The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

"Poison? Is that the finale to your grand strategy, Remulus?" Saul revolved his core and surged Ein into every vein and organ inside him but found nothing poisonous threatening him. His blood was clean, and nothing corrupted his core. He couldn't underestimate Remulus and quickly pulled out a vial of grade-five Devadraite elixir, slightly aggrieved at using a precious antidote. A precious elixir like this one required a decade to create, utilizing hundreds of ingredients, and he had to use it here because of these three. He poured out the elixir's contents, drinking it in a single gulp, but a dreadful unease congested his chest caused by the impertinent smile on Remulus's face.

"What are you smiling at?" Saul looked over his body again, seeing no changes. Was he not poisoned after all? Then what was Remulus's goal in sacrificing his son? Far off in the distance, at the side, the Dragnar Ancestor breathed heavily, losing control of his Ein, and the chains of light had been destroyed. Remulus no longer possessed any Ein, and Draven was dead. Where was the threat now?

"You lack vision." Remulus snarked back at Saul with his own words, the unsettling smile widening as his old eyes curled down in a menacing look of glee. "Everything we did, we did to breach past your defenses. You mocked my son by praising him for his fist reaching your cheek, which confirmed you had no more in defense past that. From the very start, we knew a chance of defeating you never existed."

Remulus's droned-out speech was too tiring to listen to. Suddenly, Saul felt a heat welling in his chest and clutched it, nearly digging his nails into his skin. His core was on fire, rotating rapidly. Thunderous claps resounded in his mind, and steam rose from his body. As sweat beaded down his forehead, Saul hissed out in a restrained voice, "You…what the hell did you do to me? My Ein, it's increasing?"

A sharp laughter added to the acute pain in his head. Remulus could not stop laughing daringly like an ant snarking at a human's foot. But tears streamed down the sides of his head, flowing endlessly as the laughs contained immense sorrow and unrestrained joy. He cackled, "You lack vision, Saul. Why do many believe the only way to defeat an enemy is by putting them down? Find the right enemy and the perfect timing, and uplift them to their death. My son gave his life to give you a boon, an extract of the Divine Essence."

"You…you!" Saul understood immediately. A bright light shone from the pores of his skin, enveloping him in a holy radiance. The ground caved in under him as if unworthy of touching his feet. He desperately tried to eject the influx of Ein, but most of it already entered his core since he revolved his core to check for poison and absorb the antidote. Roaring, Saul gripped his head and gazed widely at Remulus, his hate turning his vision red.

"You were at the utmost peak of Tricrown King Exalt, right? You could attempt to advance any time by taking in a sliver of Ein." The Pavilion Master kept his huge grin, the most hateful look, and explained, "The real reason you delayed giving Oscar a grade-five elixir to heal his missing arm is that you had to be especially meticulous in each step. One mishap of accidentally absorbing the extract of Divine Essence you were using, and you would have been forced to ascend. Try it now, Saul. Try to become a Primaere."

His smile widened further, mocking Saul. "But I wonder. Can you become a Primaere when everything has gone out of your control? You're a careful and meticulous but stupidly prideful man. The slightest divergence from your expected result should be a dagger to your heart. You failed to take Oscar's core. You failed to kill all of us. And you failed to find the perfect time to ascend, forced to undergo it here. Your plan is ruined, your mind is in chaos, and your heart is shaken. What are the chances you will succeed?"

"REMULUS!!!!" Saul shouted, reaching out his one arm toward Remulus, angered to a violent red flush. A pillar of light descended from the sky and encircled him, basking him in its radiance. Shockingly, his hand could not break past the shimmering light, an inch away from Remulus, one damned inch. Saul never felt so enraged, duped by a couple of gnats. Calming himself, he retreated to the center of the circle of light and said coldly, "Once I ascend to the Primaere realm, I will enjoy what I'm going to do to your homes. Your legacy will be lost forever."

"If you ascend. This one was the only way out of the thousands of strategies I considered. Prepare, Saul, for the baptism has begun!" Remulus knocked his head on the boulder in roaring laughter. The weakling couldn't resist getting one last word in.

Saul raised his gaze upward, peering at the gaping hole where the light spilled forth. The sky howled, a single cry that shook the world more powerfully than the four King Exalts fighting. A pressure surpassing even the few Primaeres he saw from afar wandered down to him. All his life, he trained for this moment, but not for this timing. For hundreds of years, he laid the groundwork, but the most important piece was gone, and his arm was destroyed. He could not let Remulus win.

"Come then, let me experience the baptism! I will become a Primaere!" Saul crashed into the crater, his legs stiffening to remain upright. His eyes remained fixed on the source of the light, recalling the information about the Primaere Baptism. Stomping on the ground, he slowly rose. Inch by inch, foot by foot, he moved, rising straight through the light. He grimaced, enduring a crushing Ein forcing that battered his figure like an unforgiving storm in the ocean.

His few remaining teeth cracked apart and flew out of his mouth. Becoming a Primaere would fix them, so he pushed onward, groaning in agony. The first trial tested the body cruelly. Not a single spell was allowed during the entire Primaere Baptism, relying solely on the capabilities of the person's natural state. Saul felt his skin peeling. The warm blood became icy cold as they seeped from the fresh wounds. The key to passing the first trial of the Primaere Baptism was to withstand this until he reached a third of the way.

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The fresh wound from his missing arm burst, clouds of blood splattering down. A piercing cry left his mouth. Saul hadn't felt this pain in a long time, not since the days he ran around in his youth. Clenching the gaping wound on his shoulder, he inhaled deeply and burst farther up, the intensity of the first trial skinning his skin in many places, crushing his legs, and caving in a portion of his head. Suddenly, the pain ceased. He made it a third of the way to the second trial.

'This is the second trial.' Saul clenched his head, resisting the strange single tone, a note one could say came from a piano. Before his eyes spanned a tide of light, a strangely comforting light that washed over his injuries and began to numb his mind, the note sounding more pleasing by the minute. He roared in rejection. After all of today's events, he was disgusted that his subconscious wanted to rest, lulled by the second trial. The second trial differed for many, but it always uniquely assaulted the mind. He needed to keep himself awake.

Suddenly, he found himself standing in a field overlooking the ocean. Power rippled and distorted the air around him, and his mouth spoke in a thousand voices, carrying the might of Talos. That was right. He had become a Primaere. No! He scowled and tore the world asunder, breaking free and seeing the light of the baptism. Blood flowed like tears from his eyes, one of them shut tight, crushed to a pulp from almost succumbing to the trial. "You think you can deceive me! I am the one who deceives!"

He soared higher and entered the third trial, a faint drop of sweat beading down his cheek. The final and third trial of the Primaere Baptism attacked the heart and core, the deadliest and most difficult of all the trials. Through one eye, Saul saw the gap in the sky, the place he had to reach, and kicked off his broken legs. Thunder boomed, and the light surged with crackles of lightning. Saul reached into his space pocket, and the sky roared, unwilling to allow him to use any weapons or items. But once he took out ninety-nine orbs strung together by a string, the sky quieted down, letting the thunder take its place.

After many experiments and research, he discovered the potential of a strong Thread filled with a single emotion. Ever since he found out at a young age, he began preparing for his Primaere Baptism, confident in reaching the Tricrown King Exalt. Rotating the ninety-nine cores he removed from people he had formed a Thread with, deceived and put into deep despair, Saul strung them into a circular formation around him. The first lightning struck down, and ten cores along the outer rim burst apart, the weaker ones that didn't have a deep enough despair.

"HAHAHAHA!" He laughed. There was no pain. His preparations were enough. A second lightning struck, flashing across and reducing ten more cores into dust. As he traveled further up, the cores began to be destroyed in smaller numbers since the ones closer to him contained a deeper despair and, thus, a stronger connection. But his cores were limited, and the lightning never ceased. The last few cores exploded, leaving Saul alone to contend against the third trial. Peering around, he knew he was three-fourths of the way through the trial, excited to be so close to the end.

Lightning struck him, and a searing heat erupted from his core. He let out a shrill cry, blood gushing from his fresh wounds. Gritting his teeth, Saul continued up. The lightning relentlessly struck like merciless hammers from the heavens. He cursed and shouted in agony each time. Why did he have to endure this pain? If only he had Oscar's core, the perfect despair. Judging from how the lightning intensified over the distance traveled and the number of cores destroyed based on the depth of the emotion, if he added Oscar's core, he could have made it five-sixths of the way without the pain.

"How unusual. You're like an open book, Saul. Wondering how it would have been different if you had Oscar's core?" Remulus's voice reached him from outside. He turned to see his old friend lifted into the air by Caires, who was missing an arm. Remulus sighed, "That is why the pain is worse for you. A stalwart heart will lessen the pain, but you, who hid behind your schemes to cover up your weakness, have the weakest heart of all."

Saul wanted to retort, but another lightning hit him. His leg exploded off his waist, and his one remaining eye popped, leaking blood and fluid. The lightning was too painful. He heard a crack coming from within. His spotless core had a clear lightning-shaped crack on its surface. Inside, he howled because his throat had been burned. 'Bastards! If it wasn't for Oscar and the Ancient of Fire! If it wasn't for you all resisting me! If it weren't for any of you, this would be nothing to me! My plan was perfect!'

"Idiot! I can practically hear what you're thinking. You have no one to blame but yourself. If you had any heart, then you would fight on through this trial without complaints. You said you planted the seeds for your ascension, but you've only prepared your own downfall." Remulus scolded him like a child. "Now, face the consequences of your depravity."

Saul gave an incoherent shout as he stretched out his hand, so close to the gap, an inch away. The sky quaked as the lightning gathered into one, the most powerful he faced. Not even a crackle or a spark escaped its divine form as it sped down to his stretched-out hand. Remulus's words echoed in his ears. The memories of Oscar and everyone he deceived poured out in his mind, and doubt sprouted from his heart. Was he wrong? Was his path wrong? Even if he lost his methods, why did he struggle with the third trial? Saul flinched and realized his mistake, shouting and pleading for mercy as the lightning tore into his core and heart.

The doubt in himself, in his decisions, opened the doors for the lightning to engulf him. His core shattered into pieces, and Saul fell. The light dissipated, and he dropped to the crater, covered in a light coat of dirt. Saul lifted his mangled arm, the bones showing in the torn parts of his hand. He grasped out, unable to clench the closing gap in the sky or the radiant light as the last bit of light waned over his body before departing.

"An inch….I was only an inch away…." Saul murmured, his throat quivering from the slightest words passing by. A different burst of Ein exploded from far away, and a newcomer arrived, watching him from above, a man with onyx eyes and hair, cold darkness swirling from his gaze. Saul moved his lips, trying to adjust to speak louder. Oscar landed in the crater and approached, each step counting down to the arrival of his death. Saul gasped and found his voice.

"Boy…."

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