God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"Once the light guardian dies, cover me..."

Steve stared at Cain with a smile, "You wanna go beat them up?"

Cain nodded with a wry smile, "Yeah..."

"That's good and all, but from what we saw earlier, that's not going to happen. They all seem to have their powers boosted by the strange energy that seeps out of the chasm. Believe it or not, this strange energy also weakens us slightly as well. Enough for even your overbearing skill to lose a lot of its potency." Steve said with a mirthful gaze as he stared at the chasm behind them.

With how well he could sense energies, it had come to his notice long ago that his power was being restricted by the strange energy, Aether, that seeped through the chasm and onto the central island.

The overbearing skill in question was {Burning Spirit}. While the effects of the fire attachment were not affected, the fundamental ability of the skill to double his stats was seriously affected.

However, Cain had more than a few cards up his sleeve. Enough cards to make sure the insane girls regretted their actions.

"You don't need to bother about that. For now, just make sure that thing doesn't die too soon." Cain said.

He quickly dismissed the flame enchantment of the burning spirit. It was time to make another gamble...

He knew the enchantment effects of the flame, metal, and blood elements. However, each one came with a flaw that could be fatal. For example, when the flame enchantment was activated, he had to make absolutely sure he wasn't attacked.

The metal element increased his defenses at the cost of his movement speed, while the blood element increased his stamina at the cost of his attack speed.

Now, he was going to activate an element that would increase his attack speed. However, the negative effect couldn't be as decapitating as the flaw of the flame enchantment...

He immediately recalled the details of the {Elemental Body} skill. Pulling up his status screen, Cain glanced through the skill's details;

***

Name: Cain Lenosi.

Fire attribute: 100%.

Lightening attribute: 100%.

Metal attribute: 100%.

Earth attribute: 0%.

Wind attribute: 100%.

Spatial attribute: 100%.

Darkness attribute: 90%.

Nature attribute: 0%.

Blood attribute: 100%.

Water attribute: 70%.

Poison attribute: 100%.

Light attribute: 0%.

Time attribute: Invalid...

***

ELEMENTAL BODY PROGRESS.

Metal: 49%

Spatial: 25%

Darkness: 8%

Wind: 34%

Fire: 38%

Lightning: 49%

Poison: 75%

Blood: 40%

Water: 2%

***

Starting at the details of the skill, Cain immediately knew what had to be done...

Sterling his resolve, he closed his status screen and looked up. The light guardian was already on its last legs. He was shocked to see that the thing was still standing even after a minute had passed. It had assistance from Jenny and Steve, but it was still quite impressive.

Cain turned to Susab who had a very pale face. It was obvious that summoning the light guardian had taken up a decent chunk of her energy and then some. It didn't seem to be a case of ordinary mana exhaustion.

Taking a deep breath, he gathered the element of lightning around his body. Sparks of violent electricity buzzed around his body. The violent sparks mixed with the burn of the {Azure Burst} flames was a sight for the eyes.

Cain could immediately feel his body become as light as a feather, yet containing deep and immense power. However, this power was incredibly violent, and he could feel his control over this energy slipping away rapidly.

'Damn it!'

{+100 Attack speed, -90% Control}.

Cain stared at the pop-up and didn't know if he was supposed to laugh in satisfaction, or grit his teeth and massage his temples to drive the brewing headache away.

Control was a very important stat that was necessary if he wanted to manage his strength and energy flow. Once his control was limited so severely, his control over the damage his attacks could cause would be messed up.

And the result of this reduced control was evident immediately. The feeling of his body being as light as a feather continued until he felt like he was being filled with helium.

A panicked look appeared on his face, but there was no time for that anymore, as the light guardian finally crumbled into a shower of sparks and disappeared.

'Crap!'

Cain immediately tried moving his body...

One moment, he was there, and the next, his body had disappeared in a flash of lightning...

He had activated the {Azure Burst} just a minute or two ago, so there was still a lot of time left before it was deactivated. Until then, his attack and movement speed were increased greatly. This increment was so great, that he was unable to control the wild energy coursing through his body.

The moment the light guardian broke apart, the ten girls dashed forward in sync. Some had already begun to attack the group, while others began chanting to activate their various spells.

A split second later, Leah's eyes widened to their limits, and her pupils shrunk to the size of a pinhead. Her body was immediately wreathed in lightning bolts. Her body moved with the agility of a mutant cat, and she jumped out of the way just in time...

A figure wreathed in sparks of lightning crashed into the group of charging girls. The figure dashed amongst them like an elusive shadow always seconds away from crashing into someone, and in just a few seconds, arrived behind the group...

Silence...

The first person to crash into the ground was Kai. Tens of burn marks shaped like fists appeared on her white and black coat of fur, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head, blood flowing from the side of her lips.

The other girls quickly fell to the ground, letting out groans of pain, with some even sobbing due to the pain they had just suffered.

The only ones that didn't fall to the ground were the girl with the rapiers and the one with the ability to create invincible magic shields. However, both of them had suffered varying degrees of injuries, the worst case being the girl with the rapiers.

Cain landed unceremoniously on the ground with a pained yelp, the sparks of lightning still floating around him, a displeased expression on his face,

"This is terrible! It isn't too bad, though..." Mumbling a few words to himself, he turned to stare at the girls still standing with a dark look in his eyes.

A grin that made their hearts shiver crept onto his face,

"You! You bandit!" The girl with the rapier said, her voice burning with malice. She stared at Cain with scalding venom in her eyes.

However, Cain ignored her words and stared at her, an unamused expression on his face,

"Shut the hell up... Anything I do to you idiots is justifiable. You might be under a spell, but you still have to face the consequences." Cain said darkly.

"Heh... How could an idiot like you understand? We are doing this for the sake of everyone! If we didn't do it, all of us would have died." Leah said, her tone lacking a single ounce of remorse.

"G-guys..." The other girl tried to say something but was cut off by the girl with the rapiers,

"You are just an insolent fool. This is what they deserve. All you men are such villains, that this is the only fate befitting you all. To be sacrifices... This is karma! I'll show you t-"

A furious flame immediately consumed Cain's mind...

His body turned into a blur, and the world slowed down around him. The streaks of lightning turned into bolts as he took a step forward.

As though sensing the terrifying danger that was about to befall her, she immediately raised her rapiers. Her energy exploded out, and her body and blades were wrapped in concentrated mana.

Her eyes took on a metallic sheen, and her stance changed. She was prepared to clash with Cain...

'You think speed is everything? I'll show you-'

The force that rocked through her hand was enough to break a few bones...

In just three seconds, Cain threw more than a hundred vicious blows at the girl with burning anger in his eyes.

She tried blocking, parrying, and deflecting, but his speed was just too overwhelming. In the end, she could do nothing but watch as his fists made contact with her lean body over and over again...

His control had been reduced greatly, but he could still exert a decent amount of it. This was thanks to the normal activation of {Burning Spirit}. If not, she would have exploded into bloody bits already.

"Shut the hell up..." Cain said in a low, dark voice before landing the final blow. This time, he added a bit more strength to the attack, and her body was flung away by the residual force.

Before she hit the ground, she was already unconscious. Before that, there was only one thought that echoed within her gradually darkening mind,

'He... He's a bandit...'

Never in her life had she been so utterly defeated and humiliated before. She was the daughter of an elite and very wealthy family in the state. She had come to City Z because she wanted to get away from her overbearing family alongside a few of her rebellious friends who also came from influential backgrounds.

Before the apocalypse, they had been the center of the campus as well, and even after that, she had still managed to become so powerful due to all her years of training.

Her life was as glorious as a fairytale, but she had but a single black scar training her heart and mind. Her hatred for men...

At that moment, she felt her whole world crumble around her. Never had she imagined she would be defeated by a man, a bandit...

She was unwilling to accept it, but her mind had already faded into unconsciousness...

Gritting her teeth, Leah stared at Cain, dark thoughts swelling in her eyes...

"Leah, don't..." Sisi, the girl with the barrier creation ability said, her voice full of concern.

Staring at both of them, Cain took a deep breath. The dark anger in his eyes immediately cleared up. A frown made its way to his face. His eyes focused onto the girl with the barrier creation ability,

"You... You aren't under the enchantment!"