The Exalt Cultivation Fantasy

Act 4: Fallen Heaven - Chapter 742: The New Form, An Unlikely Ally

The faint breeze under the dancing stars eased Oscar as he glanced around. Rather than the gaudy halls and the desolate pit, he preferred the freedom outside and admired the great view of the blue horizon meeting the descending night. Avril and the others were alright and uninjured; it was relieving to see. Jokingly, he wondered what would happen if he escaped right now with Avril and the others. But no, he had a job to finish, a last request he could not deny, and strode forward, eyeing the Caerulumen twins staggering to their feet.

He hadn't expected his strength to have become this powerful. A mere flick of his hands had blown them away without any resistance. Touching the antlers on his head, Oscar traced his finger along the smooth, black metal, identifying it as the primordial metal of legends, and held the blazing fire soothing to the touch and filling him with warmth. He sensed Erden's presence inside him, still wide awake and alert in the back of his mind alongside Demon. Receiving the Ancients' powers did more than elevate his own strength; it somehow completed his Integration.

Few people had ever achieved Blood Transmutation with a beast, and only one in the past possessed the perfect Reis body. And only he had both in all of history. For years, he trained and pondered his integration. The Anima was more than willing to try to integrate into him, but he fell short of success every time. The frustrating mystery's solution eluded him, and he only just found the answer on his way here. The Blood Transmutation simplified the Meld for his Anima to fuse with Erden but shared the properties of the Prielapos into his perfect Reis body, creating a mismatch between him and his Anima.

He realized it after the Ancients vanished and left him and Erden their powers. The answer was simple and out of the ordinary, just like everything in his long life. With the Ancients' powers, they had evolved, Erden becoming one with flame and he with metal yet holding to their mortal forms. Once he melded his Anima into Erden, he felt a strange and strong tug that lulled him closer, and Erden, driven by instinct, charged and became a pure flame, entering his chest. His friend in the Meld, now transformed into the avatar of an Ancient, had become the matching Anima required for his Integration, resulting in his current form.

Oscar didn't like the white hair that came from Erden. At least his eyes still shone a lustrous black, the ones that Avril complimented the most. He tried to retrieve his shield from the dimensional cube, but the armament refused and almost seemed to plead, shaking violently in his grip. One swing might undo its existence. Feeling pity, Oscar let it go and focused his attention on assessing the situation, drifting his sight past Lysander and the Grade Nine Caerulumen and settling on the shimmering azure barrier holding several more undergoing a strange ritual.

The Caerulumen twins pulled themselves off the barrier, landing with a loud thud and cracking their backs, and walked up to him, silent and steady in their strides, showing no signs of fear or cowardice despite his earlier show of force. From outside came no sounds as everyone became silent like an audience waiting with bated breath for the climax of a duel. One pounded his pair of gauntlets in a thunderous clang, followed by the sound of the knuckles grinding and spewing sparks. The other was a master, swinging his chain and sickle to the point not even the wind made a sound.

'They already had grade-five armaments crafted beforehand.' Oscar was annoyed that Metures didn't allow him the same grace to bring in a grade-five armament but saw no use in complaining now, not after all they had done. The chaotic Ein and rumblings of Lysander's battle raged on above. Oscar raised his finger and scratched his bare chin, having shaved it off due to his renewed youthful appearance. The enemy was certainly strong and deadlier than anyone other than the Grade Nines. Ancestral Marks shone fiercely on their foreheads. Yet, strangely, Oscar felt no fear as if the slashing sickle and clenched gauntlet approaching carried no threat.

The gauntlet Caerulumen used his Integration, his joints becoming orbs of wind and storm, allowing his limbs to bend unnaturally. The sickle Caerulumen transformed into a strange hooded figure, chains dandling like a veil to cover his face. The sickle slashed his neck, letting out jets of high-pressure water that could slice through metal. A fierce gust comparable to the might of a hurricane imploded on his chest where the gauntlet struck and pressed on his ribcage, exerting enough force to eviscerate a person's innards. Their combined efforts failed to make him feel pain. Oscar glanced at the sickle resting by his neck and at the gauntlet stuck on the skin of his chest.

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"A! Faltering here is stupid! Keep striking!" The other, named V, flicked his wrist, the sickle by Oscar whipping around and choking his neck. He opened his hood, revealing a head comprised of chains. His figure unraveled and swept forward in long, winding motions as if he were a den of snakes, the links rattling and dripping water. The chains of V coiled around Oscar, encasing him in an armor of chains, a prison shaped for a human. Each droplet that streaked down his skin from the chains held a sharpness akin to the spikes of an iron maiden, the closest thing he could describe this to be. There was no doubt that this man, V, had a nasty personality to have such an Integration.

The other, A, spun his arms in unnatural angles, spinning once, then twice, a third until it blurred, violent winds swirling by the intensifying rotational forces of his fists. It was as if his arms had become drills. The howling of the tumultuous wings was accompanied by A's roar. The Caerulumen punched, unleashing the storm, and by doing so, pressed the chain on Oscar's body, sending out a slicing jet of water. A barrage of blows engulfed Oscar, water and wind battering his water, exploding and slicing everywhere.

"Vanis! Asir! Get out of there!" A Caerulumen shouted from inside the barrier, his glasses dropping, but he didn't seem to notice. At least he had the courtesy to shout their names. Though, his warning came too late.

A painful wail came from the chains that writhed and struggled to maintain their hold on him. Scorch marks adorned every link, and smoke and vapors fumed off the charred steel. Oscar spread his arms, breaking free, and grasped a handful of chains that wriggled in his grip. His Integration neither granted him armor nor a flaming form but kept to the core values of the Prielapos, containing the Ein and power as a supplement to the body. Attacks either melted before reaching him or failed to pierce his steely skin.

"No mercy," Oscar declared, driving a fist forward at the bundle of chains. Black metal clad his fist, and rainbow flames blazed on its surface in perfect fusion. A single Shattering Wave ground many of the chains into fine dust and continued forth in a direct path of destruction, striking the barrier that heaved and bent but managed to deflect his blow. The Caerulumen, whom he now knew as Vanis, appeared out of the dust, nearly every bone broken and twisted in unsettling ways as blood coated his broken skin.

Not sparing him another glance, Oscar turned to the other Caerulumen, Asir, and grabbed one forearm, pulling it off with ease. Asir screamed and stretched out his maimed arm, the wind orb sticking out on the end, and somehow recalled the severed forearm back, reattaching it. Oscar sighed and raised his arm, mimicking the point and edge of a sword. Slash after slash, he severed the limbs at the joints, attacking the wind orbs that kept them together. Asir struggled and tried to retreat, but Oscar grabbed his head and aimed for the one place he surely couldn't restore, slicing his neck that hadn't been transformed into a wind orb.

The Caerulumen shivered with a bloodshot glare and looked down at the rest of his body. He opened his mouth to speak, and Oscar denied him, ramming a fist to squash his head into a pulp. Shaking off the blood and brain matter, he saw the rest of Asir's body lose its Integration, and blood gushed out of the severed limbs, lacking the wind orbs and their strange ability. He found it almost comical that the prided Grade Eight with Ancestral Marks, comparable to the Divine Enforcers like Cel, were like weak children before him. Perhaps, now, only a Grade Nine might pose an adequate challenge.

Above, the other two stopped their battle and gazed at him as he walked ahead, reaching the barrier. His fist distorted the barrier yet could not pierce through. What a tricky barrier, and judging from the rising Ein in the center, he had no time to call in Auren to decode and break it.

'Excuse me, scary man. What is that certain familiar feeling? Do you have Aunt Evelyn's necklace?' A sonorous voice mixed with a hint of joy and mischief echoed in his mind. 'Ah, just think of my voice and reply. I can hear it.'

'I am the heir of Issac, who was the husband of Evelyn.' Oscar didn't stop attacking the barrier while talking, bashing fist after fist onto it.

'I thought so! Phew! I was worried that this world might not have a defender. Then…is Uncle Issac….' Worry laden in her tone.

'He's dead.' Oscar replied.

'...I see. That's unfortunate. Aunt Evelyn held onto the hope that she might still see him.' The woman lowered her voice, sniffling. 'Ah! I'm Charisse. Nice to meet you, ol'Defender of Talos. Now, let's undo this barrier. I can't do it myself, but if you use Aunt Evelyn's necklace, it can work.'

'Why should I trust you?' Oscar asked.

'Because I want them to lose.'