God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"No! I just want to get back to my world." Cain said softly. He was already exhausted from overdrawing his body's energy and was about to lose consciousness again.

Azazel stared at Cain even longer with eyes filled with wonder. A demon like him had seen so many things in his incredibly long life, so there were very few things that could surprise him.

Yet, he had come across a rare gem like this. Why wouldn't he be happy?

"Tell you what, human. If you let me teach you, I'll let you go and even give you a few benefits. What do you say?" Azazel said with a gentle smile.

Even though he was now exhausted, Cain still had the presence of mind to sense the underlying tones within Azazel's words.

"I have a question to ask first," Cain said suddenly after a brief moment of silence.

"Hm? Go ahead..."

"Why was I able to use my power just now? It should be impossible for me to be able to use any energy apart from Ki on this planet. In my {Golden Body} state, I should be unable to use mana as well. What did you do to me?" Cain asked, staring straight at the demonic being in front of him.

Azazel stared straight back into Cain's eyes, peering deep into his soul,

"That's because you aren't the one that activated that spell."

It was Cain's turn to be shocked, "What do you mean?"

"Right now, your soul was triggered. Because of your special condition, you have the soul that leaks the air of a celestial being. The laws of a lower plane like the hell realms cannot restrict the powers of a celestial. Also, for that brief moment, you were able to bypass the standard laws of the universe ordained by the Nomad.

To be able to bend the elements of reality, this is what it means to hold the power of a celestial..." The demon said with all seriousness.

Cain stared at the ground in deep thought...

"However, don't think about it too much. That was probably just a last-ditch attempt embedded in your soul by whatever Celestial is playing "god" behind the scenes." Azazel said with a wave of his hand.

"So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?"

Cain rose his head once again, "What's the catch?"

"Hm? Catch? Why, there is nothing of such. I just want to see the next generation grow." Azazel said with a slimy grin.

'He's lying...'

"Okay, I agree to your conditions.," Cain said.

Fighting against the demon was impossible, so he would rather go according to his whims while he thought of a plan. It was very clear that the demon had no intentions of letting him go.

"However, I need to know the situation of my world. There are people waiting for me over there..."

"I see... Well, you don't need to worry too much. The time dilation of this world is different for other parts of the universe, especially the Earth realms. Ten days in this world equates to a single day in an Earth realm. I created this world so I would be able to practice my magic more efficiently. Impressive, right?"

'So that means that only a few hours have passed back home?' For some odd reason, Caon felt relieved hearing that.

"Alright, enough questions. Now that you have agreed to the deal, let's get to the fun part."

With a wave of his hand, the chains constricting his arms and legs turned into particles of light. Without any strength in his body, Cain fell to the ground like a sack of rice.

"I've lifted the restrictions on your soul. You should be able to activate the energies in your body now." Azazel said to Cain as he moved to a shelf in the room and grabbed a book.

Cain closed his eyes and realized that his mana heart was beating faster and faster, pumping the stagnant stream of mana in him around his body.

His Ki and devil essence had also begun to flow, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Blood Regeneration."

Activating his healing skill, Cain let out a sigh as all the injuries in his body quickly began to heal up.

"Here... Read this. I'll be back soon." The demon said before disappearing into thin air.

"Leaving just like that? Aren't you scared I'll escape?" Cain said with narrowed eyes.

"Hahaha! If I wasn't confident in keeping you here, I wouldn't be leaving you here." A soft voice whispered into his ears, causing the apprehension in his heart to rise through the roof.

'Damn it!'

Staring at the book Azazel had given him, Cain went through another round of shock.

Written on the coarse cover of the book, were the words, 'RECORDS OF AKASHA II'

"This book..."

Never would he have imagined that he would find the second volume of the time given to him by Ashur here. He had long since finished the first volume, but had no idea how to access the other parts of it.

Opening the book, a set of familiar words greeted him. On the first page, written in bold print, with a substance that resembled dried-up blood where the words,

"THAT WHICH YOU SEEK, LAYS WITHIN..."

Staring at the book, Cain let out a sigh...

Flipping onto the next page, he discovered the first difference from the first book. Instead of this book having an appendix of content, it had only a single line written on the next page,

The words, 'History of The Cosmos and its relationship to Sorcery and Magic.' were written in bold text.

"A history lesson?" Cain raised a brow as he flipped onto the next page, diving into the contents of the book,

"In the beginning, there existed only one being...

He represented the beginning of sentience as he was the first clump of matter to ever bear a thought. He would later be referred to as the Nomad, and he became the first Celestial being, a being that transcended space, matter, time, and the elements.

Using his vast reserve of power and his unimaginable intellect, he began to create the entirety of the observable universe..."

***

Standing on the deck of a speedboat, Luke stared into the ocean with hazy eyes...

"Luke, we are only a few miles away from the Western Island." Winifred, the glasses-wearing mage said to Luke.

"How the hell does this even happen? How does a single school that wasn't even half this size turn into four separate Islands in just a few weeks?!" Luke said, starting at the Western part of the school that had turned into a large floating landmass.

"Don't think about it too much. There are many things we are yet to understand about the changes going on in our world. Hopefully, we find these answers soon." Winifred said, his face showing a bit of worry.

"Luke, why are we even going here? Aren't we supposed to be plotting how we take the boss out?" Reginald, the bulky brute said with a discontent frown.

"Business..." Luke said curtly.

"Business?" Both his companions said simultaneously before looking back at the battle mage.

"What sort of business?" Winifred said whilst pushing his glasses up.

"The kind that could get us killed..." Luke said with a slight grin.

"Hahaha! I like the sound of that!" Reginald said with a wide grin on his face.

'A demon to the West, huh...' Remembering the words spoken to him by The Boss, Luke subconsciously squeezed the hilt of his {Black Obsidian} sword.

He had been contacted by The Boss to go and scout the Western Island. He had wanted to claim his head immediately, but he had been persuaded by the words of a conniving bastard...

"If you ever want to see them alive, you will do as you are told. As long as you bring good news back, I'll release them all."

'It might be a lie, but I can't afford to risk it.' Luke thought to himself.

"We are here, Luke," Winifred said.

Behind them were two other speed oats that had several men on them. These men were part of Luke's crew and were capable enough to hold their own in a fight against Rollo's men.

"Tero, Arkmed... Scout the surroundings..." As soon as their feet hit the shore, Luke dropped an order. Immediately, two figures rushed out of the group of men and toward the distant forest.

"Seer's Vision." Winifred activated a skill, causing magic circles to appear around his eyes.

"Coast looks clear for now. Nothing unusual..."

"What exactly are we looking for anyways?" Reginald asked Luke.

"Resources... Anything that might be of potential value. We are also looking for living humans, those who have survived till now." Luke said.

"Really? That doesn't seem too hard, does it?" Reginald said with a smile.

"Well... Not quite..." Luke said with a weird expression. Upon saying so, he pulled his blade from its scabbard.

"Why don't you come out?" Luke said loudly into free space.

"Eh?! Someone is here?!" Winifred yelled.

"Yeah... He's using a special skill or spell to avoid our sensory abilities." Luke said with narrowed eyes.

'Such a skill exists?' Winifred thought, surprise filling his chest.

"If you won't come out, I'll drag you out," Luke said, gliding his blade through the air and creating a black scar.

"For you to see through my invincibility means you aren't useless..." A voice rang out from the void.

"Who are you?" Luke yelled back in response.

"Me?..." The voice replied with a slight giggle.

"I'm a Nightmare..." The voice that seemed so far away suddenly felt like a whisper just behind the ear.

"Shattered Illusion." The voice chanted out.

The scenery before all the men broke like shattered glass, leaving them confused. Luke stared at the scene before him with a frown.

"Luke don't worry. This level of tricks won't-"

Silence...

Luke's eyes turned wide like saucers as he turned around as quickly as possible. In just that brief moment, he realized that all his men, including Winifred and Reginald, had disappeared into thin air.

"Coming here so free-spirited is the same thing as asking for a death wish. As long as the lord hasn't ordained it yet, all tresspassers shall die. In the name of the god of Light, I sentence you, to death..."