God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 1126: The Heavenly Demon Dragon Incarnate.

Cain sat there frozen in shock for a long time.

He was unable to move, speak or even think for quite some time.

Eventually, the shock faded into confusion.

He had had skills evolve and even merge to form completely new skills in the past. On more than one occasion too, so this was not new to him.

However, he had never experienced the case of a single new skill "devouring" so many of his old skills and even abilities.

It made absolutely no sense.

But that was not what threw him off the most.

It was the fact that he had come to a complete understanding of what this strange new skill was just by reading through its description.

But that didn’t mean he still wasn’t confused.

In fact, he was more confused than ever.

’From what I can tell, my old skills are not gone, per se. They still exist. However, this skill, Heavenly Demon Dragon Incarnate, encompasses them into a single, strengthened body. It is a container to better organize these specific skills and abilities.’

That was the conclusion he had drawn.

And to test that out, he only needed a quick experiment.

Without needing even an ounce of focus, he clenched his fists.

In an instant, his fist ignited with brightly burning crimson flames that was like a beacon, of a star in the night.

It was so bright for a moment, it actually filled the wastelands with a bright flash of crimson for a moment.

Cain was absolutely speechless.

’I was right,.c he thought to himself.

But being right or wrong didn’t matter.

He could still activate all of his old skills. But now, they were no longer skills. Instead, they were subsets of a single aspect. An aspect far more powerful than anything he had ever seen.

In fact, he had a feeling it had the power to rival even the ability of the Celestials themselves even without reading the system’s description.

He was completely amazed and baffled.

It simply seemed too good to be true.

’Just one month of suffering was all it took?’

The quest hadn’t even been that difficult now that he thought about it.

Inconvenient? Sure. But certainly not overwhelmingly difficult or life threatening.

And that was not all.

He glimpsed through the rest of the system’s long streams of messages;

***

{Congratulations to the Host... Your Demon Matter energy has evolved into the form, Demonic Essence}.

{Your Ki reserves have been strengthened}.

{Your physique has improved}.

{The next stage of your quest shall begin shortly. Please prepare adequately}.

***

Cain’s jaw hung loose.

"D—Damn. Even Demon Matter got an upgrade? Well, I can’t call it Demon Matter anymore. Demonic Essence, huh... Has a nicer ring to it." He muttered subconsciously to himself.

He let out a sigh and plopped down to the hard ground.

He let out a sigh again.

Gazing into the dark clouds, he realized he was much stronger than he ever was.

He could feel it.

That battle had been the catalyst of his realization.

’No. It was not a conscious one.’

It had been the crowning effort. The final push he had needed.

That was what it had been.

His body, completely independent of his intentions, had reached the very peak of what was human possible.

And as such, it had opened up a new door for him to explore. None of his progress was lost. No. If anything, it had been reactualized.

Now, he could no longer delude himself. There was a very large chance he could no longer call himself human. Or rather, fully human.

After all, no human could simply just sprout out grotesque, fleshy wings from their back.

’A Demon, huh...’

There was no point in fighting it anymore.

And that was fine. At least for now.

He sighed for the third time.

The night was serene and quiet, allowing him to dwell in his thoughts a bit longer.

The world seemed to spin.

Just like it had always spun.

The heavens were as lofty as ever, only seemingly reaching higher than they had ever been. Almost impossible to grasp in his hands.

Almost.

He sucked in a deep whiff of the cool wind.

The {Heavenly Demon Dragon Incarnate} was a passive skill, which meant he didn’t need to consciously activate it.

He could choose to always keep it active.

He reached up to touch his head.

Two curved horns, both pointed towards the heavens like curved wands casting an eternal curse.

His body felt physically different.

This form was significantly larger than his human form. He perhaps, was as just as large as the ethereal form of the Astral Avatar.

Perhaps even larger.

He sighed. But his sigh now, was more like the rumbling of thunder in the cloudy skies.

He sniffled and huffed, his breath powerful enough to push the clouds away.

Looking down at the ground, it really did seem far away now. The skies were also much closer.

Despite the larger frame, he didn’t feel slow at all.

He concentrated for a moment.

His form shrank.

However, his monstrous features didn’t change at all.

"Quite a nifty feature."

He didn’t like being that big.

It made him feel quite strange feelings.

He sighed.

The monstrous features also faded quite a bit until he had returned to his original form.

The horns, however, remained the same.

Cain sniffled and scratched his head.

According to the system, very soon, the effects of the second part of his quest would kick in.

That meant the transformation he had just acquired would vanish into smoke.

Well, only for a month.

After that, he would be forced to pick a path.

’If I end up abandoning this, might as well make the most of it for now, right?’

He let out a chuckle.

A pair of wings burst out from behind him.

"Who am I kidding?"

In reality, he simply wished to soar for a moment, even if it was for a short moment.

To enjoy the serenity of the night at least while he could.

The night was as still young, so he could afford to relish it.

He took of into the sky, leaving behind a slight depression.

He cut through the world, soaring I to the skies like a beam of light.

Finally, when he reached the apogee of his flight...

His gaze was transfixed on the boundless grey. The clouds of God Ash gathered in the sky.

Countless wonders and mysteries were hidden within this sea of dead gods.

It filled him with no end of questions.

He could only appreciate it for a second longer, as the next moment, he was falling back towards the ground.

But before he could hit, he took off into a casual glide.

Savoring the wind a little while longer, he sighed again,

"I better head back."