God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 437: Not a Pushover.

Cain was no pushover himself. With a chilling growl, he was already swinging the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} at the incoming cleaver.

Magma-like Ki and sludge-like Devil Essence surged through the blade, a testament to how concentrated the energy he poured through the blade was.

The moment the two clashed, the world was filled with a bright flash. A loud clang resonated throughout the prison, and men were forced to cover their ears.

The stone beneath their feet crumbled to dust as a frightening energy shockwave shot out in all directions.

The prison commander took a few steps back, sizing Cain up. His eyes went over the blade in his hands, and he was not surprised to see that it was extremely dented at the point of contact, with a series of cracks running along its surface.

"Seems like I gave you less credit than you deserve."

Although the cleaver's quality was good, it unfortunately couldn't compare to quenched Fiend Steel, one of the strongest materials in the universe. Cutting through such an inferior weapon was not going to be an issue.

Cain's face was a bit pale, 'This bastard sure is a hard hitter.'

"Vivane, what are you waiting for? Let's put him down together." The giant commander said, his eyes still locked on Cain.

The woman snorted as she walked towards them,

"I thought you had it under control?" Despite her words, electricity flashed from the gloves on her palms.

Cain could tell this woman was bad news the moment he saw her. However, he wasn't very concerned. His resistance to Lightning would come in very handy when dealing with this woman.

Brandishing his blade, Cain dashed at them...

"You help out as well, Vulture," Vivane said to the figure cloaked in black. A sigh rang out from the individual, but it was shortly followed by a series of extremely fast chanting, the fastest Cain had ever heard.

The black-robed individual pointed his staff at Cain a second later and proclaimed the name of his spell.

"Ice Storm."

It all went from zero to a hundred very fast. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of extremely sharp icicles extruded from magic circles, emanating a frosty energy. They then shot at Cain with speed that could put bullets to shame.

Cain was extremely surprised, 'What the hell is with that short chant time?'

Almost all spells, especially the stronger ones, required some form of incantation, or chant to help realize them better into existence. Speaking these words of power was usually very tasking. That was why individuals like the man in black were very dangerous.

The power of spells was nothing to laugh at. The sky rumbled as a curtain of frosty death approached him.

Then again, Cain was no pushover. His eyes burned with a devastating flame as he formed a strange hand sign.

"Infernal Celestial Art: Flame Orbs."

The sky was immediately filled with the twisting orbs of burning flames, each one containing a cast amount of mana.

The man in black couldn't help but exclaim,

"What the hell?! I thought he was a fighter! He's a mage as well?!"

The icicles stood no chance as they were melted away. A few {Flame Orbs} managed to survive the magical clash and headed straight for the black-robed individual. With a wave of his hand, a translucent dome-shaped barrier was created, protecting him from the scalding heat.

Seeing that they wouldn't serve any purpose like that, Cain threw the {Flame Orbs} into the crowd of guards, setting a few of them on fire.

The guard commanders barely batted an eye at this. Instead, their faces were filled with frowns. This time, they didn't dare attack separately.

Someone that had been captured by the regular guards, they expected to be weak. This young man was anything but weak. He had to have infiltrated the prison intentionally.

Swinging his cleaver in a wide semi-circle, the giant man was like a storm of death as he approached. Cain's body was suddenly wreathed in flames as he drew closer. He had activated the {Flame Enchantment}.

This enchantment increased his attack power greatly, at the devastating cost of also reducing his defenses. Still wreathed in flames, he activated {Ki Fire}.

The plan was to end this fight as fast as possible.

Suddenly, the woman, Vivane, charged into the fray as well. She was fast, very fast. Almost as fast as Manny. In the blink of an eye, she was only three feet away from him.

Her hands seemed to belch pure destruction as a beam of plasma erupted from her like a geyser. Cain's face paled. He had seen such power before.

The reason Jenny was such a dangerous character was because of her plasma bullet attacks that seemed to completely ignore the defenses of her opponents.

'Not today, damn it!'

His free hand spun as he formed hand seals whilst chanting.

"Golden Halo."

"Infernal Wings."

Two layers of protection immediately enveloped him. Although the plasma was dangerous, it wasn't as concentrated as Jenny's bullets.

As such, he was able to block them fine.

The three guards made a frightening combo. However, Cain had been through hell and back, his skills and techniques polished by the constant threat of death. Ideals, resolve, and power... These three couldn't compare to him in any of these...

"Abyssal Crimson Slash."

With one swing of his sword, the earth cracked and trembled. T'jane sensed the devastation behind this single attack and quickly plucked the shield hanging on his back off.

The shield was made with materials that possessed magical damping properties. It could easily dissipate energy. As such, most attacks lost all their power against them. The quality of this shield was even better than the ones the other guards used.

However, {Ki Fire} could only be described as the bane of all defenses. This flame didn't kill. Rather, it broke down the very nature of all that could be categorized as defense.

Against a full-power {Abyssal Crimson Slash}, the shield was blasted back, a deep scar marring its surface.

Cain took another step forward, his body glowing with energy. Twirling around, he borrowed the force of his momentum to attack again.

T'jane saw this and eagerly countered, placing his shield in the way of the sword and striking with his own from another angle.

The two men exchanged blows rapidly, the air around them becoming hotter due to friction. Vivane was also a terrifying character, as she periodically snuck up on him to try to melt him to bits.

However, his vigilance was up all the time.

Still, he was losing energy, rapidly at that. His stamina was now almost completely spent, and his mana was sadly on the saw.

Just a few minutes in, and the entire courtyard was a scene from the Great Devastation. Bodies of dead guards steamed in place, blood flowing like a river.

The three Guard Commanders stared at Cain, their eyes burning with the flame of wrath.

How could this be? How was he able to hold on for this long? It was an insult to their pride.

T'jane was like a limbering titan awoken from slumber...

"No more messing around. I want you dead!"

The giant man made a move to attack, but Cain was faster. In the blink of an eye, he turned around and ran straight for Manny who looked like he had just come out of a meat grinder. His opponent didn't look any better, and both seemed to be struggling to even move let alone swing their blades.

With a well-placed kick, Cain sent the man in black flying, then grabbed Manny who fainted the moment he entered his grasp.

Vivane called out hysterically, "Stop them! Do not allow them to get away!"

The guards, as well as their commanders, all rushed at Cain and Manny, fully intent on burying them under a mountain of corpses.

Cain's face was calm, "We will meet again." That was all he said. Their battle wasn't over. Not yet at least...

He used the last ebbs of mana flowing within him to tear open a spatial gate, using {Spatial Jump} to pass through.

When the commanders arrived, all that was left, was a hollow cold wind.

"Fuck! This is bad!". The mask of indifference Vivane wore finally broke.

"Lord Crimson might have our heads today." The man in the black robe said with a sigh.

T'jane had an inexpressive look on his face,

"Move out. Search the entire city for traces. Communicate with the eastern and southern guard forces so they can close in on them as well. They aren't escaping today."

Many guards had become collateral damage during the fight. However, a good number of them, generously greater than half, had survived the altercation.

"Yes, Sir!"

Even though their comrades lay dead on the ground, their steely resolves didn't shake. That was what it meant to be a soldier. Live for the land, die for the land. That was their way of life, especially when it was actively being threatened by the Heretical terrorists.

Soon, the entire capital city of Duskmore would be embroiled in chaos. A total lockdown and a manhunt would be established as well.

The heretics would not be allowed to escape.

"As for Lord Crimson, leave him to me to deal with. The two of you should go look for them as well."

Vivane had a deep frown on her face,

"Where could they have come from? News of someone this strong joining the heretics should have reached us by now."

T'jane sighed "It doesn't matter now. We need to deal with this mess before it truly gets out of hand. The Devil horde is fast approaching. If we have to deal with these heretics and that at the same time, then there will be only one fate for us "

With that, the giant of a man left, leaving the beautiful, yet sadistic woman and the enigma with the black cloak to their own devices.

"Fuck this! Come on, let's go." Vivane cursed, then called out to the figure in black.

"What's the plan?" The assassin in black asked as he joined up with the two. He still limped a little from the kick Cain had given him.

"I'll send my Sentry Automatons out. If those bastards so much as show their asses, we'll sweep them out." Vivane said, her eyes dripping with cold malice and a very well-hidden hunger.

***

Meanwhile, Cain collapsed to the ground the moment he leaped out of the spatial tear. He was thoroughly spent.

'Now's not the time to rest.' He reluctantly pulled himself from the ground.

Slapping Manny awake and feeding him an HP Regen potion, the two of them immediately started moving. With the {Dark Soul}, Cain was easily able to find the traces Vincent and Blaze had left behind.

The capital city was huge. There were several opulent and magnificent buildings. However, it still wasn't perfect. The city was separated into caste systems. The poor commoners also had a place in the city.

'This is the best place to hide out.' Cain thought to himself.

They quickly met up with Vincent, Blaze, and Hunter. Floki finally woke up. However, his face was ashen, a testament to how much blood he had lost.

They were hidden in the cellar of a semi-broken-down home with no one living in it. It was the perfect place to hide for now.

'Now then...'

Cain suppressed the terrible hunger afflicting him with a sigh. Then he turned to look at his men who looked back at him with their red eyes.

'What do we do now?'