God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

However, her ability to control the flow of any battle was simply unnatural. Cain had seen her fight, and he knew for a fact that should they end up duking it out, he would be in for a battle of his life. His chances of winning weren't slim, but they weren't very plump either.

But...

He knew he couldn't delay any longer. His heartbeats became erratic the more he considered how long he had been fighting. His Ki and mana reserves were already bottoming out, and he still had five hundred {Chaos Trolls} to face.

Cain could feel their presence. He could also feel the abnormally strong presence of the four-headed {Chaos Troll}. While it wasn't as strong as that of the Chaos chief, it was still many times stronger than that of the normal trolls.

'They are waiting for me. I can smell your smelly breaths.' Cain's head churned as his mind was filled with dark thoughts. The purple cloud around him had finally reached its peak.

He was in a state of bloodlust, and he was itching for a bloodbath...

The first thing he did, was dismiss the {Hand of Stingè}. Despite that, the purple cloud didn't go away. Instead, it stuck to him like a second skin.

Then he retrieved the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame}. Although the {Hand of Stingè} increased his movement and attack speed, it still wasn't as efficient for cutting down larger creatures as the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} was.

'Let's see how long I can go.' A grin appeared on Cain's face as he dashed forward with incredible speed.

His body turned into a blur as he dashed into the wider corridor area. Almost immediately, his body was assaulted with a hail of spears. Some of them managed to puncture through his armor and dig straight into his flesh.

Ignoring the wounds, Cain's eyes turned crimson as he poured Ki and devil essence into the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame}. The blade turned as light as a feather in his hand and was as sharp as a razor.

However, as soon as it made contact with the lead troll, it turned as heavy as a mountain. In a single strike, he managed to split the Two-headed {Chaos Troll} evenly into two parts.

"Come on!"

Cain completely abandoned defense at this point. Activating {Azure Burst} for the umpteenth time, blue flames mingled with the purple clouds, turning him into an incarnation of death as he drenched the ground with blood.

The only four-headed {Chaos Troll} in the midst leaped over the crowd and tried to attack him from above. However, Cain immediately slipped into the crowd, allowing it to crush the bodies of its smaller companions.

"Grr!" The creature let out a growl of rage. However, Cain had left it one more surprise. The ground beneath it immediately exploded as Cain dropped the rest of the bombs he had in his inventory. He had given Evangeline two for her use, and he had used one earlier as well, so they weren't much left.

However, using all of them simultaneously turned out to be a brilliant decision, as many {Chaos Trolls} were immediately dismembered by the explosion, some outright killed.

Cain didn't even bat an eye as he continued fighting. The blood of his opponents formed puddles on the ground, and his own blood pooled inside his armor.

Before long, his armor was completely covered in dents and cracks. However, he didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, the more injuries he suffered, the more feral he seemed to become.

"Argh!" Cain dashed forward, stabbing his blade into the foot of a giant {Chaos Troll}. Leaving it stuck, he delivered blow after blow into its midriff until his fists were stained with blood and his knuckles started to hurt due to his repeatedly striking against the sharp bones of the creature's spine.

Grabbing the blade again, he swung to guard against an approaching fist. However, instead of blocking, he stabbed the blade deep into the creature's arm and pulled out, severing more than a few tendons. With a heavy grunt, he sliced forward, beheading the wailing creature in one fell swoop.

As such, the slaughter continued for a few more minutes before the only two left within the cavernous corridor were Cain, and the single four-headed {Chaos Troll}.

Cain's body felt like lead at this point, while the four-headed {Chaos Troll} looked angry, but also extremely wary. Cain had not only managed to wipe out five hundred {Chaos Trolls} in record time, he also did this and managed to keep his life.

Despite the amount of battles that had taken place, the four-headed {Chaos Troll} had not managed to engage with Cain for more than a few seconds before he would quickly use the other {Chaos Trolls} as meat shields.

As such, Cain was very much beaten and battered, but the last {Chaos Troll} was mostly alright.

The odds were completely stacked against him...

'So tired...'

Cain really just wanted to lie down and be done with it. He was tired of fighting but was addicted to the rush it gave him.

'So troublesome...'

A small chuckle escaped from his lips. The four-headed {Chaos Troll} growled at him,

Seeing this, he chuckled even louder. The chuckling quickly progressed until it turned into full-on cackling.

"Ahh... This is so funny." Cain said to himself. Then, his slightly glazed eyes shot toward the confused {Chaos Troll}.

"Why am I doing this?... Even I don't know. Why am I doing this?" Cain rambled.

He had put himself through hardship. For what?

He had no definite goals. He planned on saving Hunter, but he didn't know why he wanted to do it, or how he was supposed to go about it.

'What exactly is my purpose...'

This question had weighed down on him for a long time...

For a while, he had just done things as they came. He had been side-tracked so much, he had forgotten what his original goals must have been.

He was a zombie, walking around aimlessly, drawn to the scent of fresh blood. He was purposeless, without meaning...

Just thinking about it infuriated him. It infuriated him so much...

"Why don't you all just go to hell?!" Cain yelled at the top of his lungs as he dashed forward, dropping his weapon to the ground.

His Ki had already bottomed out as his body had been using it to heal all this while. He had only recovered a small amount back. However, it was impossible to use it to power the {Scale of the Abyssal Flame}.

He summoned the {Hand of Stingè}. He turned into a blur as he engaged his final opponent in a brutal melee.

Very quickly, it became evident who had the upper hand in the fight. Cain stabbed forward, but the blade was shoved away with a casual sweep of the hand and his face was grabbed in a vice-like grip.

The four-headed {Chaos Troll} then proceeded to lift him off his feet and slam him, head-first into the ground. Cain coughed up a mouthful of blood as he tried to struggle free.

However, the four-headed creature didn't budge for even a second. It was clear that it was a cut above the rest. Even the three-headed {Chaos Trolls} couldn't hold a candle.

Pulling up, it let Cain be airborne for a few seconds before it slammed its don't straight into his chest.

Cain's back slammed into the wall, creating a small crate, sending stone shards and dust flying. Through blurry eyes, Cain could see the creature dash at him again. However, he was too tired to move.

With the last bit of strength in his body, he managed to move out of the way. However, before he could dodge completely, the creature's hand shot out and grabbed him by the leg.

'Ha... Crap.'

Cain let out an internal sigh as his body was treated like a rag doll for the first time in his life...

He suffered a concussion before his near-lifeless body was thrown away.

As he fell to the ground, his armor finally dissipated. Thanks to his most recent beating, the armor finally couldn't take it anymore and was destroyed...

The system whispered confirmation into his ears, but he was too tired to notice.

'It's been a while since I felt like this...'

Powerless...

Utterly powerless...

He couldn't even move a muscle. He was weak. He was even having trouble breathing,

'I think I punctured a lung.' Cain thought to himself. He watched as the four-headed {Chaos Troll} approached him, a sadistic and twisted smile on its face.

'Ah... I'm about to die. Again...'

He didn't want to die. If he could, he would avoid that fate with all he could. And yet, it seemed as though he wouldn't be able to avoid it.

'Screw that...'

Cain suckedin a deep breath. Regardless of how much pain he was feeling, he fought against it.

'If I go down, then let me offer this bastard a last fight for his life...'

Blood dripped down his mouth as he tried to steady his feet. A grin slowly appeared on his face as he started the lumbering creature down.

Perhaps due to its recent dominance, the creature showed no signs of fear. Pure arrogance rolled off its coiled steel muscles as it took step after step.

Cain stared down at his fists, before staring at his weapon that was stuck in the ground a few feet away.

He shook his head, "I don't need that."

Spreading his feet, he took a stance...

Despite his body's terrible state, his mind was calm. His center of gravity was balanced...

His eyes were focused...

He was going to kill the fiend before him. Even if it meant he died as well...

"Burning Spirit!"

Invisible flames exploded forth. A split second later, they took on a fiery glow.

He had finally activated the flame enchantment of the {Burning Spirit} skill.