God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Carrion sneered then barked out his orders,

"Go."

Arde muttered incantations on his breath, his fingers twisting as he performed various hand signs in quick succession,

"Come forth; Sekth, Mylora."

The world around him dimmed slightly as two grand magic circles appeared from behind.

One was pitch black, the color of nightmares.

The other was a pale ghastly grey, the color of death itself.

"Spread your wings, Ifrith."

A third magic circle appeared above him, this one smaller than the others.

It as a deep crimson, the color of coals.

Out of the first magic circle, a set of black claws burst forth.

With it came the stench of death and the desolation of darkness.

Cain frowned

Upon closer inspection, the creature itself was not an actual living being. Rather , its body was made up of innumerable grains of black sand.

It was a {Sand Wraith}, just like the one he had encountered with Boulder and Lucia.

Thinking about those two made Cain feel just a bit more rage...

This {Sand Wraith} was also rather different.

In the depths of its skull, its eyes were not crimson, but a deep violet. One filled with endless loathing and repulsion for life. Just staring at it, Cain could feel his life force draining away.

The {Sand Wraith} eeriely floated behind Arde.

To his other side was a strange creature that was nothing more than an enormous floating eye and a pair of angel wings.

The eye was huge. Much larger than the average human torso.

Staring at it would create a rather uncomfortable feeling. Staring too long would become dangerous.

It also floated at Arde's side.

From the last magic circle, a lot caw came as an enormous flaming bird shot out, bringing with it a wave of fire that washed over him.

Cain stood there unfazed, eating it all head on.

The flaming bird circled around back and perched on top of the enormous floating eye.

'A summoner.'

He had met a lot of summoners, but rarely did he ever get to battle them.

Regardless, it wasn't over.

Arde calmly called out,

"Micah, flank his left. Lily, take aim. Go for his vitals. Suze you know what to do..."

Them he turned to Carrion with a bow,

"Lord Carrion, you can engage him whenever you wish."

Carrion didn't say anything, quietly observing the motionless Cain with furrowed brows,

"He doesn't seem very bothered, does he..."

Arde paused then spoke with a smile,

"Rumors are rumors, but they are not inherently baseless. Regardless of how outlandish they sound some are founded on truth."

Carrion frowned at him,

"Don't tell me you think all that is true. You don't, do you?"

Arde chuckled, the runes in his grey eyes flashing,

"We are about to find out, aren't we?"

With each of them being a Tier 2 just like him, Cain knew what kind of battle this was going to be.

Before the fight had begun, he knew it too.

The {Beholder's Eye} was special.

To be more specific, the {Eye of Clairvoyance} had been special.

As an evolution of it, the (Beholder's Eye} was something else...

Not only were his observational skills greatly improved, but his ability to process the sensory information in miniscule time was even more exaggerated.

In this case, what it was useful for, was observing his opponents.

Their breathing rhythms. The flunctuations of mana around them. The strength of their souls even...

He could see it all with a glance.

He quickly came to an understanding...

With the beasts and the Devils, there was a difference even in respective Tiers.

The grading of beasts, Devils, and all sorts of creatures was not something the system randomly assigned. Strength, growth potential, abilities, uniqueness. All these influenced the grade of a creature greatly.

However, for some reason, he couldn't see the grade of humans like himself.

But there had always been a clear difference.

Perhaps if was his arrogance, or he simply understood what he was.

'Demon, huh... That's probably right.'

Micah bared his teeth into a tooth grin,

"I thought you'd never ask. Let's start with the arms."

Micah bent his body.

An explosion of lightning instantly covered him.

As quick as a bolt from the sky.

He reached Cain's side, his body and sword wreathed in countless lightning bolts.

His eyes widened as he laughed like a madman.

Micah had turned fifteen when the old world had come to an end.

He had been home that day recovering from a flu. Because of that, he had been given front row seats to watch his entire family be torn apart and feasted upon by zombies.

Zombies that were once his neighbors.

Like the kind old lady that lived down the street.

And the man at the repair shop. And the younger man that worked at the grocery shop.

They all tore his family to shreds and ate them whilst they screamed and begged.

And there was nothing he could do.

Luckily for him, he awakened the system after accidentally killing one of the zombies, gaining a skill, {Cusp of Lightning}.

From there, he had come under the protection of Carrion and his own people after killing his way through a zombie horde.

In other words, he had seen his fair share of shit and madness.

He had shed blood and sweat to achieve the power he held in his hands.

The power that could slice a monster as large as a mountain in half.

That was the reason for his arrogance.

Before, he had no choice but to watch his family die.

After that day, and untill this moment, every one of his foes had met their end at the edge of his blade.

Underneath the visor, Cain let out a deep breath of air.

Despite his armor, he moved gracefully.

It was like watching a feather glide

An iron feather, but a feather nonetheless...

With a single smooth motion, he deflected Michah's weapon with the flat of his own.

Placing his left leg forward, he leaned forward and pushed himself into the quick footed boy, knocking him off balance for only a moment.

Cain sighed to himself as he readjusted his blade, and with great precision, struck out with the hilt of his sword.

There was a disgusting crunching sound as he felt the nose of the boy absolutely shatter due to his strength and the boy's motion.

In an instant, Micah felt his world turn upside down.

Then he saw darkness.

Before his body even hit the ground, Cain was already moving.

A sensation of hot and cold.

Blue flames ignited beneath his feet.

He already had his target in mind before he shot forward, faster than the eye could follow.

CLANG!

His blade struck against a thick iron shield, folding it in half, but not enough to cut it all the way through.

The enormous eye creature let out a screech as thick crimson blood spurted out of it.

Through the visor, Cain glared at the stunned Arde. Without wasting a single breath, he pulled his sword and prepared to strike again.

Sensing imminent death, Arde began muttering under his breath as he began casting multiple spells in quick succession.

As someone well versed in magic himself, Cain immediately knew not to let him make any distance so he followed closely..

However, one of the disadvantages of battling a summoner, was that he wasn't going to be dealing with only the man.

Cain felt a tremendous heat coming from above.

Quickly sidestepping, he managed to narrowly dodge a missile of flame that came burning through the sky, causing the entire courtyard to go up in flames.

Arde finished chanting his healing spell, casting it in Micah.

In the meantime, Suze had already closed in on Cain.

Her blades made not even a sound as she sliced at his throat. Usually, the lighter the equipment, the quicker and more agile.

In Cain's case, if was as though the armor didn't even exist.

Dismissing the {Lonely Dragon} Warblade, he summoned two golden daggers as well.

I'm a split second, he and the female rogue had exchanged hundreds of furious blows.

Her form was impeccable, and regardless of how hard he tried, he was unable to block all her strikes. However, they were unable to penetrate his armor.

Suze jumped back, forcing her shaking hands to steady with a grimace,

"His defenses are strong. I can't get a good hit in." She said with a frown.

Arde sucked in a deep breath. Micah had already awoken, and like a madman, he charged at Cain screaming bloody vengeance as he furiously struck with his sword, his form impossible to see amidst the net of lightning.

Like a swordmaster, Cain turned the two golden daggers into two bastard swords.

He let out another breath under his visor, allowing all.the air in his lungs to leave.

Then he slowly filled them with air as he swung his swords around.

Despite his speed, Micah found out quickly that he was unable to hit Cain even once.

He cried out furiously in frustration,

"Why can't I hit you?!"

Cain coldly replied,

"Because you are an idiot."

Micah became even more furious as he let out a roar,

Lightning and thunder rolled in the sky as he swung his blade, drawing in the elemental power of lightning like there was no tomorrow,

"Chaos Lightning: Oblivion!"

The world seemed to break under the weight of the blade's edge.

It was a powerful attack.

One designed, created, to kill violently.

Cain felt the air sizzle and burn under the tension from the immense amount of energy.

He frowned.

This boy was indeed fast. And his attack was indeed powerful.

But to him, he was slow.

To him, he was weak.

Regardless, he has no mercy to give.

Shutting his eyes, he activated the {Demon Dragon} mode of the warblade.

The chaos was devoured like it never existed in the first place. Cain struck first.

The resulting clash nearly tore a rift in the world.

Micah's armless body was launched back, a trail of blood left behind on the floor as he came to a stop at Arde's feet.

The older man stepped back, his eyes widened with horror.

Since the battle began, he had been constantly healing the boy in fear that he could be killed.

But the damage had far surpassed his expectations.

It had come fast and heavy. Even the magical prowess of the {Arcane Eye Dragon} could do nothing to help.

He stared into the empty, dull.eyws of the boy, watching as the last signs of life left his body.

He was dead a moment later.

"Monster..."

Carrion drew his blades and walked forward calmly, stepping over Micah's corpse,

Without saying a word, he lunged forward.