God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'Should I use it?'

Hunter was torn between two choices...

On one end, he could use the skill he had in mind and embark on a journey of no return. He wouldn't be able to turn the hands of time if he regretted it, and he would have to live with the choice he made for all eternity. It was his final trump card, something he was so confident in, so much so that he was willing to bet his life on it.

A skill so grand, he was not sure he could bear the consequences.

However, the other choice was just as bad, if not worse. The first choice offered him great power at a cost, while the second meant remaining as he was.

Weak...

As a 'No trigger', Hunter understood that to survive in a lawless world filled with terrifying nightmarish creatures like the mutants and devils, he couldn't stay the way he was for too long. The system could only provide so much help.

Only those who were ready to sacrifice when it counted would acquire true power...

"To attain true power, I must first this useless mortal body and attain the coil of a being capable of soaring into the heavens..." Hunter whispered to himself words that only he could understand.

"Are you ready? You don't look like you are." Blaze gazed at Hunter from the corner of his eyes.

"I'm ready..." Hunter answered curtly and with no facial expression.

Blaze was silent for a while before a small smile appeared on his face...

"You beat me the last time we fought... Although I find it hard to reconcile, it is what happened and I can't really deny it." Blaze said as he gripped the shaft of his spear tighter.

"However, over the last day or so, I've gotten many times stronger. So strong, you wouldn't believe it."

The flames surrounding Blaze seemed just as hot as the flames within the sun, burning bright and everlasting.

"What are you trying to say?" The stoic expression on Hunter's face broke for the first time.

"If you keep hesitating, you'll end up losing..." Blaze said with a smile before turning back to the devil army with a serious expression. He raised his spear toward the sky and began a chant as well, his target the approaching devil army.

"Falanel, you're up!" Jamiel said to the frost attribute devil, Falanel who rushed towards them beside him.

Immediately, Falanel began chanting in the devil's tongue. Thick clouds of ice rushed in from all four directions into a magic circle that appeared just above their heads as the devil began its chant as well.

"Everyone else spread out!" Since they had become so few, they decided to spread out, as their encirclement strategy had already served its purpose. Since they could, the devils had also absorbed the power of the other dead Hulking Behemoths. Hence, with every single kill, the Hulking Behemoths only grew stronger.

However, in the face of all this, Blaze did nothing but put them to the test of flames...

Blaze had his eyes closed as he began, "O benevolent flame, o wicked scourge. Devour my enemies, and let my foes feel your warm illumination and violent heat. Reduce them to bones, then to ash, until nothing of them is left in this world. Burn! Bright flame, burn!"

"White Flame Purification..."

The ability to control flames was frightening both to the caster and the one on the receiving end. It was possible to lose control of a spell, then die due to a lack of safety measures.

However, since Blaze had a 100% affinity for the fire element, and it was the only element he had control over, he was able to focus all his attention on it. Over the last week, he managed to get a good grasp and understanding of the element and the fundamental principles guiding its usage.

With all these factors at play, it was only natural he would be capable of causing chaos in the devil's army.

BOOM!

His spear turned into a streak of white light as it left his hand when he threw it at the devils that were too busy rushing at them in hopes of tearing them limb from limb.

They all lost sight of the spear as it flew towards the chanting devil, Falanel. The devil had its eyes pop out of its sockets as it immediately stopped its spell and tried to dodge out of the way, but was too slow. Before anyone knew it, the spear had already struck it on its chest.

Without a sound, the {Hulking Behemoth} was instantly disintegrated. It turned into dust without leaving any traces behind. The only thing noteworthy was that the spear had left created and left behind a huge crater with a pool of magma at the center in its wake...

Everything else behind the {Hulking Behemoth} was also reduced to dust. This included about 9 more Hulking Behemoths. In a single second, the rest of the devil army had been reduced by a fifth.

Blaze instantly spat out a mouthful of blood as he struggled to stand. He stabbed the blade of his spear into the ground and used it to support his entire body...

"That's all I have left for now." He said as he gazed at the rabid devil army that still rushed at them.

"I leave the rest to you guys..."

"What are you all doing?! Attack! Attack them harder! Sacrifice your lives for the Mother's goal! Do-" The lightning elemental devil that was leading the devils attacking with spells yelled hard with evident rage as he jumped up and down with sparks of lightning running all over its body.

Despite how strong it was, it also had limited stamina. After dodging Jenny's deadly accurate shots for so long, it had already grown weary and its stamina was also running low.

Dodging another dangerous shot from Jenny, an expression of intense rage filled its eyes as it roared with all its might.

"Ragh!!! I'm going to rip you to shreds, insolent human!" The devil made a grave mistake and chose to dive in for close combat with Jenny.

"Big mistake..." Jenny has a tired, but confident smirk on her face as her eyes took on a bright purple glow.

Her sights locked onto the charging devil that blitzed across the battlefield like a bolt of lightning. In less than a second, it had crashed straight through David's {Crimson Dome}, shattering it in the process and causing David to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Meanwhile, Jenny was at the peak of her concentration as she squeezed hard on her trigger.

She poured all of her mana into her weapon, all the runic symbols on it lighting up in the process. A huge shit was built up faster than usual, and a small, yet frightening bullet of mana appeared at the muzzle of her rifle.

Upon seeing this, the lightning attribute devil tried to dodge by using its exceptional movement skills to move in a zigzag pattern even as it approached.

Unfortunately, it couldn't escape the power of Jenny's devil eyes...

BANG!

An earthshaking sound followed after the shot. It flew straight at the approaching devil and quickly went through its head like a hot knife cutting through butter. It didn't stop there as it quickly exploded once it was inside the devil's head.

It didn't cause any drastic damage to the surroundings because all the power and energy was concentrated on that tiny bullet.

The smell of burnt flesh was evident as the headless corpse of the devil collapsed to the ground. Before its body fell to the ground, it had already turned into black dust, just like the devils before it, becoming one with the forest floor.

"Phew..." Jenny exhaled a breath of hot air as she put her rifle down and rested her sore shoulders.

"I've done my part..." Jenny said before collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.

***

Meanwhile...

Cain finally gained clarity of mind. Oddly enough, while he was out of it, the {Phantasma} hadn't attacked him yet and was simply waiting for him to come back to reality with a serene expression on his face.

"This is a spell created from the congregation of all my understanding of the elements of fire and earth. Should you survive this, you will still be too weak to resist as I drag your broken body to Mother."

The battle had already reached its climax...

Despite them destroying a majority of the devil army, the devil army was still as strong, or maybe even stronger. This was because, with every devil that died, the living ones would see a great increase in their power.

When Blaze had killed 10 more of the Hulking Behemoths, their power had risen so much, that even with Li, Blaze, Hunter, and Manny going all out, they still had a tough time holding the devils down...

The fight had turned into a primal brawl of sweat and blood as the humans on Cain's side acquired more and more injuries as time went by.

The battle was already approaching the ninth-hour mark and midnight was almost upon them...

The light of the earth-destroying spell above them poured down on the battlefield, illuminating Cain's serene expression.

Taking a deep breath, Cain began to chant...

A spell was not just a means to attack. It was a direct manifestation of the natural laws bent according to the caster's will. A magic circle linked the spiritual plane to the physical plane, allowing the caster control over the elements, while a chant helped in activating and boosting the power of a powerful spell according to the caster's current standards...

A deep blue magic circle appeared around Cain's wrist. At the same time, the already dark clouds turned even darker as a huge magic circle similar to the one around Cain's wrist appeared in the skies above, directly above the magic circle created by the {Phantasma}.

"For some reason, my body cannot bear the chaotic element of lightning because of the existence of an even more violent energy. The two of them clashing within me will result in my immediate death." Cain began while staring at the magic circle around his wrist. It was covered in mysterious runes, unlike anything he had ever seen.

He had read a decent portion of magic circles in the [Records of Akasha], and he had never seen anything like it.

The {Phantasma} had a cold look on its face as it spoke, "You might be able to use the lightning element, but as long as I don't use any soul spells, you will-'

J'orntz's words caused Cain to burst out laughing, "Even I, with my strong body can't endure this level of lightning, what makes you think you can?"

"We devils have exceptionally powerful bodies. Even with the limitations imposed upon us by this world, we still possess one of the strongest bodies in the domain of the Nomad..." The {Phantasma} said with a small smirk.

Cain let out a soft chuckle, "In that case, here you go..."

The chant was short, yet the words of power echoed within the depths of every soul that heard them...

"Blue Lightning, embodiment of pure destruction and chaos, answer the call of my soul and descend from the heavens to reduce all that is before me to ash."

Seeing that Cain was ready to release his spell, J'orntz let his own spell fall as well by bringing his hand down to the ground.

"Blue Lightning..."

"Elemental Control: Cataclysmic Downpour of Earth and Fire."

BOOM!!!

All that followed were earth-shattering rumbles and quakes as the ground beneath them was reduced to dust by the violent clash between elements...