God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Not detered, he swung again, only to be nocked back again. In a stunning display of skills, Lord Crimson allowed his massive blade to dance across his shoulders while he moved in closer to Cain with incredible speed.

The edge of the blade came flying at him with terrifying force. Cain gritted his teeth,

"Golden Halo!"

A revolving shield of golden light appeared beside him, attempting to block the attack, but it was almost useless. The blade struck true, slicing him across the arm. Thanks to the Metal Enchantment, he managed to get away mostly intact.

Lord Crimson stood rooted to the spot like a war flag. It was like there was nothing in the world that could shake him.

\'Sword skill, speed, reactiong time. He has me beat in everything.\'

Truly, it was laughably infuriating...

Cain took a few steps back. Stabbing his weapon into the ground, he brought his right hand up to his left, inspecting the level of damage.

\'Not as bad as it looks.\'

Activating {Blood Restitution}, he attempted to heal the wound. However, even with the additional healing properties of his Ki, it was going to be a while before the wound closed.

"Hmm... What is wrong with you?" After a moment of inaction, Lord Crimson finally spoke.

Cain frowned at him, "Huh?"

Lord Crimson spoke, calmly and unrushed, as though his words were law,

"The way you fight... Every swing of your sword lacks conviction. It is like you don\'t even know the reason why you are fighting."

Cain\'s eyes twitched, "Is this really the time to be having this talk?"

Lord Crimson shook his head, "It is not. However, it is even more improper to face you like this when it is obvious you aren\'t taking me seriously."

Cain nearly threw up blood. He was taking the fight seriously. The real problem, is that the bastard he was fighting is just too much for him.

Cain\'s face was dark as he drew his blade again,

"Trust me. I am as serious as it gets."

Lord Crimson sighed, "Is that so? Then that would be very disappointing. In that case, I better end this quickly."

Cain felt his heart drop to the pits of hell as he heard this. He could tell that Lord Crimson was still holding back. But he had no idea to what extent.

It seemed as though he was about to find out...

All around them, different battles raged. However, these two individuals were locked in a world of their own, with them at its center.

A quick step forward sent Lord Crimson forward almost too fast for his magically enchanted eyes to see.

Cain twirled the jet black blade in his hands, producing a deluge of darkness complemented with a streak of red lightning gushing towards the approaching streak of red light.

The two clashed, one as heavy as a mountain, the other as mighty as a storm. Cain felt one of his arms almost snap under the pressure.

The coppery taste of blood rushed into his mouth, but he ignored it all, and swung again with more ferocity.

This time, he was pushed back again, but at least he managed to stop it. However, he was now covered in several bleeding wounds. Thanks to his robust Ki, he wasn\'t in any danger of bleeding out yet. But the pain...

The pain made him wish he was able to...

Lord Crimson stood still, not even a scratch visible on his blood-colored armor. Shaking his head, his voice was filled with scorn and a hint of annoyance,

"This is pathetic. I thought you would have some skill, but I guess I was wrong. If this is all you have, then I\'ll just kill you and your friends."

Cain\'s blood began to boil when he heard this. He was already angry before Lord Crimson had said anything, but now...

"Shut it, bastard." Cain growled menacingly as he slowly straightened his posture.

Now, he was really pissed off...

Lord Crimson scoffed, "Making threats while on the backfoot is not a good look."

Cain said nothing. He had been hesitant before, but he now realized there would be no opportunities to hold anything back.

As the thought made its way into his mind, threatening to consume it, he noticed something from the corner of his eyes.

Lord Crimson seemed to see it as well, as he quickly brought his sword down on a beam of light that seemed to appear from nowhere.

BOOM!

A loud explosion rocked the world, as Cain and Lord Crimson were forced back.

Lord Crimson fixed his sight on a certain poijt in space and called out,

"Teacher, don\'t you think it\'s a bit rude to attack your student first without saying anything?"

A laugh came from the ether, as an old man with a small stature stepped out from what seemed to be empty space,

"It has been a while, Gabriel. It\'s good to see that you are still as energetic as before."

Lord Crimson fell silent, the visor of his closed off helmet fixated on the old man.

Cain gritted his teeth, "I thought you would never show up, old man."

The old man was calm as more and more people appeared from the rift in space he had produce.

"And I brought the friends I promised."

More and more warriors poured out of the tear in space. The city guards that had been on standby before quickly moved in to engage them.

The last to step out of he spatial tear were two figures that were just as old and decrepit as the old man. All three of them wore silken mage robes and held blackwood magic staffs.

Cain sighed. Healing light flooded his as one of the old man\'s friends stretched his staff at him. Surprisingly, the wounds he had sustained began to visibly stitch back together.

"These two old bats are just like me. Tired of the stagnant world, longing for a change." The old man said to Cain.

Cain frowned. Although he had many things to say, he kept them at the back of hisind for now. There was a much bigger problem at hand.

"Old man... I\'m getting really pissed, so tell me why you are here." Lord Crimson said.

A sad smile appeared on the old man\'s face,

"Richard, don\'t be so cold."

"You are nothing but a traitor and heretic. I should have known you\'d be the one to instigate this. The last time I beat your sorry ass, I thought you\'d stay in whatever cave you always hide in forever." Lord Crimson spoke slowly, but one could tell from the budding hostility in his tone that he was an inch away from attacking.

Just from their brief interaction, Cain could tell that these two had know each other once upon a time. They might have even been very close.

But that was a thing of the past now, as former master and former student are forced to square off for the ideals they believe in.

"Cain, listen to me. What you have seen up untill now, is not even a fraction of his power. If you want any hope of beating him, you have to stop holding back. I know you are."

Cain frowned, "Releasing that sort of power in the center of the City can have dire consequences for its people."

Cain was willing to do many thing, but putting the lives of innocents in danger was not one of them. Cain was sure that was the reason Lord Crimson refused to bring out the full might of his power as well.

"You don\'t need to worry about that." The old man said with a grin. He turned to his other old friend,

"Marcus..."

The old man with a long white beard looked exactly as one would picture and old mage locked on a tower for years, pouring over the mysteries and complexities of magic.

The oldan nodded, then and began to chant. However, Lord Crimson was having none of it. He made a move to stop him before the chanting was complete. However, Cain was no slop either.

The ground cracked, and pieces of stone and gravel were turned to dust as the fury of their power overcame the surrounding area. Cain was steadily being pushed back. Gritting his teeth, he summoned power from his depths and pushed it into his blade.

A frightening amount of Devil Essence and Ki poured off his blade, fighting whatever mysterious energy Lord Crimson was using.

\'Conviction... I lack conviction?\'

A true reason to swing his sword. Cain didn\'t have family to protect, he wasn\'t too keen on building up a force to fight the invading Devils back, and he didn\'t really care about the mission of the Golden Dragon that much.

It was true. He lacked conviction. And that made him weak. He lacked the desire to fight for something.

\'But here I am now, fighting...\' Cain thought to himself with a sigh.

He strengthened his grip on his weapon. His eyes blazed with indignation.

So what if he didn\'t have any conviction? He did desire power! He wanted it just because. He desired the ability to control his direction, not pulled by the unsteady currents of fate.

That was his conviction...

Marcus, the old mage, suddenly yelled out,

"World Enclosure: Infinite Polyhedral Reality Crystal."

The world around the two fighters disappeared and was replaced with a world of white stretching into what seemed like infinity in all directions.

"What the hell?"