The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

"How long has it been?" Draven asked, letting go of Oscar and staring around the caverns in confusion.

"Twenty years. It's been around that long." Oscar answered, out of breath but smiling. Excited, Oscar accidentally undid his Guise, his blue antlers shattering into pieces, and was about to fall. The Guise was too sensitive to his emotional state, a major screwup on his part, and he fell. The ground drew closer, the pebbles growing in his sight, but his master and Erden held his limp body, their antlers and hands not allowing him to disgrace himself. What a pity he could not even move his hands in this state.

Laughing, Draven praised, "Twenty years. You've mastered the fusion of Reis and Ein perfectly. I'm proud of you." He lifted Oscar off the ground and rested him on Erden's back, studying the antler wings. "A Prielapos…what a rare sight."

"I can tell you all about it when we return home. There's good tea waiting for you from other continents." Oscar rested his face on Erden's softback, a comfortable bed of fur and warmth. "Are you alright, Master?"

"Never better. Rest well. I'll handle the rest." Draven clapped Oscar's back and turned toward the silent Marshal Exalts, Aunt Rosett and Aunt Ward included. His master's back seemed tremendously large and powerful, and Oscar felt secure behind it. Stepping out, Draven said in a grating tone, one Oscar recognized instantly, a high elegance failing to suppress parts of the anger leaking out in his voice. "I am leaving with him, but I still have a debt to collect."

"Draven! Wait!" Diane Claude pulled Maia behind her, awkwardly smiling. "How? How are you up? You never once answered me, not once in ten years. Am I that unimportant to you?" She shut her trembling lips as slight tears dripped down her cheeks, unable to meet his master in the eyes. "What's wrong with me? Why?"

It was strange to hear all of this during a prison break, to hear a guard say these words to a prisoner. Oscar held back his chuckle and waited for his master to respond, curious how he would handle it. Knowing what he knew about his master, he anticipated the worst possible response to Diane's heartful pleas. Perhaps his master was once a romantic in the past, but Oscar quickly disregarded that image from his mind, shuddering at the mere thought.

Draven was silent before he said, without a hint of emotion, "No. I don't care."

Diane stumbled to her knees, held up by her niece, Maia, her ruby eyes dulling to a murky red, the light dying within. Despite Maia's shouts and attempts to knock some sense into her aunt, she remained lifeless and unresponsive. The scene of the niece and aunt was pitiful to behold, and Oscar looked at his master, hesitant in saying his opinion. Ultimately, it was his master's decision, and he had to abide, no matter how callous or cold it seemed.

"I knew that maniac would never turn to our side! Diane's obsession cost us greatly! I warned her about this!" One of the Marshal Exalts shouted, spitting in Diane's direction and flying straight toward Draven and Oscar, already transformed into her Integration Stage, beautiful, sparkling fish scales spreading fingers to her shoulders, a flipper tail where her legs should be, and gills extending from her cheeks. Her scaled-covered trident stabbed toward Draven, a torrent of violent waves raging from the spear.

"Lady Triss, wait!" Maia shouted, still holding her despondent aunt.

Breathing out white smoke, Oscar shivered, an impossible action under the side effects of his Guise, yet his body had no choice against the biting air that froze his skin. Erden's soft flames provided little comfort against the wintery presence drawing closer. Oscar forced himself to keep watch, his eyes straining and unblinking against the chill. He couldn't miss the opportunity to see his master's true power.

Out of nowhere, a large black tentacle lashed onto the Marshal Exalt, Triss, from above, sharp fangs protruding out of the squirming suckers. She scoffed and stabbed her trident against the falling tentacle. The waters from her attack seemed to disappear entirely within a certain range of the tentacle, a space that rendered everything into nothingness. When her trident met this devouring space, it vibrated as Eins clashed and collapsed in a cycle.

Thanks to Erden flying slightly higher, he could see the entire creature from which the tentacle came. It had eight large tentacles stretching far, each as terrifying as the next. The entire body, clad in thick, black, shell-like armor, reached as high as the cavern ceiling, two hundred feet tall. Eyes blinked and rolled around like wheels, spinning hypnotically, sixteen in total around its wide body. However, the largest one was pale and dull, and Oscar recognized it as the large eye that gazed upon him in the deep lake of Abyss Prison. The large bulging dome that comprised most of its body opened like a mouth, endless rows of sharp teeth clamping together.

Draven was truly a frightening individual. The creature was a Mythical Beast anima like Celestina and Charles, the legendary Kraken of the deep seas. What surprised Oscar more was the source of the dangerous space around the tentacles. It could only be the spatial elemental spark, one of the rarest elements in the entire world in the same category as the element of time. Oscar admired his master deeply, proud to be his disciple.

Scowling, Triss slammed her flipper tail on the ground and released a liquid. Peering closely, Oscar noticed the liquid was a mix of water and oil, and it spread until it swelled and swallowed herself, Draven, and his Kraken anima. The devouring space around the Kraken slowed and diminished its borders, the liquid squelching endlessly. Inside the messy collection of water and oil, Triss swam freely, dodging the slow tentacles of the Kraken, clearly experienced in dealing with it.

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"Everyone! Converge on him!" Triss shouted.

"No, you don't!" Aunt Ward stopped one of them, the others joining her again.

Triss turned from the others and narrowed her eyes at Oscar, a dangerous and malicious gaze, and he stared back, smiling without fear. His master was right by her side, without her noticing, thanks to the invisible Reis movements, and she barely put up a guard before his fist, clad in flaming Eirin, drove into her trident. Like a bubble bursting, the pool of water and oil scattered apart, freeing the Kraken anima. His master vanished and landed a blow on each of the unsuspecting Marshal Exalts. It all ended so fast that Oscar could not comprehend it.

"Impossible. What is this strength?" Triss rushed out of the wreckage, her arms bleeding and skin in tatters. Still, she gripped her trident unwaveringly and faced Draven, summoning a tide of long fish, which the Kraken anima warded off, using its tentacles to devour them.

"What you caught before was a mindless beast, not a single bit of nobility in its movements. But now, I can't embarrass myself in front of my disciple. Speaking of which–" Draven flickered over, Triss's face reeling from the fist in her stomach. "You dared to target him." He unleashed a powerful Shattering Wave. Her limbs snapped as if she had suddenly formed new joints along her arms and legs, and her torn body bled everywhere.

His master's fury was not to be underestimated. Oscar remembered the many times he was beaten down during their training. Suddenly, he felt bad for Triss for incurring Draven's wrath. This was all without using the Meld or Integration Stage. He was sure the spatial element played a part in the sudden movements and devastating attacks.

Draven didn't stop there and swept across the battles with his Kraken anima, supported by the others. It was the first time Oscar witnessed the fall of so many Marshal Exalts, and he found himself brimming with pride that his master made it possible. Draven flickered back to Oscar and snorted, "What are you smiling so pathetically about? You still have a lot of training to do."

"Nothing much. My master is just incredible." Oscar said, not losing his smile.

"Of course. And, like me, you're just as incredible." Stroking his Kraken anima's tentacle, Draven turned toward the two Claudes and said, "Leave and don't ever return. I grant you life in respect to our past."

Maia lifted her aunt by the shoulder and stared at Oscar, biting her lip, seemingly unwilling to let Oscar go. But one tug from her aunt mellowed out her angered face, and she flew away into a far corner of the caverns, disappearing into the tunnels.

"Free the rest. We have to get out soon." Aunt Ward ordered Reni and Elias. They gave Oscar a nod before heading out to free the few other Marshal Exalts imprisoned inside the caverns. She faced Draven and forced a smile. "Glad to have you back, you crazed maniac."

"I resent that statement. Why are you even here?" Draven tugged Erden along to follow him, carrying Oscar.

"We're here for you, Draven." Aunt Rosett wandered to Oscar's side and patted his back. "Oscar rushed to save you and made all of this possible."

"Hmm." Draven smacked Oscar on the back of his head.

"What was that for?" Oscar yelped in pain.

"For being twenty years too late. Now, what's the plan?" Draven ignored Oscar's complaints while Aunt Rosett caressed where he was hit.

Aunt Ward began to explain, "We spared no expense and had Elder Saul's help–"

"That old piece of shit?" Draven stomped his foot on the ground. "What did he do?"

"He gathered materials for us to craft a small teleportation portal inside the ship, Gunghir." She clarified. Oscar knew it beforehand but was still shocked to hear Elder Saul helped set up the portal. Building a teleportation portal inside a network like in Ashen Grove, courtesy of the Divine Stone Clan for laying the groundwork, was expensive but not astronomically pricy like this one, an intrusive path across space.

"We're on a timer for the Ein to be ready and before the enemy can properly react and send reinforcements. We need to get moving and help the upper levels." Aunt Ward rushed everyone, including the newly freed prisoners, over to Gunghir.

"Master, is something wrong?" Oscar noticed his master looking around in what appeared to be confusion. He could tell even though the helmet blocked any view of his face.

"I'm trying to sense where they put it all," Draven said, observing the caverns. "I didn't carry anything other than my weapon. But they extracted a vial of blood from me daily and cut off pieces of my flesh. They would heal that small missing flesh and cut it out again when needed."

"That's…why?" Oscar asked.

"Who knows…nothing good." Draven tilted his head. "They mentioned a test?"

…….

Inside the corridor on the third level, Frederick panted, barely standing. He glared at the monster before him. He could swear the Sweeper had grown bigger during their fight. As the fight prolonged, the Sweeper grew bigger, ran faster, attacked more powerfully, and used the same Eirin as Os.

"The hell are you? You can't be a human?" Frederick raised his blades again, gathering his breath for another attack.

The Sweeper roared, its joints cracking as it grew again to ten feet tall, towering almost twice his height. Its arm was as thick as his waist, bulging with muscles and veins. Then, he heard a gargling come from the beast, close to laughter, and it smiled, baring its drooling sharp teeth.

It stomped and swung its palm, burning in Eirin. Frederick spun around, slicing multiple times in a second, but not a single wound appeared on the beast, its skin as hard as diamonds. The feeling from his blades gave him confirmation it was using Edureisclad, Oscar's Reis defense technique. The part of the corridor where it swung its palm had been turned into a wreckage of stone, steel, and rubble. The Sweeper snapped its head around to Fred, the wretched smile still across its mangled face.

"Damn." One twin blade clattered to the floor, and Frederick looked down. His left arm had been caught in that shockwave and rendered into a mess, barely retaining its shape as a limb. "Shattering Wave as well. I really drew the short end here." He sighed and forcibly clenched his broken hand on the fallen blade, raising both into a stance. "I'm still standing. Not much of a sweeper, are you?"

The Sweeper roared and charged once again, and Frederick met it with a fierce smile of his own.

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