God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Perhaps it was the wind...

Perhaps it was the mad thumping in his chest...

But for some reason, Cain felt eerily calm. He hadn't given up control to that evil demon alter ego yet, so he was certain it wasn't anything like that.

Instead, his thoughts had just become much more focused and his mind was as sharp as a razor.

It was almost as though he could observe the world three times clearer and with more detail than usual, leading to a state that bordered sensory overload. And yet, his mind seemed to be just enough to handle everything.

'He has found what he is looking for. That means from now on, he is going to try to kill me.'

'In that case, there iss no use being cautious.'

Indeed, caution had to be thrown out the window completely for any chance of survival.

A torrent of glowing translucent golden shields enveloped his body as he rushed forward. Twisting his body, he skillfully swung his blade and stabbed it into the ground, using the force generated to gain some momentum.

The first wave of black sand smashed against his shields...

And almost shattered them all.

If Cain's face was its normal hue, it would have turned several shades paler.

He poured in as much mana as he possibly could into the shield to preserve their integrity.

Then he was launched back by the black sands. In the next moment, something shocking happened. Amidst the black sands, Cain was able to see several shapes taking form, most of them the shape of sharp pikes or crushing balls.

It was obvious Balangol had decided to thoroughly rip him to shreds...

The Celestial Specter spoke, his voice like a thousand burning souls,

"The body of this boy is ill suited to control the Sands of Kalistik. Luckily, this should me more than enough to deliver you into my embrace!"

'How exciting.'

Cain ignored the harrowing words. He enveloped his body in a subtle red glow as he rushed back even faster than the tide of black sand.

'Red Shift.'

Then a burst of azure consumed the soles of his feet as he dashed forward once again.

The sky was tainted black as a torrent of black arrows flew out of the main tide and rushed skywards. They were airborne for only a moment before the came back down.

There was no room too dodge.

'Luckily, I wasn't planning on doing that.'

He grunted heavily and swung his sword.

His sword and hand turned into a blur as he slashed and hacked away, breaking hundreds of arrows in seconds.

Balangol waved the war scythe, and the sands rose up again, leading to a never ending cycle of attacks.

During all this time, Cain continued to create as much Demon Matter as he possibly could.

'I can't sustain this for long.'

It was an absolute miracle he was able to survive this long.

In actuality, he was supposed to be dead in a few seconds at most.

However, unbeknownst to both himself and the mad Celestial, he had entered a state of flow.

His heartbeats resonated with the austere flow of mana and Ki in his body and spirit.

Everything about him, all the energy flowing through his cells, the mana flow patterns that surrounded him.

In this moment, and this moment only, they all seemed to align.

But of course, it was not enough beat raw power.

His shields were on the edge of failure.

Once they have out, his being, all that he was, would be consumed by the black sands, and he would die.

Despite knowing that, he still remained calm.

In this demonic form, it was as though the only thing he knew how to do, was swing his sword.

His eyes became sharper, his swings became faster, every movement became optimized, efficient with minimal loss of energy.

A grin appeared on his face.

He was enjoying this!

Even before the inevitable would catch up to him, he delighted in the splendor of battle.

'Faster! Sharper! Harder!'

His blade was like an breakable Ward, deflecting and breaking the arrows and spikes of black sand.

Whenever a wave came crashing down, his shields would glow and cracks would form all around them. However, they would hold out by a thread.

It was as though fate itself didn't want to see him die here.

The motes of sand danced in the air, and Balangol looked down at the resilient mortal.

"How useless..."

A deep rage filled him as the dark flames in his eyes burned even more. With every word he spoke, it was as though evil itself was being imprinted on the world,

"Humans truly are a worthless race. To think I would finally get the chance to realize the moment where my blade is wetted with the blood of vengeance. And yet, because of this worthless body, because of this ridiculously weak fucking soul, I am limited in power!"

When a Celestial Beings decides to be reborn into the physical realm, It can only come back from a fragment of itself.

When a God dies, besides their bodies turning into ash, they also leave behind fragments and remnants.

These remnants contain the abilities, powers, memories, and everything that the now dead god once was, besides its energy and Divinity which the God Ash is created from.

In granting lesser creatures access to theses fragments, the God receives an opportunity to barter and bargain.

'A portion of divinity to inherit my power'

This is the basis of the transaction.

Once enough divinity has been gathered, said God now needs an avenue to manifest.

In other words, it needs Champions, beings that hold not just its power, but also enough affinity for its power. Normally, these champions would be put through tests, trials, and tribulations to raise not just their power, but also their potentials.

"I gave him access to the Otherworld, and yet, this is all he could muster. How pathetic. I am glad to have extinguished his soul."

Because of Kaelin's limitations, the power Balangol could exert from his body, was this limited.

He felt disgraced, his pride affronted by the fact that he couldn't kill off a mere Tier 1 human so easily.

Maybe it was that last shred of pride in him as a Celestial Deity, a god that should be worshipped.

It shouldn't take more than a finger to kill this mortal.

And yet...

Yet...

Despite the weight of his finger, this mortal lived on still.

And he even seemed to be enjoying it!

The soulless abyss was alit in dark flames,

The skies darkened once again.

The black sands became even more restless, striking with even greater force.

Cain felt himself being pushed back even more, so much so he found it hard to breathe.

From the skies, Balangol stretched his empty hand to the sky and spoke,

"A resilient mortal, you are. But there are limits to your body, no matter the sorcery you perform on it."

A giant magic circle appeared in the sky.

It was as black as pitch. The moment it appeared, a large portion of the volatile black sands rose into the air, towards tje Nexus of the magic circle.

"Power that none can defy. That no barrier can hold against. It is death, and it is certain."

The black sand concentrated into a giant pillar of blackness.

Runes glowed on its surface, And black lightning gathered.

Balangol raised the scythe above his head...

And swung down.

The pillar of death fell.

Cain looked up.

His heart thumped.

Something was beating a against the walls of his soul, wailing, crying, begging to be let out.

'I am hungry.' It said.

'Let me consume and devour.' It said.

Realizing the bleakness of his dilemma, Cain left out a wry chuckle,

'I couldn't do it on my own at the end of the day.'

It felt a bit disappointing. But he was glad he could finally rest a bit.

He closed his eyes...

The pillar of black sand finally reached him and struck.

The golden shields shattered.

The torrent of black sand rushed in.

Cain was consumed whole by the gushing death.

A death absolute and complete. Embraced in the dark sand, he had become nothing. The eventuality had been fulfilled.

Up in the sky above, the Celestial Specter of Death was silent.

"A hollow victory."

Your journey continues on mvl

He had barely used any of his power. Even with the limited potential of this body, killing a Tier 1 being would have been just as hard as swatting a fly.

He shouldn't have gone through that much trouble.

But he had to make sure that not just Cain, but the dragon inside his soul was extinguished as well.

All that time, he had ben waiting.

The moment he could see the Celestial glow of the dragon soul hidden within the boy, he would be able to thoroughly complete his work.

Despite all this, he still felt...

Hollow.

That was when he heard it.

The power of the war scythe, Kalistik, was not just to sever the link between soul, spirit, and body.

It was also devour the souls that had been consumed.

If it had consumed the souls, he would have known...

Which meant...

"How..."

A roar.

Not powerful and glorious, but deep and menacing, like the roar of a creature from the darkest depths of the abyss.

There are many impossible things that could be done in all of existing, one of them being subjecting a being as old as a Celestial to shock.

And yet, the impossible had become possible today.

Because Balangol was morbidly shocked by what he was witnessing.

The black sands of the Kalistik...

The incarnation of death itself he had wielded since the dawn of time...

...Was being devoured.