God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 331: To Battle a Devil means Death (2).

Even as Cain tried to cut down and escape the many hands reaching for him, Og-solath cast another spell. His left hand formed a strange hand symbol which he pointed at Cain,

"Soul Strike."

BANG!

Cain's eyes widened in disbelief as blood streamed down his nose and ears. A familiar feeling of weakness and pain suddenly washed over him. However this time, it was far worse than anything he had ever experienced.

For a moment, he could feel it. Something intangible had struck his soul. Although he was able to recover relatively quickly, that brief moment of inattention was more than enough for the hundreds of pale hands to reach for him.

Cain could only watch, slightly starstruck, as one of the hands grabbed his leg. Thankfully, he was wearing the {Heart of Scourge}. However, he felt a large amount of force transmitted to his leg the moment the hand made contact with the armor.

'Strong!'

Despite their withered and pale look, each hand possessed a frightening amount of physical strength. However, their defenses were below average.

Cain gritted his teeth, 'Endure. Now is not the time.'

He knew for a fact that Og-solath's goal wasn't to kill him. Rather, he intended to break his spirits. Cain had no idea what the devil wanted to do after that, but he suspected it couldn't be anything good.

As such, he had to endure. He couldn't reveal his winning cards until he had no other options.

However, Og-solath seemed to have no such hesitations. Or rather, it seemed like he had no shortage of aces up his sleeves.

Like the sentencing of a criminal, the Primordial Devil of Madness proclaimed another spell,

"Soul Manipulation: Autumn of Distorted Wishes..."

The words of the spell rang true in Cain's ears. For a moment, the world around him seemed to slow down...

His attention was drawn to one thing he had been missing. The eye patterns...

Everywhere he went, the strange eye patterns on the leaves of the trees haunted him, as the eyes were stolen away from those who were forced to go to the other side.

"I was created by the Nomad of this universe. I am an Origin Creature. One of the first of my kind. I am as close to the source as it gets!" Og-solath slowly rose to the sky as he proclaimed.

Meanwhile, Cain could gradually feel himself slipping. His body felt like lead, but the origin of the fatigue was his soul.

"Let me show you what madness is, Human!"

Cain was powerless,

"Soul Manipulation: Soul Shakles."

"Soul Manipulation: Inception of Madness!"

The black bottomless pits of Og-solath's eyes became even deeper. Like an inescapable prison that would spare none. Not even the righteous...

The arms were now wrapped around him tightly. Before he lost control completely, he summoned his weapons and armor as he couldn't afford to lose them.

His body was immediately crushed. Blood squirted out from all his orifices, and his bones were shattered.

At the same time, he could see invincible chains catch up to his soul and pin it down. Before he could say anything, the last attack slammed him like a freight train.

He immediately saw black...

***

Cain witnessed thousands of images and events play out all at once. What all of them had in common was their lack of reasoning. Every second he spent watching the scenes play out, he could feel his control over his mind slip.

However, that was not the worst of it. The worst or it was the fact that this process was extremely painful.

So painful in fact, Cain couldn't hold his screams back. It was like a drill was being hammered into his brain, with some of his brain matter being scooped out every once in a while.

The images were evil and terrible descriptions. Some were of perverse godly figures. Others, of evil beasts that lurked within the darkest of hells. There were a few images of places that Cain couldn't fathom. Some of them were rotting cesspools filled with decaying corpses that were still drawing breath, all trying to break away from their eternal torment.

Some were of items that had been cursed, containing a boundless evil.

All this happened for what felt like an eternity to him before it stopped...

Tears streamed down Cain's face as he stared at Og-solath in horror,

"Stop..." He tried to plead, but there was no respite for him...

"Again." Og-solath wore an evil grin on his face as he activated the spell, {Inception of Madness} again.

Og-solath could be called the father of the {Phantasma}, or Soul Devils. His main abilities involved dealings with the soul. His knowledge of magic and control over mana was also divine, even though he had become incredibly weak due to being sealed for such a long time.

Compared to the {Phantasma} Cain dealt with all those months ago, Og-solath was like a god. Cain stood no chance whatsoever.

In the face of supreme power, all forms of planning broke down...

Cain's mind was once again put through a grinder. The horrid knowledge hidden within the images he could see made him fall into the abyss of madness.

Cain's eyes rolled to the back of his head as his soil was about to be vanquished...

"Hm?"

Og-solath who had been laughing in the background suddenly stopped. His eyes turned serious as he stared at Cain who was being bound by the many pale arms with their black claws digging into his flesh.

"Who are you?" Og-solath said, his tone deep and menacing.

Cain's eyes that were rolled back into his head suddenly changed. His left eye became as white as pale bones, and his right eye was as black as a bottomless abyss. Within each eye was filled with thousands upon thousands of magic circles that had changed the natural color of his eyes.

"Primordial Devil or not, you have a lot of guts trying to fiddle with my soul..."

BOOM!

An explosion of golden energy burst out of Cain's unconscious body. Og-solath's eyebrows shot up,

"What business does a Celestial have dwelling within the soul of a mortal? That goes against the very nature of Soul Magic." Og-solath growled.

Cain's monochrome eyes were distant, but his lips parted, and words filled with venom,

"A stuck-up geezer like you is surprised? Rich!"

Og-solath spoke coldly, "I still have the life of the boy in my hands. If I want, I can extinguish it with a mere sneeze."

Cain's voice was deep and vibrant. However, it also seemed to contain a vast, almost boundless pool of bloodlust,

"Are you sure about that?"

Almost immediately, a change occurred. The pale golden flames that were being produced by Cain's body began clinging to the arms that were wrapped around him. Like rusting metal, the arms were reduced to dust in the blink of an eye.

'Ki Fire?' Og-solath's shock increased even further. However, it wasn't enough to make him concerned. If anything, his decision was further strengthened. If this celestial was working for Tian, he had to make sure it died here.

"Ah... Feels good to be free." Cain, or rather, the being that had taken over his body said with a sigh.

Mich to his surprise, Og-solath felt the hold he had over the puny mortal's soul had disappeared.

His eyes narrowed dangerously, 'A Celestial that can break my shackles? Impossible! Although I have lost the majority of my power, no ordinary celestial should be capable of doing this. Only that bastard has been able to do this!'

Gritting his teeth, Og-solath threw all reason out the window,

"This mortal is too dangerous to be kept alive. I don't know what that bastard is planning, but I'll be damned if I allowed him to succeed."

Cain smiled, "I was thinking the same thing. You'd be a fool to think Tian locked you up here and forgot about you. The heavens know he isn't that dumb."

Cain's words seemed to strike a nerve as a thick vein bulged on Og-solath's temple,

"Wheel, Expand..."

A huge magic circle unraveled behind Og-solath. The lines of it were black and oozed out a malignant aura. Cain watched all of this happen with a contemplative expression on his face.

Cain's soul had been severely injured by Og-solath. Just as the damage was about to become even more severe, something unexpected had happened.

Ashur had taken over the wheels...

Ashur stared at Og-solath, a serene expression on his face...

"A Primordial Devil. One of the first being ever created by the Nomad, now reduced to this. Tian, you truly are a vile creature..."

His words drifted into the already infuriated Og-solath's ears,

"Shut up! Devil Body!"

The body of Og-solath morphed and expanded to reveal his true form. This true form manifested according to how much power he currently had. At full power, Og-solath's true form was bigger than a celestial body. However, his true form barely surpassed the crown of leaves up above.

Ashur shook his head as he stared at the blue-black devil towering over him,

"You planned to screw him over didn't you?"

Silence...

"If he hadn't caught on, he would have delivered you the heart, which would allow you to break the seal. Then you would have killed him to bury your secrets."

The large devilish figure of Og-solath sneered,

"Mortals were created for we supreme being to make use of. They are for us to use and consume. He was lucky I didn't eat him the first time."

"Now, once I eat him, I'll eat his women as well! Just imagine the looks on their faces as the man they hold dear devours them whole! Hahaha!"

A mad expression appeared on Og-solath's face...

Ashur sighed, "You devils never change. Overcome by your dark minds and instincts, you fail to see the wrongness in your actions."

Og-solath snorted, "There is no right and wrong. The winner is the one who gets to decide that. And from what I can see, you haven't won, nor are you going to."

Ashur looked up, the depths of his black and white eyes shining with golden light,

"Not all devils are like you. Some of them know how to suppress their nature, or turn it into something more honorable."

"Honorable?! Don't make me laugh, boy! There is nothing honorable about our existence! We are a blight to this world! A cancer that consumes all as we destroy everything our dear creator took away from us!"

Billows of dark smoke covered the air as Og-solath seethed,

"The victor is king and vanquished is thief. We devils will stop only when this universe has been completely devoured and the Nomad, is killed by the supreme one."

Ashur sneered, "Senile Old fool."

"I'll send you to the depths!" Og-solath roared.

The attack pressed down like a falling sky. If it was Cain facing Og-solath, his body would have been reduced to mush instantly. However, a film of golden energy enveloped his body.

Ashur's eyes were filled with a deep calm, yet resolute fire. His lips parted and words as thick as blood dripped out,

"Vault, Open..."