God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 368: Kicks and Punches.

"Dark Dragon, Ascending..."

If 'Dark Dragon, Orbiting' was a defensive move that allowed him to parry particularly strong attacks, 'Dark Dragon, Ascending' was an offensive move that utilized the destructive nature of Devil Essence to destroy all forms of defense.

Combined with the activation of Ki Fire, most defenses would crumble after a single hit...

Cain dashed forward and turned into a black and red streak. Thunderous roars rumbled out of the illusory dark dragon's mouth as it opened its jaws and bit down at Stingè.

Stingè's brows shot up in true shock,

"What the-"

Before he could complete the sentence, the monstrous jaws snapped down on {Idle World}. Cain gritted his teeth as the fangs of the illusory dark dragon ground against the invincible barrier.

Stingè shook his head in wonder, completely unbothered as he stood behind his barrier,

"Impressive. Very impressive... I have never seen another being that isn't a devil utilize Devil Essence so well."

Then he let out a sigh, "However, you are about to be corrupted. Maybe you might still serve a purpose. Still, this is such a waste of resources."

At the other side of the barrier, Cain pushed with all his might. And yet, the barrier refused to budge.

Blood poured down his gums as he gritted his teeth,

'I refuse to believe I can't crack this freaking thing!'

"Arghh!" Cain let out a roar of pure, unbridled rage.

"Break for me!" The eyes of the illusory dark dragon became even more crimson and its scales began to appear more realistic.

All of a sudden, cracks began to appear on the barrier. Stingè stared at the cracks with shock,

"What?!"

"Don't forget about me..."

Hunter's cold voice could be heard as he appeared from nowhere behind Stingè. Turning around, Stingè locked eyes with Hunter. In the depths of Hunter's eyes lay a burning hatred that could incinerate souls.

He stood behind the barrier, stretching his ar forward. In his outstretched arm was a ball of flames as hot as the surface of a star.

A wild grin appeared on Hunter's face,

"Boom."

An explosion that caused the foundations of the nearby mountain to shake rocked the battlefield. The cracks on Stingè's barrier spread even wider.

Cain took this moment to pour all that he had into his blades. The {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} vibrated wildly as an insane amount of Ki and Devil Essence poured into it, making its edge sharper, and its body as heavy as a mountain.

"Haha... Two monsters indeed." Stingè let out an excited chuckle as Hunter and Cain pressed forward with all their might.

On one side, a glowing orb as bright as a star was grasped in one hand, pressed against the barrier. On the other side, a dark dragon had its fangs grinding against the barrier.

Cracks continued to spread on the barrier until it finally gave out...

With a loud yell, Cain's mad attack continued pressing forward. After all, the ascension of the deal dragon was not yet complete...

Once his defenses were broken, Stingè was exposed directly to the brunt of Cain's rage. The two blades stabbed towards his midsection. Skillfully applying force to the handle of the blades, Cain forced the tip of the blades up. At the same time, Hunter smashed his miniature sun into Stingè's back and exchanged positions with a summon.

With a loud roar, the deal dragon leaped into the sky, carrying Stingè with it. The torrent of energy continued to rise and rise until it had reached a tremendously high altitude.

The miniature sun finally exploded into an immensely powerful conflagration, that was just as, if not more powerful than an {Imploding Star} charged with a {Vampiric Star}.

'Dark Dragon, Ascending' in itself wasn't an attack. Rather, it provided the means for Cain to attack a target continuously, allowing him to dish out numerous attacks in quick succession.

As the Dark Dragon made them airborne, Cain didn't hesitate to launch an endless barrage of sword strikes. Stingè had a strange expression contorting his monstrous, yet graceful visage as he blocked all of Cain's blows with a pitch-black spear he had summoned from nowhere.

Hunter launched himself into the sky like a missile. With a loud roar, he smashed his heel towards Stingè's midsection. A crisp noise traveled through the air as Hunter's muscular leg smashed against the spear made from unknown materials.

"Tch!" Hunter clicked his tongue as a violent shudder traveled from the point of impact throughout his entire body.

He tried attacking with his summons who had somehow managed to leap into the air as well. However, they too were averted. The both of them continued to rain their attacks on Stingè, taking him higher and higher with each blow.

Crackles of explosive power rang out continuously as more and more blows were exchanged...

'I... I can't keep this up anymore.' Cain could feel his mind slipping already. Previously, his body had remained human for the most part, except when he activated {Golden Body} and {Rakshasa}.

Now, something was changing within him. And he could tell that it was caused by the Devil Essence streaming within his veins. The Nirvanic Circle veins seemed to respond perfectly to these changes. Devil Essence was pumped into all parts of his body vigorously by the veins.

And worst of all?

The changes progressed faster the more he fought. The battle seemed to drive these changes forward more and more...

His body wasn't the only thing changing. His mind and soul were also changing. Devil corruption was a fairly normal thing in the grand universe. It was one of the major reasons why so many mortal beings turned to the Celestials for worship when their homelands were invaded.

This was also why god remnants were very priceless. For creatures without access to the system, the only way to stop a Devil Corruption was by driving it away with a Celestial's divinity. Even the divinity of a weak god that had died in battle hundreds of millennia ago would take away all signs of corruption.

However, this would only work if there was an exchange of divinity. The reason why Cain was currently being afflicted by Devil Corruption despite having been in contact with the Divinity of more than one Celestial being in the past was because there had been no transfer of divinity in every single one of those encounters.

Those with systems could also turn towards the Celestial Beings for their aid in driving corruption away from them and their home planets. However, it wasn't something that required urgency. This was because corruption usually took a very long time to become a problem in a world as big as Urbus.

Also, the system made sure that Devil Corruption couldn't spread as fast in those it had deemed worthy. As they climbed higher in Tiers, the risk of them being corrupted by Devil Essence drew infinitely closer to zero.

Despite all these stopgaps that had been in place, Cain had still fallen victim to Devil Corruption. However, his case was very special. So special, that it hadn't been foreseen by the system...

And now that he was being corrupted, there was no way he could stop it. Once it was completed, he would become a mindless thrall of the Devils, capable of spreading only violence and death...

Grotting his teeth, Cain continued attacking...

'Even if I lose my mind, so what? I just have to take care of this guy before I do.'

Life was fickle, and all things living existed so they could die. Of death came to him, he would accep-

'Like hell, I would!'

With another loud roar, Cain spun the blade in his left hand violently. The blade sliced through the air towards Stingè's neck. The blade carried so much force, that the air around it was displaced violently and began to burn up. Still, the Demon grasped it firmly in his hands.

A small trickle of blood ran down his palm up to his elbow as the blade vibrated violently due to the force Cain poured into it.

Stingè looked down at his arm...

'Just a scratch...'

Indeed, it was just a scratch. It was the first attack that had managed to draw the vicious Demon's blood. What truly made Stingè infuriated was the fact that he had been harmed by two Tierless brats while he was a full Tier above them.

For the first time since the fight began, a trace of killing intent appeared on Stingè's face.

Suddenly, something caught his attention. The blade that he held in his right hand was very familiar.

'Hm? Could it be...'

When Stingè recognized the blade, a complicated expression appeared on his face.

An extremely powerful force suddenly shot through Cain and Hunter's bodies, causing them to weaken greatly...

"Damn it!"

"Shit!"

Both fell to the ground rapidly. A moment before impact, Cain activated {Wind Weaver}, while Hunter switched places with one of his summoned creatures.

The Dragon of darkness that had woven itself to life around Cain began to dissipate and he fell to his knees. A mouthful of black blood poured out of his mouth as he heaved and gagged.

"Don't move," Hunter said as he approached Cain.

"I-" Cain tried to speak but was too weak to do so. Walking up to him, Hunter pulled an HP regen potion from his inventory and fed it to him.

Downing the potion in one go, Cain felt some life return to his body. The passive restoration of {Draconic Transfiguration} had been active all this while. This meant that his vitality and HP were being drained rather quickly.

"One... one more," Cain said in a raspy voice.

Hunter sighed and pulled another one out of his inventory. Cain was still in his Rakshasa form. However, Hunter had a strange feeling, that this was going to be permanent. He didn't know what exactly it was. However, he could tell that Cain was no longer a hundred percent human.

He was changing... Which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

A loud crash ensued as Stingè descended onto the ground. Flapping the mighty wings at his back, he cleared the dust that had arisen. A layer of tremendous energy was now floating above his skin. The pressure he had emitted in the beginning had now doubled...

"That sword..." Stingè said as he stared Cain down.

Gritting his teeth, Cain used both swords to support himself to his feet. Ignoring his struggles, Stingè continued,

"That sword was made for me a long time ago by a skilled dwarven blacksmith. However, I outgrew it and decided to do away with it. Who would have thought I'd come across it once again in my life? Could this be fate?"

Cain's heart quivered... If he had been suspicious about anything before, this confirmation proved it all. Although he hadn't created it himself, the {Hand of Stingè} had indeed been used by Stingè in the past.