God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 436: Dissonance.

Cain and his assailant locked eyes...

Both seemed to stare death in the face as without hesitation, they chose to jump back at the same time.

'Bastard!'

Although he had baited the coward out, Cain had to admit that his speed was something else. If he wasn't expecting him, his head would have been sent flying.

'No wonder...' The more Cain thought about it, the more he got infuriated. Not the kind of fury where one lost themselves in mindless anger.

No, it was a more subtle, yet fierce type of fury...

His two visual skills were atovated, causing him to see the world completely different. Any human that stared into his strange eyes would be instantly overcome with a crippling fear. His eyes didn't belong to a normal human.

The man who attacked from the shadows seemed to sense this as he leapt back again, causing Cain to frown.

He was obviously male, with a small stature, a head of black hair and dark eyes, holding a short blade with no guard. The blade and the grip were extensions of each other.

The man standing before him looked like he existed in two planes at once, making it very difficult for one to keep twuir attention on him for long. The moment your eyes strayed, he would poke a hole in your neck.

Cain could only imagine how dangerous the bastard was.

"So turns out you truly are an agent for the Devils." The man spoke in a surprisingly clear tone.

Cain answered coldly, "I don't know what bullshit you idiots are on, but I'm too tired to keep up with it. If you want to fight, come."

Cain didn't want to waste any more time. The time limit for the Trial was just a measley three days. A good part of the first day was already gone, and they had barely.made any progress.

Contrary to his belief, his provocations didn't work on the short assassin. Instead, he just stared at him with blanck eyes.

Suddenly, and ominous feeling descended on Cain...

Nothing good ever came of an opponent stalling.

'He's buying time for reinforcement since he knows he can't take me down alone.'

Cain's conclusion was accurate. However, he had arrived at it far too late.

BOOM!

Since they their backs were directly facing the outer prison walls, they were forced to confront all the guard pouring out of the main prison hold. They were able to hold out with only two people thanks purely to their skills. However, now was the moment where just skills wouldn't be enough.

A section of the wall of the main prison suddenly came down like a stack of wet bricks, revealing a giant of a man dressed head to toe in a beautifully crafted guard uniform armor. Beside him was the woman who had tried to torture him with electricity. There was also one man wearing a black draped robe with gold linings at the hem and edges accompanying them. He held a long mage's staff.

Almost immediately the crowd of guards stopped their furious assault.

"Commanders!"

The giant guard lifted a hand, "Stop. Stand down at once."

Like parts of a well oiled machine, the guards slowly backed away from Cain and Manny in unison.

"Erm, Boss... why do I feel tense all of a sudden." Manny's face contorted slightly as he leaned in closer to Cain and whispered.

Cain ignored him, his attention focused solely on the three individuals that just approached.

'We are done for.'

With how visual abilities, he could roughly estimate how strong individual creatures were, since the system didn't provide him with any information like that.

As such, he was able to see very clearly, that without going to extraordinary lengths, he stood no chance against these three.

The guard captain slowly walked closer. His heavy voice was like a crashing waterfall as he spoke,

"Heretic. You have been deemed worth of judgement and yet you try to escape fate?"

The woman gave Cain a leveled stare,

"T'jane... Don't bother with all this. That guy is strong. It's best to cut him down now."

The person in the black robe turned to her, "You just want new samples for your experiments, don't you..."

The woman waved her hand, "That's not important. Let's kill the Heretic first."

'What's all this talk about Heretics?' Cain was a bit perplexed.

'Could it be that this is a clue? A clue to figuring out what this trial is? Heretics, huh...'

Although he didn't understand everything, Cain decided to play along. He had to gain more information.

His face contorted into an evil grin,

"Yes, I am a Heretic. However, I have no plans to die here."

"Wait, seriously?! You really are a Heretic?!" Manny whispered under his breath as he stared at Cain with shock.

Cain fought off the urge to smack him with the sharp edge of how weapon and continued.

He grinned, "I still have something important to do before I go off. I can't have you idiots ruining things."

The woman seemed to understand as she finally pulled out a pair of stylishly designed gloves. They were black with silver markings on them.

"I see. Then your mission must have something to do with the recent attacks from the Devil horde, right? In that case, I'm afraid we'll have to ask you to stay still as we'd like to bring you in for more questioning. If you fail to comply, you will be cut down like your friend over there." The woman's voice we're as cold and uncaring as her expression.

Cain whispered to Manny, "Take this guy on. I'll handle these three. Five minutes. We have to give the others time to get some distance. After that, we'll make a break for it."

"Roger." Manny said. Brandishing his blades, a grin slowly appeared on his face as he turned to stare at the dark haired assassin.

"Sorry, bud. Looks like I'll be facing you."

The dark haired assassin's eyes were like pools of ossicilating dark waves,

"I'll deal with you later. Step away."

Manny didn't say any other thing. Instead, he dropped the two blade he held in both hands to the ground. The blades were so sharp, they cut through the hard cobblestone like butter.

He brought his hands up and created a strange hand seal. A burst of energy exploded out of his body, engulfing him completely.

This energy, was Devil Essence. Manny's face became serious as words flowed out of his mouth,

"Devil Arms: Cursed Armament Infusions."

The Devil Essence pouring out of his body immediately compressed into two distinct shapes attached to his lower body. They were two pitch black, muscular arms.

They both moved according to Manny's will, grabbing the two blades that had fallen to the ground while his two real arms reached for the other two blades on his back.

His eyes gleamed with an excited lunacy...

"Little shadow man. You'll be able to entertain me enough today."

The assassin snorted, "Parlor tricks.", Then immediately phased out of existence. He didn't truly phase out, however. He was justoving too fast for regular eyes to percieve. However, Manny was no slouch.

With a single step, he also disappeared from sight. Suddenly, the sounds of clashes filled the entire courtyard as Manny engaged with the assassin. Both were moving so fast, slipping through the gmcrowd of guards and attacking one another. However, none of the guard seemed to notice them at all.

Meanwhile, Cain faced off against the three latest arrivals...

"Heretic, it is not to late to change your ways. Perhaps, there.moght still be redemption for you. However, you need to be ready to cooperate with us." The giant man said in a soft voice that didn't match his external appearance.

Cain sighed, "Would you liot cut this Heretic stuff out? I've heard it enough."

His tone dropped a few degrees, "I've come to understand that I won't be able to make you lot see reason. As such, there's only one thing to do."

The guard commander sighed, "Is there no other way?"

The woman shrugged as she stared at Cain. Her eyes showed not a single change in expression,

"He seems resolute. Besides, the Crimson Lord would never allow Heretics to live on. He's doomed either way. Do not sell him false hope."

The guard seemed to understand as he nodded,

"I'm sorry. Looks like this is where your line ends." The giant man said as he reached behind him. A gigantic cleaver the size of a man was pulled out from behind him. From the runes on the blade, Cain could tell that it was no ordinary weapon.

Cain didn't respond, simply pulling out both the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} and {Platinum Genesis}. There was no point in taking now. He planned on going all out, so it was time to get serious.

The crowd parted. Suddenly, there was no obstacles between him and the guard commander. The giant man took a spet, causing the entire prison to quake.

'He's definitely got monstrous strength. I better watch out for-'

With but a single step, the giant of a man turned into a speeding bullet, arriving before Cain before he could even blink. The giant cleaver descended from on high, intending on splitting him apart and exposing his innards to the world.

There was no time to blink, there was no time to speak, there was no time to think. In battle, a single moment of inaction was usually very costly.

Cain hadn't expected someone so large to move with such frightening speed. As the giant bladed edge approached, he could tell that the ensuing battle was going to be one of the most dangerous fights he had ever been engaged with.