The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Floating above the deep, bottomless chasm, Saul lifted his saggy cheeks into a small grin as a crown manifested above his head. The base was made from silver Ein, flowing eternally around itself and resembling a halo. Above it, three silver spikes stuck out, also made from his silver Ein but crystalized into a solid form, the sign of his realm and power, the Tricrown King Exalt. A slight groove rested in each spike, marking the crown incomplete since they waited for gems to be embedded in them.

'It's been a while. When was the last time I fought?' He grew excited at the possibility of gaining three new King Exalt corpses. In response to his rising Ein and the manifestation of his Crown, the other three King Exalts' Crowns materialized, a natural and autonomous response based on instinct. Glancing at the black, green, and gold crowns of one and two spikes, the same imperfection in their missing gems, Saul manifested his anima for the first time in years, and the world trembled as his golden Ein formed into a golden spider, clad in a metal carapace.

The golden spider anima skittered along the air and leaped into him. A loud clanging echoed deep into the chasm from the golden plates shifting on his body. A spider's body grew from his lower body, and his legs disappeared, replaced by eight creaking spider legs, a dangerous glint of sunlight shining from the sharp ends and limbs. Saul drew a long bow, the Meld changing it into one that contained eight curved shafts, identical to spider legs, and in the center, a maw of fangs opened. His hand pulled on the string, nocking a giant adamantium sword created by his spell, which stretched out and thinned to the width of an arrow but longer than a spear.

Saul eyed the others, having watched them enter their Integration during his own. He loosened his grip and parted the air itself into tumultuous tempests, the arrow bolting toward Draven, the weakest of the three. Unsurprisingly, the Warden ate the space around him and teleported to another location, an easy prediction. Saul already saw through it in his Prinstyct and curved the arrow using the metal string attached to its end. It flashed across to the Warden's new location, already a hair's length away from piercing the forehead. However, his target disappeared again, returning to his former location.

'The element of time. Incredible as always.' Saul cut the metal string off and let the arrow fall into a faraway forest, rumbling in a soft landing that toppled hundreds of trees and erupted the earth into massive landslides. He admired the power of time that Remulus showed, recalling Draven past to his previous position a second ago, dodging his fast arrow. The sounds of clocks ticking reached him. The Pavilion Master wielded a staff that held a large clock at its end, the hands ticking exactly to the passing of time, and his figure resembled a humanoid green golem with five clocks embedded in its eyes, chest, shoulder, and forehead.

Time wielders were said to have a clock anima, no matter who it was. Saul wanted to observe the mysteries of the time element longer, but a dragon's roar bellowed from above. Prepared for the ambush, he fired another quick arrow, this one condensed from the adamantium prison spell, and sent it soaring up at Caires. Oddly, his arrow slowed, and in the blink of an eye, Caires appeared before him and swung a broadsword with a dragon's maw as its hilt, gleaming in golden fury.

'My movements are slowed.' It was a small drop but impactful enough that he had to raise his bow and block the broadsword. Caire's tricks were an open book to him, who gathered all the information on the key figures of the Farsky continent. Saul lifted one of his eight legs, rotated it to point upward, and blocked the attack from a duplicate Caires. His metal leg creaked, groaning under the pressure of the famed Duality. The dragon roared, and light burst from the two broadswords.

White filled his vision, but he could still see clearly inside the world of the Prinstyct, witnessing all of their actions and positions. He slashed his other limbs at Caires and the Duality. A trace of desire crept in him, wanting to learn the famed spell, but Saul could wait. Once he retrieved Oscar, he would hypnotize the boy to teach him the spell. Again, his attacks slashed through the empty air as Caires and the Duality repositioned a few paces. The Warden joined in, each of his blows heavier than the last.

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'This combination….' Saul realized he failed to catch even a strand of their hair. Dodging another chakram that came from the void, he felt his body stagger, returning to its location half a second ago, allowing the chakram to slice into his face. A bellowing Kraken's maw gnawed on his metallic skin as black-armored tentacles lashed their sharp fangs, whipping onto him. That damned time element even affected him. Though his superior Ein resisted the full effects, they fought while compensating for that delay.

Unbothered, Saul calmly tore apart the tentacles, his golden legs slicing through them like the lowly tendrils they were. Interesting. He smiled and loosened a volley of arrows, several forming the Walls of Asgred perfectly between each King Exalt, locking them in place while the other spell arrows neared their targets. Two hands appeared by his shoulders, slashing down the Kraken chakrams. The insolent brat still attacked so brazenly. Irritated by Draven's actions, Saul nocked another arrow and aimed for Draven directly, piercing him in the shoulder. The sword spell came out of the arrow, severing the arm.

However, everything changed. Remulus, Draven, Caires, and his Duality stood firmly across the chasm, the same scene from a minute ago. The Warden's arm was back to normal, attached to the shoulder as if the previous attack never happened. Saul gazed at Remulus, admiring the powers of time again. He found himself in disbelief yet in awe of the power of the lesser King Exalt. "Remulus, you are splendid. I envy the power you carry. It is a shame you lack the vision I do."

"Enough prattling, Saul." Caires roared, crossing his broadsword with his clone. A shower of light beamed from their joined blades as a dragon's roar resounded. Saul felt his limbs weaken slightly and fired several arrows, splitting apart the light. Caires rushed in with Draven, continuing their relentless assault.

'It's strange….' Saul blocked and countered, even swinging his bow at close encounters. Their attacks mixed the fluidity of time with the erraticness of space, along with the pressure from Caires. Draven's spatial spells varied their attacks, allowing them to advance from any direction and tricking him at times with weapons coming from nowhere, forcing awkward defenses from him. The spatial spells also helped them avoid danger from his retaliations. However, the most bothersome was Remulus's time spells, speeding up their attacks while slowing down his own, recalling them from being killed while blinking them forward for the killing stroke.

Sweeping his gaze across the three, Saul endured their strikes, his mastery of Prinstyct helping him to avoid even the slightest injury. Still, their efforts were admirable. Caires's Meld allowed his blade to induce the dragon's pressure on whatever it slashed, lowering their reactions and reducing the resistance, but the Integration released the dragon's pressure all around him and intensified as the fight prolonged. Saul felt a slight numbness increasing in his limbs.

The young Warden's Meld condensed the Kraken into the chakrams, and the Integration contained the Kraken's might in Draven. At first, it seemed so simple, but simple was enough. The brutality behind these Vis, or Eirin as the boy loved to proclaim, blows containing the destructive force of space forced even Saul to lose his balance. And the speed of the Kraken's tendrils from the concentrated form was nothing to scoff at.

Glaring at Remulus, Saul considered him the most dangerous and first to kill. Remulus's Meld, the clock staff, allowed him to recall everyone he wished for to a certain point in time he marked. That was what saved the Warden and his arm. The stopped hands on the clock staff and one of the clocks on Remulus's mechanical figure revealed the truth of his powers. It seemed Remulus could use the lifesaving recall four more times.

'But it doesn't explain how they're attacking and defending so well….' Saul spun around, his sharp legs slicing apart their cohesion as he fired arrows in all directions, mostly targeting Remulus to disrupt his concentration. However, the King Exalts easily rebounded, moving to ideal positions to defend and counter, and the onslaught of space, time, and light battered on his carapace. It didn't hurt, but it confused Saul.

They seemed to move perfectly, not a single step wasted. Without any communication or a simple glance, they fended Saul off and combined their spells to devastating effects, supporting each other. The Warden's punch, coiled by black-armored tentacles, drove itself into the metal carapace of his spider body, denting it slightly. Gnashing his few teeth, Saul pondered the mystery. A gleam of enlightenment glinted from his eyes, a look of shock replacing the previous calm, and he said, "Resonance? Between the three of you?"

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