God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

How long has passed?

Cain had no idea.

There was no day or night in this cursed place, so he couldn't tell.

He also couldn't how many days has passed. For all he knew, he might as well have been here for a thousand years.

Clutching his side, Cain tried to breathe, but every time he did so, a sharp pain nearly caused him to keel over and go unconscious.

From the moment he had come to this place, he had been swallowed by the overwhelming urge to cut everything down with the blade in his hands.

And so, he had done so. He had slaughtered.

He had fought his way towards the center of the battlefield.

The war still raged on even though the battlefield was far more desolate than it had initially been.

Most of the creatures that had come to this place were already dead. As such, there was nothing but the stench of rot and decay all around him.

Beneath his feet, the corpses of those that had fallen deformed as he trudged forward.

He himself was not very far off from death.

He had suffered several severe injuries as he fought his way across this corpse filled plain.

He had had his back sliced open, he had almost been bludgeoned to death once, once creature had even tried to tear his stomach open and pull his organs out.

He had survived all this, but just barely.

Even after all that, much to his disappointment, he refused to fall. His body was simply to sturdy. No matter how terrible the injury, they would heal up after some time, forcing him to endure this endless torment.

The wind picked up, and drove the scent of blood into the sky.

Cain slowly exhaled.

It has been some time since he had last fought anything, so this was a moment of sweet reprieve for him.

He took this opportunity to think.

'Who am I?'

Was he a wandering spirit cursed to traverse these endless blood-filled plains for eternity, or was he something more?

All the creatures beneath his feet, both those he had killed and those he hadn't seemed to be in the same boat as he was, their heads filled with whispers. Whispers to tear apart everything with life they encountered.

It was a good question, because for some reason, he seemed to have forgotten everything about himself and his life. It was as though all he had every know was this endless slaughter.

But he knew that was not the case.

As for how he knew this, he wasn't very sure either.

All this led up to another question.

'Why am I here?'

If he had not been born in this realm of madness, why had he been brought here, and by whom?

What cruel soul had thought it funny to play with his life and that of countless other creatures in such a wicked manner...

In the end, he did not know. He could not know.

Gritting his teeth, Cain shivered slightly as another gust of cold wind blew against his cheek sending strands of his black hair wild.

He suddenly paused in his tracks.

It had been a while since he had last seen any other living being in this place, so the urge to kill had started to die down. At least, that's what he thought.

A few meters away from him stood a roughly humanoid figure.

Cain gripped the hilt of his blade hard and rushed forward, his eyes tinged crimson.

He completely ignored the pain and the injuries.

Only one emotion consumed him; the urge to kill.

The figure in question leaned forward and burst into motion in a split second as well.

Their blades clashed with a crisp sound that reverberated across the world, blowing back the torn bodies beneath their feet.

Cain took this moment to observe his opponent.

His eyes widened.

It was a rather beautiful humanoid female. She had the normal features one would expect from a human, only with a little oddities, like the furry ears on the side of her head, and the tail protruding from her backside.

She had a ferocious expression on her face as she twisted one of the twin rapiers in her hands and strapped it towards his left eye.

Cain tilted his body to dodge whilst swinging his own blade at her midsection.

She flipped backwards, narrowly dodging the edge of his weapon. Putting more force into the swing, Cain borrowing from his original momentum and spun around, bringing his sword down again.

She tried blocking with her rapiers, but the force was too great, pushing her to her knees.

Cain pulled back and tried swinging again, but she took advantage of the momentary pause to close the distance between them.

Cain's eyes widened as she drove her knee into his solar plexus, bringing both of them down to the ground.

'Shit!'

She was now on top of him, cradling him at the waist whilst staring down with blood red eyes.

'I have to get up!'

Putting as much force as he could into his torso, he tried flipping her over.

Much to his shock, he found out that he couldn't.

It was not that she was stronger that he was. On the contrary,the was much physically stronger than her.

However, she made use of a strange technique that made use of both their strengths in keeping him down firmly.

She tried stabbing her rapiers into his head with one hand, but he quickly caught the blade in his palm.

The rapier was sharp, so it didn't take much for it to shreds through his skin.

Gritting his teeth, Cain ignored the pain and held on to dear life.

The girl on top of him pushed down even harder, intent on killing him in this brutal manner.

Sensing his death was near at hand, Cain drew from reserves of strength he didn't know existed within him.

A deep growl rumbled from his throat as he put all of his strength into his hand and torso. He deflected the blade of the rapier away with his other hand, and with an absurd show of strength and precise control, twisted his hips like a fulcrum.

The girl let out a frightened yelp as he slammed her back into the ground.

Cain felt a surge of rage and excitement fill him.

Now, he was the one on top!

She grit her teeth and tried stabbing him in the side with her other blade, but he slapped it away with one hand and used the other to pin both her hands above her head.

Silence...

Her busty chest heaved up and down, the crimson light in her eyes dimming.

Cain on the other hand was too busy entertaining thoughts of how best to rip her apart with his bare hands to notice.

As he brought his hand to her neck, he paused.

'What am I doing?'

His body trembled.

Did he really want to kill this girl?

'Of course I do! I'll kill everybody here until there's nothing left! I'll kill everything!'

Why?

Why did he want to kill?

Cain shook his head and stared into the eyes of the girl below him.

He could see several things. Rage, fear confusion, panic, and a hint of... lust?

Her lips parted slightly and she said in a shockingly soft voice,

"L-let me go!"

Cain frowned menacingly,

"And why would I do that when you just tried to kill me? I'm not that stupid or blinded by your charms."

She gritted her teeth,

"Then if you want to kill me, do it already!"

A blush crept up her cheeks as she said this.

Cain, now very confused, didn't know what to do.

On one hand, he was filled with the near overwhelming urge to tear her limbs off and snap her neck.

On one hand, another completely different type of beastly instincts were kicking in.

'Damn it!'

Maybe it was because of this, or maybe it was just coincidence...

But Cain suddenly didn't feel like killing this girl anymore.

The crimson glow in his dark eyes died a little...

But he wasn't about to let her go just like that.

If he couldn't kill her, he might as well capture her.

'But what can I use?'

The girl currently beneath him was rather powerful. Ordinary restraints weren't going to cut it.

Suddenly, a thought filled his mind.

It was louder than a hum, but dimmer than a whisper, still too low and indistinct to be completely coherent.

And yet, he could understand it.

Light flickered between his fingertips. The energy in the air surged and changed.

Cain watched as a chain slowly materialized in his open palm.

He frowned.

Something like this was supposed to surprise him, but it didn't.

It was odd, but he brushed it to the side.

The girl beneath him began to struggle violently,

"You scoundrel! What are you trying to do?!"

Cain pushed down on her and whispered threateningly,

"Stay still, or I really will kill you!"

With that, she went quiet and limp, allowing Cain to do what he wanted.

For some reason, Cain felt a tinge of hesitancy and regret, treating her like this.

Still, he convinced himself and without saying a word, he bound her completely.

He stood up and stared down at the disheveled, but still gorgeous girl.

"You... What is your name?" He asked after hesitating a bit.

She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side,

"I'm not telling you anything. Once I break these things, I will kill you!"
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Cain sighed then leaned down and grabbed her by the cheek. Staring into her eyes, he made sure to make his voice sound as threatening as possible,

"Your name is..."

The stubbornness in her eyes melted away like ice on a summer day. Her breathing became heavy and she tried tearing her eyes away from him, but Cain didn't let her.

Eventually she gave in...

"Roselle."

"My name is Roselle."