God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"There was once a little golden dragon, the story begins..."

"That little golden dragon traveled the world and acquired many powers as a means to express itself. With those powers, it established its own domain as a hegemon in the order of Celestial Beasts and gathered a bunch of powerful friends to fulfill its greatest desire."

"What was its greatest desire, you ask? Well, you see, It had always wanted to take a bite out of the sky."

"Hahaha! Yes, the sky... The Golden Dragon's greatest dream, was to consume the sky and free all of existence from its tyranny."

"What happened after that, you say? Well, In the end, the golden dragon was crushed by the weight of the sky. As it turned out, it was still too little to consume the sky. After a very long time, and a long, drawn out war, the little golden dragon, now a big golden dragon, was put to rest for eternity."

"But the golden dragon wouldn't let death stop it. Yes, not even death! You see, death is a strange thing. It comes to all, both mortal and otherwise. It isn't something that can truly be defeated. But death by the skies is something absolute."

"And yet, by some miracle, the golden dragon that dreamt of consuming the sky was not completely killed by it!"

"What happened to the dragon after that? Well, it's hard to say..."

"But legend has it..."

"That it shall be reborn, this time, not as a golden dragon..."

"But as a dragon with scales as black as the deepest and darkest night skies."

"And when the Black Dragon is born, it shall either fulfill its dream of consuming the sky to free all of existence..."

"Or it might consume everything instead."

"The skies shall be painted the hue of blood in the awe of its power and all shall turn to naught. Or at least, that's what the books say."

Somewhere, in some far off, lost corner of the deepest reaches of existence, a person could be seen.

He was an odd looking person, in an odd looking place.

Well, calling it a place, and calling him a person wasn't exactly accurate.

The man, or whatever this being was, shut the book he was reading.

On the cover of the book, were words written in the ancient language, which could be read as, {Records of Akasha CMXCIX}.

The man sighed, then stabbed his index finger into his ear to scratch it. His mouth opened wide as he yawned.

His eyes which could be likened to entire galaxies narrowed,

"Babel is still intact, and the world holds. Children invite ruin, and have become sins."

Then he shrugged,

"Still, that is none of my business now, is it Al'ekt." The man spoke on o the empty space beside him.

For some reason, a voice came through from the void,

"It isn't. And yet, you still watch on."

The man shrugged, "Of course I do. This is the ultimate comedy, after all. What better way to spend the rest of my days than watch it all unfold?"

The voice in the void seemed exasperated,

"I still remain at a loss, even after so many eons. Why did you choose to let it all go? Is there any point to this?"

The man paused for a moment and stared into the void.

His expression became strange,

"Al'ekt, do you know who writes these books?"

The void responded, a bit apprehensive,

"I believe you are their author."

The man nodded, then shook his head,

"I am. But I am not. Rather, it would be more accurate so say the books write themselves. I jot a few things down here and there, but the book mostly tells its own tales."

The voice in the void seemed surprised,

"You mean..."

The man nodded, "Yes. Even worse, their contents change depending on the way the river of time and fate move and flow."

The man continued, this time a wide smile on his face as he rubbed his beard,

"It is common knowledge that the future isn't set in stone, but what about the past? Can it be changed? What exactly is the present if the past can be altered?"

Then he waved his hand, dismissing the book,

"All that is for the mortals, and Immortals to worry about. Beings like you and I need not mind it too much."

He sighed and gazed at a distant star, a strange emotion clouding his eyes,

"My job is merely to wander, bear witness, and keep records. That's all there is to it."

The voice in the void was silent for a while,

"It is also to create and destroy..."

The man laughed,

"Indeed it is. But for now, it isn't bad to just enjoy the show, is it? Besides, look! A very important player is about to enter the scene."

***

Thump! Thump!

Cain could feel both his hearts beating at a steady rhythm. It was strange. And it became even stranger as they began to beat faster, circulating more blood and Mana through his body and spirit.

It was like like soaring amongst the clouds and falling into the cold, icy embrace of the oceans at the same time.

'The Essence of Demon Matter is to consume. And all that it consumed, it becomes."

And so, he willed the viscous Demon Matter within him to consume his Ki and Mana.

The change was immediate.

His two hearts, as well as the veins gifted to him by the Primordial Devil of Death immediately began working on overdrive to offset the loss.

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Meaning, as he lost both mana and Ki, he gained it back, although not as rapidly.

Still, the plus on this, was that he was rapidly gaining Demon Matter.

***

{Fiend Counter: 197/197}.

***

The nine minute mark had just reached, and he had already created and absorbed as much Demon Matter as he previously had.

It was incredible.

'But it still isn't enough.'

Just when that thought formed in his heart, the feeling of danger that had grown lukewarm suddenly became scorching hot.

He jumped to his feet and brandished his sword.

He was immediately throw away like a broken kite, his back smashing into the mountain side.

From the skies came a being wreathed in darkness and death. Its eyes burned with a malicious glare and an ominous fervor as it stared down.

"Running delays the inevitable. What good will delaying it be?"

The tide of blackness descended from the skies and rushed into the mountains, filling every crevice and cavity.

The creatures that dwelt in the mountains tried to scamper and hide, crawling into their holes and nests, but the darkness seemed to have a mind if its own.

It enveloped them all turning them into more black sand that bolstered it even more, increasing the depth of the overwhelming back.

Cain peeled his body off the wall he was smashed into and looked up. Balangol stared down at him, not at all fazed by his recent transformation.

Cain didn't hesitate one bit to turn around and run as fast as he could.

'Come on, beat faster!'

Even as he ran, he urged his hearts on, hoping they would continue to absorb more and more energy.

Balangol scoffed and dove into the mountain range as well.

Cain didn't dare to look back at the tide of black sands that swarmed towards him.

Instead, he just kept running.

His blood vessels felt like they were on fire, carrying the Ki it gathered into his heart, then back out of his heart into all other parts of his body and to be consumed by the mass of Demon Essence growing within him.

At the same time his other heart, worked like a furnace, gathering whatever mana it could and turning it into a tide that rushed through his spirit.

He had never quite experienced anything like this before. It was surreal.

Feeling a surge of danger once again, Cain activated {Red Shift}.

A figure came down from the skies.

He used the flat of his blade to block, and his body was launched forward even faster.

The Celestial of the Black Sands continued to chase after him, raining down a torrent of hacks and slashes with his war scythe, each swing more than enough to cut his head off clean.

Cain could only block with the {Lonely Dragon} Warblade, which was surprisingly holding up just fine. He had thought it would have shattered a long time ago under this terrible onslaught.

'I can keep up with him, even if it is just barely. I might be able to hold out for–'

Suddenly, he felt the change.

It was like the difference between night and day.

The killing intent before had been like tidal waves before. Now, it felt like he was about to face the wrath of the entire ocean.

What had changed?

He looked back, into the soulless, dark, abyssal eyes of Balangol.

A dark, toothless grin spread across Balangol's face,

"I've found it!"

The moment he heard those words, Cain felt all his hopes was away.

The black Sands enveloped Kaelin's body, devouring it completely...

Cain flipped and slammed his legs into a nearby mountain wall, killing his momentum.

Then, he looked up.

The mass of black sands produced terrifying sounds as it ascended into the sky.

Slowly, from the boiling mass of darkness, giant inky black claws burst through.

Then another, and another...

Until an enormous specter that covered half the sky, wielding a war scythe that could very well split the moon in half, was reborn into the world.

Its body was draped in arobe of shifting black sands. The faces of the thousands upon thousands of souls consumed let out screams of agony as the fluttered with thebrobe in the wind.

The eyes of the specter were hollow and deep, with a tenebrous darkness pouring out of them like black flames.

The being looked more like a dark, evil Deity than a Celestial one.

And yet, it didn't matter.

Because this, was the true form of the Celestial of the Sands and Death, Balangol, now revealed in all his dark splendor and majestic.

Cain felt like his soul rembling as he stared at this... thing. This wasn't something that mortal eyes should witness.

And yet, he was about to fight it.

"No more running, huh...* He whispered to himself.

Indeed, there was no where to run to. He couldn't even outrun it if he tried. Death would always catch up to him.

And so, he decided to give up on running.

Instead, he would face death head-on!

He swung his sword with one arm and raised it overhead.

In the loudest voice he could muster, he roared,

"Come get me, bastard!"

His armor was torn, and dried blood caked his skin.

And yet...

He looked incredibly dashing in this moment, like a Demon lird standing at the helm of his territory, ready to spill blood and for for his blood to be spilled in the name of ehat was his.

Only in this case, he was but a mere Demon, and his opponent wanted nothing more than his life.

'I bet I look very cool right now.'

The black sands gushed down from the heavens and the specter of death descended.

A surge of Demonic energy surged from Cain as he dashed forward as well.

'I am going to kill death, or die trying. How ironic, this is...'