The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Celestina's eyes shone with powerful light, deepening their emerald color into radiant jewels that jewelers and craftsmen would yearn to obtain. Her hair was like the wind, fluttering under the gleam of the two suns, and she stood with her back straight, and her chin lifted with an overbearing presence, appearing like a saintess whom people would worship. The smile she wore exuded confidence and would reassure any who was watching, like Oscar.

Her silver Ein surged, shining brilliantly like a star in the sky despite the time being mid-afternoon. The ground beneath her trembled and cracked with each step she took toward the Scarlet Brachyura. The rapier in her hand burned white hot from the immense Ein concentrated in it, similar to how Oscar's now-gone buckler burned blue.

The Scarlet Brachyura shuddered, claws clacked repeatedly, and its legs skittered about in fear. The fear that gripped it was of instinct, a primal fear of staring down a great predator with no escape from its jaw. That was how it viewed the slender, small Celestina, who continued her casual yet quaking march.

"CLAKCLAKCLAK!"

A wave of round rocks resembling bubbles streamed forth from the Scarlet Brachyura's mouth like a landslide to deter Celestina from approaching closer. The rocks were held together loosely by the beast's Ein and locked onto her.

"ROAR!"

Celestina controlled her dragon anima, commanding it to fly forward. It opened its jaw full of sharp teeth as a ball of light gathered in its mouth, unleashing a dense beam of light that could engulf a person whole. This powerful beam tore through the air, the force of which parted the ground under it and obliterated the landslide of rocks.

The rock landslide was nothing to Celestina. The princess sighed and flashed ahead, expanding the Ein in her rapier to form a 'Radiant Lance' to pierce into the Scarlet Brachyura. Celestina knew that the shell was extremely hard, even for a Grade Eight Middle Elite Exalt like herself, to break through, but that didn't mean every single part of this unsightly beast was protected.

There! Celestina found her target, a set of gills near its first pair of legs, the opening through which the Scarlet Brachyura breathed in and out air. Such an opening was hard to get to because of the pincers and rock landslide, but Celestina was faster than the beast could react. Her 'Radiant Lance' shot ahead, striking the gills on the right.

More unintelligible sounds came from the Scarlet Brachyura, and it started to pound its pincers on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. Celestina's face did not change, and her eyes opened with the Prinstyct.

"Your movements are too simple," Celestina saw the beast's eidolon, but her third eye broke apart the veil, allowing her to see the Scarlet Brachyura past the shadow of the eidolon. Her eyes reduced the fearsome struggling of the Scarlet Brachyura into nothing but a futile effort, and she dodged every one of its attacks with graceful movements. Like a leaf in the wind, her body swayed between attacks, remaining untouched, fluttering around.

"Amazing," Oscar stared in awe at Celestina's prowess. Oscar could only admire her fearsome potency the entire time he'd been watching. Through the vision of Prinstyct, he could make out her intent and wondered how it would be if they sparred.

In the past ten months since joining the Inner Hall, he never sparred with Celestina because of their vast difference in realms. However, Oscar yearned to compare their Prinstycts in hand-to-hand combat to judge who was stronger.

As he pondered, Celestina weaved across and threw another 'Radiant Lance' at the other gill. The Scarlet Brachyura began to choke as both its gills were destroyed; however, despite its predicament, Celestina backed down, sensing something ominous incoming.

Oscar dusted himself off and got off the Petra Scorpion. Thankfully, the poison had run its course on the ground, and now only grooves and holes remained, maiming the smooth surface of the mountain slope. Then, a terrifying presence bore down on him.

Grounding his teeth, Oscar forced himself upright and stared at Celestina's battle. What was going on? The Scarlet Brachyura transformed before his eyes as the rocks shifted and moved like armor plates.

Oscar watched as the legs descended to the bottom, and the crab remained upright. Staring at it, Oscar was reminded of the Crystal Guardian of the Inner Hall exam that had multiple legs supporting its body as it stood tall with its powerful arms.

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Its body increased in height but diminished in width, remaining vertical. Two yellow slits opened in the center, with large pupils squirming and shifting around erratically. Looking upon its complete transformation, Oscar couldn't help but think it was an odd headless suit of armor with eyes on its chest plate and eight spider-like legs supporting it.

Even though it looked somewhat silly, the dangerous Ein that emanated from it made Oscar narrow his eyes and tense up. Worried, he glanced at Celestina, who remained still during its duration. A part of him felt relieved at her nonchalance and confident set of eyes.

"I was waiting for this," Celestina said with expectation. She turned to Oscar behind her with a smile. "I won't be long. This transformation won't be a bother."

Oscar didn't think she was putting on airs. The confidence in her words was enough assurance that everything would be alright. He sat down on a nearby rock to watch Celestina's way of combat.

'Grade Two Starfall'

The spell was an upgrade of her grade-one 'Light Barrage', a splitting attack that sent forth multiple beams of light that turned and twisted like homing arrows. Celestina pointed a hand up in the air, shooting out a ray of light that went high and higher into the air.

'Lumin Bolt'

Multiple bolts of light with sharp arrowheads shot out, glimmering as they flew toward the Scarlet Brachyura.

"CKCKCKCKCKCKCCKCK!"

The Scarlet Brachyura unleashed a barrage of punches; the pincers were large and resembled a pair of sparring gloves. Like a seasoned martial artist's punches, the jabs were fast and accurate, shattering the flashing bolts easily. Sensing its advantage, the Scarlet Brachyura skittered its legs forward.

But, a flash of light shot down from above, stabbing into one of its legs.

Then more flashes of light shot down. The 'Starfall' spell shot the rays of light up in the air, and they fell like shooting stars. Sharpened by the fall and strengthened by the light collected from the stars, 'Starfall' was a devastating small artillery attack.

To defend itself, the Scarlet Brachyura was forced to jab upwards. The pincers had several rays of light embedded in them, and the ground was riddled with small impact craters.

Celestina unleashed several 'Radiant Lances' along with her 'Lumin Bolt' to resume her barrage from the front.

Sieged from above and below, the Scarlet Brachyura was nothing but helpless prey before Celestina. As a final nail in the coffin, she sent her dragon anima to fly and add its light beam to the attack.

"What a wicked way of fighting." Oscar almost felt sorry for the Scarlet Brachyura, overwhelmed by the endless barrage of light. "Its body is well suited for melee attacks, and despite its incredible defense, Celestina's spells are large in number and will break through."

In a final struggle, a large avalanche of rocks streamed from the Scarlet Brachyura, but Celestina held out her palm without breaking a sweat.

'Hexagon Mirror'

The rocks rebounded and struck along with her other spells. Cracks began to appear as the countless stakes of light stuck in the shell accumulated too much damage.

"It's over." Celestina flashed in. Light gathered around her rapier and formed a large ruler sword.

'Grade Two Light Buster'

Despite her slender figure, Celestina wielded the large sword without difficulty and plunged it between the Scarlet Brachyura's eyes. Clenching her teeth, she turned her sword around and slashed upward, spewing out a mix of rock and blood.

Oscar saw the light fade from the beast's yellow eyes, and its pupils stilled as though they froze. The Scarlet Brachyura fell forward in a mess of its blood that mixed into the scarlet ground below.

He got off the rock and ran ahead toward Celestina. "You did it!"

Celestina ran her hand through her silver hair and sighed. "I used quite a bit of Ein. Did you get the scorpion's poison, stinger, and core?"

Their mission objective was to retrieve those three parts of the scorpion. Judging from the request, it was most likely for a poisonous elixir or a poisoned armament. Oscar held out the items, but as he did, he felt a sharp pain in his heart, and he coughed.

"Are you ok?" Celestina ran to him with worry.

"I'm fine." Oscar put on a wry smile. Ever since becoming an Elite Exalt, the Reis damaged his heart more than ever. He didn't know how much worse it would get, but his master should have an answer.

Celestina noticed the fake smile that Oscar put on and looked downcast but decided to let it go. She turned to the remains of the Scarlet Brachyura and formed her light sword to slice away at it.

In a matter of moments, Celestina took out its core, but she tossed it to Oscar before resuming. Her prize was still waiting for her to harvest. With a strained voice, Celestina struggled and cut off the center of the shell on its back.

"This is it," Celestina spoke low, and her exhaustion was visible with the sweat that covered her brow. She smiled with the hard piece of shell in her hand and presented it to Oscar. "Here. It's yours."

"Mine?" Confused, Oscar glanced at the red shell. Did they come all this way for a shell that wasn't even for her but for him?

"Part of the reason for coming here was to get into the Preisn Observatory, but the other was to get this for you. I thought about what else we could do around Gosla City and stumbled upon this Exalt Beast. The defense of its hard shell combined with the core will make a great grade-two armament." Celestina pushed the shell to Oscar's arms. Her smile was radiant and heavenly, like the moon shining in the night sky. "Congratulations on your advancement to the Inner Hall and Elite Exalt, and happy early birthday."

"I-" Oscar felt some hot tears dripping down his face. He could only remain silent as his heart felt warm and pounded, not from the effects of Reis but from this person in front of him. He chuckled with tears still flowing. "Three celebrations at once?"

Celestina laughed and passed a handkerchief to Oscar. "Is that not allowed? Let's head back and read more books at the Observatory."

"Right." Oscar wiped his tears and followed her down the mountain, staring at the core and red shell in his hands with a soft happy expression. He wished they could stay out like this forever.

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