God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 793: To Kill a Star (3).

An event of brutal chaos...

Their clashes reverberated through the void, their blades ringing tirelessly.

The Star Being was strong, with a marvelous body of fire that seemed to burn energy endlessly.

Cain, a new creature reborn from the flames was even more relentless, his body of flesh and blood unbreaking and tireless.

They cut at one another.

They broke their bones.

Their blades became entangled in a beautiful symphony, one filled with passion, the other with an emotionless lust for blood.

Eventually, the battle neared its crescendo.

His body sizzling due to the tremendous amount of heat surrounding him, Cain let out a breath of air again as he stared at his opponent.

His body, tempered with Sunfire was not even close to breaking.

In fact, he felt stronger than ever.

On the other hand, the 'Star' Being was in horrible shape.

The power of {Demon Dragon} was a force to be reckoned with. It could tear through the thick defenses of even Devils after all.

After mending its body back together over and over again, the damned creature had finally tored out.

Cain sucked in a breath even deeper and turned his head up, staring into the void.

For some reason, he felt the mass of indescribable darkness that stretched out endlessly and into Eternity stare back at him.

It could have just be him finally losing his marbles, but he doubted it, as he had lost them a long time ago.

The Star Being's body let out sparks and groans as it struggled to maintain an upright posture.

Even until the bitter end, its bloodlust was still heavy.

Cain swung his sword. A beam of sword ki shot out.

The Star Being dodged to the side then lunged forward.

Cain's eyes widened as he concentrated an enormous amount of energy into his blade.

His eyes became colder than steel as he turned out all external senses and focused every ounce of concentration in him into his eyes.

The {Beholder's Eye} activated.

Within the body of the Star Being, located right in its chest, above its solar plexus, there was an orb of concentrated energy invincible to the naked eye.

Taking a small step forward, Cain drew his blade.

He has accomplished what he came here to do.

The crowning blow, one that would bring an end to his troubles...

There was no enormous, cataclysmic explosion.

A dark ring of crimson flames tinged with a golden hue appeared around the Star Being's body.

Its lunging body fell to the ground in two pieces.

It tried mending its body together, but ring of flames made it so that healing was impossible, constantly gnawing at the point of separation.

Eventually, the Star Being stopped moving.

Its radiance died away.

The life of the Star had come to an end...

Cain's breath came in ragged gasps as he stood alone in the shattered remains of the dark hall.

In the silence that followed that whirlwind of a battle, the only sound that filled his ears, was the erratic pulse of his own heartbeat.

He let out a tired sigh.

He bent a knee and stooped down to the corpse of his opponent.

With the flames having subsided, the Star Being looked... odd.

It didn't look to be made of flesh, blood and bones. But at the same time, its body seemed to be made of what had once been living tissue, which was extremely unsettling.

He let out another sigh as he plunged his hand into its broken chest.

A moment later, clutched in his calloused palm, lay the mana core of the Star Being; a seething orb of molten energy, its surface alive with swirling, golden flames.

For one timeless heartbeat, time itself seemed to suspend, offering Cain the cold clarity of victory.

It was his spoil of battle.

The Mana core was a bit strange...

He could feel the raw, alien power radiating from the core, a palpable force that would have threatened to consume the old him if he wasn't careful.

However, what he felt, was an urge to devour it as soon as possible.

The essence of the creature he had battled in Eternity was in the palm of his hands. He clenched it hard.

The chaotic echoes of their brutal combat still reverberated in his bones. Every clash of steel against fire, every burst of searing magic, had led inexorably to this moment.

He took a step forward, his boot crunching on fragments of the debris that had been produced during the battle, granted it was not a lot. The dark hall seemed to have been created with a self-repairing material.

He looked around.

Siva seemed to have left a long time ago.

He shrugged to himself,

'I already know how to get out of this place, so there's no need...'

While he would have loved to know how the bag of ancient bones would see his victory, he was not quite sure what to expect, seeing that a bag of bones was not going to be the most expressive.

Cain sat down on the cold, hard ground.

Then he raised the mana core up to eye level,

"Now, now... What exactly do we have here? what am I to do with you?" he murmured to himself.

The Mana core was not your usual elemental mana core.

It did not possess regular flames. However, it did contain a significant amount of Sunfire.

'Perhaps I could absorb it later?' Cain thought to himself.

He lay down on the cold stone, his thoughts drifting away.

It was at times like this, right after a grueling battle where life and death were only a thread's breath apart, he liked to get sentimental.

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His memories of every grueling trial...

The battles, the bear deaths, the moments of desperate triumph, merged and overlapped with the void above, painting a wide tapestry.

A map of his insanity he had gone through.

Cain couldn't help but chuckle to himself. For all it was worth, he was glad to still be alive.

He slowly went through the details of his gains from the battle with the Star Being.

He frowned.

It wasn't much, just a few free attribute points and a decent chunk of system points.

That was it.

He looked down to his hand,

'Could this be the real reward?'

It certainly did seem like it.

***

{Core of Annahiliem}: A mana core containing the essence of a star and copious amounts of Sunfire.

***

Cain was even more certain.

'This will increase my Sunfire reservoirs.'

He had noticed in his battle with the Star Being, that his pool of Sunfire, as well as the maximum threshold he could output at once was quite low. At least significantly lower than that of the Star Being itself, although his utilization of the energy was miles ahead.

Now, with absorbing the essence within the mana core, both his internal reservoir and maximum output should increase by a fair bit. That would make it much more reliable in a battle.

'Its more than enough.'

He was now begining to see the true difference between the power of Tier 1 and Tier 2 beings.

It was rather outstanding.

'Or maybe I am just a special case.'

Either way it was, he was now significantly more powerful compared to when he had began the Trial of Heaven.

Laying on the cold, hard floor, he let out the breath of air trapped in his lungs with a single, long exhale.

Then he closed his eyes.

***

When his eyes snapped back open, he realized he was back on the giant artificial island in the sky bordered by the statues of the four stone judges on all sides.

Cain couldn't help but feel a certain way.

From the moment it has started to now, there had been many twists and turns.

Many truths and many lies has been unveiled to him.

And yet, those truths were not exactly truthful, and those lies might as well not be interpreted as such.

It was all complicated and confusing, but that was indeed the way it was.

He looked around.

None of the others had arrived yet.

Which meant he had a little more time to himself.

Dismissing his armor, he returned it to his inventory before sending the {Lonely Dragon} Warblade into the {Armament Armory}.

Now, there he laid.

On the ground with light clothing on.

A subtle breeze gently moved through the air.

Above him, the endless white rolled like an ocean. It was a beautiful sight indeed.

The trial was already over for him, which meant he was already a Tier 2 being. He couldn't help but contemplate what that meant.

And what it implied for the future of Urbus.

The problems he had left behind came flooding into his head.

He couldn't help but frown,

'I wonder how long has gone by other there.'

Hopefully, not too long, or he might as well be coming back to meet a Devil infested wasteland.

He would rather that not happen.

Suddenly, he couldn't help but be a bit anxious.

Just when his worry was on the verge of exploding,

The air and space surrounding him distorted, an a figure plopped down towards the ground.

Seeing the wave of beautiful hair streak across his face, carrying a pleasant scent, Cain reached out his arms to prevent her from falling.

'How soft...'

Looking at Susan's tender face, Cain couldn't help but forget his own worries.

Instead, he became worried about how she would react if she saw him holding her like this.

The moment the thought passed through his mind, Susan's eyes snapped open.