God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Screams of fear or to stem the fear, wails of terror and pain as limbs were torn and bodies were consumed whole.

The deranged cries of beasts as they too were slain...

All these sounds and flavors seemed to mesh together, coming towards an unimaginable crescendo.

The entire battlefield was separated into multiple different pockets.

The Pilgrims slit the throats of the Beastmen and the Lightslayers. The Beastmen ripped their throats out, and the Lightslayers used their Divine blessings to slay the Pilgrims in equal measure.

Ignis and a handful of powerful combatants were working to defeat the giant {Earth Behemoth Dragon}. They were surrounded by two rings of Beastmen and Lightslayers, one assisting them in the fight, and the other keeping the Pilgrims at bay. It was a delicate line, and it could be broken at anytime the moment too many lives were taken and it couldn't be stretched any thinner.

On another side of the battlefield, two insane wielders of mana were busy duking it out to see who could cause the most destruction with their spells against one another.

With every spell one put out, it was almost as the other hand an even greater, more harrowing counter.

Steve and Wulf had blotted out the sky.

However, in that same corner, Sue, Jenny, Hunter, and Dan were working to shave away the rear lines of the army of Valestorm.

In the end, a lot of blood was being spilled by their hands.

At the center of the tenebrous deathfest, was a battle between the bulwark of Valestorm's army, as well as the tip of their spear.

On the other side was an actual spear, blazing and burning with unquenchable fire. Keeping the Guardian at bay unrelentingly with the blazing spear was Li and Stan.

The three of them acted as the spearhead for the remaining fighters to gain some ground in the fight with Valestorm.

All these battles occured at the same time, with roughly the same level of intensity.

As the hours passed, both sides had shrunken considerably. The number of dead bodies piling onto the ground had also grown considerably.

The exhaustion was also coming hard. And yet, for some reason, the battle seemed even more fierce than before.

It was as though there was a delicate, thin line about to be broken. A paper thin barrier...

Cain staggered backwards.

For some time now, he had been on the back foot.

And for good reason too.

It was because he couldn't really do much besides be on the defensive.

That black sand of death summoned by the man he had learned to know was called Kaelin, was lethal. However, at the end of the day, it was just sand.

However what made it lethal was the way Kaelin used it.

As he had come to suspect, Kaelin didn't have affinity to just death and the earth elements. Instead, he also had affinity to wind and fire as well.

And by infusing the black sands of death onto a simple {Wind blade} spell, he could produce something extremely lethal.

As they battled, he also noticed that while his stamina reduced, that of his opponent didn't seem affected at all.

He could make a few guesses, but it didn't matter.

'Right now, I have no edge, no upper hand. I might be able to overpower him with raw power. But something like that will bring about too many casualties.'

And that was far from what he wanted. Not only would spells like {Frost Temple} and {Supernova} harm Valestorm's fighters, it woild kill tjose on his side as well.

His only options were eto defeat his opponent in close combat.

However, if he couldn't even get close enough to him without losing his life, how was he supposed to win?

His frustration climbed several crests higher every time their swords clashed. That torrent of black sand had been growing steadily as the hours passed, until it resembled a mini sandstorm around Kaelin.

Kaelin had a bored look on his face,

"Is this the best you could muster? I expected you to be more of a challenge, you know. What a let down..."

Cain said nothing as he parried another swing of the scythe.

Right now, they were at an impasse. Both of their defenses were airtight. The only way the battle would end, would be if either one of them got a massive spike in power, or one of them made a slip up that could turn the tables around.

And it seemed like that moment was quickly approaching.

Cain could feel the exhaustion creeping up. His stamina was not limitless after all. And he wasn't the only one that noticed it.

Kaelin had a sinister grin on his face as he pressed forward aggressively.

Every swing of his scythe was accompanied by a terrifying {Windblade} laced with the black sand that oozed with the aura of death.

Cain could feel himself being pushed back. His shields were no longer holding out.

Kaelin's grin spread from ear to ear,

"Die!"

This time, he took two steps forward.

A torrent of black sand exploded out with him as the Nexus. It flowed around him like waves pouring into his arm and out of his blade.

Both impressive and terrifying, this wave of darkness that came pressing down seemed like the final nail in the coffin.

Surely, there was no escaping this. The attack was executed nearly flawlessly. It was precise, and contained a devastating amount of power in it. It was also incredibly fast.

With Cain having activated the Metal Enchantment, it would be impossible for him to dodge or stop it even if he liked up all the golden shields he had summoned.

In short, it was game over...

At least, that it what it seemed to be.

A scene played out in Cain's head.

It was a distant one. It was also a bit blurry too. But he surprisingly remembered it in detail.

The smells, the sights, the sounds. The dull feeling of pain on his head and spine as he lay on his back.

He could see a figure clad in clothes that might as well have been shadows slowly walk up to him and gaze down.

"In a battle of death, being overconfident is a fine line between a gruesome death and victory. The moment you underestimate or overestimate your adversary, you are dead. Watch your surroundings, keep a leveled head. Know when to strike, and when to keep your guard up. The cutting part is the easy part. The true art of killing is knowing when..."

Those words passed through his mind like flowing water...

He sucked in a deep breath. The hypersonic {Windblade} laced with the death sand had already cut through all his shields. In a split second, it would cut through his body as well, killing him too.

The space around him trembled slightly.

Kaelin, watching eagerly as his overbearing attack closed in on his enemy, was shocked to see his body disappeared.

All the hairs on his body immediately stood.

'Disappeared?! No!'

He noticed the ocean of bloodlust that manifestated behind him instantly.

His eyes widened in horror.

He wanted to ask how, but there was not enough time.

Cain on the other hand brought his sword up.

He dismissed the {Golden Dragon} state.

The nature of his Warblade changed once again. It became enveloped in a viscous, dark energy.

Cain let the Demon Matter flow into his sword aggressively.

Gathering as much as he could in that moment, he swung down with all his might.

The passive ability of the {Demon Dragon} state, was the ability to extend the energy within his attacks beyond the blade's edge.

The gathered mass of Demon Matter was launched forward.

Space was bent; almost shattered, as the devastating blade wave cut towards Kaelin's open back.

All this happened in less than a split second. With a roar, Kaelin commanded the sand around him to rise and form a shield around him.

Of course, this did little in the way of stopping the wave of Demon Matter. It cut right through and smashed right into him.

Cain was like a shark that had perceived the sweet smell of blood in the dark depths.

He brandished his blade and dashed forward, not giving the disoriented Kaelin the chance to regain his balance.

As he endured the relentless assault of Kaelin, he had slowly moved one of the {Fallen Stars of Orion} blades behind him and had stuck it in the sand, waiting for the right moment to activate {Nexus Tether}.

Because Kaelin was not aware of this ability of his, it had come completely as a surprise. That surprise was all he had needed to turn the battle around and break the status quo.

In the blink of an eye, the identity of the aggressor and the aggressed had been flipped over.

Cain's observant eyes took notice of the fact that while he had packed a rather decent amount of Demon Matter into that attack, surprisingly, he hadn't done as much damage as he would have hoped.

Instead of a huge gaping hole on his back, the strange black robe Kaelin wore only had a tear on it. However, that ear was already being mended by a number of squiggling runes and sigils on the piece of clothing.

Still, he could tell that Kaelin had suffered some form of injury from his attack.

Therefore, he didn't hesitate even one bit to press forward. His sword fell down again, smashing against the blade of Kaelin's scythe.

This time, Kaelin stumbled back, his expression, bitter. Cain passed the blade to his left hand and delivered a sweeping underhand slash.

Kaelin barely managed to dodge, but that gave Cain time to close in on him.

Suddenly, both of them were face to face with one another.

Cain could see right into Kaelin's eyes. The rage, the confusion, he could see everything.

Kaelin stared into Cain's eyes as well. The cold and calculating ruthlessness was what he could see, as well as a hint of inhumanity, and ironically, a sliver of humanity as well.

Kaelin brought his weapon above his head just before Cain delived a powerful downward slash.

Against Cain's overwhelming strength, he was brought to his knees.

Cain swung again, and Kaelin gritted his teeth as he was pushed down even further.

Again, and again, Cain struck down, not wanting to give his opponent even a single inch of breathing room.

Kaelin let out a frustrated roar as he suddenly gave up on defending. The tip of Cain's sword cut into his shoulder with incredible force. His black robe was finally broken and the blade bit into his flesh.

At the same time, the blade of his scythe sliced right through Cain's stomach.

Cain's face paled as he staggered backwards.

Pain assaulted his mind, making his senses sharper. His instinctual recoil lasted only for a second, but that was enough time for Kaelin to get himself back onto his feet.

After battling for so long, both had finally managed to draw blood from their opponent for the first time.

Not even a second later, they both charged at each other again.

And they wouldn't stop until either one, or they both were dead.