God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'What was that attack just now?'

The attack that had made him lose his legs came out of nowhere. He didn't even notice any mana fluctuations even though {Eye of Clairvoyance} was active.

Chains of metal slid forward and grabbed his severed legs, pulling them back to him. Fighting the pain, Cain put them back in place so the restoration could begin.

Stingè ignored Cain's actions and turned to face Hunter who had a wide gash on his side. Blood streamed through his claws like a river, but he continued to apply pressure on the wound.

"You should know by now that struggling is futile. Why make things harder?"

Hunter spat out a mouthful of blood,

"Shut up." Venom-laced words dripped out of his mouth.

"Summon Sacrifice: Replica."

"Summon Sacrifice: Healing."

Hunter activated two spells. A magic circle opened on the ground and a summoned wolf-like creature. The creature then turned into motes of light and traveled into Hunter's body. The long gash stopped bleeding almost immediately.

Stingè stared at this with an unchanging look in his eyes...

"Hmm..."

Cain and Hunter's eyes widened when they realized that Stingè had disappeared.

Cain didn't hesitate in the slightest. The chains of metal that had dragged his legs back to him wrapped around them. At the same time, he activated {Nexus Tether}.

He had already summoned the blades a while ago. His entire body was instantaneously switched with a shiny long sword crafted from mana. However, the blade was immediately split in half by an unseen edge.

Cain reappeared someplace else. Rolling on the ground, he looked up. Hunter had somehow managed to dodge the attack as well by sacrificing another summon.

Cain gritted his teeth,

'What the hell was that attack?!'

Cain's eyes went on over time as he tried to spot Stingè.

"Behind you!"

The moment Cain spotted Stingè, he yelled out to Hunter who responded immediately. Slamming the soles of his feet against the hard ground, he shot up towards the sky faster than a cannonball.

Stingè had been standing behind him with his hands folded.

With a snort, his eyes locked onto the airborne Hunter,

"Idle Slash..."

It was at that moment Cain was finally able to see it. A thin, almost non-existent line traveled at speeds beyond hypersonic at Hunter.

"Summon Sacrifice: Substitute!"

The thin slash cut through Hunter. However, the severed body dissipated into fiery motes, revealing that he had switched places with a summoned clone.

Cain yelled through their mental link at Hunter, who was now on the other side, separated from Cain by Stingè who stood between them,

'It is a spatial technique. That's why we can't see it. It's some sort of invincible slash.'

Stingè grinned, "Not bad. You both seem like you'd be fun to play around with."

Cain had read the description of the {Hand of Stingè} numerous times, so he knew that the creature standing before him was a warrior. He was unlike the other beings he had engaged with in the past.

Cain's Ki exploded as he tried to boost his regeneration as fast as possible. A deep hunger began to grow within him, but he ignored it. His armor had been damaged greatly, but it was still usable. However, there would be no more protection for the lower part of his body. Especially since the extra protection didn't really matter in this fight.

If not for {Draconic Transfiguration}, the battle would have been over before it started.

Hunter replied to him through their mental link,

'It is too fast. If not for my skill, {Beast Instinct}, I would have lost an arm just now.'

The attack Stingè had used to attack them, {Idle Slash} was simply beyond Cain's understanding. He was familiar with the spatial element, and he knew exactly how powerful it was.

Despite that, he never knew it could be used in such a harrowing manner...

'Is this the difference between Tiers?'

Cain had already concluded. Stingè was of a higher tier than them. That was the only logical conclusion. Although he could tell Stingè wasn't as strong as the weakened Primordial Devils, he felt that his power was at least equal to that of the {Alabaster Leviathan} that had swallowed him up all those days ago.

Still, the level of danger he felt coming from Stingè was by far the greatest. The devilish creature constantly emitted an aureola of overbearing wickedness. The way his wings lightly flapped behind him, the ominous glint of his wickedly curved horns and sharp claws, his lithe body filled with dense muscles...

Everything about the Demon standing before him showed just how much power he was hiding.

Cain's mind churned. He had definitely bitten off more than he could chew here. However, he couldn't cower away now. It was frankly quite impossible.

He couldn't even escape even if he wanted to. He had to beat him somehow. If he couldn't, then he needed to find a way to escape successfully.

Cain tried to wriggle his toes to see if the restoration had been completed. Standing to his feet, he could tell that although he hadn't been fully healed, at least he could fight now.

Stingè finally threw him a bored glance,

"You are still alive?"

Cain readied his sword. There was no need to exchange words.

"Azure Burst..."

A torrent of azure flames exploded out of Cain's body, engulfing his transformed Rakshasa form.

'We need to keep him occupied.' Cain said through the mental link.

'I think I've gotten a hang of it. What about you?' Hunter replied.

A breath of steamy air streamed out of Cain's slightly parted lips. He started straight into Stingè's nonchalant eyes. He could see the absolute confidence. The last time he saw the feature, it looked rushed and panicked. Now, all that was gone and had been replaced with a cold, dark apathy for the living beings before him.

He looked at them as though they were ants crawling on their bellies, living only by his grace. To him, the only reason they still breathing was because he allowed it.

And that irked him greatly...

Stepping lightly to the side, Cain shifted all his body weight to his left leg. The ground beneath him cracked and shattered as he kicked off. Streaks of blue and red flames mixed to form a stream of violet flames that scorched the ground behind him.

The dark tendrils of Devil Essence around him foster up as he poured as much energy into {Scale of the Abyssal Flame}. At the same time, he summoned another weapon.

Csin had unlocked a hidden feature of the {Hand of Stingè}, and that was that it could change forms depending on what the user preferred. However, there were only two settings. The default dual shortblades, and the curved longsword.

This time, he chose the longsword form. A wickedly curved blade appeared in his other hand, while {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} was in the other one.

"Control over mana, ki, and devil essence? Looks like there is more than one monster here. I bet you'll be quite use-"

With a loud roar, Cain sliced forward with all his power. This was a normal attack. However, it was augmented by thousands of strength points. Also, his physical attacks were greatly increased when he was in Rakshasa mode. With {Draconic Transfiguration} having increased his weight significantly, the force behind his normal attacks was incredibly powerful.

A loud explosion of energy followed as the thick Devil Essence that had been trailing behind him shot out of his blades.

"Not bad." An impressed, yet slightly mocking voice called out from behind the torrent of energy.

A tingle raced across Cain's scalp. Tucking his arms in, he moved quickly to the side. Thanks to his reaction time being boosted by {Heart of Scourge}, he was barely able to dodge the {Idle Slash} that had shot forward.

With incredible speed, he attacked once again. However, Stingè blocked all his consecutive attacks with finesse.

Cain gritted his teeth, 'Can he see my attacks before they land?!'

Luckily for him, Cain wasn't the only one fighting...

Hunter came barreling forward, his fists encased with fiery light. At the same time, Cain chose this time to encase his blades with [Ki Fire].

BOOM!

"H-how?" Cain was beyond shocked to see that Stingè had stopped both their attacks with his bare hands. To top it off, that strike had been augmented by [Ki Fire].

'Does that mean that even after reducing his defenses by 90%, I still can't break his skin?!'

Just thinking about it made his boiling blood cool down, allowing a terrifying chill to creep in.

Grabbing their wrists, the Demon threw Cain into the air and used Hunter's body as a bat to smash him away.

Cain flew like he had just been shot out of a catapult. Blood streamed down his face and entered his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he used {Nexus Tether} just in time for a huge {Idle Slash} to slash the space he had been occupying previously.

Appearing beside Hunter, who was glaring daggers at the smirking Stingè, they both dashed forward again.