God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain stared at the Devil before him with a calm face, his thoughts unknown...

The Half-god grade was something hard to understand...

Every creature, great and small, magical and mundane, could be graded based on their potential. While he wasn't exactly sure how many grades existed, Cain was sure the Half-god Grade was relatively high on the totem pole.

Gods and Celestials, are quite different, in a sense that all Celestials are gods, while not all gods are Celestials.

A strange paradox, but a valid one...

A god is a creature with dominion over a concept, element, material, or even people...

All Celestials can be gods because of their limitless potential, but it is very possible for a regular creature, other than a Celestial to attain godhood. It was just very, very difficult.

A creature, with the potential to achieve Half-god state, was one that couldn't be trifled with, even on a good day.

While potential was subject to change, that didn't mean much right now. With potential, comes an inclination towards strength.

Meaning the power of this Half-god Grade Devil would be vastly different from Elite and Deadly Grade Devils of the same Tier.

Obegrin snorted, then began flying away,

"I'll try to break through the spell. Kill it before I come back."

Inixth chuckled, "Whatever you say. Now, where were we..."

The Devil turned its attention back to Cain.

Cain held a hand out, "Before we continue, I'd like to ask you a question..."

"Hm? Ask away. However, don't think of using this to buy time. Your fate is sealed." The Devil said, a look of surprise on its face.

Cain nodded, then gave it a strange stare,

"First of all, why do you look incredibly human?"

Inixth blinked, "That... is very complicated. And irrelevant. I refuse to answer!"

Cain frowned, sighed, then shrugged,

"Fine, I guess... If you don't want to answer, I guess I can't force you."

Inixth nodded, "Is that all?"

Cain shook his head,

"Just one more question..."

Inixth frowned, "That is? Hurry up, would you?"

Cain chuckled. For what is was worth, this Devil didn't seem to different from a human. It's mannerisms, speech pattern, and even behavior wasn't very different from what he would expect from a human.

Besides the excessive bloodthirst, of course...

Jenny, Susan, and Roselle were already engaged with the other Devils that had surrounded them, leaving him to face Inixth alone.

Cain cleared his throat, then asked with a straight face,

"Are you a man or woman?"

Inixth's confusion seemed even more pronounced,

"Human... Your concepts of gender do not apply to my race."

Cain seemed a bit curious after hearing this,

"So you mean all Devils just come out of the {Broodmothers}? Meaning all Devils would be born male. But then, that can't be true, as {Broodmothers} will eventually get old and die, meaning they'll need a new {Broodmother} to take their place. So..."

Inixth sighed. His face steeled,

"That's enough, Human. The Devil race is indeed comprised of two distinct sexes. By your definition, I would be a male. A female Devil is different from a Mother, but depending on the path they take, only female Devils become Mothers."

Cain nodded, having gotten his answer,

"I see... You Devils might be spineless, heartless bastards, but at least you know how to hold a conversation."

Inixth chuckled, "You might be shocked to hear this, but there exists worlds besides your backwater planet. Om these worlds, races interact with one another. Slaughter and destruction is not the only way to devour a civilization."

Hearing this, a chill climbed up Cain's spine.

"Is that so..."

Hearing something like that filled him with fear, mainly because of something he noticed. The way the Devils became more and more human-like as they became stronger. Soon, it would be almost impossible to distinguish them from other humans.

This could lead to a lot of terrible things. Things he would rather not think about now...

Inixth shrugged, "I've seen it play out countless times. Eventually, when the {World System} opens this planet up to other parts of the universe, you might realize what it means to join the cosmic battlefront. Perhaps then you might realize we aren't inherently evil."

The Devil looked up to the sky,

"Instead, the reward of weakness is death. It might be unfortunate, but that is just how it has always been. If you want to blame anyone, blame the madman that put us all here."

Cain raised a brow, "The Nomad?"

Inixth nodded, "It's been a really long time, huh..."

The Devil clenched its fist, and a large scythe appeared almost out of nowhere, the body of the scythe was black, and covered with multiple engravings and runes.

Its large blade was incredibly wide. Wide enough to split the trunk of a large tree in two without much effort.

The blade curved like the crescent of a moon, and its slightly silver glow made its sharpness leave the realm of intimidating, simply oozing bloodlust.

Cain could tell in a second that this weapon had taken the lives of many. The scythe was also attached to a long chain that didn't seem to be attached to anything, merely floating beside the Devil.

Sensing that the conversation was over, Cain sighed and drew his weapon as well.

Since this was a {Speed Devil} what he really needed to do, was make sure he didn't fall behind. The moment he did, it was over. His head would be sent flying in a split second.

And so, without any hesitation, Cain drew the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} from his inventory.

The blade was heavy, but circulating his Ki through it would make it as light as he wanted it to be. He could.have made use of {Platinum Genesis}, but something told him that weapon, regardless of how incredible he thought it was, wouldn't cut it.

So instead, he decided to make use of what he was sure would cut it...

A weapon he had been making use of for some time now. One he could trust not to let him down...

Thinking about all the blood he had spilt with this sword, Cain felt no different from this Devil. In a way, he was no better.

Sure, the Devils were parasitic, yet proud destroyers. Even then, he was not one to talk. Even his attempt to save his fellow humans wasn't done with compassion. Instead, it was means to an end.

One man with a giant sword in his hand...

One Devil with a reaper's scythe in his...

Different ideals, different beings, different powers, different bodies, different minds, different souls...

What was the same about them?

A realization.

A realization that the victor of this battle would could only be decided by one thing.

'How far can you go?' Cain told himself

To push until there was nothing left, and then some...

To burn up dried up fuel...

To spill blood even when there was nothing left.

And so, with that thought in mind, he took a step forward.

The Devil mimicked his action, taking a step forward as well..

Simultaneously, they swung their weapons...

And a deluge of energy was released, breaking through the world, the earth, and the sky...

Buildings crumpled tk the ground like they were made of sand, and the reality around them trembled.

Cain was launched backwards like a nylon bag, but managed to steady himself by digging his heels into the ground. Looking up, he saw that Inixth hadn't moved from the spot.

Gritting his teeth, he shot forward Louie a bullet. Twisting around, he smashed his blade forward like an avalanche, but it was blocked. Twisting his scythe across his neck, Inixth followed up with a diagonal cut.

Cain tilted backwards, dodging the blade by a hair's breadth. The two exchanged a flurry of blows, each one taking a step back and forth every second.

This was not a battle of superior speed and strength alone.

It was also one of skill...

The way Inixth handled the scythe, it was as though it was an extension of his body.

Twisting, turning, lunging, slashing, and cutting...

The blade was like a phantom; almost impossible to shake off.

Very quickly, Cain realized he was losing ground. And there was nothing he could do about it.

In terms of pure skill with the weapon, Cain could easily see that he was beaten.

He didn't use any fancy footwork or blade techniques. Since most of his techniques were geared towards dealing the most amount of damage as fast as possible, they weren't technical at all.

This was mostly because he had been fighting against only mutant creatures for a long time now.

Meaning his skills with the blade were dull. Too dull to compete with this Devil.

Earning himself a nasty cut across tej shoulder for a moment of negligence, Cain took a step back. Like a shark drawn by the smell of blood in the water, Inixth capitalized on that, moving in aggressively. The scythe danced around his waisted and arms, gathering momentum, such that a small whirlwind began up build up.

Raising his blade, Cain attempted to block the strike.

The crisp sound of metal knocking against metal could be heard. Cain was once again sent flying.

Feeling the warm blood trickling down his face, Cain wiped it off slowly. He was now beginning to feel a bit dizzy from all this blood loss.

Inixth grinned, spinning his scythe relaxedly,

"Come on, human. We haven't even begun yet."

Cain exhaled sharply, before spitting out bloody saliva. Mumbling under his breath, he waved his hand.

Ten star-tipped, hiltless blades appeared out of thin air, slowly revolving around him.

Without saying a word more, Cain exploded into action again; this time, keen on drawing blood.

Now, it was too far to back down.

He had achieved most of what he had done this for. Now, wa sto get the cherry on top.

Gambling with his life like this wasn't very smart...

But it did fill him with life...

Because it was only in moments like this, dancing at the edge of the abyss and the blade, was he able to experience just how far he could go...