God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 263: Final Internal Skill: Draconic Transfiguration (1).

Cain was like a hurricane of flesh and metal. His eyes burned brightly as he polished his skills. The blade in his hand continually expelled chilling amounts of Ki and devil essence.

The massive {Bog Serpent Wyrm} coiled around Cain and rained hell down on his body. Cain stopped its onslaught, but its regenerative power was starting to get too much.

His blood boiled furiously as he swung his blade over and over. However, regardless of how many times he cut it, the creature simply healed itself in a few seconds.

'And this is without any type of regenerative skills? Just what the hell is this creature?!'

If Cain had known the origins of the {Mimic Dragon Physique}, his thoughts would have become silent due to fear.

A Wyrm, a celestial beast with a draconic bloodline. Although it was one of the weaker dragons' bloodlines, it was still a fearsome creature that could devour a planet like Urbus with a few bites.

And this beast had managed to inherit its bloodline. Wyrms could be described simply as wingless, limbless dragons. Although they were powerful, they couldn't compare to more powerful dragon bloodlines. That was why despite its magnificence, this creature was still powerful as a worm in the grand scheme of things.

If it was allowed to achieve its greatest potential by climbing to higher tiers, it would be able to become a Godly being with world-destroying power. However, that was as far as it could go. It would never come close to being as strong as the weakest of celestial beasts unless it came across an immense fortune.

This wyrm was powerful and suppressed Cain completely. However, it still had a trump card it had yet to use completely.

'Damn it!'

Activating {Wind Weaver}, Cain felt the ground beneath his feet shatter as his body propelled toward the sky above the fragmented lands.

The eyes of the creature flashed with a dangerous light as it lunged at Cain who was momentarily unable to defend due to being airborne. Without any ground beneath his feet, the creature reasoned that he would be completely defenseless...

On the other hand, Cain's mind was split in two as he focused one part of his psyche on formulating a spell, while the other part kept his flight path stable.

Using and creating spells was not easy, but Cain, who was gifted with the mind of a sorcerer and was blessed with a deep understanding of magical elements could formulate spells at a relatively high speed.

However, the spells he could construct and deconstruct were limited to spells with elemental properties he was familiar with. Otherwise, he would have to study the element and focus on creating a brand-new spell from his new understanding of said element.

Cain had already begun thinking about the spell since he discovered the drawbacks of using the metal elemental enchantment of the {Burning Spirit} spell. The enchantment reduced his movement speed, so he had to look for a way to avoid attacks he was unwilling to tank like the terrible water arrow skill of the {Bog Serpent Wyrm}.

More and more arrows and bullets were fired at the creature from a distance, yet it ignored them and focused on trying to crush Cain with its sharp fangs.

As the creature dove at him, Cain finally activated the spell he had constructed within his mind.

When he first attempted it, the skill had failed to activate due to two reasons. The skill needed a limiter. However, he had become fond of removing the limiter rune from the magic circles of spells he tried to modify. Hence the spell had collapsed. He had learned an important lesson from this.

'Sometimes, a little is good enough...'

The {Seven Golden Stars} appeared around him. They now had more complicated runes engraved onto their metallic exterior. They flashed and twinkled in and out of reality. Cain was quite pleased at this. This meant that the spell was a success...

"Nexus Tether..."

The swords spread out to form a unique arrangement. The blades glowed with light, and at the same time, Cain snapped his finger. His body disappeared and appeared in place of one of the swords. The sword in question had moved to its original position.

Because of the change that happened in a split second, the golden blade was swallowed by the creature. A nasty grin appeared on Cain's face as he controlled the blade to wreak havoc within the stomach of the creature.

The creature hissed furiously as blood streamed down the sides of its mouth. It stared at Cain with intense hatred. Its mouth opened again, and a ball of water rapidly formed. Cain stayed within the creature's line of sight, egging the creature to take the shot.

The ball of water wasn't ejected as a steady stream this time. It seemed as though Cain had truly pissed the creature off this time.

The ball of water flew out of the creature's mouth and flew at Cain with mind-boggling velocity. Cain paled because of the speed of the attack. However, he now had something reliable to count on.

His body blurred out of reality, and a fraction of a second later, a golden blade had taken his place. The ball of water fell onto the blade and completely disintegrated it.

Cain let out a sigh of relief as he fell onto the huge body of the creature. The other caveat for activating the spe was the need for a tether. The spell was an amalgamation of his {Spatial Jump} and {Seven Golden Stars} spells.

The spell required an auxiliary material with magical properties before a spatial link could be created between Cain's body and the material. What this meant, was that Cain needed a physical object that was saturated with mana, or a mana construct that had taken on physical properties.

Mana was not a physical entity, but it could influence the material plane. As such, constructs of mana were in a way, also physical objects.

'That was a close one...'

Now that he had found a way to avoid the creature's ranged attack, he continued with his relentless assault. He refused to believe the creature's regeneration had no limits. Despite being stronger than the {Land Eater}, Cain was able to counter it perfectly with the aid of his teammates and planning.

Because he was drawing the creature's attention, Susan and Jemny were able to land a few surprise attacks that were devastating in their own right.

Jenny's specially charged bullets were able to tear through the creature's defenses and strike its bones. Susan's arrows are at the creature's flesh with their terrifying heat. They were arrows of concentrated light, and thus, were incredibly hot.

Thus, the battle continued...

Clash after the clash, they tore through the air, leveled the ground, and bashed one another time after time. Cain continued to suffer injuries of varying degrees. Some were mild, others were ghastly and would send a normal human straight to the underworld.

However, he fought with the relentless fury of a demon, his blade flashing and drawing blood and flesh.

However, they continued to heal at a tremendous rate. Cain could tell that they were going nowhere. His reservoirs of mana and ki were running out and he could tell that if he didn't get rid of the creature in less than a minute he would be in very deep trouble.

'I have to end this fast...'

Cain thought to all his skills. He needed a singular attack that could cut straight through the creature with a single stroke. However, nothing came to mind...

The only skill he could think of that could kill the creature in a single breath was the combination of {Flames of Darkness} and the {Celestial Infernal Arts}. However, even then, he had a vague feeling that the creature would still be able to avoid death. He on the other hand would be completely finished should the attack fail as it would decimate every single drop of mana left in his body.

Hence, he could only stall for time as he cooked something up. However, the infuriated aether beast was not going to give him such a luxury.

The creature suddenly stopped attacking Cain, its eyes filled with madness, venom well, and a bone-chilling frigid glare that clawed at his soul.

The creature suddenly threw its head back and let out an earth-shaking roar. Its previously huge body suddenly doubled in length and tripled in width. The creature looked like a series of story buildings stacked side-by-side. It was an absurd thing, yet it happened right in front of his eyes.

The horn on its head grew longer, and its fangs protruded from its mouth. At the same time, a row of spikes appeared across the length of its body, right below its spine.

Cain thought the creature was fearsome before. Now, it was an absolute nightmare that would give every other creature he had seen a run for its money. The creature shot Cain a provocative glare before it suddenly got up into the sky with blinding speed...

Cain understood what the glare meant. It was a taunt, a dare, or a challenge to be more specific.

Cain clicked his tongue, "What a bastard..."

Despite his words, he was a but glad that the creature considered him an opponent worth taking seriously. Something told him the creature was about to put everything on the line for this attack. It was a do-or-die affair. Only one of them could come out of the clash alive. The other would be killed. It was as simple as that...

Cain stared at the large blade in his hand. Then he started at the purple clouds that swirled in the sky. The world was dull, but the chilly wind was filled with the fragrance of life, regardless of how perverted and corrupted it had become.

Cain was determined to give it his all as well and then some. He needed to break through if he wanted to become stronger. And the only way he could become step her was by grabbing danger and death by the horns.

An idea of how to take the creature on rapidly formed in his mind. He couldn't use tricks on the creature as the only thing that could defeat a creature of such magnitude was absolute strength and power. Nothing else...

Cain commanded the {Dark Soul} to go and locate Susan, Jenny, and Ignis. Its mission was to tell them they were not to engage in the battle anymore.

He needed the creature to focus all its attention on him and him alone. If the creature was distracted by any of the girls and decided to take care of them before coming back to him, Cain would be forced to take drastic actions he could do without.

Once he was left alone, Cain got to work...