God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'Evangeline said its power increases the longer it fights. Just how strong is it now? I'll have to see for myself...'

"Grr!"

The {Chaos Orc} growled at Cain. With a casual wave of its hand, a huge amount of wind was stirred up.

Cain also waved the large blade in his hands, kicking up some dust as well. They both stared at one another, both unmoving...

His muscles were tense. The predatory gaze of the {Chaos Orc} drilled into his soul. This creature was stronger and faster than him. He didn't have the advantage at all.

'Strong...'

Cain took a step forward. A split second later, his body shifted sideways. The {Chaos Orc} had already brought its axe down.

'I can't let it land...'

Twisting the blade in his hand, Cain poured an absurd amount of devil essence into it...

'Dark Dragon, Orbiting...'

A black streak was left in the air as the weapon surged forward, clashing with the edge of the axe...

BANG!

Cain's eyes bulged as he felt an unbelievable amount of force travel through his blade and into his arms.

'Even with the flame enchantment, I still can't hold a candle...'

The creature had used a single-hand swing, yet Cain had to use all the strength he could muster to block. They simply were not in the same league.

And if Cain was aware of this, the {Chaos Orc} could see it as well. A grin stretched across its face, revealing two sharp tusks as it unleashed a flurry of attacks.

Cain's eyes narrowed as he engaged in combat once more...

In a few seconds, they clashed hundreds of times. A sea of sparks was created around them.

A final clash between the weapons pushed Cain away, his feet sliding against the ground.

Magic circles appeared all around him as golden chains shot out. A yell escaped Cain's mouth as the chains wound around his body.

Applying force to his feet, his body shifted. The chains swung him as he began attacking from all angles. The {Chaos Orc} responded by spinning its axe madly, a wild grin on its face.

The clashes continued, causing numerous rocks to fall from the walls and ceiling. Evangeline watched on, her face grim...

'He... He doesn't stand a chance...'

Although Cain was able to hold out, for now, his stamina was steadily dropping. On the other hand, the longer the {Chaos Orc} fought, the stronger it became.

It was only a matter of time before Cain was completely overpowered.

'However...' Evangeline's eyes narrowed as she continued watching the fight from the shadows.

'What is he doing?'

Cain had a wild smile on his face as well as he clashed with the {Chaos Orc} again and again.

The {Chaos Orc} outperformed him in every way. Not only could he not land a single hit, but he also had to do his utmost best to avoid being hit. As such, he had to pull out all the stops.

He brought out the full potential of his arsenal, using almost every skill and spell in his inventory. What gave him the most edge, was the latest application of the {Eye of Clairvoyance}.

By observing the changes in the {Chaos Orc's} body and movement, he was able to slightly predict what its next course of action would be.

In doing so, he was able to avoid a majority of the attacks before they became a threat. However, the {Chaos Orc} was quickly rendering this little advantage useless.

'As expected, it's getting faster...'

Cain saw the {Chaos Orc} grin at him. His eyes widened, but it was too late. The next second, the creature disappeared from his line of sight.

'Where?! Up? To the side?!'

Cain's mind was instantly filled with panic. The increase was very abrupt. It was as though the {Chaos Orc} had-

'The bastard was holding back!'

Gritting his teeth, pain shot through his left eye as the {Eye of Clairvoyance} was pushed to the absolute limit.

'There!'

Cain quickly commanded his body to move. The Ki flowing in his body surged as he dodged to the side.

Although he was fast, the {Chaos Orc} had already exceeded his speed greatly. Pain shot through his face as the edge of the axe sliced through his cheek.

Blood poured down the side of his face...

'It almost had me.' Cain thought to himself.

The {Chaos Orc} had played a simple but effective mental trick on him. It had managed to convince him during their fight that it could only increase its speed gradually.

When its speed increased dramatically, he was caught completely unaware and was almost decapitated because of it.

'Such a dangerous creature.' Cain thought to himself as he stared the creature down.

Seeing that he could still feel the pain in his cheek, he nodded to himself.

'Good. It seems like it still works.'

When he had engaged the four-headed {Chaos Troll} in battle, he had been at the cusp of figuring out how to materialize his Ki externally. The first step in that was to learn how to control it.

By learning how to stop his Ki from automatically healing him, he had grasped the initial stage of learning control.

His eyes glazed over as he dashed forward again...

This time, he was prepared. He would no longer treat the {Chaos Orc} as a monster with a little more intelligence. Rather, he acknowledged its deviousness.

'Two can play that game...'

Since the {Chaos Orc} had tried to one-up him, it was only fair he returned the favor.

Cain's body moved like a snake as he zig-zagged his way toward the {Chaos Orc}. The beast wasted no time as it dashed forward as well.

Cain swung the sword vertically for a downward chop. The {Chaos Orc} swung its axe horizontally to block. Just before the two weapons could clash, Cain's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Streaks of azure flame erupted from his feet. At the same time, the wind surrounding him and his blade changed.

Like a ballet dancer, his body danced around the {Chaos Orc} gracefully. It was a very strange sight.

'{Wind Weaver} allows me to manipulate the direction my body takes during motion by manipulating the wind currents said motion creates. I don't need to be falling to my death to do this.'

Cain utilized {Wind Weaver} in a way he had never done before. The trajectory of his body's motion was changed mid-movement

The {Chaos Orc} was completely surprised by this move. Because of how fast it had become, it should have been able to react on time. However, it hadn't expected that Cain would have a skill like {Azure Burst} although it was fast, Cain managed to increase his speed so quickly, that it was unable to adjust accordingly.

'Gotcha!'

Cain swung his blade horizontally, dragging it across the creature's back. Blood splattered as a wide injury appeared.

The {Chaos Orc} jumped back to create some space, staring at Cain deeply...

Cain stared back as well, not paying any attention to the wound he had just dealt. In reality, he knew that the injury had done very little to the creature's health pool. While Ki could heal physical injuries, it did absolutely nothing to HP. As such, if HP ran out and the creature still had a lot of Ki, it would still die.

The two combatants stared at one another for another second before they jumped right back into it.

Now that Cain was finally coming to understand the monster he was fighting, he could adjust his thinking accordingly. Although the creature was stronger and faster, he had something it didn't have.

Adaptability...

Cain's ability to adapt and respond quickly was something special in and of itself. It was not so magical it could be called a skill, but it was a very much-needed boon in any situation.

As such, they clashed continuously, both combatants giving it their all, drawing upon their potential, trying to kill their opponent and preserve their own lives.

As magical attacks would do little to no harm, Cain decided not to use any attack-based magical attacks. Instead, he poured all his mana into his support and physique-boosting skills.

Because of this, he was able to last longer. However, the {Chaos Orc} was not a regular monster. It had many special abilities, and so far, Cain had yet to see it use any of them aside from the passive ability that allowed it to grow stronger the longer it fought in their battle.

'Come on... Show me those flames again.'

Sure enough, the {Chaos Orc} failed to disappoint. With a grunt, it slammed its axe at Cain with tremendous might, pushing him away.

Cain groaned inwardly as he tried to stabilize his body. Looking up, he realized the {Chaos Orc} had discarded its battle axe.

In its hands, were the two obsidian daggers that had been resting at its waist...

Cain could see its veins bulge as power coursed through them and into its hands.

BOOM!

Flames exploded out of its clenched fists and stuck to the surface of the dagger like a viscous liquid.

"That's it..." Cain's eyes took on a feverish light as he stared at the glowing blades.

He had a feeling that the key to his breakthrough was in this special ability of the {Chaos Orc}.

However, things could never be so easy...

The {Chaos Orc} took a step forward and then disappeared.

All of a sudden, a certain sensation filled Cain's heart. He had felt it numerous times before, but never had it been so strong before.

This sensation, this feeling...

Was the feeling of imminent death approaching...