God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain sat up slowly...

The first thing he noticed, was that he was hurting.

Every single inch of his body hurt like hell.

He winced through his teeth,

"Bloody hell..."

He stared down at his body.

Every inch of him was covered in bandages. Even his nether regions!

His face paled at the thought of it,

"That bastard!"

He slowly rose to his feet. Although he was in agony, he wouldn't let that stop him from moving around. The pain wasn't that unbearable.

Besides, he had other things to do.

He had do go find that demon.

He recognized this place. It was the room Azazel had kept him in the first time.

A bit nostalgic, but he didn't have time for sentiments...

He walked out of the room and through the familiar walkway. He had an inkling as to where the egotistical demon could be.

Sure enough, the crisp sound of metal striking metal repeatedly wormed itself into his head.

Up ahead, a dull radiance filtered into the dimly lit walkway. As Cain walked into the forge room, the first thing he spotted was a serious faced Azazel wielding a hammer, repeatedly striking a piece of metal against an anvil.

Cain silently walked into the room and remained still, not wanting to interrupt.

Sweat dripped down the demon's brows as he smashed the red hot metal repeatedly for what seemed like hours.

Finally, he dropped the hammer.

But he wasn't done yet. Cain knew the most important part of forging had yet to happen. It was also the most crucial moment as well.

Light shimmered between Azazel's fingers, and a brush appeared. However, instead of bristles, the brush had no head.

Cain watched as the runes on the body of the brush lit up, and bristles woven from pure mana. Rather than a brush head, it looked more like a wisp of glowing blue flame.

As the brush made contact with the hot metal, it dug right through it. With astonishing speed, Azazel began inscribing various runes into the metal, drawing complex geometric shapes and symbols as well.

After some time had passed, he let out a breath of steaming air from his lungs and plunged the still red hot steel into a vat of water beside him.

The entire room was instantly filled with white steam, obscuring Cain's vision.

Cain's face paled as the temperature in the room instantly soared by a few hundred degrees.

'Son of a...'

He muttered a curse through gritted teeth.

Eventually, the steam subsided.

When Cain opened his eyes, he discovered that the layout of the room had changed, and he was now it a much more refined space.

The forge had disappeared, and was replaced by a fairly decorated room with a few mundane paintings hanging from the wall, as well as a desk and chair.

Seated behind the desk and on the chair was Azazel calmly sipping from a small ceramic cup.

He had changed his clothes from the hardy leather blacksmith garb to an azure robe with silver and gold embroidery.

He had a faint smile on his face as he gestured at Cain to have a seat.

Cain frowned, not knowing whether to be impressed or exasperated

"How did you do that?"

Azazel raised a brow, "Why are you asking stupid questions? That was magic, of course!"

Cain sighed and sat down on the other side of the desk.

He winced as his wounds still stung a little.

Azazel grinned, "Hurts like hell, doesn't it? Well, think of it as the price of victory."

Cain's frown turned into a scowl,

"Did you..."

Azazel guffawed, "Worry not. I didn't lay a single finger on you."

Cain sighed in relief, "Then who did?"

"I had one of my attendants give you care. You need not thank her." Azazel said casually.

Cain was silent for a moment. He looked Azazel in the eye,

"Thank you."

Azazel stopped sipping his tea, his eyes widened in surprise. After a moment, he chuckled and put the cup down,

"Why thank me? I didn't do anything. It was all you, Cain."

'Was it really? I have a feeling you definitely did something underhanded.' Cain thought to himself.

Cain looked down at his bandages hands,

"But how did I end up like this? If I'm still alive, it means I somehow managed to win, right?"

Azazel nodded, a pleasant smile hanging on his lips,

"Oh, you did more than win. You beat that old devil back to where he came from."

Then the demon sighed,

"Nevertheless, there is no gain without a price to be paid."

Cain frowned, "I figured as much."

Azazel nodded. He leaned back into his seat and gestured at a paper on the table. Cain picked it up with a frown,

"A Tier 1 being fighting against, and even defeating a being with the power of a Tier 3 is something for the history books. But drawing that much power from your body came with its own side effects."

Staring at the paper, Cain saw a detailed annotated diagram of a human body. All the organs, and blood vessels were there as well. There was also a separate picture as well. One of a human body, but a bit different from the other one. This one had an entire network of lines that looked like veins and arteries running through every section of the body, as well as three circular objects that were lined parallel to each other from the chest region right down to the navel of the body.

'The physical and spirit bodies...' Cain was sure he got that right.

Azazel cleared his throat and raised his index finger,

"You might be familiar with your physical body. That got severely damaged in your battle with Balangol. But the damage was nothing compared to what your spirit suffered."

He frowned, "Your Nexus of Ki and Mana Heart nearly ruptured because of how hard you forced them to work. If that had happened, then whatever power you think you have would have vanished into the wind like mere dreams."

Cain was silent for a moment.

Then he pointed at the paper,

"What about the third one?"

Azazel raised a brow, "That is a new spirit organ that formed. It stored your Demonic Energy."

Cain blinked, "Spirit organ..."

Azazel nodded, "Your Mana Heart and Nexus of Ki are spirit organs. They do not exist in this plane, but are rather, a part of your spirit body. However, just because they do not exist, does not mean they cannot manifest physically. Their physical manifestation is a direct parallel of what they are in the spirit plane. Mana shards and cores are also spirit organs in that sense. Their physical form is a mere manifestation, or more accurately, a vessel of what they truly are in the spirit plane."

"I see... So I damaged both my Mana Heart and Nexus of Ki? But I don't feel any different, besides this pain."

Azazel snorted and lifted his chin proudly,

"And who do you think you have to thank for that?"

Cain ignored him and stared down at the paper,

'So the third one is where my Demon Matter is stored, huh...'

He looked back up at Azazel,

"Okay, I get the gist of it."

Azazel sighed, "I'm not saying all this just because. Right now, you are still in recovery. It is best if you do not use any mana or ki. Your physical injuries are also quite terrible, so try not to move around too much."

Cain's eyes narrowed,

"But–"

Azazel put his hand up, stopped Cain mid sentence,

"I know, your friends, right? Don't worry about them. Remember, the time dilation between your world and this one?"

Cain nodded hesitantly.

Azazel smiled, "You have only been asleep for ten days. That's just a day in your own world, right? I'm sure your people are doing alright."

Cain gritted his teeth, as he jumped to his feet,

"Ten days?! I've been out for ten days?!"

'Is the damage that severe?!'

Azazel shrugged, "Well, you are the one who got knocked out. Who told you to go pick a fight with god in the first place?"

Cain hissed through clenched teeth,

"It was you! You bastard!"

"Now, now... No need to get so hostile. Stay here for three more days, then I will let you leave."

Cain fell silent.

Even if he wanted to leave, he couldn't unless the demon allowed it. He had no choice but to accept it for now.

'When I get more powerful, I'll lock this bastard up for a thousand years!'

Cursing to himself, Cain fell back into his seat and sighed. He stared up at the plain rocky ceiling.

"I defeated a Celestial."

Azazel chuckled, "Yes and no. But I wouldn't want to rain on your parade, so I'll give you credit. You did well."

Cain sighed again and chuckled.

"And now, you can claim your prize."

With a wide, wolfish grin on his face, he raised three fingers,

"Three wishes, within the scope of my abilities. I'll grant you three of whatever you desire."

Cain fell silent.

He was more than a bit tempted. He didn't even fully understand the scope of this Demon's power yet.

But he knew he had a lot of good things to gain. But what could he ask for.

'Within the scope of your abilities, huh. Very well. I will bleed you dry!'

A sly look appeared in Azazel's eyes,

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, but you have three minutes to decide. If you can't decide what you want within that time, I'll decide for you and give you whatever random junk I have laying around. Your time starts now!"

Cain glared at the crafty demon. Of course there would be conditions. There was no way the Demon would just give him whatever he wanted.

Still, it wouldn't matter.

Cain's lips turned up into a sneer,

"Then, the first thing I want..."