God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

He thought about it a bit,

\'What exactly do I need right now?\'

A very good option was mana shards, or mana cores in fact. Lots and lots of mana cores.

With his triumph over Balangol, Cain had little doubts on what was to come next.

Most likely than not, the power of Balangol would disappear, leaving all the humans behind defenseless from the countless Devils that swarmed outside of the dome of sands.

That was a very ugly picture to imagine.

\'In order to even begin to think about something like that, I first need a reliable source of energy.\'

And what better energy source was there besides mana cores?

A smug grin made its way to Cain\'s bandaged face,

"Then, for my first request, I\'d like one million mana cores please. The higher the grade, the better."

Azazel suddenly stopped sipping his tea, spitting out the entirety of his mouth\'s contents.

The lukewarm liquid splashed all over Cain\'s face, but he sat there, completely unfazed.

He chuckled as he wiped the tears away,

"How uncouth of you, Azazel. Does that request bother you? It doesn\'t seem like much to be honest."

Azazel smashed the cup on the desk and jumped to his feet, his eyes wide in horror,

"You despicable lizard! Are you trying to rob me blind?!"

Cain grinned, not the least fazed,

"I\'m not asking to be the emperor of the universe, am I? One million mana cores shouldn\'t be too much of a hassle for a Demon of your caliber, right?"

Azazel hissed through gritted teeth,

"Are you insane?! Who the hell has that many mana cores just lying around?!"

He slammed a hand on the table,

"That\'s too much. Five hundred thousand!"

Cain\'s eyes widened, "Oh... You dirty dog! Now who\'s trying to rip who off?! You never said anything about negotiations, did you?!"

Azazel snorted and leaned back into his seat with his hands folded,

"I did say your requests had to be reasonable. One million is definitely unreasonable. I\'m giving you more than you can imagine, aren\'t I? You think mana cores are accessible to just anyone? You do realize the caliber of beast they have to come from, right? Plus, I won\'t give you any random stuff. My produce is quality stuff, I tell you!"

Cain\'s brows twitched, \'What the hell is going on?\'

He sighed, "Alright, seven hundred thousand."

Azazel shook his head,

"Five hundred!"

Cain gritted his teeth,

"Fine. But ten percent of them have to be at least Grade 2."

Azazel shook his head, his eyes closed in defiance,

"Even more bullshit! That\'s impossible."

It took all Cain had not to begin cursing.

After some time, he finally let out a sigh,

"Five percent?"

Azazel slowly opened his eyes, a grin stretching out on his face. He guffawed loudly,

"You really need to work on your negotiation skills, don\'t you. Alright, I accept your deal! That\'s one down, two more to go!"

Cain felt his heart bleed. However, he didn\'t have it in him to.breka out into a tirade. He was feeling pain all over. It was best to get it over with and get some more rest.

"As for the second thing..."

What did he really need?

\'No, that\'s the wrong way to think of it?\'

Thinking about what he needed was rather small minded. Instead, he needed to put all his eggs in one basket here.

Right now, he was currently blind. He didn\'t know what as going on over there back at Urbus.

But he could make a few guesses with ni doubt.

\'Then...\'

Cain\'s face turned serious,

"I want the resources I need to rebuild."

A strange smile appeared on Azazel\'s face,

"Is that so... That\'s one heck of a request."

Cain shrugged, "I am playing by your rules, am I not?"

Azazel cleared his throat. But the smile remained on his face,

"Indeed you are. However, your words are quite vague. You\'ll have to give me moree details."

Cain dropped his head and was silent for a moment. When he brought his head back up, there was a new silent edge to his gaze,

"I want everything you can give. Resources, manpower, food, knowledge, information... I want everything you can give. I am sure this isn\'t the first time you have seen a species driven to near extinction by the inception of God Ash."

Azazel said nothing, neither disagreeing or otherwise. Instead, he silently watched Cain.

Not wanting to back down, Cain stared right back at him.

"Don\'t you think this is a waste of a priceless opportunity? I really do have the power to go be you what you desire."

Cain shook his head, "If it is power you want to give me, then I can acquire it on my own. What I want are resources."

His expression tightened under the bandages and a scowl appeared to n his face,

"I can see it already. There\'s no way we can weather the storm that is coming out way without resources."

Azazel fell silent again. After a moment of prolonged silence, he opened his mouth to speak again,

"And what\'s the third wish?"

This time, Cain answered quite quickly,

"I want you to be my mentor."

Azazel raised a brow, "Pardon?"

Cain huffed, "I\'m not a fool. I know you made me see your craftsmanship on purpose."

Azazel raised his hands on mock defeat,

"And you took the bait right away."

Cain nodded, "It was too juicy to pass on."

He leaned forward and pressed his hands on the table, a manic look on his eyes,

"Frankly, I know I am quite lacking when it comes to both runic sorcery and blacksmithing. If I truly wish to carve out a place for humans on my world again, then I believe this is the route I should take."

Azazel nodded in satisfaction,

"Good choice. Being selfish sometimes isn\'t a bad thing. If you had asked for something else like world peace, I would have smacked you right back to sleep."

Cain chuckled. He didn\'t have to think about it too hard.

Materials benefits would only go so far. Instead, what he really needed were things that would be used for the collective, and things that would serve him well in the long run.

All he had wished for fell quite comfortably in those two categories.

"You have stated you three wishes, so with the power of the unholy blood that flows in my veins, consider them granted."

A strangely wicked grin appeared on his face,

"Also, starting from today, you have become my vict– Student! You have become my student!"

Cain lightly shivered, \'What the hell have I gotten myself into?!\'

Not wanting to think of the negative implications of the deal he had just made with this Demon, his mind wandered a little.

With both his and Kaelin\'s absences, he wondered what had become of the battle.

Perhaps it had ended very quickly, or it was still ongoing. He wouldn\'t know...

But he did have faith in the others.

He also knew that once the enemy decided to surrender, they wouldn\'t do something as stupid as continuing the onslaught.

Azazel waved his hand,

"Alright, off you go. You need to rest."

Cain looked down at his bandages hands, them nodded.

He would have liked to explore the rest of the Demon\'s underground residence, but the pain was really taking a toll on him.

The moment Cain left the room, Azazel was unable to hold back anymore.

He burst into uncontrollable laughter.

The shadows and crevices of darkness that n the room flowed towards the center, and a grotesquely shaped entity was formed. Despite its presence in the room, Cain didn\'t have a single clue.

"Azazel..."

Azazel finally managed to calm down,

"The boy asked... Hahaha! He asked, for one million freaking mana cores! Hahaha! Never in all my years, have I heard something so greedy."

The darkness remained quiet.

After some time, it finally spoke, its voice deep and guttural,

"My vacation has come to and end."

Azazel\'s laughing fit was cut short.

The darkness continued,

"Word just reached me ears. The currents are moving in the Celestial plane..."

There was a slight hesitation in his voice which made Azazel feel uneasy,

"Whatever you have to say, just say it."

"It might just be rumors, but then again, all rumors have a hint of truth in them. Word has it, that that old dog, Skyrim, has escaped."

Azazel let out a sigh of relief,

"And here I was sweating all my blood out."

He chuckled and waved dismissively,

"Relax, would you? If that old dog was put where we all know, then there\'s no way he\'s getting out. I\'d like to know who spread this rumor and give them a pat on the back. They almost got me this time."

The being of darkness didn\'t even let his words sink in before dropping another dose,

"Apparently, Mantis and his dogs have been let loose. I don\'t think its a rumor this time."

Azazel smashed his fists into the desk, turning it in its entirety into sawdust as fine as motes of actual dust. The entire cave trembled.

His eyes were blood red, yet his voice was as calm as a still lake. When he spoke, the mass of darkness trembled lightly,

"You are right. Rumors do have a hint of truth to them. However, for all our sakes, we can only hope this one doesn\'t."

The being of darkness melted away back into the shadows,

"I shall be on my way. My realm will not fall apart without me, but I do believe It times like this, it is best not to be far from home."

With that, the darkness went away, leaving behind a brooding Demon.

Azazel let out a tired sigh,

"Shit."

He chuckled, "Well, on the bright side, I just might be able to make up for the five hundred thousand mana cores rather quickly..."