The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

When Draven heard his disciple had disappeared, he decided to enter seclusion and advance to the King Exalt realm using the Imperial Jewel gifted to him by Oscar. He hoped to become strong enough to protect Oscar and drag him away from the site of the tragedy. But what was this? He succeeded in rising beyond the Marshal Exalt and knew where Oscar would be, his disciple's thoughts clear to him. The events unfolding were not what he expected.

Staring down the bastard who betrayed his disciple, Draven gripped his hands and unleashed all of his Eirin, entering the Guise. His chest beat rapidly, the drawbacks of using Reis without the perfect body already threatening to tear him apart from the inside. He didn't care. Faint memories of a girl stabbed into a tree surfaced in his mind, followed by the images of Oscar being nearly killed by Saul. Rage walked by his side every day, but today, in this moment, he hadn't been this angered in a long time.

His Kraken anima let out a low wail, the clouds vanishing as if swallowed whole by an invisible force. It leaped into his body and integrated. Draven sealed the Meld, Integration, and Guise for many years since using them would cost his life. But now, it no longer mattered. Keeping Oscar alive was his highest priority. In his hands, his two weapons, the twin chakrams, transformed into their Meld form, resembling a black tentacle coiled around itself in a circle as sharp fangs protruded and outlined it.

He was clad in black armor of obsidian sheen formed from the limbs of the Kraken. Large fangs protruded from his shoulders, his elbows, his knees, and even his heels. His helmet transformed into a miniature Kraken head, a gaping maw of clenched razor-sharp teeth extending over the dome of his head, and sixteen eyes rolled around, looking in all directions as the largest one, the pale dull eye, rested in the center of his face.

"You've come to die. You'll die from the backlash even if I don't do anything. How truly futile, Warden." Elder Saul seemed uninterested and stepped back.

"Oscar! If you're in there, listen to me. If not, Erden, listen for him." Draven said, feeling his innards screaming at him to stop. A maddened roar echoed in his ears from within, demanding to be unleashed. After a moment of silence, he continued, "You are a magnificent disciple. I am glad to have been your master. Now, watch closely. I will show you how a King Exalt fights."

Draven pulled out several teal ataerstones from his space pocket and teleported them to specific points in his surroundings. Stomping his feet, he sent a flow of Ein to link up the ataerstones and invoke a formation utilizing the ataerstones purifying qualities. Ein seeped into the stones and then streamed toward Draven, continuously adding pure Ein to increase his powers. Vanishing and reappearing right above Elder Saul, he swerved his body and slashed his twin chakrams onto the old man.

Elder Saul's face hardened, and his arms raised up as a thick adamantium shield blocked Draven's blow. Draven learned about the final concept of Eirin from Oscar but failed to comprehend it. His disciple truly was a genius of Reis, born from the efforts of endless trials. Though his powers lacked the Line, they made up for it in sheer brutality. The ground caved in several hundred feet, and Elder Saul's shield cracked in several places but remained intact.

"Impressive. With your mastery of Reis and the ataerstone formation adding to your strength, you're comparable to a Bicrown King Exalt. But your movements are too simple." Elder Saul lectured, his eyes containing stars. "You can keep moving with the invisible Reis steps, but at the end, you teleport using spatial steps."

Adamantium chains burst from Elder Saul's Ein and rushed toward him, the chains and links rattling and screeching an ear-piercing noise. Throwing his chakrams, they clanged against the chains, unable to slice through them despite the empowerment of space. The gap inside the chakrams darkened, and multiple black-armored tentacles burst from them, holding down most of the chains. As the chains neared, he swapped spaces, flickering to an open spot.

"Again, so obvious. You need to exercise proper control of your powers, young man." Elder Saul blurred, reaching him instantly. A large adamantium palm slammed on him, the oppressive pressure of a higher King Exalt imposing onto anything in the area, squashing the ground further.

Draven raised his hand, his bones creaking from the immense presence bearing down on him. Eight black-armored tentacles extended from his back and coiled around his fist. He punched straight ahead, the space collapsing between the palm and him. The eight coiling tentacles cracked and shattered into pieces one by one, the destructive force reaching his gauntlets, exposing a bare fist until his integration rearmored it. The adamantium palm retreated, a discernable hole in the center. The mountain in the back also had a circular chunk of it gone, as if it vanished into thin air.

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Not losing the chance, Draven lunged in, teleporting himself all around Elder Saul. His hands manipulated the chakrams through space and disappeared from his wrists, constantly seeking Elder Saul's back. The elder's arrogance was his only chance for a surprise attack. Draven sent forth a wave of spatial cubes that floated around, devouring anything that passed through him. Keeping Elder Saul busy with his chakrams, he dove down from above, lifting his leg high, coiled in his eight-fold technique.

His attack's wave of spatial rends left the ground into a deep chasm with smooth walls. Still, Draven could not break through Elder Saul's defenses; gigantic adamantium pillars layered below his kick and were cracked all over from the spatial destruction, yet intact against the devouring force. Some parts that touched the spatial cubes slowly began to crack more, tiny fragments being torn asunder. Unrelenting, Draven prepared for another strike.

"Enough of this. I grow tired of your useless efforts." Elder Saul's voice echoed from within the adamantium. A long adamantium blade, fifty feet wide and a hundred feet long, stabbed upward.

Draven flickered away in time as the sword swept through his previous location. However, Elder Saul waited for him right where he teleported. The old man clasped his hands together, and two adamantium walls sped at astonishing speeds to slam into each other. Draven found himself stuck, the walls containing a sealing pressure that prevented him from moving away. One of his ribs cracked. He didn't feel any pain anymore, but it prevented him from exerting all of his strength. The maw on his head opened wide and roared, creating a space isolation barrier around him, the adamantium screeching against the roaring space. All of the tentacles encompassing his armor unfurled and lashed out at the walls, each carrying an Omnireus.

"Your body is already a wreck. You extended your life by committing a grave offense to your former beloved. Even Faust was shocked to learn you put her heart into you. He desperately wishes to know how two hearts could exist in a single body." His words droned on, igniting Draven's anger as he recalled the blasphemous act he had committed. His beloved Tasha's body was preserved, and he wanted her heart to beat again.

"Shut up," Draven said coldly, struggling against the walls.

"The two hearts have addled your mind, turning you into a crazed lunatic, but even more so because you live every day knowing your dead lover's heart beats in you. Truly a deranged maniac." The insidious words drove into him like daggers into his two hearts.

Draven shouted, pouring more Eirin into his spells. The tentacles were forced back until they balled around him, slowly tightening. His spatial barrier collapsed into shards of transparent distortions that flickered out of existence. He was on his last ropes, clinging onto his last resistance.

"Futile. The Walls of Asgred are not something you can brush off." Elder Saul clenched his hands together, and the walls slowly broke through Draven's spatial barrier. The walls slammed together, and Elder Saul lifted a brow and then sighed, "I thought we had a deal that you would not interfere with me. After all the help I had given you, this is how you betrayed me?"

Draven coughed, blood seeping through his helmet. Someone had saved him before the walls could crush him to a pulp. A familiar arm held him by the neck, and he turned to confirm his suspicions. A bald man with gentle green eyes floated above the chasm. It was his adoptive father and master, Remulus Grant. The deep frown on that aging face made him seem older. Scoffing, Draven said, "Why are you here?"

"That is my question, young man. Why are you here, Remulus?" Elder Saul also frowned. "You are a peak Bicrown King Exalt. I can understand your adopted son, but for you to risk everything for him is quite out of character for you. You've already abandoned him once before. So why now?"

"Saul. I did have my suspicions when you first came here, but after many years, I accepted you as one of our own. We had good discussions and shared tea. Using my powers of time, I heard everything you said to Oscar. I wonder how many students I've failed in the past as they fell for your schemes." Remulus's frown deepened. "I have to kill you."

Elder Saul chuckled and blurred out of sight. The air ruptured into booming thunderclaps before the winds rushed back, resounding across the sky with great gales. The old schemer looked at the newcomer and said, "Surprise attacks are not your forte, old Dragnar. Tell me. Are you willing to risk your empire as well?"

"Stop with that high and mighty tone. If there's such a stir in my empire, then I have to intervene." Caires, the Dragnar Ancestor, brushed off the dirt from his shoulders, garbed in a simple short-sleeved shirt and long pants. He chomped the pipe off his mouth and spat out the end. "If what Remulus told me is right, then you're responsible for the countless deaths from those beast tides. The souls of my people won't be satisfied until you die."

"How foolish. What's dead is dead, Caires. You should cling to what remains." Elder Saul said. "Are you certain, Remulus?"

"I…failed once a long time ago." Remulus looked at Draven with sad eyes and turned back to Elder Saul, hardening his expression. "This time, I won't let my son down. You dare hurt my son and my grand disciple, you irredeemable trash!" He shouted in uncharacteristic rage, veins popping along his bald head. He called out, "Son."

"Father…." Draven freed himself from Remulus's grasp and clutched his chest, feeling Tasha's heart and his about to burst.

"Can you still fight?" Remulus smiled, not the gentle one everyone knew, but the maniacal smile of a battle-hungry warrior.

"Of course." Draven chuckled and brandished his chakrams. Where else did he learn of his love for battle? His father never changed.

"Three King Exalts. This is one delicious feast!" Elder Saul's Ein rose, and he said, "Integration."

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