God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

As such, he chose not to move at all. Instead, he spent the next few minutes observing his body.

'All the energy in my body is being restricted.' That was the conclusion he came to.

He stared down at the chains that bound him. They were glowing with a soft blue light.

Cain sighed...

Things had gone wrong right from the beginning. He had thought he wasn't underestimating the trial, but it seemed he was too cocky.

He decides to pour over all the information he had, which wasn't a lot.

'Movement through space and time... Is this another world in a different time period? Could it be that we are being sent on missions to change history?'

He thought about it abd decided it couldn't be so simple. There was something about this world that felt... unnatural to him.

The strength of these men for one, was simply something he couldn't wrap his head around. How were they all so strong? He shook his head.

His worry began to spread. What about the others? Were they also forced to share the same fate as he did? That wouldn't be fair, right?

'This should be impossible. It is a trial for a reason...' He felt.

Although he had been stripped completely of all his belongings, there was still one thing he had.

'Come...'

From the shadows, a silent fiend arose. It's body was woven from darkness, and there was no difference between the two.

The dark soul wasn't a physical being. It was also an existence completely separate from Cain. An independent existence... However, the system didn't seem to count it as a complete entity. He had no idea why.

But this was to his benefit. Cain gave the dark diver a shadowy command, and the eldritch creature obeyed without question.

The {Dark Soul} jumped into the shadows and swap away. The first thing it did was look for where his weapons were kept. He found them in the prison armory.

Then he began spying on the conversations of the patrolling guards to find any information he could.

Two patrol guard walked through the dark corridors with only a single magic lamp to guide their way.

Both were huge and stocky. However, they were without their helmets this time, so Cain was able to see that they were normal looking humans.

They were body conversing quietly under the darkness of night;

The shorter of the two spoke with conviction,

"These heretics that have infiltrated our lands can't be dealth with easily. There is a reason Lord Crimson was adamant about capturing them."

The taller one sighed, "I heard there would be a Devil Invasion within the next three days. No wonder he's so worried. If these heretics remain, god's know how much damage they could do."

Cain fromwed as he listened, 'This isn't the first time I'm hearing this word. Heretic...'

He decided to follow these two to see what else they would say. In the cover of darkness, it would be very tasking to spot an illusive creature like the {Dark Soul}. Hence, he could sneak behind them without worry.

The men continued their conversation,

"I heard the southeast squadrons captured more than a few heretics today. A public execution is in order for sure..."

The taller guard nodded. His average looking face suddenly became ugly as his voice dripped to a whisper,

"I can't he completely sure, but I also heard that one of the Priestesses of the Church of Light and another from the Church of the Blood Moon have been arrested for colluding with these heretics."

The shorter one sighed. His face was also contorted under the dim lighting of the magic glow,

"You really can't trust anyone these days. If the church can be compromised, then there truly is no safe place anymore. Curse these blasted Devils! Curse the Heretics as well!"

Cain's mind was as still ad a lake as he took in all this information.

'So these Heretics are those that are in cahoots with Devils. But do Devils need human cooperation to take out a kingdom such as this? Are they even real Devils?'

There were many questions to be asked, but he was now sure of one thing. These men saw him as a Heretic colluding with Devils.

He continued gathering information, whilst also using the {Dark Soul} to learn the layout of the prison.

The sound of metal hitting stone echoed through the empty corridors. Cain's eyes narrowed before theyr closed completely. His body went completely still. Almost at the same te, a group of heavity armored guards arrived at the front of his cell.

CLICK!

The sound of keys slipping through a lock was heard, and the heavy steel gate was pushed open with a loud creak.

The guards waltzed right into the cell and picked him up like he was a ragdoll. Cain didn't struggle a bit. He had to convince these guys that he still wasn't conscious.

As they carted him away, the {Dark Soul} followed right behind them. They walked for a while, carrying him to the higher floors of the prison.

Eventually, they arrived in front of a door that had 'Interrogation Room' written in bold prints. It wasn't the language used on Urbus. However, Cain found that he couldn't understand its meaning.

He suddenly felt cold. Something about the Interrogation Room filled with with quiet dread. However, he couldn't break away now if he wanted to live through this.

He had to play along for now...

The guard brought him into the interrogation room, then strapped him to a chair.

Then, they simply walked out. Cain chose this moment to open his eyes, as he felt a gaze had been on him for quite sometime.

Seated in front of him was a woman with an impassive expression on her face. She was dressed in linen clothes with a leather corset strapped to her waist. This brought out the fullness of her figure. If it was in any other scenario, Cain would have thought her to be very attractive.

Her gaze was cold, yet he couldn't find any hints of emotion in it. Anger, disdain, pity... They were not present in her eyes. She looked like someone that was completely focused on doing her job.

The moment she spoke, a melodious, but cold voice filled the room,

"I'm going to ask questions, you answer them."

The way she spoke broke no room for any arguments. Her word was law in this room. Cain remained silent, so she took that as his sign of cooperation.

The woman didn't waste any time, "What was your mission?"

Cain didn't know how to respond to that. What was he supposed to tell her? The system sent him here to complete a trial?

"I don't know how to explain this... but I think you guys have the wrong guy." Cain said with a sigh.

The woman remained expressionless,

"Do you are saying you aren't a Heretic? And that you haven't colluded with Devils?"

Cain nodded, "Yeah. If anything, I kill Devils myself."

The woman stared at him silently for a few seconds. Cain couldn't tell what was running through her mind.

After some time, she sighed. Her hand went under the table between the two of them, and she produced a silver ring with a blue gemstone on it.

"This is your last chance to speak. Anything after this will be torture until your flesh and soul give out. What was your mission?"

Cain felt a sudden sense of danger coming from her. He hasn't sensed anything before.

Cain's mind spun. Right now, he couldn't access any energy in his body. His hands and feet were shackled, so he couldn't fight back even if he wanted to. Worse, he was sure this woman was stronger than he was if he didn't activated any of his skills.

'Should I just say nonsense and hope for the best?' Cain was doubtful it would work. Even if it did, that would only mean he was agreeging to the fact that he was colluding with Devils. As such, it was a lose-lose situation for him.

He could only stick to his guns, "I've told you I'm not a Heretic."

The woman nodded as though she had expected this. Without another word, the ring in her hand flashed. Suddenly, the dim light in the room disappeared and was replaced with blinding light.

Cain was shocked to see the pristine while floor and walls of this room. At the same time, he got to see the woman much clearer now that there was light.

His heart shivered as he stared into her eyes. He was wrong. It was mostly impassive. However, there was a certain level of mad glee hidden within the swirling dark orbs.

Cain then looked around. Behind him was a machine that whirred to life. It was connected to the chair beneath him.

Cain suddenly felt a cold sweat envelop him. He tried to say something, but it was too late.

Flashes of electricity raced through the copper cords connecting the chair to the machine. Cain could feel thousands of volts of electricity being pumped into his body. Electricity sparked around his body.

The pain was excruciating. A guttural scream rose from his lungs, but he trapped it in his throat.

He stared at the woman with wide open eyes.

She nodded, her eyes filled with a hint of surprise. She rubbed the ring again, and the currents of electricity flowing into him increased again.

Cain felt his blood vessels popping. He had resistance to the lightning element, so the damage he dealth with was supposed to be just halfway effect. And yet, he felt like he was about to die.

In this moment of excruciating pain, his mind spun. Because of the chains binding him, he couldn't access his mana very well. This would have been impossible for a normal person, as their access to their mana should be completely cut off. However, Cain wasn't normal. His magic and spirit stats were very high, so they allowed him a bit of leeway.

If he focused well enough, he could activate a single skill or spell. That was what he needed right now.

Cain quickly activated {Lightning Thief}. The thousands of volts of lightning elemental mana that was being pumped into his body was suddenly being gathered up. At the same time, he activated his {Elemental Vault}. Both skills seemed to synchronize, as the electricity began glowing into the Vault, unable to harm him.

Even still, despite how effective of a skill {Lightning Thief} was, it still wasn't enough to get rid of the lightning. He could only store away about seventy percent of it.

Still, that was enough. He had found a loophole!

The torture was finally stopped after a few more minutes. White smoke rose from his body. His hairs had been singed, and his skin was black in many places.

"Are you ready to talk now?"

"Screw you!" Cain spat at the woman with venomous eyes.

She impassively activated the machine again, begining the torturing process anew.

***

After a few hours of torture, Cain was finally led back to his cell. When the woman saw that he wasn't going to crack from the electricitu, she had chosen to use more vile methods.

Cain fell to his knees and threw up the contents of his stomach. His body shivered violently as he tried to stay sane. The pain was too much.

They had beaten him, almost every part of his body was covered in blood. He was even missing two fingers.

Coughing out some blood, he wiped his lips. When he raised his head back up, his eyes were still tranquil like pools of darkness.

'I can't waste any more time here.'

His luck had been terrible. However, in the midst of adversity, a way out would always be found.

His time was limited. If he wasted anymore time, there was a chance he would be unable to complete the trial to become Tier 1.

His eyes crackled with electricity...

"Time to bust out of here!"