God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

An explosion of cataclysmic proportions...

The sky and the earth flipped over.

Reality itself trembled and roared.

Cain felt the sharp golden rays dig into his skin, some of them cutting his flesh down to his bones.

Gritting his teeth, he shielded his eyes. He was fortunate enough to be wearing armor. If he hadn't, things would have been looking much worse for him. Already, the wounds he suffered had begun to heal.

He struggled to his feet as he looked around.

Total destruction as far as the eye could see.

There were deep grooves and depressions in the ground made by the blades he had summoned and the wild chain whips on the creature they had encountered.

Suddenly, his heart sank.

"Damn it! Could that guy be—"

Suddenly, he heard a groan coming behind him.

He frowned and looked down,

There, laying on the ground behind him was Julio.

He was a bloody mess, his skin hanging off his flesh in some areas despite wearing armor.

Still, Cain heaved a sigh of relief.

At least he wasn't dead.

"D–did you get it?" Julio asked in between groans.

Cain grimaced as he turned his gaze forward.

"I have no idea."

Julio winced as he sat up. A pristine radiance emanated from his fingers as he pulled a regen potion out of his inventory and downed it in a single gulp.

The wounds on his body sizzled, producing a faint white mist. He hissed, enduring the pain.

Then he turned to Cain,

"I know what it is now."

Standing slowly, he explained,

"Creatures like this are called Elementals. Beings of solidified mana, brought into existence by the purest form of magic. The possess spirits but not souls. While they rarely occur in the spirit world, they are rather abundant in the physical realm as a result of mana's interaction with reality."

Julio grimaced,

"From what I can gather, it had been an empty shell. However, it coincidentally managed to absorb a portion of the Will of the World, gaining a spirit and a semblance of sentience."

"That doesn't explain why it is after us."

Julio shook his head,

"Actually, it does. My theory is that even though it has broken away from the Will's influence, it isn't totally independent of it."

Julio glanced at him with blame in his eyes,

"And since the Will of the World hates you for creating such a thing, maybe the Metal Elemental also hates you too."

Cain clicked his tongue,

"That isn't reasonable at all."

The dust had finally settled, and sure enough, just as he had thought, the Iron-Flesh Puppet was not dead.

However, the cocoon of metal chains that surrounded it had been broken apart, revealing the creature in its full glory.

A body made of metal essence so pure, its lustre was nearly divine.

The creature stood a head above him, towering over him significantly.

Cain grimaced. He didn't like being looked down on. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

Since it was made of metal, the {Divine Essence of Metallurgy} was supposed to work on it. However, no matter how hard he tried, it didn't.

Even controlling the metal chains the thing could summon was rather difficult for him.

A bead of sweat rolled down his face.

{Golden Firmament} was no doubt th most powerful metal attribute subspell in his arsenal. But this thing had shrugged it off.

But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst thing about this creature, was its lack of a face.

It was just too eerie.

Cain shivered.

The draw from the crimson moon was getting a bit intense.

Luckily, his mana reserves were still looking good.

However, the same couldn't b said for his companion.

"Julio. Get out of here. Now." Cain said, keeping his voice calm.

Julio glanced at him. He spoke in-between heavy breaths,

"Are you trying to sacrifice yourself for me? If o, I really appreciate the gesture, but—"

Cain snorted,

"What the hell are you talking about? Get going. I'll meet you on the way."

Julio frowned, "But I—"

"What are you waiting for?! Get out of here! If you stay here, then both of our stories might be here!"

Julio was silent for a moment. Then he sighed,

"You really are something else, Cain.*

His presence slowly vanished.

Cain let out a sigh of relief.

Then he turned back to the Iron-Flesh Puppet.

He hucklef wryly,

"Those Devils will probably start coming out any moment from now. You sure you still want to do this?"

"Yes. I am certain."

Cain took a step back, the frown on his face tightening.

"You—"

The Iron Puppet took a step forward.

"Do not be surprised, Cain." It spoke.

Cain grimaced.

'What the hell?! It can talk well now? How? Was it putting on a show before?'

'System, what the hell is going on?!'

{Replying to Host: There are no logs in the system for the host's current situation}.

Cain's eyes shot up,

'What?!'

{Replying to Host: The creature before the host is an elemental created as a result of a unique reaction between the host's metallic attribute magic and the Will of this World. This should be impossible. Its existence is an anomaly}.

The system went silent for a moment then added,

{Elementals grow just like other living creatures. It should take a hundred years of growth at minimum for one to develop magic power of such proportions, not to mention speech organs}.

Cain sighed, 'In other words, I'm on my own.'

"How did you learn to speak so well this quickly?" Cain asked, trying to seem calm on the surface.

The Iron-Flesh Puppet tilted its head, and spoke in that eerie, emotionless tone.

Much like the system's,

"I do not understand."

Cain shook his head.

Then he decided to ask another question,

"Why did you attack me? Why are you after me?"

"Because Mother said I should."

Cain felt his eyes twitch,

"M–mother?"

The Iron— no, it wasn't a puppet anymore.

He gazed at it with the {Eye of General Observation}.

***

{Golden Steel Herald}.

***

Cain couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

Piecing everything he had learned together made it sound like he was a father that had abandoned his responsibilities as a man.

Then, after returning home after a long time to visit the wife and child he had abandoned, h discovered they were pissed at him.

And rightfully so!

'Damn this crap!' Cain thought to himself.

Of course this didn't make any sense. Nothing made sense anymore!

He sighed. Then he frowned,

"So what do you want? You want to keep fighting? We'll both be torn apart by the Devils if it comes to that." Cain said, still maintaining his calm.

The Stel Herald walked forward slowly, its golden arms straightening and stretching until it became as sharp as blades.

Cain grimaced,

'Its magic power is so high. Maybe its physical properties won't be as—'

The deafening sound of metal clashing against metal spread out like a shockwave.

Cain gritted his teeth as he blocked the blade arms using the {Lonely Dragon} Warblade.

Sparks flew as the metal edges ground against one another.

"Why don't we have a little chat, Father?"

***

The winds blew.

The clouds above continued their stroll across the Evernight sky, completely unbothered by the actions of the living creatures beneath them.

Wiping the blood off his arms, Nebula let out a tired sigh.

The last battle had taken more than he had expected, but his victory had been set in stone.

He remarked coldly as he glanced at the headless corpse of the much larger Devil on its knees before him.

Using the rag to wipe the blood off his face, he walked away from it, upon the bodies of the fallen Devils before arriving in front of the last one.

"You fought well, Devil. But not well enough for me to remember your name."

Balcathe chuckled then coughed, a terrifying amount of black blood spilling from his lips,

"You damned human. Talking to me with that tone. Ah, how infuriating."

He stared into Nebula's cold eyes for a moment. Then he chuckled again,

"That look in your eyes. No wonder you don't have any friends."

He glanced at Harndore's kneeling corpse,

"You also killed my only friend, so I guess that makes us the same, in a way."

The Devil sighed as he struggled to sit up.

This human had been something else. Not even the combined lives of himself and Harndore was enough to stop him.

'Metal elemental powers. It shouldn't be this terrifying. Could he be...'

'Eh... What as I thinking about?'

He spaced out.

Then he chuckled again,

"I see. I'm dying again, aren't I? How nostalgic."

Nebula snorted,

"You talk an awful lot for a Devil."

Balcathe cackled,

"Eh? That's discrimination. How heartless."

Then he stared at Nebula again. This time, a bit longer,

"Your soul is intriguing. I didn't think I'd ever get to meet such a soul, especially not from a human. How fascinating."

Nebula sighed then pointed his sword, a long silver jian at the Devil's neck,

"Any last words?"

Balcathe nodded, his voice slowly dying,

"I do have a few."

His hand formed a seal,

"Come forth—"

Nebula's brows furrowed.

His wrist flickered.

The head of the Devil fell to the ground as he uttered the last string of words,

"A...nu...bis."

Nebula's eyes emitted a frigid glow, and in a split second, Balcathe's body was torn into a hundred pieces, blood splattering everywhere.

Once he was done, he frowned then waited.

After a minute, he noticed nothing had happened.

He clicked his tongue,

"A vain attempt. Pathetic."

He sheathed his sword,

"Pick the corpses clean. Leave no resource behind."

The remaining men dressed in the shadowy armor said nothing, carrying out the task silently.

In a few minutes, they had harvested not only the mana shards, but also the claws, fangs and any other resource they could get from the corpses of the {Zombies} and Devils.

Without wasting a breathe, Nebula ordered them to move on.

Silence...

The stench of blood remained heavy even minutes after the battle.

Suddenly, the space above Balcathe's corpse ripped.

One arm reached through, tugging at one side of the tear. Then another emerged, grasping the opposite edge.

Slowly, deliberately, the rupture widened, until it was large enough for the entity beyond to force its way into this world.

A deep ancient sigh rumbled forth from the rupture, spreading throughout the city, bringing with it the stench of profanity.

An eye opened.

Defilement had come.