God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

A delicious aroma suddenly filled his nose...

Cain took a deep breath. His eyes were wide open at this point as he turned to search for the origin of the delicious aroma.

Cain locked eyes with Susa who was sitting before a fire. Thick slices of meat were attached to a wooden skewer that hung about the fire, slowly cooking the succulent meat. The sizzling of fat reached his ears, and the aroma within the cave became more potent.

Susan smiled, "You hungry?"

Cain's stomach responded very eagerly with a loud rumble.

Embarrassed, Cain wanted to say something but was cut off by Susan who stared at him sternly,

"Don't say anything. Just come eat. Hurry up!"

Cain stood to his feet and walked towards her. The first thing he noticed was that his arm had, by some miracle, grown back when he had fallen unconscious. Cain had seen his arm fall off when he activated the second stage of the {Abyssal Dragon Blade Technique}, and while he had been unhappy, he was glad he had at least gotten out of the fight alive.

He had believed that the loss of an arm wasn't the end of the world, but fortunately for him, he had somehow regained the lost limb. Thinking about it made him remember David who had also lost an arm.

'I wonder if he will get his arm back one day as well.'

Shaking his head, Cain moved closer to Susan. His wounds were mostly healed, but his stomach rumbled like the throat of a rabid beast.

"Thank you..." Cain quietly offered his thanks and tore through the fatty goodness of the meat. Aether beasts had a lot of Ki, and as such, their flesh was packed with nutrients and energy. Eating it was a great help in recovering spent energy and stamina.

Cain paused for a while before he turned to Susan again, and spoke with utter seriousness this time,

"You saved me. Thank you. I'll never forget this debt." Cain knew he would have died without Susan's healing skills and spells. She had delayed the inevitable and had bought him the time he needed to escape the jaws of certain death.

Susan simply rolled her eyes at him,

"What are you talking about? Just eat up!" With a wave of her hand, she stood up from the rock she was sitting on and rushed outside the cave. An amused smile appeared on his face as he watched her scurry away.

Once Cain finished eating, he leaned back on the wall of the cave in satisfaction. Right now, he was glad there were so many caves scattered around the floating landmasses. If they didn't have these temporary shelters available to them, they wouldn't be able to survive.

Cain let out a sigh before opening his status screen...

***

{Congratulations to the host... You have received a new blade form... }

{Your Tier 1 Weapon mastery technique has leveled up...}

{Abyssal Dragon Blade Mastery Lvl 2: Rakshasa...}

{Rakshasa}:

Description: One day, a lone devil left the devil mountain and embarked on a journey through the aether. He ate and devoured all that he came across. All except a very special one. The devil was enchanted by the beast, and thus, made an unholy union with her. Thus, the first of the demons was born...

The blade of the Rakshasa can cut through all, and their very presence invokes deep fear in all things living. Once activated, the body becomes as sharp as a blade and embodies the essence of violence and murder.

***

{Rakshasa} didn't increase his defense, offense, or any other stat directly. Instead, it granted him greater control of the energy he wielded. The weapon in his hand would be fused to his body, and his mind would become one with the weapon.

Its most important feature was the effect it had on the {Abyssal Crimson Slash}. Not only did it boost the cutting effect of the attack, the insidiousness of devil essence was used to lower the defenses of his target greatly.

When {Rakshasa} was in use, a temporary 'killing field' would be created around him. This 'killing field' was what decreased the defenses of his opponents greatly. Even the hardest of shells would turn into butter once the blade of the Rakshasa was pointed at them.

"What a powerful technique..."

"It also doesn't cause any strain on my body. The reason my wounds worsened was because of the strain. Using the skill on an already damaged body is very dangerous." Cain murmured.

However, the series of system prompts was not over...

***

{Congratulations to the host... You have slain a Godly-grade {Land Eater}... }

{+100 to Strength}

{+100 to Agility}

{+100 to Defense}

{You have Leveled Up!}

{You have Leveled Up!}

{You have Leveled Up!}

{You have Leveled Up!}

{You have Leveled Up!}

{You have Leveled Up!}

***

The amount of experience points he had received pushed him all the way to level 80 in the blink of an eye. When he had first entered the aether, he had been only at level 60. After some time of being in the aether and the consequential endless battles, he had reached level 80. Soon, he would be at level 100 and would be entitled to ascend to Tier 1 according to the system.

Cain looked at the final string of words when the realization settled in...

***

{Congratulations to the host... Your Ki Plundering Technique has leveled up}.

{Dragon's Gate Ki plundering technique}:

Rank: Celestial

Tier: 2. (100,000/1,000,000) Ki points to the next Tier.

Description: An ancient magic has been discovered by the system within your soul, and has been forced out into the light. Use this magic to devour the essence of heaven and earth, and turn it into world-destroying fleshy might. When in use, 200 Ki points are plundered per hour.

Requirements: Can only be used when the host is not in battle mode and in a state of deep concentration. 500+ points in Magic, Strength, and Agility stats.

***

Cain took a deep breath before closing his status screen. There was a lot for him to digest all at once. So many things were changing, and as such, he had to make necessary adjustments.

He dusted his hands and stood to his feet with a jump. He put the fire out, then walked to the entrance of the cave.

The fragmented land was the same as ever. Rocky terrain and terrifying monsters...

Cain took in a deep breath of the cold air. He summoned the {Weak Blood Carapace} from his inventory. This was the first time he had seen the armor since the battles and he wanted to inspect the level of damage it had suffered.

Cain was shocked to see that apart from a few dents and scratches here and there, the armor was completely fine.

'Hm? System, how did this happen?'

{Replying to host: Most armor-type items have runes that allow them to restore themselves over time and heal damages}.

Cain frowned. As though sensing the question he was about to ask, the system continued,

{Weapons do not have these types of runes because it would be a waste of potential rune space. An armor is meant to be resilient, and a weapon is meant to break that resilience. Both will thus have runes tailored towards those specifications}.

Cain nodded in understanding. He summoned the armor, then resummoned it, this time, onto his body. The red scale armor covered him quickly. Once he was suited up, he dismissed the helmet of the armor and walked out of the cave.

Standing outside the cave, Jenny, Susan, and Ignis were having a discussion, their bodies facing the opposite direction as though they were staring at something far into the distance.

Sensing his footsteps, they turned around...

Expressions of relief surfaced on their faces, but they managed to contain it. Ignis simply nodded at him, while Susan flashed him a small smile. Jenny on the other hand made no effort to hide her relief and concern,

"You had us all worried. Thank goodness you are alright."

Then her face changed suddenly, "Don't pull that type of stunt again."

Cain raised his hands defensively, "Alright, alright..."

Letting out a chuckle, he shifted his gaze toward Ignis who had a conflicted expression.

"What's the situation?"

"Well..." She hesitated.

Sensing something wrong, he turned to her with a frown, "Did something happen?"

Letting out a sigh, she pointed into the distance, "See for yourself."

Cain lined his gaze with the direction she pointed at. He suddenly felt a headache reaching his temples.

"This... is not good."

The Island they were supposed to use to circle the super large landmass they wanted to avoid at all costs was slowly burning and descending into the bottom abyss. Cain had no idea what monster caused the complete destruction of a medium-scale landmass, but he wanted to avoid it at all costs.

Turning back to Ignis, his face was grim,

"Do you know what happened?"

Ignis shook her head, "No. All we knew was that there was a large explosion on the island. It then began to crumble."

Cain watched as the last bits of the island were swallowed by the endless darkness, leaving behind a very wide expanse of nothing.

Cain shook his head, his face turning darker and darker.

"We can't circle back right now. Our only choice..." Cain said, his eyes turning toward the massive floating island.

Ignis shivered, then sighed, "I thought as much..."

There was no need to explain it too much to the girls as they understood him perfectly. They had no other choice after all.

They had to use the Islands...