God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 133: The Battle has Just Begun (1).

BOOM!

The two beings completely ignored their heavy injuries as they dashed at one another with weapons in hand to engage in primal melee combat.

Cain held nothing back as he utilized every single resource at hand in the deadly fight. His {Heavy Armor} had been completely destroyed, with most of the parts having been melted by the intense heat from the Phantasma's deadly spell.

The spell was a combination of the Phantasma's understanding of the wind, fire, and earth elements, hence it was only understandable that the spell would be extremely powerful.

Not only was the {Heavy Armor} destroyed beyond repair, but Cain's body also went through an unbelievable amount of pummeling. If not for his {Heavy Armor}, and the other defensive measures he took, there was no doubt he would have been crushed to pieces by the spell.

Even so, his body had taken a lot of damage...

Many of his bones had been broken by the impact of the falling rocks, and he suffered burns of varying degrees from the flames. His flesh had been flayed in various parts of his body, causing him to endure severe pain even as he ran with his blade clenched firmly in his hands, and his eyes filled with conviction...

Dodging a forward chop from the {Phantasma}, Cain ducked under the swing as he activated his devil eyes and swung at the devil's ribs. J'orntz pulled back and launched a knee toward Cain's jaw. Cain tilted his head a bit to the side, dodging the incoming knee strike.

He quickly moved back a bit to get a bit more space before he closed the gap again and brought his blade down again, but this time with a diagonal chop.

Just as J'orntz tried to block the attack, he withdrew it just as quickly and lunged forward with a quick stab.

SLICK!

The blade tore through the devil's flesh and drew blood. Immediately Cain saw this, he did a flip and withdrew as fast as possible, gaining as much distance from the {Phantasma} as possible.

"The lightning did a number on you, didn't it?" Cain said with a grin as he gazed at the shining eyes of J'orntz.

"It did... You also don't seem to be in the best state. You are badly injured." J'orntz said with a cackle. His entire body was letting off a white smoke that reeked with the stench of burnt flesh.

"Regeneration..." Suddenly, the injuries on the body of J'orntz began to heal, causing Cain's eyes to widen.

"That's right... Some of us devils are blessed with powerful regenerative abilities at birth as a perk to our unlimited potential. Right now, there is nothing you can do that can make you win against me..." The devil said as its body began stitching itself up.

Torn ligaments and tendons were mended back together, and ripped-up flesh and cracked bones were sewn and mended back together thanks to the powerful ability of the {Regeneration} skill. Because J'orntz's regeneration skill was at the third level, it was way more powerful than anything Cain had ever encountered.

In a few seconds, a lot of the major injuries Cain had given to the {Phantasma} had been healed up...

Cracking its neck, J'orntz gave Cain a predatory look, "You are..."

Before the devil could finish its words, Cain acted...

"Blood Regeneration..."

Immediately, all the blood Cain had stored in his inventory was brought out. A red glow covered all the containers, as the blood within them was quickly siphoned by Cain's {Blood Regeneration} skill.

"Your devil race might be strong but do not forget where you are... You are on my planet, and on my planet, you are subject to my rules." Cain could feel a breath of fresh air fill his lungs, as his MP, HP, and stamina were swiftly filled up by the energy from the condensed blood.

"Hmph..." Letting out a snort, J'orntz lunged at Cain with his blade parallel to the ground and placed above his shoulders.

"Death's Cut!"

A sinister green glow appeared on the blade as he hacked down. But Cain was prepared...

"Golden Severance!" A beam of condensed metal elemental mana flew out of Cain's {Devil's Broken Claw} and smashed unto the edge of J'orntz's.

BANG!

The two attacks collided, but the two fighters didn't stop for a single second. They charged at one another again and began exchanging a flurry of blows.

Despite their enthusiasm and partial recovery, since they were badly hurt and drained, they had only recovered a portion of their original strength and thus, it was unavoidable that they would make mistakes.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Their blades clashed against one another, but they also clashed against their bodies. Since Cain had no armor to defend himself, he relied mainly on his {Golden Armor} and {Golden Halo} spells for defense. However, against a powerful devil like J'orntz, they couldn't do much.

Hot blood and sweat from both parties flew through the air as they both fought as hard as they possibly could.

And they didn't stop there...

During the entire fight, Cain used the {Metal Creation} and {Metal Manipulation}. Metal chains, spikes, walls, and all sorts were created as Cain made the most of the skill.

'Seems like I won't be able to win without something drastic...' Cain couldn't deny the Phanrasma's strength.

It managed to render most of his attacks useless and even dish its own attacks out. In the blink of an eye, they had reverted back to their original states.

Even though the battlefield was already soaked with blood, the region Cain and J'orntz fought at was completely stained with their blood...

Thanks to their high control stats, they were able to fight without causing too much damage to their surroundings, but there were a lot of visible craters formed by missed attacks.

After a flurry of attacks, Cain took a few steps back and broke away from the Phantasma...

"I was saving this skill for the big guy, but I've concluded that I can't beat you without giving it my all," Cain said as he brought his blade over his head, the tip facing the grey skies.

There was little to no illumination, and the moon and stars were completely covered up by the clouds of mana in the sky.

The fiery wind created from the flames of battle brushed against his face as he made up his mind...

'Right now, I'm still weak... That's why I need to put my all. If I hold back, I'll lose this fight.' Cain knew that should he keep holding back, he could possibly be the one dead on the ground when the fight was over. And that wasn't how he wanted things to go down...

"I left this surprise for the big guy, but considering how tough you are, my hands have been forced..."

"I agree... It's about time this fight came to an end." J'orntz said with steely eyes. He took a few steps back and let out a loud roar.

"Devil Empowerment!!!"

The body of the {Phantasma} rose away from the ground by a few inches as an unimaginable torrent of mana rushed into his body.

The skill, {Devil Empowerment} could be used on an army as a spell, as well as on an individual as a skill. This was the spell J'orntz had used on the entire devil army at the start of the battle, and it was the same skill he was about to use to end it...

Cain had a tranquil expression on as he gripped his blade even tighter. He remembered the feelings that saturated his heart when he had first executed the skill.

'Mana is the basis of all skills. It is the fuel that gives the ability to execute these superhuman feats. When there is a surplus of it, I can only imagine what the results would be.'

Those were his thoughts as he utilized his incredible control over mana and connected to the pearly blankets up above...

A sudden whirlpool appeared in the sky...

This whirlpool was created from the mana-saturated clouds that hung above and were gradually sucking more and more in...

The mana whirlpool had bolts of lightning within it, as well as the golden sheen of a magical blade.

The whirlpool gradually took on the form of a huge pillar-like blade that stretched from heaven to earth.

J'orntz had a wide-eyed expression on his face as he gazed at what could only be described as death...

"What is this?!" J'orntz had a good understanding of mana and the elements of magic, but he never knew a feat like this was possible through magic. What Cain did was essentially condense as much mana as he possibly could within a high mana density environment to create an item of mass destruction.

"This is your ferry boat into the yellow river. Say hello to death for me..."

"Hollow Judgement..."

A cataclysmic skill the likes of which the planet of Urbus had never seen before.

The blade fell from the skies down into the earth, severing it in two. Not only was the skill incredibly powerful, but it was also incredibly accurate. It fell onto the head of J'orntz, the Phantasma, the soul devil, like a heavenly judgment from the deities...

"ARGHHHH!!! I refuse to accept this!" J'orntz had a mad expression on its face as he gathered all the power he accumulated from the {Devil Empowerment} skill to the edge of his blade, causing it to glow like a black sun.

The two attacks clashed head-on, and only the stronger one could come out on top.

Cain felt as though he had slammed his blade into a swamp with many layers of thick mud as J'orntz fought hard against his destructive attack.

Thus, with a roar of his own, he applied more strength...

Mana exploded from his body like the flames from a furnace as he poured all of what he had into the skill...

BOOM!

The bolts of lightning swelled, and the golden sheen became even brighter as the ground and even the trees far away from the battlefield were all ripped into pieces.

A few other devils that were still standing were ripped apart as well. Everyone could feel the shockwaves of the collision and we're forced to bear it.

"So strong..." Manny said as he lay Jamiel, the devil he was fighting to rest with the final stroke of his blade before collapsing to the ground.

'Push... Push... PUSH!'

"ARGHHHH!"

Cain pressed down harder and harder with all his might as J'orntz let out an enraged shout below his blade.

Finally, it happened...

The fiery energy of the black sun fizzled out into nothing as Cain's gigantic blade of death fell upon the incredibly powerful {Phantasma}.

BOOM!

The {Phantasma} was split in half, from the crown of its head all the way to its groin...

"M-Mot-mother..." J'orntz's eyes turned glassy as he said his final words.

The attack fizzled out of existence before it could slam against the ground, as all the power within it had already been exhausted.

Cain fell to his knees and lifted his face to the skies that now let in a little bit of star and moonlight that bathed him in their astral glory because of the absence of the mana-saturated clouds that Cain used for his attack. However, a few seconds later, the clouds were restored and the hole in the sky was closed.

Cain took his gaze back to the ground...

All around him was complete destruction. The devil army, or the majority of it was wiped out, and all that was left was him, his exhausted and wounded party of humans, and the gigantic {Flame Devil} looming in the distance.

"You did well..." Susan said as she walked up to him, the rest of them in tow...

"The battle isn't over yet..." Cain said in a raspy voice and coughed up a mouthful of blood. It was very obvious that the battle had taken a huge toll on his body.

"Let's all recover before we attempt to deal with that thing," Vincent said slowly as he downed his last HP regen potion.

"Yeah... Let's-"

Suddenly, the entire battlefield, including the huge {Flame Devil} was covered in a thick shadow that cast everything into pitch-black darkness.

A raspy, yet enchanting voice rang out from these shadows,

"Shadow World..."

'Evangeline?!'