God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Another human?" Abaloth muttered.

The old Decil's brows were furrowed in annoyance.

'It doesn't seem to be anywhere near as strong as the last one too.'

He casually swiped his finger at the bug to kill it off.

Much to his surprise, however, the bug managed to dodge it.

His eyes narrowed.

Stepping on the air like it was solid ground, the {Void Tyrant Devil} took a step forward.

Then its body disappeared.

And reappeared right in front of Cain.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"You have Demon blood, human. What world did you spawn from?" Abaloth said, drawn out and slowly.

Staring at the Devil before him, Cain froze for a moment.

Then he let out a sigh,

"To the best of my knowledge, I was born in this world."

Abaloth's brows furrowed,

"A Demon of this world? An artificially created Demon?"

Cain chuckled bitterly,

"Well, I guess you could say that."

Abaloth hummed,

"How unexpected."

Staring into the pools of darkness staring back at him, Cain was a bit terrified.

He suddenly felt something claw at his mind, perhaps trying to pry him open and reveal his hidden secrets.

His eyes flashed with a brilliant radiance.

'Soul Sever!'

Although it was an offensive skill, {Soul Sever} could also be used defensively in cases such as this one.

Abaloth's brows trembled as a network of twisting veins appeared on his face.

Despite that, the Devil remained relatively calm.

"I see. Seems like I will not be able to pry into your soul while you are still living. In the absence of that horrible wench, will you be my opponent?"

Cain frowned, "Before we go there, perhaps we should have a chat?"

Abaloth went silent,

"You want to have a chat with me?"

Cain smiled wryly,

"Indeed, I do. The battle doesn't look like it will end anytime soon, so I think we have some time to spare, no?"

Abaloth went silent.

Then the Devil sighed,

"Allthough I can smell the Human and the Demon on you, you don't seem to possess the character of neither. An artificial Demon would mean you went through the original process. You were once a corrupted?"

Cain paused for a moment,

"Not exactly. Perhaps you could say even I was surprised by my compatibility with the Devil Essy."

Abaloth frowned,

"The population of Demons in the universe has been on a decline. The fact that a Demon can be born so casually is..."

The Devil went silent again. Then its gaze fell on him, this time, with a hint of malice,

"Still, it doesn't matter much. Demons might be a powerful foe, but only if there is enough of them. From what I can see, there's only one— half a Demon here."

Cain pursed his lips,

"When you put it that way, I don't think I have a rebuttal. But..."

He paused for a moment then shook his head,

"Indeed, I am no longer fully human. Not am I a Demon. But just for the sake of it, you can think of me as a human."

Abaloth nodded,

"I see. Which is why you have decyto lay down your life for them."

Cain shrugged, "You saying it like that sounds like you already believe I'll die here."

Abaloth shook his head as he spoke in his hoarse voice,

"It is not a batterof belief or faith. It is simply a predetermined outcome. The moment you came to face me, your death had been etched into stone. The only variables are when and how."

"That's awfully cocky, but then again, I guess that much can be expected."

Even he was not very confident when facing this...

And something told him that giving I to his wild side would not only result in his untimely death, his odds of beating this Devil would be greatly reduced if he lost himself.

So for this, he had to be very, very present.

He sucked in a deep breath and carefully cleared his mind.

The soft wind kissing his flesh.

The Darkness of the world and sky around him.

The bride flashes of crimson from the enormous blood moon over their heads.

"At least, I can give you a graceful death, for keeping me occupied for a moment." Abaloth muttered.

Cain nodded,

"Yeah. That is much appreciated. But I have no intentions of dying here, so I do apologize for that."

Abaloth was silent.

The space around the Devil stretched and expanded. Giving Cain one last look, the Devil disappeared a moment later.

'Hm? Is this the final show of mercy? Get out of here before I lay my judgement? How kind, coming from a Devil.'

He couldn't help but chuckle to himself,

'I guess they aren't all bad after all.'

But there was no running for him.

There was nowhere to run to either.

'Now then, how does one create a spell that will smite a Tier 3 Devil out of existence?'

Such a thing possibly couldn't exist for a Tier 2 creature like himself, right?

But he had done it before. Granted, those were completely different circumstances from now.

However, it did prove that it was not impossible.

Perhaps impossibly difficult with lower than low odds of pulling it off.

But...

Those odds weren't zero.

And that was more than enough.

Down below, the battle surged, even greater than before.

Roars, screams, the sound of metal clashing against metal.

Heavy war cries, and shrill cries of pain and anguish.

A bit further away, the same ungodliness scene of carnage played out, just as brutally.

Bodies dropped and flames of life were extinguished with every breath.

And finally here, up in the sky, a lone human was.

He looked up.

The enormous Magic Wheel has turned a step, completing a full rotation

He felt the mana in the air tremble and boil over viciously, almost too the point where he felt like he was losing control over his own magic as well.

The Mana flow patterns had not just become unstable— they were practically on fire, constantly igniting and remembering again and again.

Even worse, the clouds of Devil Essence thickened as it poured into the Magic Wheel.

With every breath that went by, the darkness thickened.

The furious battle unfolded even more brutally.

Chaos.

Madness.

Death.

And then, finally.

A snap.