God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

As he engaged the mutant beast before him, Cain couldn't help but recall the past...

***

"I am going to attack to kill. Do not hold back."

These words filled the ears of the young Cain as he struggled to hold his blade with his soft delicate fingers.

The slightly damp autumn breeze blew his long hair strands across his face, but that didn't seem to grab his attention at all. They were located in a place with little to no buildings. The entire place was a huge old-style manor with a lot of trees and the smell of wood and earth very rich.

Cain had seen no one else in the entire manor since he had been there for a week, which he found a bit odd. The old man provided his daily meals which looked weird but tasted and smelled delicious, so he didn't complain.

Any way one looked at it, it seemed like a kidnapping. A hospitable kidnapping...

The first day he was taken here by the man standing before him, he thought he had been kidnapped. When he asked him, the man had simply said that if he wanted to leave, he was free to do so. He would personally take him back home.

He ended up not leaving...

The sun was covered by more than a few clouds overhead, so his surroundings were also very dim. Yet, he could see the figure of the man before him as clear as day.

After all, if he couldn't, he was going to die...

"Remember this, young man. Those that wield a blade have every intention of pointing it at the enemy, and if you don't have the power to hold and point yours as well, your head will be taken. It doesn't matter whether it is a material or an immaterial blade. As long as it cuts, it would do its job."

The young man was stunned for a brief moment, but he replied after he snapped out of it.

"I understand, Master."

He didn't understand, but he did know that if he didn't try his best, he was never going to move on, or learn. He would always be the weak, vulnerable boy that was pushed around by everyone around him simply for existing.

"Good. In that case, here I come." The man dressed in all black from head to toe took one step after the other, inching closer and closer to Cain. With each step, Cain's heart sped up even faster.

In all his life, he had never experienced an emotional rollercoaster such as this one.

'Tch! I have to make the first move. If I wait for his to attack, I'm going to die very quickly.' Cain knew that he was far from as powerful as his teacher, so he planned to run for as long as he could. This way, he could at least spend a bit more time in the land of the living...

But try as he may, his legs seemed to work against him when he needed them the most.

The fear coursing through his body had rendered him unable to even take a step. He was immobilized by the invisible pressure the man walking towards him had. This aura could only be formed by those that had been washed by rivers of blood, had passed through mountains of corpses, and had lived.

"Hm?" A surprised sound came from the man as he stopped walking for a bit.

Sounding quite surprised, he said; "It's hard to believe you can still stand on your two feet. For one as young as yourself, you have a frightening amount of willpower. Most grown people would have either passed out or would be peeing themselves at best."

The man paused for a while as though choosing his next words, then continued; "But you are still standing. And I can see in your eyes that even though you are scared, there is still a bit of fighting spirit left within."

Cain was surprised, as the old man had never praised him before...

"Thank you, Master." Cain bowed his head in respect.

"Hmmm... Then I'll have to go harder than I thought."

"Eh?" Cain was shocked when he heard this.

'Go harder?! This has to be classified as child abuse at some point, right?!' Cain asked himself, his worry and fear amplifying.

"Ehem, master?" Cain asked a bit nervously.

"What is it?"

Cain still wasn't certain, so he wanted to make sure he got the memo, "You aren't going to take my life, right?"

"Before, I might have spared you, but knowing just how much potential you have, I'll have to do that. That's why you will have to fight with your all." The man said in a normal tone, almost as though he hadn't just affirmed that he was about to kill a child.

'Fuck! Knew I shouldn't have come here. I don't wanna die!' Regardless of how mature he was, Cain was still a young preteen. He understood what death was, and that was why he feared it so much.

"If you are ready, let us begin." The man said as he resumed his slow walk towards Cain.

Cain took a deep breath to steady his nerves.

'This master of mine is a nutcase. He's the only one that has shown me kindness my entire life, and in exchange, he wants my life.'

Cain's eyes steeled over, as he tightened his fingers around the hilt of the slightly curved blade. He took a stance the old man had taught him, executing it perfectly.

"Oh?"

His bones popped, and his muscles groaned as he tensed up, building his power up as he waited for the opportune time to charge right in.

'If he wants my life so bad, I'll make sure he loses a limb or two!' Cain's eyes had become red with rage.

His life had been terrible, but he always fought back He never backed down, not once, even though he was sure he would lose.

That was the basis of his pride...

No matter how bad things were, he would never put his blades down unless he had no arms.

He would never stop moving unless his legs were cut off.

If he couldn't win, he would run away, get stronger, then come back to have revenge.

If he couldn't run, he would endure the beat down, but he would still come back stronger.

Now, even whilst staring down the abyss of death, he was ready to go down guns blazing.

His legs spread apart like a crouching tiger, and his blade was pointed downwards diagonally. His elbows face the skies, and his whole body twitched from the tension. His eyes watched the figure before him with the utmost diligence, but his entire back was filled with sweat.

"Yes, Master!"

BOOM!

His feet dug into the soft earth beneath them, transferring all the but-up force within his body downwards. Like an arrow, he shot forward. The man standing before him didn't move whilst he approached, but his blade remained pointed at Cain diagonally.

Cain disregarded all distractions as he moved with the speed of a ghost. He closed the distance between them, and without hesitation, he slashed forward.

This sword stroke was true and precise...

It communicated all the emotions he felt at that moment.

Pain, sadness, fear, anger, confusion, pride...

All these emotions are in one move. But the most predominant of them all was the intention to kill.

Bloodlust...

At that moment, it was as though he could hear the thoughts of his blade...

The edge of his blade wanted to claim the life of the man before him.

When the edge of the blade was close to the man, so close, it could be considered as no distance at all, the man standing before him suddenly disappeared from his sight.

The next moment, before he knew what was going on, Cain found out that all his eyes could see, was the sky laced with the grey lining of rain clouds.

'Am I dead? Probably not.'

He lay on the ground, his back on the dirt.

He began to feel something trickling down his face. Hence, he wiped his hands across his face to know what it was.

Blood...

The blood on his hands made his heart speed up a bit, but he fought the urge to scream.

"Stand up." Cain heard the voice of his master say out.

⁸Yes, Sir!"

Cain stood up from the ground with incredible speed. He completely ignored his discovery and stared straight at his master.

"Hmmm... I have nothing left to teach you. You will leave very soon." The man said after a while.

Cain's eyes widened in surprise, "Really?"

"Yes. Also..."

A mirror magically appeared in his hands from his master's wide-sleeve cuffs.

He pointed the mirror at Cain, he took it from his hands to stare at the person staring back.

"Don't you look better?" The man said, a smile hidden underneath his unseen face.

Cain was surprised to see a long, but thin scar that stretched across his face from his left eye to his right cheek.

"It makes me look... mature," Cain said, not knowing whether to hate or like the scar, which was starting to hurt badly.

'Well, it might not be a bad thing. It does make me look more mature.'

Cain had always known that his face was handsome, which was one of the many reasons why he was picked on. But now, it had something that gave him a more rugged feel.

On one hand, his face was ruined. He was still handsome, but he now had a flaw on his previously flawless face...

On the other hand, he now looked a bit more manly and rugged, which he didn't hate either.

"This is your mark now. You now know what it means to kill. Cherish it, hold onto it, and let it carve its initials into you." His master said as he wiped the blood off his face.

"Remember this, the only way you can get stronger is by facing the demons that hold you back. To kill, you must first know what it means to die. To be victorious, you must first taste defeat."

The words of his master rang true within him as he continued his barrage of endless attacks unto the {Devil-eyed White Primate}.

The mutant tried to swipe at him again, but this time, he used his forearm to block the incoming blow. Taking a step forward, he lifted his knee forward and slammed it straight into its midsection.

"BLEGH!"

The mutant threw up a mouthful of blood onto Cain's clothes, taking a few steps back to steady itself. But Cain had no intention to let it go. Mana exploded beneath his feet as he closed the distance at blinding speed.

He closed the distance quickly and stabbed his sword forward, but the beast used {Spatial Jump} to disappear.

The {Devil-eyed White Primate} appeared a distance away, almost heaving a sigh of relief, had it not been greeted with the sight of Cain's blade bearing down upon it.

"Lightening Edge!"

Instantly, almost on reflex, the beast activated its survival skill since {Spatial Jump} was on cooldown.

Its previously void dark eyes glowed a profound white.

{Devil Eyes} had been activated.

But the monster didn't stop there. It realized that to win, it had to go all out.

{Primal Aura} was activated as well...

The beast's aura shot through the roof, causing a cloud of dust to stir. A deep maroon aura surrounded the {Devil-eyed White Primate}, looking like a flame in the dark lightless night.

Cain let out a brief chuckle, a toothy grin appearing on his face.

"Azure Burst!" The fiery blue light exploded from him, casting a beautiful glow to his surroundings, as opposed to the deep maroon color of the {Devil-eyed White Primate}.

"Let's keep going, shall we?"

He could feel his excitement bubbling...

He knew that this fight would take him to the next level. He had tasted defeat before, so it was time for victory.

He was going to stand above the corpse of this mutant that had managed to defeat him the first time.

Like savage beasts of antiquity, they clashed for the final time.

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