God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Between a prey and predator, there exists only one relationship;

Death...

A thing of dark beauty with the ultimate victory being the one who escapes, or the the one who feeds...

Asphyxia, hemorrhage, mutilation with claws and fangs; There are numerous ways for a predator to drain the life from its prey.

However, not all prey are built the same...

Still, they all possess the same heart. They do not want to be killed, eaten... devoured.

This means the prey will develop means to keep their lives. Fight or flee...

Being the prey or predator is all about perspective, and right now, Cain could tell, with absolute certainty what he was...

Staring into the devilish green eyes of the abysmal creature, he could feel the shivers running down his spine.

Despite that, he didn't feel the urge to run.

His pupils dilated, 'Its strong. But I can beat it.'

With a tremendous burst of speed, he burst into action. Igniting the flames of his spirit, a subtle, almost invincible flame surrounded his body, increasing his speed even more.

A layer of tenebrous energy surrounding his gauntlets alongside a smoldering, almost solid, crimson fire.

And even then, the crimson fire changed as Cain activated the Hellflames of Grief that scourges all things living.

To put things into perspectives, he had become a living catastrophe...

'What is this?' The Devil asked itself.

Never before had it felt a fear as crippling before, especially not infront of a lower being like a human.

It was inexplicable, unfathomable, and yet filled with terror. A presence that could only be achieved after spilling and drinking blood.

The blood of its kind...

And so, with a rage that consumed all things, the {Miasma Devil}, Greotes, launched forward.

Its tentacles bulged and contorted as sharp spikes emerged from its bulbous outgrowths.

Cain's pupils shrunk even further as he dodged the rapidly descending tentacles at speeds that were hardly human.

Lurking forward, he came across a tentacle that was unavoidable in his current position. And so, without any other option, he heaved backwards, and let an absolutely devastating blow forward..

The descriptions of the skills {Heavy as Grief} and {Light as a Feather} for {Gihenai} were vague at best. This was because sometimes, the system's interpretation of the complex magical systems that gave birth to the spells themselves weren't wholly accurate.

As such, it was always good to take its interpretation with a grain of salt.

This was the situation with the skill attachments {Heavy as Grief} and {Light as a Feather}.

Because apart from what the system stated they could do, they also had various functions.

And Cain was lucky enough to see one of them being brought to life in the flesh...

Feeling the immense amount of weight build up in his arms, Cain felt the urge to let it all go.

And so, without hesitation, he let it all go. Like a heart eager to shed all its grief.

The result... was an earth shattering blow that turned the Devil's tentacles into black, bloody rain. The shockwave continued unperturbed until it reached the wide-eyed Devil.

At the last second, Greotes managed to pull in a few more tentacles to stop the force of the blow.

In return, the tentacles were destroyed, and it was launched backwards like a bullet, smashing into the femur bone of the bovine skeleton.

Cain dropped back to the earth with his feet, staring at his gauntlets with wide eyes.

"Woah..." He couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

As it turned out, {Heavy as Grief} and {Light as a Feather} could be taken literally...

Thinking about it, Cain could see the similarities between the {Heavy as Grief} of {Gihenai} and {Heavy as a Mountain} of the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame}.

The main difference between the two, was that the blade became heavier the more Ki he poured into it, while the gauntlets were already incredibly heavy, such that a single blow could release such devastating consequences.

The reason he could lift them up at all, was thanks to the second skill, {Light as a Feather}.

'Both skills work hand in hand, it seems.'

Shrugging his shoulders to relieve some of the tension, he turned to the upturned cloud of dust and bone fragments Greotes had kicked up in his wake...

Belching out a mouthful of blood, Greotes stared at the human slowly approaching him with wide eyes filled with fear.

"W-what are you, human?!"

Cain snorted, "That's very unoriginal. You still want to do this, or do you want a time out?"

Considering he was still giving the bastard some time to catch his breath, Cain thought we was being very generous.

Greotes' eyes bulged with pain and hatred as he let loose a furious roar.

Immediately, a portion of the horde turned around to face them.

'Hunter, I'll leave it to you...'

Entrusting your back to another was a difficult thing to accept, but Cain was already used to it by now.

Sure enough, Lukas, and Hunter had already intercepted the zombies trying to assist the Devil. Just the two of the managed to hold back an entire sea of rotting bodies and then some. There was no doubt about their ability at all...

Cain turned.back to the Devil with a grin,

"What next?"

Greotes stood and wiped the blood from its lips...

Raising a hand to the sky, Cain saw a cloud of darkness manifest at its fingertips. Within this cloud could bee seen thousands upon thousands of cursed souls, just screaming to be released.

In reality, this was just a manifestation to the cruelty of the poison within this poison cloud and the thousand soft lives it had claimed.

"Die!"

The cloud surged forward like a natural disaster, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake.

With a chilling calm, Cain dismissed his gauntlets and summoned {Wilted Tear} almost instantly.

With a wave of his hand, the element of fire began to gather at his command...

The efficiency of the staff was absolutely incredible, as in a few seconds, a giant, terrifyingly crimson ball of flames had gathered overhead.

'Vampiric Star.'

To counter the scale of the harrowing poison cloud, Cain decided it was best to go as big as possible.

Although the flame attribute in this part of the world was most insignificance, it didn't matter.

Because Cain was going to be drawing his flames from another rolane entirely.

"Open..."

The doors to the Vault were opened, and a scorching presence was set free.

The scale of the poisonous cloud was incredibly terrifying. Not only did it cover up a large swath of land, it also brought with it the alarming stench of death.

And yet, its malevolence paled in comparison to the shining red star that had appeared all of a sudden at its center.

This land of perpetual chill, was suddenly assaulted with heat unimaginable.

The slight layers of snow and frozen ice that had existed previously immediately turned into steam, and the night sky that was enveloped in the misty aura of the eternal moon was immediately dyed red.

With the tip of his staff pointed towards the sky, Cain spoke in words dripping with venom far more sinister than what was within the dark clouds up above. The words left his lips, but couldn't travel far, as a moment later, the world was filled with the light of colourful explosion.

The sky was immediately filled with rolling flames. All eyes witnessed this catastrophe with fear and trembling in their gaze.

His eyes still boiling with the power of flames, Cain reversed the flow...

The flames surging in the sky flowed back towards the ground.

"Crap! Get down!" Hunter yelled through gritted teeth as he slit the throat, and consequently the head off of a {Brute Zombie} before using its body as cover.

With sweat covering her brows, Susan summoned her emerald alter and began chanting spells of defense that covered them all, protecting them from the flames approaching.

However, it all proved to be for naught, as the flames, and even the heat they produced, all funneled back into Cain.

It was like watching a spiritual possession. Cain's chest shone with an otherworldly light as the flames burrowed into him.

Soon, the entirety of the flame clouds were gone, leaving behind a familiar chill.

The flames burning in the depths of his eyes finally extinguished and Cain felt a wave of exhaustion overwhelm him. Controlling flames of such a magnitude was not easy work.

However, it served its purpose, as Greotes fell to its knees with a look of disbelief on its face.

"Impossible... It's impossible."

Cain walked up, returning {Wilted Tears} to the armory and summoning {Platinum Genesis}.

He sneered as he approached,

"You arrogant Devils, always thinking yourself superior when you are nothing more than glorified leeches."

His edge of his blade glittered under the moonlight, giving it a ominous air.

Greotes gritted his teeth, "You... You aren't human. No... You can't be human!"

Cain shrugged, "For what it's worth, I am, but I am not. It's complicated, but you don't need to worry your ugly head about it."

With a swift, merciless stroke, the head of the Devil fell to the ground, signifying the end of the surprisingly brief bout between Man and Devil.