God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

A wave of Ki rose out into the skies and parted the layers of pearly blankets covering the firmaments up above.

Standing in the middle of that pillar of blazing energy, was Cain. His broken body was being violently mended by the Ki running wild within his body. The ground beneath him had shattered into a million pieces due to the pressure that continued to increase with each passing second.

The battle in the distance had stopped the moment Cain had awoken...

However, he was only partially conscious. Right now, as a side effect of using the incredibly violent Ki, he had temporarily lost a lot of his mental faculties.

"So you are the special human Mother informed me about..." Forza said as he kicked Hunter away. Hunter let out a pitiful howl of pain as he smashed into the ground and shivered in pain and exhaustion. Since Hunter had fought for so long in his powered state, it was very hard for him to continue.

Cain didn't answer Forza and just stood there with hollow eye sockets...

His body had been restructured, but not the way it had been previously. Regardless of how strong he was, his body still couldn't bear the power of Ki.

In his {Golden Body} state, not only was he bearing pain that was exponentially greater than the pain he had to deal with when using {Golden Blood}, but he also had to deal with the pain of having his body break down in one second and reform in the next.

His body was completely covered with a layer of golden Ki. It was also filled with glowing red cracks, each crack sizzling with boiling blood. He remained the same height, and the length of his hair had doubled in the least. His eyes looked like hollow shells, and a short horn was growing out from the center of his forehead.

"Cain..." Susan who sat on the ground beside him was speechless at his sudden transformation. He had suddenly stood up even as his body was falling apart.

Cain stood stillborn for a while without responding to any external stimuli...

***

{Congratulations to the host... The skill, {Golden Blood} has evolved to a new tier...}

{Level Up!}

{Level Up!}

{Level Up!}

{Level Up!}

{Level Up!}

{+200 to all stats...}

{Golden Body}: The power of a celestial being now flows within the body of the host, granting incredible fleshy might unlike anything belonging to a mortal. Upon activation, all physical stats are multiplied by 4. Consumes 1000HP and 1000 Ki points per second as well as 10 points of stamina per second to maintain. Subjects the body of the user to incredibly great pain and strain.

When in use, the host will lose all ability to use any other source of power}. (10,000/1,000,000 SP).

{The title, Champion of Ashur had been partially activated...}

{Champion of Ashur}(locked): Inheritor of the legacy of the golden dragon, Ashur. Partially enabled. The power of a mysterious and powerful ancient celestial beast with incredible control over its immense fleshy power and extraordinary intelligence.

To activate the initial level of the legacy of the Golden Dragon, a total of one hundred scales of antiquity must be condensed. These scales can only be created through brutal mental and physical training by the host. Only when the host's body is at its peak potential would he be able to absorb even more power...

Requirements: Level 50, Tier 1.

Next Upgrade: Level 100, Tier 2.

(Total Number of Antiquity Scales Generated): 0/100.

***

Despite all the information flowing into his head from the system, he was still in a state between consciousness and insanity...

"RAGHHHHHHHHH!" Cain let out a scream filled with pain, fury, and discontent that seemed to be capable of splitting the clouds.

BOOM!

The pitch-black blades in his hands exploded with a baleful aura that shot out of the blades vertically upwards like two pillars of flames. Even though it was night, one would still be able to distinguish the black aura of the {Devil's Broken Claws}.

He took a wobbly step forward, then a more stable one, then another, then another...

BOOM!

In a split second, he had gone from running at normal human speed to breaking the sound barrier in the next then approaching supersonic speed.

Since Cain didn't have access to his mana, the only things he could rely on were his pure base stats. His agility and strength stats were both significantly above the 500-point mark, and his control was also very high, so when influenced by the {Golden Body} skill, his agility and strength alone surpassed the 2000-point mark.

At that moment, even though the {Flame Devil} was a powerful and enormous devil, Cain was at the very least, twice as strong as it was.

Forza who had always been looking down on the humans of Urbus finally felt a huge sense of fear, unlike anything it had ever seen before. It had not even taken the previous fight with the others seriously and was only fighting with less than half of its true power.

Gripping onto the black hilt of its blade, it let out a war cry filled with rage.

"Flaming Sword of Hell!"

The huge blade of the {Flame Devil} exploded with a flame that was so hot, it could burn the world if it was large enough.

This skill was a combination of its {Flaming Sword} and {Flame Hell} skills. Not only did this attack multiply its attack power numerous times over, but it also gave it added strength and movement speed, allowing it to be able to keep up with Cain's speed.

In the blink of an eye, a massive inferno was created around Forza. For those who had been fighting Forza just a few minutes ago, the ones that could still stand on their feet had helped the unconscious or terribly injured ones away.

They had long since retreated far into the distance and watched as Cain and Forza clashed.

"At least he didn't disappoint..." Steve said with a pained smile as he fought back the tears he held. He had suffered various degrees of burns during the fight. Some of which even burned him down to his bones.

The others fared even worse...

The melee fighters had it worse because they had to come in direct contact with the flames of Forza. Hence, they suffered even more damage than Steve who was a ranged attacker.

Vincent stood to the side with his hand pressed against his ribs. A lot of blood could be seen seeping through his clothes as he coughed up a mouthful of black soot.

"Tch! And we have run out of MP and HP potions... Even worse, I haven't had a single thing to eat for the last week..." He had a bummed-out and sad expression on his face.

"How do you know he will be able to defeat that thing?" Li asked. He had a whole layer of bandages covering his hands that had at least a few layers of skin and flesh burned away by the effects of his skill, {Plasma Burst}.

"Kekeke... Let's just say only the future can tell." Steve responded with a mysterious smile as he let his eyes wander back toward the battle between Cain and Forza.

"Right now, that fight isn't something we can be a part of. That Cain... Something tells me he isn't like us. He's different." Vincent had a look of amazement on his face as he also stared at their battle.

"You three! Stop slacking!" Blaze yelled at the three rascals. On the ground beside them, Dan, Hunter, and Manny lay on the ground completely unconscious. Susan, Ruby, and David were a bit closer to the battleground, but since they were protected by Susan, Blaze didn't even bother to do anything more as she would be able to protect them far better than anything he could do.

They each picked an unconscious body and threw them over their shoulders, walking farther away from the battlefield. Jenny, the only girl present was exempted from the labour. She had also been silently watching, preparing to observe the impending battle between Cain and Forza.

"Hehehe... Didn't you want to compete with Cain before?" Vincent narrowed his eyes as he started at Blaze with a provocative smile.

"Hmph! Only an idiot will try to compete with that monster. I know my limits now..." Despite his words, Blaze didn't look angry or sad in any way. In fact, he had a smile on his face. A smile that showed he was without any bad feelings.

"Let's just hope he actually can defeat that thing. If he doesn't..." Li had a complicated expression on his face as he gazed at Jenny who was busy staring at Cain who looked like a creature straight out of hell...

Cain on the other hand had turned into a blazing meteor of light and darkness. The extremely brilliant crimson and gold illuminance poured out from his body to create the light, while the abyssal haze from his two blades created the darkness.

"Grrrrrrrrr!!!" One look at Cain was enough for one to know he was completely out of it. The ground beneath and everywhere he passed through was completely destroyed due to the sheer wind pressure exerted by his speed and otherworldly leg strength.

Despite his momentary insanity, his knowledge of how to hold a blade for the purpose of murder hadn't left him at all. In fact, he had gained a ferocity he lacked before.

A guttural growl escaped from his throat as his eyes seemed to ignite with flames. Since they were both moving at incredible speeds, the difference in their velocities was only relative. For the {Flame Devil} Cain was moving extremely fast, while to Cain, the devil was moving at a normal pace at best.

"Grah!" With a grunt, Forza swung its blade down with enough force to split a mountain in two.

Since Cain was now airborne, there was no way he could avoid the very carefully timed strike.

"Naive human... My race has existed for eons. Do you really think power is all about high stats? Without the skills to handle such power, it is as good as-"

Before Forza could finish speaking, Cain's speed suddenly increased drastically. Mid-flight, he twisted his body so well, he was able to avoid touching the flames that poured out of the devil's blade.

Once he had dodged Forza's attack, he dished his as well...

Crossing the two black blades, he gathered all his strength and kicked against the air, creating a shockwave that destroyed the ground beneath them.

Cain twisted the blade in his right hand over the hilt of the second in such a way that the two acted like incredibly sharp scissor blades.

SLICHK!

BANG!

In the blink of an eye, the arm holding onto the huge blade dropped to the ground, alongside a river of blood that gushed out of the devil's armless stump.