God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

A compounding effect.

Something that grew over time.

A strange phenomena.

Like gradually rising waves.

The feeling of power thrumming withim his mortal coil, was a strange, intoxicating feeling, Cain thought to himself.

Forget the pain, forget the feeling of having his life drain away.

It was Divine.

His entire body and spirit were completely saturated with Divine might.

He had stretched beyond the limits of what was humanly possible and had entered the realm of the supernatural.

He took a step forward.

The world behind him cracked and crumbled, exploding into huge chunks of broken earth.

The roar that escaped from his maw was not human.

It absolutely couldn't be.

With one swing of his sword, the world shattered.

A destructive wave of highly condensed energy shot out towards the {Chaos Reaper Imp}.

The Devil parried it to the side.

The sword wave shot off into the distance, crashing into the side wall of the abyssal chasm.

A moment later, there was an explosion that echoed through the empty darkness.

The two, Human and Devil, rushed at one another again.

Their blade clashed, flashing with unprecedented light as they began to move at hypersonic speed, their afterimages barely being registered.

Swinging his sword, Cain pulled back, to avoid a sideways swing.

Not killing his moment, he shot forward again, turning in a neverending cycle of spinning slashes and cuts.

With a violent swing, Inixth broke his rhythm for a moment, forcing him to withdraw.

The Devil laiched a barrage of super fast attacks, nearly taking his eyes away from him.

Dropping to the ground, he balanced his weight on his legs and kicked forward. His heels met the flat of the scythe's blade, stopping it from cutting at him.

Twisting with shocking dexterity, he shot back into an upright position in one breath, his arms bulging as he swung with all his might.

A terrifying explosion rocked out as two deep grooves dragged through the land bridge.

There was a brief pause.

Then the two shot into the sky.

Stepping on the golden blades he summoned, Cain turned into a leaf riding on the wind.

The blade in his hand turned into a whirlwind as he cut at the Devil running through the air, crimson streaks streaming behind him.

The Devil quickly parried and launched a wicked counter attack, the blade of his scythe aimed at Cain's throat.

Parrying again, Cain swung his sword twice in quick succession, firing off two more waves of sword energy.

The Devil split the first in half but could not avoid the other one.

So it chose to eat and shrug it off.

The energy beam slammed into him, forcing him towards the ground.

The Devil managed to find a moment of stability, but Cain had quickly closed the distance.

Using his superior speed, Inixth maneuvered through the storm of violent attacks as he tried to make distance.

Their bodies darted through the air like birds soaring wildly through the skies.

Cain stuck close to the Devils not willing to give it any breathing room.

They continue to swim through the air.

Muttering chants under his breath, dozens of magic circles bloomed to light around Cain.

With a wave of his hand, hundreds of {Imploding Stars} shot out, each one holding enough firepower to level an entire building.

Inixth's eyes narrowed as he skillfully spun his scythe, cutting all the spells down.

A blanket of smoke filled the sky.

CLANG!

Their blades struck once again, creating a terrible resonance that blew whatever clouds remained in the sky.

There was another brief lull as their eyes met.

And then, the chaos began a new once again.

With a grunt, Cains wing his heavy sword, the wind around it burning up vicious, creating a flaming trail.

It smashed into the scythe coated in the tenebrous Devil Essence.

With a shrill roar, the viscous Devil Essence shot out, slamming into Cain.

He grunted and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Not willing to give him any respite, Inixth quickly went on the offensive.

The Devil muttered under his breath and his speed shot up even more.

Cain watched as the Devil's body turned into a blur he could barely make out.

His face paled as he was immediately forced into the defensive.

He reacted instinctively, blocking the Devil's wild and wanton attacks with just an inch of grace.

'If its speed keeps increasing, I'll find it hard to pin him down soon '

For some reason, the moment he began to retreat, the Devil became even wilder.

Cuts began to appear all over his body, so fast, not even his regeneration could keep up.

Soon whatever strands of broken armor left on his body was dyed crimson.

Regardless of how tough the scales surrounding his flesh was, they didn't seem to be enough to stop the wicked curved scythe of the Devil before him.

Just like that, he fell into a strange rhythm.

A state of calm.

Like the surface of an ocean slowly fluttering with the wind.

Every nick and every cut...

Slowly, his techno became more refined and he was able to block more and more strikes.

'This monster...' Inixth thought.

Of course he would notice it.

One moment, the human-demin hybrid in front of him was being tossed around.

The next, his eyes were darting everywhere, accurately pinpointing where he was going to strike.

Throwing a feint to draw him in, Inixth suddenly stabbed at the human's eye with a hidden blade.

The insidious weapon traveled like lightning, aimed at his left eye.

Cain huffed.

His head snapped back.

The blade grazed across his eyelids.

'Now!'

The chance for a counter he had been waiting for.

His body exploded with never before seen might.

His fist ballooned, enveloped in [Ki Fire]. His body still exuding those strange glows as he punched forward.

A crackled of lightning cut through the sky.

Following that was an eruption.

Like thunder, it split the world apart...

Cain appeared to move in slowly motion.

At such a critical moment, the senses of the Devil seemed to grow new petals and blossom.

Inixth's lips split into a savage grin as he made a move to dodge. With such a heavy swing from the human, it was bound to leave him open.

He would take advantage of the golden chance to end this farce of a battle.

'Hm?'

Cain felt something tug on his arm just as he tried separating himself.

He looked up.

His arm was firmly gripped by the human, with absolutely no wriggle room.

His eyes widened.

"No."

It was too late.

Caib's enhanced fist smashed into his chest, cracking through the exoskeletal armor, through flesh, and through bones.

Pulling his arm back, his muscles tensed as he threw another powerful blow, crushing the Devil's jaw instantly.

Not even given a moment to cry out, the Devil was forced to endure blow after terrible blow.

Its bones were crushed, and its flesh was bruised.

The human— the creature before him had turned into a monster.

'Stop!'

He tried to call out, but was drowned by the explosion of fists.

A layer of thick Devil Essence clad him with the hopes of alleviating the damage.

But Cain's fists pierced through like a hot knife through butter.

'This is impossible.' The Devil thought to itself.

Devils were one of the most powerful creatures in all the universe. Although they started off weak, a single Devil would consume the essence of several other Devils in a battle to the death at birth.

Whoever survived that grueling process would be the one given the grace to live.

Because of this process, the survivors were usually creatures with rather high potential.

They would eventually grow to become fiends of death and darkness.

That was how it was supposed to be.

There should have been only one way for the battle to play out.

After all, one couldn't expect much from humans. Inconsequential creatures, with average potential and weak fleshy bodies.

It should have been impossible.

But the testament of his disbelief was right before him, beating him to death.

He was unresigned.

And so, the Devil poured forth every last bit of what it had.

The dark tinged sky finally turned fully black.

The crimson moon was drowned out.

The wind howled furious, like a thousand undying souls trapped in eternal suffering.

Cain retreated back.

Clad in an unreasonable amount of Devil Essence, Inixth had turned into a hulking, unrecognizable monster.

The change seemed to affect not just the Devils, but the world around it as well.

Cain felt himself becoming sluggish and his energy being drained.

Despite this, his face showed no changes.

He gently inhaled and exhaled.

Then he took a stance.

With a wild strike that made everything tremble, the Devil surged forward.

At this point, it had gone mad with rage.

And that had made it the most dangerous it had ever been.

Cain let the dam on all his energies burst forth, holding back nothing.

There was no complete glow or explosion of lights this time.

In less than a split second, the Devil was upon him.

If he was hit by even a single attack, Cain had no doubts he would be torn into pieces instantly.

He inhaled deeply.

His blade swiftly drew a vertical arc through the air.

He exhaled sharply.

No explosions, no twisting lights.

Instead, the sky, and all of reality...

Was split in two.