God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 241: Aether Realm (2).

Cain was unable to mourn the destruction of his dear weapon, as just moments after the clear blade shattered into fragments, the darkness enshrouded the claws of the terrifying creature raking him across the chest, and drawing blood.

The wisps of darkness stuck to his flesh like maggots and devoured the flesh around the laceration, causing it to blacken and decay.

Cain's face immediately paled...

'Curses!'

The situation had turned from bad to worse in mere seconds. Not only had one of his weapons been destroyed, but he was now severely injured before even getting to the aether realm.

Well, he wasn't sure if the abyssal passage was a part of the aether realm or not. If it really was a passage between the two realms, why did these eldrich terrors inhabit it...

Cain had so many unanswered questions, but no one could answer them...

Besides, he had more urgent matters at hand, one of them being preserving his life...

Circulating his Ki even more rapidly, Cain held his hand across his chest. The wound didn't leak any blood, as the black rot was also devouring the blood as well.

Gritting his teeth, Cain's eyes burned as he faced the devil. Despite its size, it was extremely agile and blended into the darkness like it was a second skin.

However, it didn't need to employ any sheath tactics to deal with Cain...

Its claws slashed forward, this time, aiming to cleave his head off in one fell swoop. Flipping his body sideways, Cain pressed his hand forward and allowed the approaching claw to clash against his outstretched palm.

His forearm and palm were instantly turned into a bloody mess, but the force from the strike pushed him further away from the devilish creature.

'Damn it!'

However, the creature quickly caught up with him, sending a strike out once again. Cain felt his body tremble as the pain from his hand coursed through his body like a fever.

'Brute force won't work against this guy.'

His eyes were filled with pain. However, within that pain, there was a layer of cold and calculating precision. His mind was working like a locomotive, trying to figure out the best way possible to escape his correct situation intact.

Without wasting any more time, he quickly withdrew the {Black Claw} from his inventory. Although he was scared that the blade would be destroyed like the {White Claw}, he had no choice at this point...

Luckily, while he was not a master with a sword, his skills were sufficient enough for him to barely keep himself alive. His stats were also high enough that he wasn't going to die very soon.

However, he noticed that the devil had yet to activate any skills. He did not doubt that if such a thing happened, he could kill his life goodbye.

His blade flashed like a specter in the darkness as it clashed with the onyx claws of the terrifying creature before him.

With every clash, the impact rattled his bones and small cracks appeared on his blades, bones, and mind as well. Suddenly, the darkness all around him began shifting. Spikes of darkness suddenly shot out of the infernal void.

Twisting his body nimbly, Cain avoided the spikes, while making sure the cocoons of metal that were bound to him were kept out of harm's way.

He immediately sensed a shift in the creature's atmosphere. It was as though it had become a bit more... annoyed.

Before he knew it, the creature simply disappeared from sight. His face paled drastically as he spun around.

The impact broke the blood vessels in his hands. Blood streaked down his already damaged and weak arms. The force of the creature's attacks seemed to increase even more. The relentless attacks made him pour all his resources into blocking every strike.

His perception, control, agility, and strength stats all came to work as the slender blade danced in his hands and flashed out. However, the creature was simply too powerful. It outclassed him in all aspects.

It was faster and stronger, and its eyesight was better than his in the darkness of the abyssal chasm. All his attacks were like he was trying to strike his blade at water and a mountain at the same time.

'Damn it! Damn it all!'

The frustration of the battle was slowly getting to him. He called upon all his knowledge and previous training, but nothing seemed to be working for him.

Rolling the blade in his hand, he once again blocked a strike from the creature, blocked another, and then skillfully maneuvered his falling body to avoid it. The creature snarled and growled from time to time, but kept its wicked eyes on Cain, never letting them stray.

Panting heavily, his head was covered in beads of sweat. Twisting his body, he held on to the stretched and of the creature and slammed his legs on its body. However, he wasn't planning on doing any damage. Instead, his goal was to make distance between them.

Kicking against the creature's strange body, he flew further away from it. Once there was a considerable distance between them, he did what he needed to do.

***

Golden Body}: The power of a celestial being now flows within the body of the host, granting incredible fleshy might unlike anything belonging to a mortal.

Upon activation, all physical stats are multiplied by 4. Consumes 1000HP and 1000 Ki points per second as well as 10 points of stamina per second to maintain. Subjects the body of the user to incredibly great pain and strain. When in use, the host will lose all ability to use any other source of power}. (10,000/1,000,000 KP)

***

After battling with Forza, he had rarely used the skill. Maybe it was overconfidence, but he had once felt that he wouldn't need to activate the skill for a long time.

Now, he had to activate it just to hang on to dear life. However, it simply couldn't last very long. He needed to use his time with maximum efficiency to bring out the most effect. His health was getting low, so he could only keep it activated for about thirty seconds.

'Hopefully, thirty seconds will be enough...'

A single second wasted was akin to asking for death.

Streaks of crimson energy poured into his flesh and empowered it violently, bringing mad surges of pain to accompany the strength.

The darkness around him trembled as the violent crimson energy gushed out of his body like a river. This body began its metamorphic transformation.

Cracks began to appear on the surface of his flesh, and streams of sanguine mist flowed from them. A small pair of horns protruded from his temple, and his eyes became empty as a result of him trying to block out the tremendous pain that broke his body apart continuously.

The skill was tyrannical to both him and his opponent...

The skill drained him of his life and subjected him to vile pain. However, it also granted him immense power. His strength and agility stats, as well as his stamina, defense, and vitality, were immediately magnified.

The wounds on his skin began to expel the darkness that had corrupted them and were slowly mending. However, new cracks were appearing on his skin every split second due to the terrible conditions of the skill.

But right now, all these thoughts had long since left him. The only coherent thought left in his mind was to brutally and savagely murder his opponent.

The {Abyssal Realm-Walker} dashed at him again but was forced to stop due to the immense pressure Cain erupted with. The creature immediately dove into the darkness.

Appearing behind him almost instantly, the creature slashed at his neck. Dodging the sharp claws, Cain held the arm of the creature and pulled forward. His current strength and agility were nearly twice as great as that of the creature.

As long as he had enough time, he would be able to crush the creature completely. However, time was not on his side. Thirty seconds just couldn't be enough to slay a creature as terrible as this one.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to try, though. He wasn't under any illusions. Killing the {Abyssal Realm-Walker} was going to be incredibly difficult, but it had to happen if he wanted to live.

And so, he flashed his sword forward madly. Completely ignoring defense, he clashed with the creature more than ten times in a single second. The creature was not only fast, but also incredibly cunning. Just like how Cain was able to avoid death when he was weaker, the creature could also protect itself against a stronger opponent.

It was also bidding its time, waiting for him to run out of juice before swooping in for the kill.

Anger and frustration slowly began to build up within Cain's mind as the battle got even more heated as the seconds passed. They had both begun to suffer more and more harm and their regeneration was unable to keep up with the rate of damage.

Cain had it worse, as the creature was a monster, and its physique was much better than his despite him having higher stats. It could explode with more physical strength and speed than its stats dictated, and its defense, stamina, and perception were on a whole other level.

Slowly but surely, Cain was getting more and more frustrated. With only ten seconds left before he would be forced to deactivate {Golden Body}, he attacked with even more ferocity.

It was at this moment that a very disturbing sound graced his ears. His {Black Claw} had also shattered like glass. The last cut he had managed to deliver onto the creature was very terrible, but the rice he had to pay was the complete destruction of the weapon.

It was only reasonable after all...

He had been using the weapons for such a long time, so he wasn't surprised that they finally gave out. But the timing was completely terrible. He was suddenly left with no way to defend himself against the wicked creature. He would be unable to draw {Maelstrom} because the creature most certainly wouldn't give him enough time to draw the bow.

Plus, he was unable to use his mana, so the bow was useless as well.

Despite the pain, he forced his mind to spin and think. The creature was bearing down on him, pushing him down with even more speed.

He suddenly remembered something...

He did have another weapon he could use. However, the system had said it had been extremely damaged once, so he doubted it would last long.

By now, the mental technique he had employed had long since shattered, so he was forcefully bearing all the pain. His mind was on the brink of collapse, but he didn't care.

Stretching his arm out, he felt his fingers come in contact with the hilt of the blade. Gripping it, he swung it with all his might. Almost immediately, more than half of his ki reserves were drained, and the bleak metal of the blade instantly ignited with crimson flames and red sparks of electricity.

The runic patterns lit up, creating a brilliant tapestry that seemed to amplify the power of the blade.

The blunt and jagged edges of the greatsword immediately became as sharp as a razor, and the blade became three times as heavy. Swinging it forward with all his might, Cain managed to catch the creature off guard.

Slicing its arm off, Cain was elated by the results, when the familiar fatigue hit him...

'Oh, no!'

{Golden Body} has been deactivated...