God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

They were huge wolves that stood at a height of five feet when standing on all four limbs. Their bodies were covered with glowing red runes, and instead of furry tails, they had a mini inferno attacked to their behinds.

\'If I\'m not enough, then I\'ll just bury him with numbers.\'

Hunter\'s summoning skill was very unique. By connecting to a special part of the aether realm, he was able to summon very specific creatures. These creatures were not very powerful individually. However, a summoner with Hunter\'s skillset would easily be able to do great things with them, especially if he had a freakish amount of mana like Hunter did.

"Scatter..."

With a single command, Hunter sent the wolves into a frenzy...

"A swarm isn\'t going to save you," Stingè commented as he dodged a forward lunge from one of the {Flaming Hounds}. With incredible speed, he slashed at the exposed belly of the creature that was still midair, slicing it cleanly in two.

Minced organs and blood rained down, but they were all blocked by Stingè\'s {Idle World Barrier} spell.

More and more summoned creatures attacked Stingè, while others spread around the battlefield, slowly surrounding him.

A powerful wave of energy smashed all the hounds that tried to swarm him away. Then, with a powerful step, he lunged forward, making a beeline straight for Hunter.

Bouncing on the tip of his toes, Hunter barely managed to Ridge the high-speed charge by switching places with a hound that had lunged at Stingè from behind. Although the wolf was impaled, Hunter managed to deliver a powerful blow to Stingè\'s back.

Although the strike was blocked, Huhter wasn\'t perturbed as he quickly sacrificed another hound to escape.

With a snort, Stingè threw an {Idle Slash} at Hunter\'s general location, killing off a large number of the summoned {Flaming Hounds}.

"How much more time do you need, Cain?" Hunter yelled at Cain.

Cain, who was still busy trying his best to recover by downing healing potions and using {Blood Restitution} turned to face him,

"I think I can pull myself together in five minutes," Cain said with a grimace. He was still struggling against the effects of the Devil Essence corruption after all.

Hunter clicked his tongue, "Five minutes is a long amount of time. What\'s the plan to deal with this guy? There\'s no way we can harm a single hair on his head. You know that, right?"

Cain shrugged, "Of course I do. I\'m not delusional."

Hunter nodded, "So what\'s the plan?"

Cain\'s face was grim, "We wait. Nothing can happen until the hour runs out. We just need to keep him occupied. Once Susan, Jenny, and Ignis can escape, I\'ll summon... that thing."

Hunter raised a brow, "That thing?"

Cain grinned, "If all goes according to plan, we won\'t be the ones putting this bastard into the ground. Granted we survive this, I think we will get to watch quite the show..."

Hunter paused and gave Cain a long look. Eventually, he simply chuckled,

"You really are quite a handful."

Cain snorted, "Says the person who let himself get captured in the first place, starting all this crap. I expect to be compensated in full once we get out of this crappy situation." Cain said with a wide smile.

Hunter grinned, "Sure. Just make sure you stay alive till then..."

"You know... You should stop chatting, or you\'ll lose a leg." The wicked voice of Stingè drifted into Hunter\'s ears.

A net of crisscrossing {Idle Slashes} flew at Hunter at very high speeds....

\'Crap!\'

Flipping into the air, he barely managed to dodge the surprise attack. However, he sustained a terrible cut on his leg as a result.

Landing back to the ground, Hunter nearly toppled over. With his face pale, he murmured a spell under his breath. A few of his summons turned into motes of light that melted into his body.

The injured began healing up, but Stingè wasn\'t going to give him the time he needed to recover. Both individuals dashed at one another once again, engaging in several bouts. They traveled the length of the separated battlefield, loud blasts of energy and shockwaves following behind them.

All this time, Cain had been watching the fight diligently, his attention never wavering for a second...

\'He\'s something else, this guy.\' Cain was beyond shocked by Hunter\'s prowess. The way he fought was cunning and insidious. However, that was what kept him alive against Stingè. Despite the latter\'s greater power, Hunter had managed to last for so long.

\'His power is impressive, but his survivability is simply incredible.\'

Hunter\'s skills and spells seemed to be tailor-made to suit his personality and his fighting style. As such, he was able to make perfect use of them all.

That was not to say that he wasn\'t a hard hitter. Every time he threw a punch or a kick, his attacks were boosted by a burst of Ki. He had also activated a physique-enhancing transformation skill, as well as a speed-boosting skill. Combined with his beautiful application of hand-to-hand combat skills, he could very well be considered a peak fighter at his Tier.

However, the biggest problem he was currently facing was the fact that he was battling Stingè, a monster amongst monsters...

\'I have to be quicker.\'

Although Hunter was holding out on his own for now, that was mainly because Stingè hadn\'t gotten serious. If he had, both of them would have been long dead.

Sitting down cross-legged at the center of such an intense battle was not a smart move, but Cain couldn\'t care less. Still, he activated {Nexus Tether}, which carried him to a safer spot.

Sitting there, he began fighting for his life. He only had five minutes to get things under control. If he didn\'t, they were all doomed.

The main issue now was controlling the rampant Devil Essence in his body and stopping it from leaking everywhere.

The energies on his body were separated into three distinct streams. His mana circulated through a different set of conduits that weren\'t even physical, his Ki originated from his heart, which then circulated to other parts of his body by his blood vessels, as it was the center of his lifeforce.

However, Cain was still unsure about where the Devil Essence in his body came from...

\'According to the system, my ability to passively absorb Devil Essence comes from the latent effects of my Ki Plundering technique.\'

The {Dragon\'s Gate Ki Plundering Technique} made Cain susceptible to other forms of energy. This trait would have been a boon if not for the existence of Devil Essence.

The reason Cain was able to use so many different energy sources so well was thanks to this Ki Plundering technique. However, it could also be the cause of his downfall.

If the system was right about it, then he knew where the Devil Essence came from. However, it still had to converge in his body somewhere. That was still a mystery to him...

Regardless, he had noticed that ever since he had acquired the Nirvanic Circle veins from Lyx, the Devil Essence seemed to prefer taking this route.

This way, his mana, Ki, and Devil Essence were separated for the most part. Although the Nirvanic Circle veins were connected to his heart, the Devil Essence didn\'t mix up with his Ki for the most part.

However, the corruption has made this possible. Devil Essence was slowly seeping into every part of his body, including his heart, which was where his Ki originated. As such, his Ki now carried trace amounts of Devil Essence, which made things even harder to control.

Worse of all, Devil Essence wasn\'t just a physical energy. It could also make contact with the spiritual plane. Meaning, it had managed to seep into the ley lines that his mana used to travel through his spiritual body.

Now, both his body and soul were becoming slowly suffused with Devil Essence, and there was nearly nothing he could do about it.

However, activating {Golden Body} seemed to slow it down...

{Golde Body} affected not only his body but also his mind and soul as well.

***

{Golden Body}: The power of a celestial being now flows within the body of the host, granting incredible fleshy might unlike anything belonging to a mortal. Upon activation, all physical stats are multiplied by 4. Consumes 1000HP and 1000 Ki points per second as well as 10 points of stamina per second to maintain. Subjects the body of the user to incredibly great pain and strain.

When in use, the host will lose all ability to use any other source of power}. (10,000/1,000,000 SP).

***

{Golden Body} was the best way to combat the corruption. It made Cain\'s body resistant to the flow of any energy form that is not Ki since Ki was in essence, power of the physical body. Previously, Cain had still been able to use Devil Essence when he had {Golden Body} activated. But now, the skill seemed hellbent on fighting the insidious energy out of his body.

That didn\'t mean all was well...

Instead, things had become worse. His Ki and Devil Essence had turned his body into a warzone. The Devil Essence was trying to corrupt, but his Ki, using {Golden Body}, was trying to force it out. {Mana Heart} was also righteously trying to filter out the Devil Essence that had managed to sneak into the streams of mana flowing within him.

Cain heaved a sigh...

He was just a single step between life and death. If he became a Devil thrall, that would be the best possible outcome he could imagine, as the only other one was death.

\'I still have time. I can suppress it until Stingè is beaten. I just need to hold out for as long as possible. That shouldn\'t be too hard, right?\'

He couldn\'t afford to wait anymore. He had made the wise decision to contain the Devil Essence corruption and assist Hunter because the fight between him and Stingè had reached a climax...