God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

His plan worked, partially...

At this point, dealing with the {Crimson Bear} was a piece of cake.

"Manny, David, you guys hold the front."

"Susan, Vincent, keep up the pressure. Just gimme one sec."

The fight had been going on for a while, and they had the {Crimson Bear} suppressed, so Cain decided to end it, as he had already achieved what he wanted to.

Although the mutant was strong, it wasn't strong enough to push him to the edge.

'It's about time I ended it."

The others went all out, giving Cain the opening he needed. Susan and Vincent increased the tempo of their attacks, while Manny, Blaze, and David made it almost impossible for the mutant to maneuver around.

Cain took a big leap backward. He stood with his legs slightly spread apart, the right one placed slightly before the other. He raised the tip of his blade to the heavens.

The blade was still releasing the black aura caused by {Fear}, so the sharp golden color from {Golden Dragon manifestation} and the inky, midnight-like darkness from {Devil's Broken Claw} contrasted greatly.

Cain could feel the movement of the mana within him. It was flowing through paths he didn't even know existed. It was mysterious to him. It felt like it was present physically, and at the same time, it wasn't.

It was a profound feeling, and he relished it.

He pumped out the remainder of his mana to his blade. Suddenly, the blade that was as dark as darkness itself lit up with many profound symbols. His mana was consumed by the skill like a man who had not drunk water for three days straight and was lucky enough to find some before he died of thirst.

He suddenly felt a bit lethargic, and tired, but he fought the feeling and kept his blade overhead.

Golden light burst forth like a bonfire in the thick of the night. All the metal attribute mana in the surrounding area completely disappeared at that moment.

The onlookers were able to see golden specks of light magically appear from thin air, which then began to gravitate towards Cain's outstretched blade.

As more golden specks of light attached themselves to the blade, the brighter surroundings. By now, the {Crimson Bear} had sensed impending doom. A trace of fear flashed in the depths of its eyes. It roared out in panic, as it could tell that its life was in danger at the moment.

At this point, the {Crimson Bear} had only two choices...

Flight, or fight...

Cain wasn't certain if he would be able to kill the {Crimson Bear} if it decided to run, but the {Crimson Bear} didn't know that. If it knew, it wouldn't have chosen the other option.

The {Crimson Bear} charged at Cain with full force. Manny, David, and Blaze could do nothing about it. They were shoved aside by the beast's terrifying momentum. The mutant completely ignored the attacks of the rest as it charged at Cain, its claws outstretched, and its fangs covered in saliva.

It was determined to take Cain's life.

In a split second, it was already standing before Cain, going for the kill, but...

"It's futile."

Suddenly, those words left Cain's mouth, resounding in the ears of everyone present. After these words were heard, all sounds eased to exist for that brief moment. All they could hear at that moment was the static that came with a very loud noise or sound of a high frequency.

Cain transferred just the right amount of strength to his blade, nothing more, nothing less. His high control stat enabled him to execute this move with near perfection.

The golden light began to concentrate until it formed a very thin edge on the blade. A puff of steam escaped from his mouth as he uttered the name of the skill to activate it.

"Golden Severance."

The blade was swiftly brought down, striking the body of the mutant before him...

Like a hot knife through butter, the blade cut through the {Crimson Bear}.

'A clean cut...'

BANG!

Two halves of an over 10 feet tall corpse fell to the ground on opposite sides of Cain. Golden Light still flickered around the body of his blade, and he was covered in a golden glow from head to toe. The golden luster of mana-created metal lit up the vicinity.

"Wow!"

"This dude's a freaking monster!"

"That's the boss for you."

{Congratulations on slaying the mutant beast, Crimson Bear}.

{Level up!}.

{You have acquired the external passive skill, {Blood Ingestion Regeneration}.

{+20 to strength}.

{+15 to agility}.

{+5 to stamina}.

{+0.1 to control}.

{Congratulations to host... Your internal skill, {Metal Creation} has leveled up}.

{+5 to Magic}.

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 17.

Strength: 82. (30).

Agility: 91. (20).

Stamina: 49/56.

Vitality: 34.

Defense: 24. (-5).

Control: 3.7. (0.2).

Perception: 2.7.

HP: 2,000/3,200.

MP: 40/2,100.

Magic: 49.

Resistance: Poison- 5%.

Skills: Golden blood, Mana Blade, Lightening Edge, Blade Mastery Lvl. 2, Burst Step, Metal Creation Lvl.2, Golden Severance, Metal Manipulation, *Fear, *Bloodthirsty, Blood Ingestion Regeneration.

Titles: Champion of Ashur (locked).

Free attribute points: 20.

System points: 2,000.

{Inventory}. {Shop}.

{Golden blood level.1}: Upon activation, multiply all physical stats by 2. Consumes 100 MP, and costs 1 point of stamina per second to maintain. Puts the body of the user under great strain. (1000/10000 SP).

This is an internal skill, hence, it can be upgraded.

{Mana Blade}: Coat the surface of your blade with destructive mana to deal an extra 200% damage when attacking. It Consumes 5MP per second to sustain. Note:This is an external active skill, and cannot be upgraded.

{Lightening Edge: Increase attack speed by 100%. Critical rate increases by 5% when the skill is used. Cost 100MP to activate.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

{Blade Mastery lvl. 2.} (passive): Increases attack power and speed with bladed weapons by 30%. Increases critical chance and rate by 5%. (500/9,000SP).

{Burst Step}: Expell mana from beneath the feet, creating propulsion that allows the host to change trajectory abruptly when in motion. Increases movement speed by 30%.

Costs 5MP per activation. No cooldown.}

{Metal Creation Lvl 2.}: Gather the Metal elemental attribute mana to create constructs of metal. The effects of the skill are influenced by the host's magic and control stats. (0/10,000SP).

{Golden Severance}: Condense an immense amount of metal attribute elemental mana into a concentrated beam of world light, capable of splitting anything it comes in contact with only for a single attack, and increases attack power by 500%. The attack consumes 500MP upon usage.

Cooldown: 5 minutes.

{Metal Manipulation}: Grants the ability to freely control metal of weight that does not exceed 1 ton. Effectiveness of this skill increases simultaneously with the {Metal Creation} skill.

{Fear} (passive): Release a malevolent aura akin to a devil, inflicting fear onto your opponent. Decreases opponent movement and attack speed by 5%.

{Bloodthirsty} (passive): Consume the blood and flesh of fallen enemies to increase the power of the Devil's broken claw. For every 100 enemies slain and absorbed, attack speed and attack power increase by 1%.

{Blood Ingestion Regeneration} (passive): Grants the ability to safely ingest the blood of mutant beasts without any adverse effects. Consuming the blood and flesh of mutant beasts grants passive Stamina, Vitality, and Mana regeneration.

For every 0.1 liters of blood, or 100 grams of flesh consumed, 100HP, 50MP, and 1 stamina point are regenerated.

"I gained a level."

"I as well."

"Me too."

Those who had partaken in the fight had greatly benefited from it. Like Cain, they gained a level, as well as a skill, but no one divulged any more information like that.

'It seems that although they trust me, there are still invincible barriers of distrust within the group. To take full control, I have to find them and deal with them.' Cain had already begun to assess his next course of action.

'But first...'

Suddenly, the eye on the hilt of the blade snapped open. Black-colored runes appeared on the entirety of the blade. Cain walked forward a bit before stabbing the blade to the hilt into the dead mutants' body parts.

"Bloodthirsty."

The first half of the corpse began to shrivel up very quickly. Its flesh shrunk in size until it began to peel away from the bone.

Disgusting squelching noises were made as the blade continued to devour the flesh and blood of the mutant beast's corpse without leaving a drop behind.

Eventually, all that was left of that portion, was a small patch of broken bones. Not even a drop of blood was spilled. The devilish runes on the surface of the blade flashed briefly for a moment, before turning back to normal.

Cain didn't even have a single change in expression as he moved over to the other portion of the corpse to do the same thing.

"What the fuck?!"

"Such a sinister weapon."

"It gives me chills."

Apart from Cain, everyone present felt an evil, cold and devilish presence from the blade as it devoured the corpse.

The blade turned back to normal after it was done with its meal, the devilish aura disappearing as well. A sigh of relief escaped subconsciously from the lips of everyone present, almost like they had just dodged an incoming bullet.

As soon as the {Devil's Broken Claw} finished its meal, Cain could feel the blade's power increase.

{Congratulations. The power of {Devil's Broken Claw} has increased by 1%}.

{+0.3 to Strength}.

{+0.2 to Agility}.

{+0.002 to Control}.

{-0.05 to Defense}.