The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Oscar was trapped. From above, the spiked flail bore down in a spread of fire, and below, the spiraling fingers of flame reached out with its blazing grasp, clutching with a vice grip. He tucked closer to Erden, and his best deer stomped all four hooves in the air, four bursts of concentrated magma erupting with the roaring of a volcano. Oscar bolted upward, bolstered by the frenzied boost from Erden's blazing trail.

As Erden's magma melted down the inferno below, Oscar neared the one above, controlled by the spiked flail. The potency of these flames, ignited by a Grade Eight, was accompanied by a crushing heat that constricted his dry skin to his flesh like being bound by invisible chains. Propping his shield close to his chest and head, he merged his right drill into Erden's antlers, the sapphire ivory metals scraping in shrill cries until becoming one–a long lance of blue and gold, burning blazes along its lengthy body.

He licked his dry and bleeding lips and leaned forward, almost laying flat on Erden's back with his stomach. After a short second, he reached the spiked flail and the ocean of fire following its fall. The moment his lance touched Willet's weapon, everything became silent. The fires vanished as if they were never there, an instant burst of force from the first second of their clash shrieking across the blue sky. Oscar gritted his teeth and tried to struggle against the repulsive shockwave, but he and Erden couldn't hold on and were flung away.

Oscar observed his now-unfused golden drill and Erden's antlers, noting they had no scratches except for the droplets of melted metal flowing on the surfaces and dripping down from the edges. He forced more Eirin into the drill to reform it anew and did the same for Erden because the deer's metallic, melded body was made of Eirin while the Guise was running.

'He's good. Very good.' Oscar quelled the admiration boiling in him and focused on his opponent. Willet was flying high above and threw murderous gazes at Oscar. The spiked flail's chains coursed like a snake around Willet and coiled him from a distance, the tiny wings along the links keeping it afloat. Strands of flames flickered in the open areas between the twisting chains, and Oscar could tell from his experience against Maia that it was the same defensive technique of an encompassing searing barrier.

But was it the exact same? He raised his hand and fired an Eirin-boosted Golden Breaker, the upgraded form of his Silver Star that he learned from one of Drakken Port's Knight Exalt. The Golden Breaker reached Willet in a flash and exploded into thousands of fragments, carried by the charged Shattering Wave he placed inside it. When Maia faced his technique a long time ago, she suffered several wounds from the tiny sharp debris, but Willet's flames melted each one down into a droplet of molten rain.

Willet shifted to the left and tossed out another trifecta of meteors toward him. Erden dodged, and Oscar moved his shield to block the incoming spiked flail, but before the flaming weapon of numerous shifting eyes and wings could touch him, it suddenly zipped behind, turning several sharp angles like a real fly, and attacked his back. Erden reacted faster than Oscar could think and enclosed his antler wings between Oscar's back and the spiked flail. For good measure, he flowed his spell into Erden, coating them in Indestructible Gold.

The flail stuck into him, enveloping him and Erden in flames. Under his golden armor, he found himself getting farther and farther away from Willet, constantly pushed away. The rushing wind and the incessant buzzing of the insect wings drove themselves into his ear before something else entered the stage. Was it a slight hum? No, it was the sound of something sizzling. Oscar widened his eyes at the spiked flail trying to dig into his side, and his body became bound by the chains.

Oscar roared, his Ripple Shroud and Shattering Wave crackling out with his desperation behind it. The chains loosened and were flung away, and the spiked flail deflected to the other side. Oscar and Erden rushed away before an earsplitting roar resounded from behind. He had just managed to escape the explosion, barely. Oscar winced and grimaced at the charred hand. The armguard had melted off, leaving his hand exposed even with his defensive powers.

He didn't have a moment's rest as Willet's flail flew back at him, and the spells never ceased to try to burn him to a crisp. Oscar returned fire with Golden Breakers and Golden Rods. Separating from Erden, he coordinated a pincer attack to create an opening to reach Willet.

However, he quickly realized the true terror of Willet's Meld wasn't in the speed or the destructive powers of flame engraved in every link and spike. The battle made it clear the true powers lay in the eyes, ever watchful and all-seeing. He, Demon, and Erden changed offenses, constantly trying to bait for the other to enter Willet's blindspots, but the buggy eyes caught everything, and Willet responded with his own counters. His enemy was fast and fought in a slippery manner, flooding them with fire at the most opportune times while keeping a distance.

Were all Claude Family members fighters of this disposition? Oscar hated facing the people who kept their distance and ran at the first chance. The question remained…how would he break through Willet's defenses? He recovered some used Ein via Ein Awaken every time it was available, and it was a two versus one. Dragging this out would lead Willet to retreat or succumb to exhaustion. But time was the issue here. The Swamp Zappers had a limited time in deterring the Vorpalares.

He had another option, a risky one. His battles hadn't been as harsh as this one in a long while. Oscar lowered his hands, one charred and the other still safe within the gauntlets. Willet's flail set a direct course toward him, exhausting flames from the beating of its wings, and spiraling, the spikes blurring at horrific speeds. Oscar exhaled and calmed his beating heart, waiting for the one moment to arrive.

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'It's here!' The spiked flail reached an inch before his head, and Oscar dashed to its side with all the speed he could muster from his Eirin. Before the chains could move, he grabbed them right at the base of the spiky ball. Sweat flowed profusely down his entire body, but he clung tightly, clenching his hands until the gauntlet broke apart into pieces. He drew upon Erden's element to coat his hands in flames, the searing pain in his palms diminishing by the second.

"What?!" Willet screamed. The spiked flail's wings beat furiously to the point the buzzing returned to silence. Not even the winds could pick up the sounds of their harsh movements.

Oscar wasted no time and retaliated. While Willet held the advantage of a Grade Eight Meld, he held the advantage in pure physical power. Reis users were not to be underestimated, and Oscar proved their worth by pulling with all his might. Willet's figure, surrounded by floating chains, became larger and more distinct. Finally, he came within Oscar's range.

He absorbed the Reis from the tugging chains and concentrated everything into his golden drill. On the other side, Erden concentrated his flames into an orb, resembling a mini-sun, between his antlers and threw it with all his might at the dragged Willet. Oscar noticed the spiked flail start to make the sizzling noise again, the signs of an explosion waiting to happen. Rather than back away, Oscar forged ahead, unleashing his Eirin Omnireus. What was a little pain compared to killing this man before him?

It all happened in the same instant. The spiked flail exploded from the tips of its spikes to the chains surrounding Willet. Oscar's Eirin Omnireus thundered and devastated the air into hurricanes along its path, and Erden's flaming sun shone brightly, blinding Oscar's sight. Before he knew it, everything became enveloped in light, searing the image of a completely white landscape in his eyes.

He couldn't hear anything. His eyes failed to recover, seeing only the blankness of a white paper. After a few seconds, he found that he was still flying in the air, passing by the two suns in the sky. In a forceful grunt, he halted his body and peered ahead. Much to his relief, Erden was uninjured. Though, he fared worse. His entire two arms were charred, and his helmet had half-melted off. His left shoulder was completely exposed and had been burned black as well.

He made the right call earlier. His flames continued to burn around his body protectively, a lesser form of what Willet had been doing since he didn't have a Meld like his. He shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if he didn't use Indestructible Gold and Sunfire Shroud.

"Impossible…what the hell are you?" Willet panted, his bloodied and mangled hands grasping the chains and his voice quivering as blood forced its way out his throat. He suffered a huge burn on his back, exposing the skin or what was left of it. His chest and arms were a mess of torn flesh, barely held together by his bones and sinews of flesh and muscle. He coughed out more blood and cried an agonized wail. "How can you use two elements? That is Sunfire Shroud. Who are you?"

Oscar stared at Willet's faltering body, the ruby eyes no longer as clear and bursting with intent. Once their gazes met, he threw out a wave of golden rods and mixed in a spell of scorching embers that rode on the golden rods. Willet willed his spiked flail to defend, and the golden rods exploded in great flames.

The Eirin alone made his spells more potent than ever. But it went a step further when he combined the two elements of fire and metal, two spells of Eirin, of different elements, merging to become something greater. Simply coating his metal in flames had a lesser effect; only a true fusion of spells could reach this height.

"You!" Willet seemed to have had enough, clearly losing his mind from Oscar and Erden's combined attacks. He flew toward Oscar…a madman.

Oscar welcomed the frontal confrontation, bolting toward Willet with all his speed as Erden tangled with the spiked flail. This behavior was strange, a counter to Willet's refined battle tactics until now. He might have actually lost his wits. However, a strange fluctuation glinted in his enemy's eyes, and Oscar remembered one of Maia's specialties, the hypnotic, seductive gaze.

He couldn't counteract in time and fell under the spell, his mind starting to numb to a halt. Before any coherent thought could form, it disappeared like it never existed, and Oscar began to be trapped within his thoughts, a haze enveloping him.

…….

"Die!" Willet shouted. The chains around his body lashed out like rattling metal whips at Oscar's body. He smirked and was overcome by the euphoria of victory. A strong person like this and a Prielapos were certain to be great achievements for his empire and his dear Maia.

Then, he felt something, or was it nothing? He couldn't see it, but something flashed to his right. He couldn't believe his eyes at the masked stranger holding an arm in his hands…an arm? Where did he get that from? Willet came upon a horrifying realization and turned to look at his right arm, gasping at the empty air where the arm should be.

When did he tear off his arm? Thoughts and questions fumbled and jumbled in his brain, rattling around ceaselessly. But they all turned and focused on a single question, how did the stranger remove his powerful hypnosis in time? Willet staggered his gaze back to the stranger, and his heart sank, his body running colder than the searing heat of his chains. A single chilling eye peeked out from the melted-off half of the helmet, and then a scoff cleared the air. Willet unknowingly started to pull back, floating backward, but he felt a slight thud and saw bloody antlers protruding from his chest.

"Wh-what?" Willet weakly grasped the antlers with his remaining hand. Seeing the blood flowing out of his arm and chest, he let out an incoherent sound, unable to form the words to express his wild thoughts. He should have remained behind. He should have waited longer. All of his regrets spilled out like the blood exiting his body. He raised his head to the two suns and saw a beautiful woman with the same eyes and hair as him.

"M-Maia…." He remembered the first moment he met her when he was ten, and she was fifteen. It was the first sprout of love he had ever felt for another. She was his shining sun, her every smile blossoming fields of flowers in his dreams. It was over…all over. He gasped and struggled to keep the darkness at bay, crying as they swallowed up Maia's figure in the two suns; no sun, no light, not even a spark. Only darkness lay before him.

His death had arrived.

…….

"Idiot. As long as I'm here, Oscar will never be killed by something like that. We will survive, no matter what." Demon drank a grade-two Amelio Elixir to heal parts of his wounds. He glanced at the battle happening below. Everyone stopped their fighting and stared at him. His allies were clearly shocked and in awe, unable to keep their jaws closed. The enemies grew paler and trembled under his chilling observation.

"Looks like I have to do the clean-up. Let's go, beast." Demon said.

"Don't call me that, you bastard." Erden cursed, his antlers swaying Willet's body around.

Demon said to the others, "Leave your lives behind."

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