God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Well, almost dead...

Not only had he used up all his energy, causing severe energy backlash, but he had done so three times, with no time to recover in between.

He had used the water enchantment of {Burning Spirit} the first time. The second time, he had to rely on Evangeline, and the third time, he was saved by the latent ability of his Ki Fire.

Not only had his body gone through tremendous stress because of this, but his completely depleted Ki and mana meant that he could no longer regenerate, or repair his body.

As such, his body had gone into shock, rendering him unconscious, and his heart had stopped beating.

'Crap!'

Evangeline gritted her teeth as she rushed at Cain...

"Oi, wake up!" As soon as she was beside him, Evangeline dropped to her knees.

"Vitality Restitution!"

Threads of blood swam across her fingers and into Cain's mangled chest.

Her heart was momentarily in turmoil as she gazed at the dead {Chaos Orc} and Cain.

"You can't afford to die here. Not like this, at least..." Her voice was frigid and low as she spoke, shadows and darkness swimming in her eyes.

Seeing that her spell wasn't working, she gritted her teeth as she activated a skill.

"Maximum Output!"

Pressing her hands on his chest, The streams of energy became thicker as they burrowed into his chest and tried to rejuvenate him.

However, it still wasn't working...

Evangeline stared down at him in shock,

"What is this?! You are going to die just like that?!" If Cain could see her face, he would be shocked as he had never seen her express so much emotion.

Her face was usually expressionless, and anytime she did smile, Cain always felt it was disingenuous. However, a look of sincere worry was spread across her face.

However, she soon calmed down...

Her eyes turned into pools of darkness as she continued peering down at him.

'That's right. He can't be dead. There is no way he will give up now...'

"Come on. Keep fighting!" Evangeline said through gritted teeth as she continued pressing down on his chest.

Although Cain's heart wasn't beating, he technically wasn't dead yet. His brain and other bodily functions were still active. However, his heart had collapsed due to the stress his body had taken.

Although {Draconic Transfiguration} was handy to have, its repairs weren't the same as healing.

His body's vitality wasn't being restored. Rather, his Ki was used to repair the damaged parts of his body. This meant that internal injuries were often harder to heal. His heart had endured so much of this but had finally given out.

Despite how she portrayed herself, Evangeline was mostly normal, at least she thought she was. She did her best to hide her emotions because she had been taught, whilst growing up in her clan, never to show emotions.

And so, she had done just that. She didn't show her emotions because there was no need to. She had trained and studied all her life. She had been put into school by the matriarch of her clan and was all but set to fill an important role in the clan when she died. Her parents and all her close relatives were all dead, so she was the only one.

Despite all these, she still felt normal...

And then, the apocalypse happened. The world before the end was very different from what it was after. She was no longer obligated to do the things she was bound by duty to do.

She was free...

Killing mutant beasts and devils, exploring the depths of the mutant-infested oceans, making breakthroughs, and acquiring new skills and spells, she could do everything.

She could even acquire more and more power, return to her clan, raze it to the ground, and rebuild it from the top. She could become a god that roamed the world...

However, all these had changed slightly when she met Cain...

He was not charismatic. She thought he was an idiot as well. He could fight decently, but he wasn't very impressive. And yet, he managed to achieve so many incredible feats.

It was a strange feeling, to seek what someone else had. She had never been envious before. Yet, she found herself watching Cain from the darkness of the shadows.

She had asked herself once. What exactly made him so peculiar in her eyes? She still hadn't found the answer to that yet.

And so, she wasn't going to let him die until she found out what it was. One thing about Evangeline, was that she could become very determined, and scary even when she became obsessed with something.

She was ready to unravel this mystery. However, she couldn't do that if the source of this mystery was dead.

As such, she took in a deep breath and called upon the energy in her body. Quite opposite to Cain's Ki, the nature of the Ki flowing in her body was very timid. Well, timid was not a very good description. It was more... Insidious than timid. The aura it gave off was cold and deadly.

Like a dagger hidden in the darkness of night, waiting for the clouds to steal the moonlight away before it emerged. It flowed out of her like a stream and was bent to her will like a Potter would mold with clay.

A strange symbol floated in the air when she was done...

'This has to work...'

Her eyes were like daggers as she slammed the floating sigil into Cain's chest violently. Her face turned pale as a huge amount of energy left her body and traveled straight into Cain's damaged heart.

Cain's eyes shot open as his body sat upright with enough force to snap him in half.

His passive skills immediately came into effect. {Draconic Transfiguration} seemed to sense that something was wrong. His Ki traveled through his body and began healing his heart right away.

What Evangeline had done, was a very meticulous, yet dangerous thing. Explaining in very simple words, she had killed him again. By concentrating a large amount of Ki and smashing it into his heart, she intended to destroy it. However, the sigil she had created made it so that the only thing that was harmed, was his heart.

In doing this, she had jump-started his heart for a brief moment. This led to a series of events where the repairs of his body's passive {Draconic Transfigurationwereas triggered. His heart was being healed before his body even realized that it had been destroyed.

Cain blinked rapidly as he felt warmth on his chest. Not only was he not dead, but he could also feel that the repairing ability of {Draconic Transfiguration} was stronger than before.

"W-what's going on?" Cain asked absentmindedly.

Evangeline stared at Cain, the worry and fear on her face melting away faster than snow heated to a hundred degrees Celsius instantly.

"Welcome back from the land of the dead..." Evangeline said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Cain looked around him, still a little bit thrown off. His consciousness entered his body. However, he couldn't see anything terribly wrong. In fact, most of his injuries were already healing up.

"But I don't see..." Before he could finish his sentence, Cain realized what had happened.

Turning to Evangeline, a bitter smile appeared on his face again,

"Looks like you've saved my life again."

Evangeline frowned, "What are you talking about?!"

Cain shook his head, "Don't play dumb. I know you healed me."

Evangeline fell silent. Seeing this as silent agreement, Cain continued,

"You have my deepest gratitude. I will definitely repay this debt-"

"Shut up."

Evangeline's cold voice made Cain stare at her wide wide eyes. Pools of darkness build within her eyes causing him to feel a little bit intimidated.

"I didn't save your life just so you can thank me. If you really mean it, then, you will try not to die next time. You fight too recklessly. Will it hurt you to fight with your brain?!"

Cain felt a bit insulted, "What do-"

However, a hard glare made him shut up,

"Your form is bad. It is like you know how to fight, but have forgotten all the basics. It is quite embarrassing. And also..."

Cain listened to Evangeline rant for a few. more minutes before she finally calmed down.

Staring at Cain deeply, Evangeline pretended to think deeply about something. Cain scratched his head,

"Do you want an apology?"

Evangeline looked at him, a strange light in her eyes,

"No. Not an apology..."

Cain rolled his eyes, "Then what do you want? I am feeling really sore from all this fighting. Just get it over with..."

Cain earned himself another stink-eye before Evangeline stared at him again, this time, more serious than before,

"I need you to make a promise to me."

"A promise? Do you want to ask me for a favor?" Cain repeated, a little bit suspicious.

Evangeline shook her head,

"Not a favor..."

Cain became even more confused...

"Then what is it?"

Never in his entire life would Cain have thought he would hear the next words that came out of Evangeline's mouth,

"Let me become your shadow..."