The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Minutes later, the last of the sentries and guards departed from the warehouse, but Demon clung to the ledge, unwilling to depart yet. He watched in great caution. As the hours swept by, his suspicions turned out to be true. A soft click of a mechanism rotating reached him, and an ordinary tile on the floor creaked open. A few cloaked figures emerged from the new entrance, nodding to each other before splitting off into separate directions. Whatever this group was, they were quite meticulous in leaving behind a few others in a worst-case scenario.

Now, the warehouse was clear. Sighing, Demon looked through the window, found nothing of worth inside, and then perched himself on the ledge. The soft, luminous moon resting above the shimmering ocean of swaying waves vanished into a blanket of darkness and was replaced by a glaring chandelier. Back in his real body, he barged into Auren's room, where the boy was buried in pillars of papers. Auren didn't notice his arrival despite how loudly the door banged on the wall, still scribbling on an already incomprehensible mess and mumbling incoherently.

'Good focus.' Demon approved of Auren's single-minded focus. Still, he had no time to wait and snapped his fingers in front of Auren. From that sudden snap, Auren nearly jumped out of his seat and yelped in fright, tossing his pen, which fell back on his forehead, marking a deep ink mark between his eyes. Perhaps he praised too quickly. A good focus didn't mean to be so easily broken by a mere snap. To the flustered boy, he ordered, "Send a message to Oldeye Island."

"At once, my Lord!" Auren took out a clean sheet of paper and halted his pen, dripping drops of ink on the paper before he turned, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry. About what?"

"Have Restel come here. I have use for her powers in the auction." Demon showed him the details of the auction heist he had written down. Auren tensed up in the second it took him to read the plan. His reaction was understandable since it entailed robbing from the festive auction held by Belnicce Port. "They only need to break the obstacles for us. Once Restel is in position, she can finish the job. But no one else is to come. I'll receive her halfway."

"I understand!" Auren wrote in perfect penmanship and rolled up the letter. He exclaimed and tapped his head as if remembering something. Rummaging around the stacks of papers, he grabbed a bundle of crinkled pages, tossing them out until one remained. He presented it to Demon in a swift bow and proclaimed, "I have accomplished the task, my Lord. The Eliren Breaker is astounding, but I had developed an auxiliary formation that will improve the Eliren Breaker when layered on the original."

The page depicted a complicated, orderly, yet symmetrical formation, with hundreds of lines crossing and circling each other. Flipping the paper over, Demon read down the long list of materials, some rare and others as common as weeds. The Eliren Breaker was a true marvel, but Auren had cracked through its intricacies, a feat few could accomplish. "You've done well and gone beyond my expectations. Is there anything you want?"

"Nothing. To create formations and serve you is already good enough for me." Auren declared, pride beaming from his young expression.

"Is that right?" Demon stored the formation away and left the room. While he felt Auren's loyalty and words were genuine, he found the boy's blissful ignorance in serving him to be off-putting. Saul gave Oscar everything without asking for anything in return other than a favor later, a terrible price at the end. He preferred if the people under him had some greed that could be controlled and manipulated other than the fervent worship they gave him. He couldn't believe in any of them.

Sitting in the middle of his rather large bed, Demon switched back to his Duality clone and leaped off the warehouse roof, heading toward the place where the one named Avila stopped. Erden was still watching over the small home. Rejoining the beast, he skulked in the nearby alley and observed. It was an ordinary home, fit for maybe three or four people. Candlelight seeped through the thin curtains of one window, not enough for him to peek through, but it meant she was still awake.

'How should I approach this?' Demon slowly drifted his sight to the other houses that showed no signs of activity. Erden's memories relayed that the guards accompanying Avila entered these houses, but from experience, he knew that they surely were not asleep, simply watching from behind the curtains. Sneaking in wasn't an option. He considered a few absurd options, like digging in from below or flying in from above, each sounding increasingly ridiculous the longer they lingered in his mind. The only way was to walk in and knock on the front door.

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'It could work better for us if we work with them.' Erden advised.

'Her fiery words held no lie in her passion for finding her sister. The flames of familial bonds often burn the most comforting light.' Ignyres praised. 'Much like that Charlotte lady. However, she burned too much that it cost her an arm. I'm curious what you will decide.'

Boldly, Demon stepped out and walked across the cobblestone road, his, Erden's, and Ignyres' senses sweeping the area, noticing the faint shadows becoming more profound near the windows. In the silent night, his steps echoed clearly. Halfway across the street, he saw a few curtains turning, and when he reached the door, the shadows gathered at the corners, ready to pounce on him. Their calmness and lack of presence were noteworthy, able to hide from most but not him.

"Those of you in the shadows, I am not an enemy. But attack me, and you'll face the consequences." His words startled the silent watchers, and he felt their Ein from the chaotic undulations that emanated from their unsteady state. Quickly, they tensed up and readied to attack. "Just a few Knight Exalts…Your loyalty and willingness to die is idiotic. Pick your battles and win another day."

He raised a hand and knocked on the door. He could tell someone was behind it and sighed, "Don't ambush me from behind that door. I said I am not an enemy. You and I have a common quarry."

"Do we? I don't know you." A familiar voice came from a stranger who spoke out from the closed door. It was the one called Avila. She said coldly, "Who are you?"

"Avril. I know her." Demon stated. Avila gasped in utter shock at his words, confirming she was related. He had laid the hook, and now the moment came to reel it. "You wish to know where she is and how she is doing? I have the answers you seek, but whether or not you are trustworthy enough to meet her is another question you must answer. Let me in for a chat, or kill me or force him away and lose your chance to meet your sister."

"She has indigo hair and golden eyes. She looks quite like you, so I mistook you for her. To think you are the sister she had been looking for." If only he had a portrait of Avril to be more convincing, but Oscar never kept one of her for some reason. Erden kept all of Oscar's belongings, such as the wedding ring and Isaac's clothes, yet not a single portrait. "Now, do I have your attention?"

"Miss, we–" One of the shadow guards attempted to speak up.

"Quiet!" Avila's voice trembled, shutting the guard up. After a moment of silence, the door creaked open, and she stepped out, wearing the black veil to cover her face. She gestured for the shadow guards to retreat and welcomed him inside. Shutting the door once he entered, she sat across from him and took off her veil.

"Looks alike." Demon said, observing Avila's face. Her brown hair was tied into a neat bun as her hair neatly parted in the front, revealing her furrowed brow as two stretches of hair glanced near the outer corners of her eyebrows down her sides. The golden pair of eyes matched Avril's except for the slight dullness from presumably long years of weariness. "Though, she prefers to braid her hair and let her bangs cover her forehead." He behaved like Oscar at this moment.

"Since we were young, she liked having me braid her hair but was always insistent and keeping the bangs." Avila gave a saddened gaze that soon hardened as she reached over and clutched his robes by the neck. Her golden eyes glinted a silvery light, a strange power spilling forth. "Where is she?! Answer me!"

'Oh? This girl has a variant Prinstyct. She can see emotions. No wonder the others value her to search endlessly for Avril.' Ignyres praised. The Prinstyct observed the distorted world for intents of Ein, but variants also existed, rare but possible. Among them were eyes to see through the lies and truths and the eyes to see the emotions of others. Demon recalled that the lady of the Raeven household and sister of Margaret Ward held a similar power. Ignyres scoffed. 'Though, she can't see through you.'

"I can assume you see nothing from me even with those eyes of yours. But my words carry the truth. I won't disclose her location. For someone else's sake, I can't put her in danger of being involved with whoever you are working for." Demon pushed her away, back into her seat. To negotiate was to take control. "I can tell you what she is doing and how she fares, but you must tell me of yourself."

Avila went silent, clearly pondering for a few minutes. She nodded and said, "One question at a time. You ask, then I ask. Fair?"

"Fair. Then answer this. Who do you work for?" Demon asked, uninterested in her but concerned about the power behind her.

"We are the Defiants. Our goal is to overthrow the Primal Council."

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