God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain had been through many things since the start of the apocalyptic events...

He had gone through many fights in a very brief period and had gotten stronger with each consecutive fight. He had absorbed the powers of thousands of other beings that fought hard to preserve their lives in a world that had devolved right back to its most basic rules for all intelligent life, excluding none...

Survival of the fittest...

Winner is king, and loser is thief...

Only those who came out on top, irrespective of the road they took, could truly be called the winners.

And not only had he fought, he had also learned. He learned a great deal about the mysterious, and ever-changing element that allowed him to change the very laws of nature according to his own will...

Mana...

The tome given to him by Ashur, the [Records of Akasha] contained vital information about all sorts of things, including the nature of spells and skills. Information that was now being put to the test...

The {Blue Lightning} spell had been created by his soul. And the chant to this spell was hidden deep within him, something only he had access to...

So to acquire the chant, all he had to do was dig deep enough. And within his soul, he came across a very strange discovery...

Within his soul, he was able to witness a scene he never thought could exist within his being.

His soul was like a literal sea of blackness, devoid of any life, but filled with all sorts of activities...

The crashing of waves, and a huge beating sun above his soul sea. A mountain of gold loomed in the distance, and winds blew from all corners of the endless black.

There were pitch-black clouds above the dark sea, and within these black clouds, were electric blue bolts of lightning swimming within the clouds like gigantic water dragons.

These bolts of lightning resembled thick chains that held the clouds to the sky. Cain had no idea how he got transported into this mysterious world within his soul.

However, all these weren't what shocked him the most, because at the center of this seemingly endless ocean of black and chaos, was a huge golden dragon that was almost as grand as the ocean it lay in...

'What is all this?" Cain had been transported into his very own soul to have a glimpse at what lay within. Maybe it was fate or other powers at hand, but he currently couldn't understand or perform soul magic of this level, so he was baffled.

However, there was one thing he was sure of, and that was that the golden dragon laying within the sea of darkness looked extremely familiar. But he was not completely certain...

Since there was no one to answer his question, Cain chose to observe more.

However, just before he could continue with his observation, he felt the world he was in quake as the clouds up above rumbled with great unrest.

The lightning flashes in the clouds became incredibly frequent until one of them, as huge as a pillar, smashed straight into him. In that instant, he seemed to see it all...

The runic symbols he couldn't understand, completely different from the basic ones he had seen in the [Records of Akasha] swarmed into his head like little fishes. He was completely overwhelmed by the information, but one particular line of runic symbols managed to catch his eye.

And within that little piece of text, lay the information he sought after.

He immediately grasped at it with both hands...

Or at least tried to...

He immediately realized that although he was conscious in this strange world, for some reason, he couldn't move his body at all... Just like the dreams he used to have of Ashur before he met him.

He was observing this world but was completely unable to interfere with it...

Cain however, didn't have to do much more, as the line of obscure runic texts quickly swam into his 'head' imparting their contents directly into his consciousness.

The runes imbibed the chant he was looking for, alongside some very irrelevant, but important information that he couldn't decipher at the moment into his head, before he was suddenly pulled back into reality.

The smell of blood and the heat of the flames swirling above his head hit him as he turned his head to take in the events happening around him.

His teammates were struggling greatly against the now small, but powerful devil army who now had less than 50 Hulking Behemoths in their ranks. Because of the power absorption magic the devils utilized, they were able to keep the stamina of the still-living devils at a maximum throughout the entire fight.

As a result, the fight tilted more and more towards the Devil's army side as the members of Cain's party became more and more exhausted as they fought. They ran out of spells and skills to use as their magic pools and MP as well as HP Regen potion stocks thinned out.

Things were as grim as they could be...

However, they all fought as hard as they could...

Manny, who was now going toe-to-toe with the chakram-wielding devil who now had two extra arms sticking out of its back as it pummeled him who was trying hard to defend against its powerful attacks, had a huge grin on his face even as blood rolled down his head and mouth.

Despite his current physical state, he still fought with the same vigor he started with...

This caused the devil he was fighting to have an incredulous expression even as it smashed fist after fist at him while flicking its chakrams at his body with its other hands. Since the chakrams could be both melee and ranged weapons, they were very difficult to deal with, especially since he was also dealing with the same devil in a melee.

Slashes would appear on his back the moment he wasn't quick enough, causing him to lose blood rapidly...

"You don't seem fazed even as you are about to meet your death..." The devil had a slight smile on its face as it continued to press its violent attacks.

"Death? What are you talking about? We've wiped out a bunch of you guys already. What's a little more gonna do?" Manny said with a laugh as he held his blades diagonally across his shoulders, forming an X before he executed a skill...

"Blade Paradox!"

With a yell, he phased out of existence, ready to deal a devastating strike, but unfortunately, the devil had become so strong, it was able to keep up with his nearly unmatched speed.

BANG!

A stream of blood splurted out of Manny's mouth as he was launched away.

"It seems you don't know what is going on, little human boy, so let me educate you..." The devil began moving towards Manny's bleeding body.

"We devils are creatures of constant battle. As we battle with you, we absorb the power of our fallen comrades and grow stronger. We have come to accept that only the weak fall in battle, and what a waste it would be for all that power they do not deserve to go to waste, now wouldn't it?!" The devil had a sadistic expression as it smacked the chakrams together, drawing trails of sparks in the air.

"This is how we take over puny worlds like yours. Devils like myself are born from the primitive fires of war, and get to advance to the next stage. The initial phase of becoming a True Devil. And the only things in our way, are the very source of nutrition we need to sustain our growth... Hence all we can do is mow all opposition to the ground and devour everything else."

"Hehehe... Stop the crap and fight me, you stinking devil!" Manny said as he wiped the blood from his lips as slowly came to his feet with wobbly steps.

"You still intend to fight in your condition?" The devil said with a malevolent smile as it bore down on him.

"Kekeke... As long as he doesn't fall, what the hell am I doing on my knees, huh?!" Manny yelled out as loudly as he could.

BANG!

A violent torrent of wind enveloped his entire being as he gazed deep into the eyes of the devil that stared back at him with just as much fury as he had...

They had been set to be mortal enemies by the rivers of fate...

The existence of one inhibited the growth of the other. Hence, only one could live...

Cain had his eyes wide open as he stared at the scene of Manny fighting with his life on the line. That was the same scene playing out with every single person on the battlefield.

They completely forgot about everything else and the only thing they could see was their one clear objective.

Clearing out the miserable monsters before them until none of them were left.

He suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Jenny earlier in the day...

***

"Risking your lives should be more than enough for that, don't you think?" Jenny said.

"They are all strong. Even though we have experienced all sorts of troubles individually, we haven't encountered enough hardship as a team to make us all go ten extra miles. Apart from stopping a missile that is..."

***

Right now, with their lives on the line, Cain could feel that spirit of camaraderie that prompted him to let a fire he thought he never had deep within him, burn...

'So this is what she meant...'

Truly, when humans found themselves in a true life-or-death situation, their survival instincts kick in. They do what they can do the most...

Work together...

***

Cain could feel the power flowing out of his body as he supplied his spell with his mana...

"Heavenly Blue Lightning..."

A spell filled to the brim with conviction.

The clouds seemed to part at that moment, as. A pillar of lightning descended from the heavens and came crashing down onto the earth.

At the same time, the now molten chunks of the earth came crashing down toward Cain.

Since he had the {Heavy Armor} on, Cain was sure he would be able to offset most of the damage alongside his {Golden Halo} and {Golden Armor) skills and the defense-boosting aspect of the {Golden Blood} skill.

However, he severely underestimated the power of Phantasma's magic stats...

But, the damage the Phantasma did would not be able to compare with the damage Cain brought down upon it.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

With a one-second interval, all the {Blue Lightning} bolts came crashing down like heavenly judgment upon the Phantasma.

At the same time, dozens of molten rocks that seemed to ignite on impact smashed onto the huge armor of the now immobile Cain, causing the dense sheets of heavy metal to be ripped to pieces in a split second.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Smash after smash, each {Golden Halo} was completely shattered. Soon after, the {Heavy Armor} was destroyed, followed by his most basic defense skill, {Golden Armor}.

The rest smashed onto his body with crippling force.

"ARGHHHH!"

In the blink of an eye, both of them had suffered severe damage for the first time in their fight...

"That was refreshing..." Cain said as he shakily stood up to his feet after the descent of the near cataclysmic spell of the {Phantasma}.

He was bleeding all over, and a majority of his wounds were charred and smelt like burnt flesh. The {Heavy Armor} had been ripped to shreds completely, and it was possible to see broken bones jutting out of numerous places in his body. Yet, despite all that, he had a serene expression as he dragged the twisted metal parts off his body.

Meanwhile, the Phantasma struggled to its feet as it coughed up a mouthful of blood before it could regain its composure.

It stared at Cain with pure rage and hatred but didn't say a word.

Likewise did Cain, because the fight between devil and human was truly at its climax, but not yet over...

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