'orntz had a rage-filled expression on his face as he yelled at Cain from afar.

"Hm?" Cain was a bit confused by the question, so he decided to ignore the devil and continue with what he was doing. He did so because he noticed the devil had turned cautious and immediately noticed the lightning element buzzing around him.

'Tch! If he does indeed know how to handle such an element directly through his body, then I will no longer be able to use {Soul Strike} as conveniently as before. Seems like I have to get this over as fast as possible.'

Cain on the other hand finally grasped what he was looking for...

'Although I can't control it yet, I finally have what I'm looking for.' Cain let out a sigh of relief as the lightning elemental mana dispersed from his body.

He turned his eyes back to the devil who was now glaring at him...

"It's time to end this..."

"I feel the same way..."

Almost at the same time, they both began chanting their respective spells...

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