The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Oscar rubbed his head, feeling a strong throbbing pain hammering his skull. Breathing heavily, he was drenched in cold sweat and shivered, his fingertips paling and numbing as if frozen solid. Simply thinking of his good friend who remained behind in Ashen Grove rattled his nerves, his heart thumping against his ribcage as if ticking down the time until another panic attack struck him. It wasn't only Gol-4. It was all of them, everyone who left his life. He couldn't handle the wretched memories and gulped down several mouthfuls of the calming elixir.

The pounding of his heart started to go away, relieving his ears from its haunting drums. His mind mellowed out the thoughts and memories, blurring them in a state akin to being slightly drunk, yet he remained clear. Exhaling deeply, Oscar opened his eyes and watched the Champion, Uriah, fighting alone on the bridge. Gol-4's pinnacle mechanical warrior was no joke or baseless boast. Uriah's hammer thronged with crackles of yellow Ein that rumbled as if earthquakes were held inside it. Uriah didn't seem to care about the tiny accursed lashing on its thick armor, a simple stomp squashing them like insects.

A single swing made contact with an abomination towering over even Uriah's eleven-foot stature, black blood spurting from the cracks spreading along the pale flesh. The abomination imploded apart without a counter; the screams were choked out by the cracks that now burst along its neck. Uriah bolted past the falling chunks of the abomination and landed a punch of pulsing earthen seismic force. Shockwaves of Ein far surpassing the Sentinel's capabilities flew out and cleared the bridge of the enemy, who dripped down the edges in a river of black blood.

'Auren's improvements are incredible. If he and Isaac had been born in the same era….' Oscar praised the modifications Auren made to the original core formations. There wasn't much to tweak, but Auren improved the efficiency of Ein usage, a very minute increase in speed, power, reactions, and Ein, but an outstanding difference as seen by how Uriah decimated the accursed. It was brutal yet elegant. Amongst the blackened bridge, above the splotches of pale flesh and black goo sticking to the ground, Uriah stood firm, not a blemish nor stain on its golden form, and swung again, silencing the accursed's howls.

Except for the few Exalts on the walls and the subsequent rotations, the rest, including the beasts, rested. Some huddled around campfires, passing water and plates of roasted mutton to each other, even laughing at each other's wounds and sharing a nasty grass tea. Others watched Uriah commit a horrific slaughter of the accursed, staring blankly with still faces as if they had forgotten how to breathe. A rare peace descended on the outpost. Auren's improvements extended Uriah's lifetime to four hours from the meager one-hour limit Gol-4's original designs allowed, the reason for being called a failure by the old golem. It was a short four hours but a long relief during the final night.

"Was it a waste to use them now? Serit planned on using them for the fifth day." Avila strutted over and sat beside Avril, rubbing her little sister's head with a soft smile. Deep lines of worry creased her brow, presumably worried for Avril. Her brown hair fanned over the inner wall as she rested back and let out a heavy sigh. "Don't they need two days to recharge?"

"Right." The other reason for Gol-4 calling the Champions a failure was because of the long period they took to recover their Ein in specialized chambers. In the distance, Serit scribbled a few notes on separate parchments and hooked them on a few crows created by Ein, sending them off into the great night. Oscar turned to Avila, who stared at her husband with the same endearing gleam Avril would show him in those golden eyes. "We haven't talked as much as I had hoped."

"Whereas I barely wish for it. Talking with you is too exhausting." Avila said in a tired voice. Oscar still hadn't gained Avila's approval but didn't feel a need for it. All that mattered was she cared for Avril and protected her.

"Fair. But you remember what I asked of you?" Oscar asked.

"She won't leave. I tried a year ago, but she…just stubbornly refused. Might as well take responsibility and make sure not to die out there. For her sake." Avila sighed. "And my niece and nephew are just as stubborn."

"Runs in the family. Even if they're adopted, they still become stubborn Terrs." Oscar smiled faintly. He remembered his mother scolding his father for that, yet she was just as stubborn. Taking another swig of calming elixir, Oscar prevented the memories from being too painful before they could start. As Uriah continued his carnage, bashing down the accursed, Oscar couldn't help but ask, "Have you and Serit ever thought of a life after you get your revenge?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What sort of question is that?" Avila rubbed her eyes with a chuckle. "I don't know."

"Don't know?" Oscar was confused. "Did you never discuss it?"

"Never came up," Avila furrowed her brow, looking dumbfounded as if her own words confused her. "Huh…we never talked about it…."

"Hmm. The two of you might want to talk." Oscar returned his gaze to the Champion and narrowed his eyes at the slight flickering of the Ein on the hammer. The time of its Ein was ticking down. Holding Avril close, he could do nothing but sit patiently for the battle to start again, waiting for the seconds to turn into minutes and minutes into hours.

Four hours later, Uriah laid heavy steps in retreat, shoving back the clinging accursed. The stomps thudded and shook the ground, reverberating to Oscar, who opened his eyes, having fallen asleep for the past few hours. It jolted everyone in place, and all rose to their feet, armaments in hand, beasts baring their fangs, claws, and wings. Avril snapped awake and stood immediately, gripping her staff. The four hours of respite had ended. Everyone grunted and stomped once before filing into ranks.

Hector slammed the lever of the Gravitaram as Uriah made it behind the gate, chased by several accursed. The beam of Ein flared and engulfed the accursed while the others cleaned up the stragglers, tossing the bodies into the beam of Ein. Uriah returned at this time and knelt before Oscar, the Ein blinking in and out around its golden armor. Oscar flew up and left it behind for Hector, who had run off to collect the other Champions. Flying the beacon of Volten's sword, Oscar poured all of his restored Eirin into converting as many accursed as he could. Once he landed, he ran into Hector, who took Uriah into a space pocket.

"I'll be back!" Hector shouted and sprinted off to return the Champions to their chambers to rest and recharge for two days since they required special attention, unlike the Gravitarams. He turned his head and nodded in a hurry, "I'll be back!"

The war carried on for what seemed to be an eternity. Oscar noted the time once again and stood up.

"Serit! It's the sixth day!" Oscar shouted.

"Fall back!" Serit shouted. "Retreat to the inner wall!"

"Retreat!" Hector made a fierce yell. "Wheel out the Gravitarams! Pile the cannons!"

A pillar of Ein rushed up into the sky and fluctuated violently, spreading a dense surge of white Ein from the top downward. The empowered barrier reached down and closed off the gates, shaking and distorting from the countless accursed now gathering and battering it, yet holding firmly against the ravenous hordes. From the left to the right, the rest of the army and beasts rushed in, funneling through the sole entrance in the inner wall, several staying back to cover the retreat of the others. Oscar stayed at the front and waited for the last person to cross.

Walking back inside, he glanced at the accursed struggling through the torn gaps created by the abominations and turned to Hector by the inner wall gate. "Do it."

"Get ready!" Hector shouted to the top of his lungs and smashed a pillar into the ground with a swing of his hammer like digging a nail. The pillar fell and rang like a bell, light spreading in patterns and runes until it covered the entire outpost, the main lines flowing along the dugout roads. The barrier tightened and shrank, covering the region inside the inner walls. The writhing mass of climbing accursed dropped straight down, driven to the ground by the sudden force of gravity, a few abominations barely staying afloat a few inches from the ground by flapping their hefty mangled wings. They covered the walls, halfway of the ground before the inner walls, and continued to rush in.

However, the lines reached a point when they squeezed down to the thinness of threads and squirmed. Suddenly, they flooded and coated the entire region past the inner walls, not even a blade of grass remaining green under the glow of Ein. The air rushed in akin to great hurricanes, and cracks spread like spiderwebs all over the ground, light piercing upward. Dozens of explosions burst out, endless flames churning into a great inferno that engulfed the accursed.

Oscar climbed the inner wall and saw the hellish landscape. The entire region between the inner and outer walls had sunk deep. A lake of molten lava surrounded the walls like a moat, the accursed wailing and flailing their arms up as if clutching for something. The lava splashed onto the tall cliffs, the efforts of countless digging giving their last holdout a high vantage point against the accursed. Oscar raised his shield and turned to the army, meeting their gazes of steel and fire, ready to fight their lives out.

"Are we giving in now?" Oscar shouted.

"No!" Everyone raised their armaments in response.

"Then, let's end this right now. Fight so we can live!" Oscar led the charge down the last bridge and smashed an accursed, sinking his shield deep in its head. The final two days of this final night were said to be the worst. Then, he'd have to find out.

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