God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 449: Interlude.

Cain sat in an empty room. Scattered around him were numerous items of strange origins.

Some looked like scales and rocks, others like crystalized tears and colorful gems.

What they all had in common, however, was the dense elemental energy pouring off every one of them.

The four Beastwomen certainly didn't disappoint. Each and every item they got for him was a treasure. Still, what Cain wanted to use these things for was a mystery to the others.

Cain picked up a scale. He could feel the scorching presence of fire elemental mana within the object.

His control over mana had improved by leaps and bounds over time. Slowly, the volatile energy contained within the scale bled into his body and disappeared.

Disappeared into the {Elemental Vault}. Before he left, he didn't fill his Vault up to full capacity. As such, they wouldn't be able to amplify his elemental spells or skills to their greatest.

Now that he had acknowledged the danger of his foes, he wasn't going to hold anything back.

Although Lord Crimson was strong, so was Cain. The major reason why he had lost the last battle, was because he didn't want to reveal more than he had already shown.

While the display of power the Commander General had shown was concerning, it wasn't going to dissuade him. He believed that if he pulled out all the stops, not even that mighty figure would be able to stop him.

He took a deep breath,

'It's almost time. All the preparations are complete.'

Night had come and dawn was swiftly approaching. They had nothing more than a few hours to prepare.

Cain's mind wandered into his body. Using {Spirirt Sense}, coupled with the {Eye of Clairvoyance}, he could see through his own body and gaze at its mysteries.

He saw his mana, thick and viscous, flowing through the Ley Lines of his soul from his {Mana Heart}. Then, there was his Ki, flowing through the Nirvanic Circle veins within his body from his real heart

And then, there was something deeper. Something polluting these two energy sources. Inky black tendrils stretched from where his eyes couldn't see. The seed of Devillish influence. A Devil source.

While he wasn't a devil, nor would he ever be one, there was no doubt that he could become a Devil Thrall if things got out of hand. For now, he just pushed the repercussions out of his mind, but it was sure to come to bite him in the butt in the future.

Devil Essence is corrupted and polluted. Fortunately for him, the powers within his body weren't so easily dominated. Eventually, they had come to a consensus within him. The Devil Essence was allowed to flow unhindered, but with the condition that it didn't try to spread into his body.

As such, while he possessed the ability to use Devil Essence, his being wasn't being corrupted more than it already was.

Cain sighed, 'Devil Essence. I have to find a way to better control it. If I can't, it would be best to expel it from my body.'

He willed the power within him to move. Ki gushed out of him like a torrent of water and coalesced to form flames that burned on the surface of his palms. These flames didn't burn, but they were more dangerous than real flames. They were somehow able to render most defenses useless, allowing him to hit opponents where it hurt, much like Lord Crimson.

However, while his ability was incredible, it still fell short a bit. There were ways to go around defending oneself from the insidious ability. And that would be blocking his attacks with a weapon. Attacks that were blocked or parried with weapons were many times less effective than ones that weren't.

This was because weapons aren't considered defensive. A defensive move from a weapon was still, for all purposes, an attack.

Lord Crimson on the other had destroyed both defense and attack, making him a true danger. Cain had to come up with a way to deal with him. A plan began swirling in his head.

'It can work. However, it isn't very practical...'

The more he thought, the more ideas he scrapped and adjusted until eventually, he arrived at something passable. At that moment, he felt a presence come over him.

A small wave of hair passed by him and came to rest in front of him. Looking down, he didn't expect who he saw.

"What are you doing here?" Cain asked with a small smile.

Sue snorted at him and fixed an arrogant expression on her face,

"I come and go wherever I please!"

Cain raised his hands, "Sure, sure."

Seeing that she had come to find him especially, he knew there had to be a reason. It wasn't news to him that this cute, yet ferocious girl wasn't very fond of him.

"So... what do you want?" Cain asked calmly.

Silence...

A shy, almost embarrassed look appeared on her face,

"You... How do you think it is going to go?" She said after spending a few seconds fidgeting.

Cain seemed to understand her worries,

"Are you scared?"

She looked like she was struck by a bolt of lightning,

"What?! Me?! Scared?!"

Cain rolled his eyes. The moment he laid his eyes on her, Cain could tell something was wrong. Her arrogance and bad attitude were just a front to conceal the fear in her heart.

However, she had done a good job hiding it all this time. The question was why?

Why did she feel like she had to push through this fear? It was quite simple once he thought about it.

Cain sighed, "Well, just so you know you aren't the only one scared. I'm scared too."

Sue didn't seem to believe him, "You?"

In response, Cain said nothing, simply grabbing her dainty hand and placing it on his chest. She opened her mouth to complain but fell silent a second later.

She could feel it. His heartbeats were erratic, clear signs of someone who didn't have it all together.

'He's scared as well...'

Cain smiled, "I'm human. We all are. There's nothing new about having fear in your heart."

Cain hesitated for a while. He had no idea how to cheer her up with words. He wasn't knowledgeable about that sort of thing. But there was one thing he didn't know.

Without waiting for a response, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into his embrace. He had seen it somewhere. It was said that hugs could calm even the most frazzled of nerves. If a hug could do all that, then there was no need to talk too much, right?

Cain truly had no ill intentions. He was just a victim of his social inexperience that had now come to bite him in the butt.

'W-wha...' Sue's face turned bright red like a tomato. She simply stood there, starstruck by the sudden changes.

However, after a few seconds, she calmed down. There was something... soothing about this. The warmth radiating off of his body. It made her want to reach even deeper.

She had not come here looking for comfort. Instead, she had hoped to drop some of her worries on Cain. She wasn't brave and confident, yet kind like Jenny, nor was she calm under pressure like Li. She was just a scared girl who was forced to witness all she ever knew to crumble all around her.

She had decided to bury her fears and help her brother and Jenny to the best of her abilities. However, there was only so much she could do.

But...

He could feel her heartbeats slowly calm down back to a stable level.

Cain was beyond amazed, 'Incredible...'.

He had no idea this super move would actually work. Who would have thought that a hug was so powerful?

Sue returned the embrace, and they remained like that for a minute before a voice came from the ether, striking at the two unprepared fools.

"What are you two doing?!"

Jenny walked into the room, her expression dark as hell. Cain felt a chill run through his body. It was unexplainable. He didn't think he had done anything wrong, and yet, his body seemed to be telling him otherwise.

He couldn't explain it...

Sue was startled at first. However, she soon regained her composure. She started calmly at Jenny without saying anything. Both women seemed to communicate with just their gazes. Cain could only stare on uncomfortably...

***

In the end, Jenny had to drag Sue out of the room, while lecturing Cain about proper and improper behaviors between the opposite sex.

Cain heaved a sigh of relief...

Who would have thought the usually calm and collected Jenny would have such a rough side to her?

Cain sighed and forced it to the back of his head. He stared out the lone window in the room. He caught a glimpse of light rising aove the horizon.

Dawn had come...