The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

The rebukes and rejections were forced away down into his heart as Oscar stared at the bowing Avila. From the moment they met, she was less than pleasant in her interactions with him, presumably from her overprotective nature for Avril. And he couldn't argue against the logic. If Renn or Gloria wished to be together with someone who'd bring a whole deal of trouble, he'd also be quite irritated. Right now, the sister-in-law who deterred him at every turn cast off her pride and begged. Facing that, he found no way to speak and remained silent for a few minutes, Avila never leaving her pleading position for the entire time.

The Primal Council had Lelith as its center, Gilbert's forces had Gilbert, the core forces of Shattirma had the Shattered Scion, and the beasts were a collective serving the Ancients, though divided. Someone had to step up and be the icon for the people here, the stragglers of the world that denied them or pushed them away. In the end, it fell to him again. He closed his eyes and came to a decision.

"Just for this year," Oscar tasted the bitterness in his mouth as sweat drenched underneath his clothes. Feeling the onset of another episode, he soothed it with a long swig of elixir. Avila rose and smiled brightly with a familiar golden gleam in her eyes, truly like Avril's, a reminder that they were sisters. Oscar wiped his lips and smirked, "I do have a few conditions."

"Name them." Avila twirled her brown hair.

"First, if there is any possibility we won't survive, I want you to take Avril, Renn, Gloria, and Auren and leave. That Maia will surely help, but I'll carve a path out for you all." Oscar thumped his chest in a show of confidence. "If anyone has the best chance of surviving by themself, it's me. Just take care of the others."

"I would have done that regardless." Avila rolled her eyes and laughed. "And the other conditions?"

"Stop interrupting me and Avril. Let me hold my wife in peace." Oscar lowered his voice. The earlier incident when Avila stopped him and Avril right at the height of the loving moment ticked him off. Just the memory of it flared his anger, but he held it back.

Avila's face crumpled as she clacked her teeth loudly. Her strained neck showed the veins pushing under the skin as she muttered incoherent bouts of curses and stomped her foot, squashing the grass and dirt. She pointed at him, face red, and said, "There is a time and place for everything. Here, in the last year of Fallen Heaven, how can you have such thoughts, you crass deviant?"

"Exactly. There is no knowing if life is certain. So, let me spend the year with her. I don't even know why I'm asking for your permission, but just stop barging in. Do that, and I won't bother you and Serit." Oscar said.

Avila jolted as if struck by lightning, her reactions also quite similar to Avril's. The red blush on her cheeks flushed deeper, reaching the tips of her ears, and she stammered out an agreement before stomping away. It was simple to notice that she and Serit had been privately meeting for intimacy, something he had let be until now. Oscar came here to do two things: never let his wife go and fight to protect his people, and he was forced to do beyond the second objective. With this, he hoped he could perform the first without interruptions, as he was already missing Avril.

'I should visit Hector.' Oscar turned around and headed toward the site where Hector led the efforts to build a series of furnaces and forges. The heat of the area instantly enveloped him, and a familiar stench of soot and flames of coals and ash was pleasing to smell. Hearing a series of curses, Oscar cleared his ears and sighed at the trademark ramblings of Hector, some parts never changing despite the near century that passed. A large section of the ground had been dug up, hollowing out an area twenty feet deep and thirty feet lengthwise.

Inside it, the short, beady-eyed Hector flailed his hammer in the air, his scruffy beard bobbing up and down. Beside him were two other fabricators, one from the Defiants and one from Haven Academy. Hector cursed and kicked over a pile of charred stones before he noticed Oscar staring from above. The other two bowed and proclaimed him as lord. Flaring his nostrils, the old man called out, "Are you here to gawk? Eh? Mister Lord!"

"How's the progress?" Oscar couldn't wait to craft new armaments for him, Demon, and Avril. An itching in his heart gnawed on his every thought, seemingly addicted to the thrill of forging new armaments. Seeing Hector act as usual also brought a smile to his lips. Indeed, some parts never changed. Not everyone regarded him as Lord, and that was relieving to know. Walking down the earthen steps carved into the sides, Oscar glanced over the black spots, presumably the failures.

"No good. I wanted to get it running today, but these damned idiots!" Hector raised his rough voice. "They slacked on the foundation, and the fires imploded. I swear if we weren't here, I'd bash your heads into your ribcages!" The two Marshal Exalts shuddered and clamped their mouths, behaving like children caught in trouble. Hector spat on the ground and waltzed over, hammer on his shoulder. "I'd rather be sleeping on that boulder than spend another minute with these ingrates. Come back tomorrow, boy. I'll have the furnaces and workshops up and running by then."

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"If there is a tomorrow, I'll see you then." Oscar bowed his head.

"Aye, then you do your job, and I do mine." Hector nodded with a satisfied grunt, then yelled at the poor two souls stuck down here, dragging them off for more work.

Oscar climbed the stairs back to the surface and wandered the ruins. The sounds of hammers and the pounding of stones struck hard in the air. The development of the walls was well underway as people lifted stones and mortar, raising the heights by the minute. Though stone and rock lasted little against the might of powerful Exalts and accursed, the layout was important to Auren's formations. Thus, the walls had their purposes. Many noticed him and stopped their work, bowing and muttering his name. Their praises unnerved him.

Searching for peace, he found it outside the ruins, meditating on the soft grass. His core, after fifty years of training, had been filled to the brim, only awaiting the opportunity to advance into the King Exalt realm. Summoning his deer anima, he watched the creature of his soul strut around and roll in the green fields, scattering the blades in the air. The only other improvement he could make was his anima powers, skill stuck in the Meld stage. In a single inhale, he called his anima, and it sprinted full force, turning into a wisp of Ein that entered his body. Instead of pulling it back inside the inner world, Oscar strained and struggled, attempting to integrate with his anima.

"Damn!" Oscar said in a strained voice, his veins writhing along the tense muscles. A powerful repulsion prevented his anima from merging with his body and flung the poor deer out. Coughing out blood, Oscar suffered the backlash of failure and sighed, calling back his anima. Countless records reported the anima would be housed in the body and integrated into every iota of his being. It stumped him that the Integration was so difficult.

"Another failure. Well, you were never good at anima development. Remember, it took creating a Blood Transmutation with me to perform the Meld." Erden, in his human, juggled a fruit in his hand before munching on it, the ripeness heard in every crunch. Avril had brought a whole stash of them from the forest land.

"A normal failure I can handle, but this…is different." Oscar couldn't quell the suspicion he had. It seemed his body fully rejected the anima as if they were completely incompatible, which was against the norm. In other cases of failures, a person simply wasn't well-versed in combining the two, but some overlaps should have occurred. For him, he felt no overlap, no slight merging on the fringes, only total rejection.

"Dad!" A cheerful call burst across the winds. Gloria hugged him from behind, nearly choking his neck with lively laughter. "Mom is too busy, so we came here." Beside her, Renn grunted and pulled Gloria off Oscar, hanging her up in his arms like a flopping fish.

Seeing the pair, Oscar grinned and arrived at a good idea. He rose and clasped Renn's shoulder. "It's been a while, but why don't we spar? I'll lower my level to a Lower Marshal Exalt and take the both of you on."

Renn seemed taken aback, and then a wide smile stretched upward. His son let Gloria down and unsheathed his sword, gazing with great fervor toward battle. Gloria leaped back, securing a good distance away from Oscar, and brandished her staff, light glowing from its bejeweled end. Oscar bashed his knuckles together and waved Erden to retreat, taking up a stance and waiting for their move.

…….

The sound of panting and gasps filled the air as Oscar brushed off the dust from his white robes. On the messy blend of overturned grass and dirt were Renn and Gloria, heavy sweat glistening on their pale faces. Their chests heaved up and down as they struggled to breathe evenly, sometimes sputtering for more air. Oscar drank his elixir and smacked his legs, the trembling subsiding for now. He gave his two children another glance over and smiled in approval of their combination.

With the Reis, Renn's swordsmanship seemed frontal and destructive at first but was quite wily and cunning, utilizing the dark element to strike like an assassin. Oscar nearly got hit a few times if not for his Prinstyct outpredicting Renn's movements. Gloria struggled and plopped down, resting her head on Renn's stomach, forcing a pained groan from her brother. Oscar remembered an old memory of the two children sleeping together when they were mere toddlers in almost the same position.

Gloria's powers of boosting and healing worked well in tandem with Renn, her timing impeccable in diverting Oscar's attacks and amplifying Renn's at the right moments. The bigger trouble was the seduction spell. When Gloria used it on him, she specifically tailored it to show her younger self running down the halls, begging for a hug. It almost worked. Oscar winced but couldn't deny that Maia taught them well. She had instilled good fighting skills and intelligence, completing it with good cooperation.

"Not bad. But Renn, don't overuse the Reis, or you'll die. Adam's words were right. Your limit is one minute. Gloria, divert your attention. You spend so much time focusing on Renn and myself that you neglect to move smartly and cast for yourself." Oscar said.

"Yes…." Renn and Gloria meekly answered.

"Hmm?" Oscar snapped his head to the side. A few figures wandered on the plains, their path straight and direct, heading toward his location, or more accurately, the ruins behind him. Sending Renn and Gloria away to inform Serit, Oscar snapped his fingers, and Erden grunted, transforming into his beastly form. If they came bearing malice, then he'd show them the error of their ways. His Ein surged upward, acting as a beacon and a warning, threatening the newcomers. They halted and staggered, but their figures drew closer every second.

"Who are you?" Oscar shouted.

"Please, we don't come for ill intentions. We wish to join you." One of the strangers pleaded.

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