The Headless Horseman

Cain wasn't as lucky as me or Ulric. He wasn't chosen by a God, but instead by a Celtic folk creature - the dullahan. 

The dullahan was a headless, undead horseman with a role vaguely similar to that of the grim reaper. Still, even if not a God, it was incredibly powerful, skilled in every weapon and capable of killing with a single word. 

The original skills weren't the most useful, but - to make up for it - he initially received two. 

[Skills (2)]

[Headless lv 1]

[The user can survive with their head removed]

[Spirit Physique lv 1]

[Can become intangible for 30 seconds, 10 minute cooldown] 

Thanks to to those skills - especially the latter - Cain was able to survive far longer than most people by passing through walls and hiding in buildings. 

After the initial fighting - where most people killed one another - he continued to use his skill to avoid Ulric's army of clones. 

After a while, he obtained a new skill - weapon proficiency - but, as more and more clones began to appear, he knew he couldn't avoid them forever. 

Prompted by his new skill, he used spirit physique to break into a nearby police station and steal a loaded riot shotgun. When he was caught, he didn't want to be caught off-guard. 

Eventually, when the time came that he couldn't escape. In a building, surrounded by clones who all knew he was inside.

He grabbed the gun and, rather than triggering his skill's cooldown, stepped out the door and began shooting. 

Two shots reached their targets before any clones reacted. The problem began when they got to him. 

At least six of them, all running at top speed, reached him and started attacking, prompting Cain to activate his skill. 

As they legs and fists passed through him, he managed to gain some distance and start firing shots again. 

Of course, there was still one problem - the duration. Spirit physique only lasted for 30 seconds, and a shotgun shoots very slowly. 

Had it not been for weapon proficiency, Cain certainly would've died in that battle. 

Every round hit on-target, killing the target and reducing the number of attackers. 

His body almost moved on its own, ignoring recoil from the gun and adjusting itself to the perfect angle for every shot. 

As the duration went down, so did the number of clones remaining. He didn't have to worry about their attacks, only having to focus on destroying them all before the time ran out. 

Eventually, the time did run out, and he couldn't beat all of them. Fortunately, he had beat 5, leaving only one left. 

Cain took a punch to the face, knocking him down, but - while still clutching his shotgun - somehow managed to kill the last one. 

As he stood up, he was greeted by clapping. Me and Ulric had arrived. 

Seeing Ulric's resemblance to the clones, Cain quickly reloaded his gun and raised his guard. 

"What is your name", Ulric asked.

"Cain."

"Hello Cain", Ulric tried to calm him down. "We're looking for strong allies, would you like to join us?"

"No", Cain's snappy response was followed by an even snappier gunshot. I was almost certain that Ulric was dead, but he managed to dodge it in the last second. 

Noticing Sun Wukong's figure behind Ulric, even Cain couldn't help but feel some respect. He was clearly strong, and that was only made clearer by all his clones swarming around the city. 

Seeing more of said clones arrive and surround him, Cain had no choice but to agree. 

Brought back to the train station, Cain was treated with the same hospitality as me. While untrusting at first, he soon realized that Ulric meant no harm - at least, not to him.

Unexpectedly, Cain didn't seem all that bothered about the mountain of corpses outside. 

Rather annoyingly, his supporter didn't say a single word to anyone, not even Cain, and Cain wasn't much more talkative. 

"So, Cain, would you mind telling me your surname? You see, I'm old fashioned, and old fashioned gentlemen like me care about things like that.", I couldn't help but smirk, hearing Ulric refer to himself as a gentleman - the same person who built a mountain of corpses outside the train station. Although, I'm sure that he believed he was one. 

"O'brien."

"Does that make you Irish?", I couldn't quite tell if he was just trying to make conversation, as everything Ulric said sounded like and may have been some sort of convoluted, underhanded plot. 

"No."

"really?", Ulric pretended to be interested, or maybe he was. "Where are you from then?"

"I'm English."

"Yeah, of course, but I'm not asking what you tell the immigration department, I mean, where exactly are your family from?"

"Northern Ireland."

"Ah, so you are Irish", Ulric looked at me, as though he'd just achieved a great victory. "Sorry about all the questions, I just really like to know who I'm working with."

"You didn't ask me where I came from", I jokingly commented. 

"Well, obviously you're English", He wasn't wrong, but he still could've asked. "i for one am of German heritage, but I've lived in England all my life."

I couldn't help but feel like Ulric was trying to impress us somehow, and I quickly realized why. 

It had to be about 'him'.

Before I could ask Ulric, he changed the subject, "Would either of you like to spar with me?"

Cain immediately refused, having just fought so many of his clones, I couldn't imagine him wanting to fight. 

I, on the other hand, had no excuse. 

We agreed to have a two minute time limit, calling it a draw if we both remained standing till the end. The battlefield for our little duel, in fact, was decided as an old train carriage. 

Neither Yama nor Sun Wukong were particularly thrilled, but they decided to let us continue regardless. 

The moment we entered the carriage, Ulric activated his skill and the clock began. 

Strands of hair pulled from Ulric's head quickly grew into full-sized versions of him. Numbering 5, all of them decided to jump at me. 

I released hellfire in the shape of a blade, slicing through the air and piercing each clone. All were injured, but none destroyed. 

They leapt from the walls from all directions, jumping into another of my fire attacks. This time, the first one to jump was destroyed, while the others made it through to punch me. 

Ignoring their numbers, I tried the same strategy as before, focusing on one and punching him until he was destroyed, before turning to another. 

Time passed by, as I beat some clones and Ulric didn't even have to lift a finger. The thought that each of these clones was only 20% of his strength was, frankly, terrifying. They were still way stronger than normal people. 

Our battle was then interrupted, not by the timer, but by a system message. 

[You have inherited more of your supporter's powers]

Then Ulric sent his clones away and made an announcement. "Now that that's happened, I feel like I should explain why I wanted you both here. I'm going on a voyage and would like you two to accompany me."

"Where are we going?", I felt compelled to ask, as Cain wasn't going to, and I still didn't know Ulric well enough to guess.

"On a journey", Ulric concluded. "A journey to the east."