God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

A silent wind blew by...

The distant clamor of battle reached their ears, reverberating in the air like a thousand bells ringing simultaneously.

Cain remembered the epic, catastrophic battle that had ensued between them.

It had been incredibly violent.

But he had also lost.

Not only had he lost the battle, he had also lost his life that day too.

Although there had been a few variables involved, it didn't matter.

And then, he was sent to the Othershore where his soul was sent right back into his body.

He grimaced.

'It definitely recognizes me. It must be dying of curiosity.'

It was indeed odd, Inixth thought.

After all, most humans didn't come with an immortality fixing.

'A human that can be brought back from the dead. I will have to inspect its corpse later.' Inixth thought.

He brandished his scythe.

The wickedly curved blade glowed with a deep, sinister red glow. Red like the color of blood.

Sucking in a deep breath, Cain slowly walked forward.

Spinning his scythe slowly, Inixth did the same.

And then, suddenly...

With an explosion of speed, the two shot forward simultaneously.

Inixth was the first to swing.

The curve of his scythe cut forward, its edge tinged black with compressed layers of Devil Essence.

His hand twitching, Cain deflected the blow smoothly.

Taking a step to the side, he let the scythe slide off his blade, utilizing the same fluid motion to cut towards the Devils neck.

Inixth moved quickly, ducking under the measured swing.

With a wicked grin on his face, the body of the {Chaos Reaper Imp} shot forward at breakneck speeds, his scythe cutting a crimson streak through the air towards the human's head.

As an evolution of the {Speed Devil}, {Chaos Reaper Imp} was a Devil that utilized its incredible speed and attack potency to assassinate targets in a flash before they could even realize it.

They excelled in one-on-one combat situations as well as assassination and ambushes.

Even with how fast he was, Cain found it difficult to leave the trajectory of the blade. He moved without thinking, avoiding the attack by a hair's width.

'I can't compete in terms of speed and agility. Not only that, but the best I can do is to defend. Trying to land a hit on this thing will be next to impossible.'

Underneath the visor of his helmet, he wore a dark smile.

'But it can't do anything to me as well.'

Inixth clicked his tongue when another one of his onslaughts failed.

Jumping back, he took a moment to assess the situation.

"You have gotten good at defending, human."

Cain tilted his head,

"Thanks. I learned my lesson."

Inixth cackled, "Oh? Is that so..."

Arcs of crimson lightning appeared all around the body of the Devil.

It took a step forward.

And then, it vanished.

Cain's eyes widened.

The same instant, he activated {Nexus Tether}, exchanging places with one of his blades.

"That worked rather well the last time."

Cain's eyes drifted over to where he had been mere fractions of a a second ago.

'Close.'

He couldn't stop a nervous sweat from sliding down his forehead. Had that attack struck through, he would have been sliced right down the waist.

Inixth twirled his scythe between his fingers.

"This is getting nowhere. At this rate, the winner won't be decided even after a week of fighting." The Devil suddenly said.

Cain relaxed his posture a bit,

"So what do you suggest?"

"Come at me with everything you have, human. I will do the same. A drawn out battle with be useless to both of us. Why not settle is as fast as possible? You wouldn't want your friends and family getting wiped out before you can do anything, right?"

Cain paused.

Then he smiled,

Cain couldn't help but think to himself. This Devil saw their battle as a game.

It was looking down on him.

The sky rumbled as a bolt of lightning struck through it.

The glow of several skills and spells enveloped Cain.

He tightened his grip around his weapon.

"Okay."

Inixth cackled,

"Good! Very goo—"

BANG!

Shot back by a powerful force, Inixth smashed the pointy end of his scythe into the ground, dragging a deep gorge through the land bridge.

The eyes of the {Chaos Reaper Imp} widened.

'Just now...'

He glanced down at his arms. They trembled violently and his exoskeletal armor had cracks running through it.

However, it quickly ended itself back together under the influence of his powerful healing.

Walking towards him from the other side, Cain slowly swung {Eidwyrm}.

His hair was incredibly arrogant.

"You want me to use all I have against you? Are you certain?" Cain said mockingly.

Inixth's expression turned dark.

"Quite arrogant for landing a sneak attack."

Cain shrugged,

"I'm just copying you. You can't blame me, can you?"

Inixth grimaced. A tumultuous amount of Devil Essence floated above the surface of the Devils armor. Then it ignited with a crimson flame.

Thousands of runic patterns stretched across his armor and the scythe in his hand.

The ground beneath the Devil splintered and shattered into pieces as he shot forward.

Cain grunted as he smashed the edge of {Eidwyrm} forward as well.

Both weapons clashed, producing a powerful shockwave that sent cracks running through the ground.

Without wasting a breath, they smashed their weapons forward again. This time, faster than before.

BANG!

Faster.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Even faster.

Soon, the two warriors had turned into a blur, producing a symphony of discordant clanging as their weapons smashed together repeatedly.

Cain soon found himself suppressed by the sheer blade work of the Devil. The shape of the scythe made it so that the Devil could attack from all sorts of insidious angles. Everytime they clashed, he had to keep his vigilance at a hundred, or else he ran the risk of losing a limb or two without realizing it until it was too late.

However, it wasn't as terrible as the last time when he had been unable to do anything.

Very quickly, he found himself falling into a trance.

In this state of battle where skills and complex tactics became a combination of reflex and intuition, he was lost in its watery depths.

The movement of the wind, his own breathing.

The breathing and movements of his opponent...

Everything was a factor, constantly shifting and changing.

And the individual who could control all these things, would control the outcome of the battle.

The Devil before him out forth an endless onslaught of violent slashing attacks, offering no room for a counter attack.

{Eidwyrm} was like a blur, cleaving through the air viciously, leaving the world ripped in its wake.

The sky and the ground were torn apart in the presence of these two creatures.

He cut forward for what seems like the thousandth time. Inixth raised his scythe, intending to block it, but the force behind the blade was too much to be dispersed properly.

The Devil faltered.

Cain's eyes widened.

A chance!

He took a rapid step forward.

A deep crimson flame ignited on his arms and spread to his sword.

With a roar, he slammed his sword towards the {Chaos Reaper Imp}.

It crashed into the Devil.

The air around them combusted, enveloping them both in a violent flaming explosion.

From the center of the explosion, Inixth was shot out, his body bouncing on the ground before coming to a stop.

Heaving heavily, Cain glanced down at his hands.

It was a shock to believe he was capable of that much power.

Inixth slowly rose to his feet.

The {Chaos Reaper Imp} seemed really pissed off this time. There was a terrible gash on its side, where Cain had struck him. It oozed with dark red ichor.

The scythe in the Devil's hand hummed furiously.

Cain brandished {Eidwyrm},

His eyes were fixed right on the Devil, his senses stretched to the max.

He could see, smell, hear and feel everything.

The Devil shot towards him.

'Fast!'

Whatever skill the Devil had just used had increased its speed even more.

The air around the Devil exploded, leaving behind multiple sonic booms as it completely shot past the sound limit, superceding hypersonic.

Cain swung his blade, but found himself thrown back by the force behind the strike.

His face paled and the webbing between his fingers ripped violently, drenching the hilt of his weapon in blood.

He didn't have any time to grimace as the Devil cut forward again.

He blocked again, but for some reason, his chest piece was sliced open still.

The feeling of being cut into, he was rather familiar with.

But the pain was all too new.

He groaned as he stumbled back, blood dripping down the dent in his armor.

Standing opposite him, Inixth wore a vicious dark grin, twirling his scythe with a mad glee in his devilish eyes.

Cain's eyes narrowed.

An attack that couldn't be blocked...

'How unfair.'

The wound on his chest had already begun healing. But that was not enough to ease his tensed nerves.

This battle had suddenly become even more dangerous for him.