God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

A few hours had gone by...

And over that time, the god fell into despair.

Or rather, it was driven into despair and madness.

It had crushed the dragon several times, flayed its flesh from its bones a couple more times, and even tore it to shreds more thanna few times.

And yet, it did not die.

It only grew stronger, fighting back with even more ferocity, and consuming the black sands.

No, it was consuming the power of death itself.

Balangol screeched,

"What sort of monstrous demon is this?!"

The black dragon completely ignored him and bit down.

Balangol swerved to the side to dodge, then swung his scythe sideways. The edge of his scythe sliced right through muscle, but could not break bone.

With a furious roar, the black dragon reeled its head back and shot out a scorching breath of black flames.

Balangol recoiled, eager to get away from the scorching black fire. How wouldn't he? After all, he had used the black flames before. Therefore, he knew of their brutal lethality and terror.

The black dragon snapped its mouth shut, then fly forward.

The Earth beneath their feet was long gone, several feet of earthen materials, as well as a good portion of the mountain range had turned into fragmented boulders and pebbles.

So, their battle had moved into the skies. Balangol was a specter that could float in the air using whatever mystical divine powers that were in his repertoire, while the black dragon had powerful, fleshy wings that coild propel it at insane speeds.

They turned into shadows and phantoms in the sky, their collisions like thunderclaps.

The portion of the sky their battle took place in looked more like a patch of darkness in the sky, caused by the revolving sea of black sands.

At the eye of the Sea of blackness, the two creatures clashed again and again.

Slowly, the status quo was being broken.

The black dragon was no longer being torn to pieces as frequently, and the dark phantom began suffering more and more injuries.

A roar filled with madness and untargeted fury cut through the sky.

In a split second, the black dragon snapped its tail forward and it coiled around the specter's neck like a snake.

"No..." Before he could even react, Balangol felt the world spin.

The black dragon charged right through the Sea of black in the sky and straight into whatever rocky residue was left of the mountains there.

A large boom and crack could be heard, and a crater was formed as a huge dust cloud rose into the sky.

Within the dust cloud, the black dragon rained blow after heavy blow, claws outstretched, onto the flowing body of the specter. Normally, physical attacks like this should have been unable to harm this god of death.

But they did.

And they hurt like a bitch!

Screeching furiously, Balangol expelled a tremendous torrent of energy from his body, throwing the black dragon off and breaking its bones in quite a few places.

As he struggled to climb out of the crater formed, a thick black hand covered in black scales that shone like gold grabbed onto his robe.

Fear gripped his heart as he was pulled back and smacked into the ground repeatedly, before being flung into a distant broken mountain side.

As he crashed into it, the black Dragon's body came next, crashing into him. His body sunk into the mountain side and cracks traveled all through the rock.

Leaving him now room to escape, the black dragon opened its maw and let loose a breath of black fire, engulfing them both in its unholy smoldering rage.

The black flames spread, melting through the rocks, turning them into molten slag.

Amidst the pain, Balangol suffered even more under a fist wreathed in black flames, sending him those the melted rocks.

He careened like a broken ragdoll, his black cloak now covered in burn holes and tears to reveal what was underneath.

A body of black sands. However, that black sand was quickly drifting into oblivion, as though it was damaged.

And indeed it was. The body of Kaelin hidden within the specter wasn't too damaged. But his spirit and soul had taken extremely heavy hits, ones that seemed impossible to heal in the short term.

If this kept up, forget vengeance, he would be the one to die again here.,

"Curse it all!"

Not only had it been a very long time since he had felt fear on such a level, it had also been long since he had felt so much pain.

Balangol was a god of death, not one of war. He didn't possess some virtue or great principles. None of that. He was a god. A Celestial Deity.

And a newly reborn one for that matter.

He had expended a ton of Divinity, a very hefty percentage of all he had accumulated over his thousand millennia of rest. If he died, it would all go to waste.

Not only that, but he would also have to wait even longer to be reborn once again.

Just the thought of that sent shivers down his Celestial spine.

Seeing the odds of the battle quickly shifting, such that even the two Tier advantage couldn't sace him, he choose to make a split second decision.

He turned into a cloud of black sand and ascended into the sky. His voice resounded like thunder

"This battle is going nowhere. When I have gathered more strength and properly acclimated to this body, I will come back for your wretched, corrupted blood!"

As he ascended into the sky as fast as possible, Balangol suddenly came to a stop.

Right there, standing between him and his escape route, was the despicable Demon himself.

Balangol screeched in rage, his hoarse voice like the shrill cries of a thousand dying souls,

"Out of my way, Demon!"

Azazel slowly tutted and shook his head in disapproval,

"Now now, that isn't what we agreed on, is it? A battle to the death, remember?"

Balangol turned back into his specter form. The pools of darkness where his eyes were supposed to be burned with scathing fury,

"You bastard! You set me up!"

Azazel shook his head,

"Did I? Weren't you the one so eager to carve out your pound of flesh? This is why I hate you Celestial dicks! So arrogant, yet you all are nothing but pretentious, glorified parasites!"

Balangol's voice turned menacing,

"I warn you, Demon! If you continue to provoke the Lord of the heavens, you won't have the privilege of repentance!"

Azazel sneered, "So now I'm provoking that bastard, and not you? Well, even if I did, I doubt he would here me."

Balangol suddenly paused. A feeling of icy cold fear enveloped him,

"You..."

A devilish grin appeared on Azazel's face,

"Yes, that's right! Cry and beg as much as you want. Even when you die, no one will hear your death throes!"

"That is impossible!" Balangol said as he reached out with his Celestial soul.

Sure enough, the link between him and the rest of the body of Celestial Deities was being obstructed by something.

Now that he was in a bind, his last option would have been to reach out and request for help.

With the power of Tian, and the many other Celestials of the heavenly hosts, it wouldn't have been very hard for them to get here. All he would have had to do, was buy time.

But now, that option was completely shut down. Because of his overwhelming desire to kill the incarnate of his greatest foe with his own two hands, he had been blinded, and that possibility had skilled his mind.

"But that is impossible. I know of your sorcery, Demon. But this should be something even you cannot achieve."

Experience more tales on мѵʟ

Azazel cackled,

"You old Devil! You have been rolling in the grave for so many millennia. What do you think you know? Are you stupid?! Did all that beating rid you of whatever sense you have left? Hahaha!"

Azazel's eyes narrowed, and his smile vanished without a trace,

"Well, want else do you have to say? Do you want to grovel and beg for your life like a dog, Or would you rather finish yoir fight? The choice is yours..."

As a Celestial Deity, Balangol would not beg. His pride, the very essence of what he was wouldn't allow him to. He also doubted the shrewd Demon would keep his word. So the first option didn't even exist.

So that meant...

Azazel suddenly laughed,

"Looks like you are too late. That guy is already too fired up. Even I couldn't end the fight now even if I wanted to."

The black dragon had caught his scent once again and was soaring right towards them

"Wait–!" Balangol called out in a panic.

Azazel glared at him with cold eyes,

"Death isn't something new to you. You have consumed entire worlds with your death, Balangol. Consider this karmic retribution for all the evil you have caused."

A torrent of bloodlust washed over him like a river, and Balangol turned just in time to intercept the fist of the black dragon with the shaft of his scythe.

The Black Dragon had gone through some changes. Its body's size had decreased drastically, and it was now just a few meters taller than the human had been. However, its power was even more concentrated and deadly.

And just because it was smaller didn't make it any less frightening. The crown of horns that adorned its head looked even more harrowing. Its fleshy wings were pitch black, the surface laced with golden runes. Its eyes seemed to possess a hint of intelligence and awareness as well, making it seem even more terrifying.

Balangol swung his scythe, but the blade only managed to cut through skin and muscle. The damage was healed a second later and not even a drop of blood spilled.

The black dragon suddenly rushed in. Moving at a speed far greater than Balangol could follow.

They were suddenly eye to eye.

Suspended in mid air, everything seemed to slow down.

The flow of the air, the flow of mana, the pulse of their hearts, the rhythm of their breaths.

Everything came to a halt.

As the horror washed over him, Balangol thought to himself.

'Doom is coming!'

It was an instinctual fear. Something that came from the depths of his being. It was something he had never experienced before.

It was as though he had come face to face with the natural hunter of his kin.

The black dragon spread its jaws and bit down.

A torrent of Demon Matter flooded out of its body, pulling the Celestial into its dark embrace.

Even more Demon Matter pulsed out, further engulfing them both. Before it turned into a pulsating dark orb suspended in the sky.

A few disgusting squelch noises accompanied by light snapping and crunching sounds came from the pulsating orb of darkness before there was finally silence

Watching this from a distance, Azazel couldn't help but shiver, his expression a mix of fear and relief,

"How frightening..."