The Exalt Cultivation Fantasy

Act 3: Empire's Stand - Chapter 543: All In A Moment

Right when Oscar rallied his army, the sky quaked with a thunderous roar, arcs of lightning illuminating the dark clouds that formed overhead, deafened only by the shouting behind him. From his friends directly behind him to the crew inside the airships, everyone let loose their Ein and joined their voices together in a powerful display. The dark clouds welcomed his army with a wash of rain. As the rain battered his shoulders and clicked erratically on his helmet, Oscar kept his gaze straight, peering through the heavy rain.

He was sure the enemy had come in full force, and indeed, they did. An army surpassing the amount brought out in previous days forced their way into the ocean of rain, their emerald banners flying arrogantly above the beloved lands of his home. Gripping his shield tightly, Oscar exhaled a cold wisp of white air, raising his fires to burn away the annoying rain, his clothes and helmet drying instantly. Since the enemy was so prideful, he decided to end their running amok and show them to be fearful.

"Come!" His flames burned brighter, revealing himself to the enemy. For the past few days, he held in the rage deep within, and now it was time to unleash it, to hold nothing back and devour anyone who got in his way. With a cursory glance, he saw the enemy flinch and stagger from his nearing presence. Before they could rally themselves back, Erden's frontal charge and dual spell of Golden Drill and Golden Maw broke past their front line and diverted a path into the hostile mass.

Erden blasted further into the enemy with a surge of flames from his antlers, and Oscar tore apart the weaker Knight Exalts in his way. Careful of any attacks on the flanks, his Black Aegis Order adopted a new formation, having a division split off like tendrils to disrupt any retaliation for the moment and return to join the main charge. He owed it to Alec to keep coming up with the ideas, letting him be unfettered by the happenings behind him and focus solely on the enemy ahead. After severing a foe's head from her body, Oscar halted and darted his eyes around the chaotic scene of rain, blood, and crazed battles, something being amiss.

A fog enveloped him, the same cursed power he fought several days ago. Once more, he found himself in an isolated illusion, a lofty world of only clouds plotting the skies above and below. Immediately, his Eliren Breaker opened in his pupils, but before he could scan the area, Krowe, the shielder, charged from the cover of the clouds, his golden shield opening its maw as the destroying winds expelled from the opening. The blast of wind roared and clashed with his and Erden's fused defenses. Spiking his Eirin to the fullest, Oscar entered the Guise, a state that stumped the shielder for a moment, his movements slowing for a tiny fraction of a second, but he lived up to his title of Wind and quickly gathered himself.

Krowe raised his huge shield and spun it to a blur, winds picking up and swirling around it in a horrific storm. He didn't dip back into the safety of the clouds and charged fearlessly at Oscar, and their gazes behind the dark visors met. Years of experience told him something was wrong. Everything looked to be a distraction, a moment of trickery for which Krowe was sacrificing himself, keeping Oscar's attention solely on him. Where was the swordsman, Alphos? The enemy had days to figure out some of his abilities and surely bet everything on this chance.

Again, before he could turn his attention elsewhere and while Erden clashed fiercely to keep Krowe's brutish rampage away from Oscar, he felt a dangerous presence emerge, somehow getting so close, around several feet away. His mind raced through several thoughts as the harrowing spear twisted like a snake around his shield and Golden Drill. The spear gleamed dangerously at the tip from the hot flames flickering around, the sharp end nearing his neck.

Time slowed, and a horrible taste of death tinged on his tongue. In the slow second before the spear with a rippling tornado lacing the blade touched his neck, he realized he had screwed up. The days of fighting got him used to the tactics and abilities of Krowe, Loges, and Alphos, but not Diamen, the Fifth Wind. If it were Alphos, even with this surprise attack, he would have been able to dodge or block in time, but not this one.

As the tearing winds started to brush against the shroud of his Guise and the skin of his neck, Oscar could tell Diamen had poured every bit of strength into this one strike. That was why it so easily pierced through his natural defenses. His heart thumped illogically faster against the slow second passing, images of his past flashing across his eyes. His mother held him lovingly in her arms as a baby, his father taught him how to ride Sherry, the horse, Uncle Carlson and Isabella ate with his family in a nice outing on the fields. His friends gathered around him and laughed together. Finally, Avril rested his head on her lap and hummed lightly, her indigo hair tickling his nose. Everything from the Pavilion to Ashen Grove to Shattirma to this war raced in his mind.

'No….' Oscar roared inwardly. 'I will…not die here!' Against the odds, he used every fiber of his being, poured out all the resolve, and moved his arm, the muscles tearing, veins bursting, and bones cracking. The skin twisted and tore apart from the harsh movement. In a fierce shout, he deflected the spear, a shallow cut on his neck bleeding profusely. The wound was deep but not deep enough to kill him. However, the more alarming injury was his arm or, rather, the lack of it. Sinews of muscles hung like threads, showering in the downpour of blood, resting below the exposed shoulder on which the skin was mangled as if a beast had gnawed on it. His arm was gone, from the hand to the base of the shoulder.

Not wasting a moment, he surged his Eirin and leaped off Erden, kicking his friend toward Krowe, not wanting any interference during this duel. Diamen widened his eyes and already flew back, picking up winds under his feet to fuel his speed. But Oscar was a step faster, sending out his Eirin onto a spot above Diamen. The Eirin focused and formed into a human figure until features settled on the face. It was another Oscar with both arms, but this copy had an indifferent expression and looked around as if it was sentient.

In the past few days, he worked hard to improve his Duality capabilities. He could already create the copy, but filling it with the necessary power needed work. Thanks to his efforts, the copy replicated around twenty percent of his power.

"I told you. It's unfavorable. You wretched idiot." The copy from his Duality spoke in Demon's voice, close to his own but devoid of all warmth and emotions. If Duality required parallel thinking to control both with one mind, he had the idea of putting Demon's mind into the copy to control it, giving his indifferent alter ego a body to roam around in. Inside the Duality body, Demon narrowed his dark eyes at Diamen and lifted his fist. A single Eirin Omnireus burst from his fist, the Duality body fading to a slight transparency.

"You did well to take advantage of a moment of confusion and to ambush me. But the same applies to you. A moment of opening is an Exalt needs to finish off the battle." Oscar dove in with Golden Drill.

Diamen turned and stabbed his spear around, the shockwave blowing him backward to Oscar. His eyes contained a hint of fear, and he struggled to rebalance himself, shaken by the encroaching Golden Drill. Ruthlessly, Oscar plunged his Golden Drill into Diamen's heart, shredding the organ into fleshy bits that burst out from his back. As blood splattered on his face from Diamen's bloody shouts, he said, "A moment is everything. I admire your daring plan, and it nearly killed me. But if I die, then everything will crumble. I cannot fall here. Not when everyone is waiting for me."

"M-monster. You must…die." Diamen muttered in his last breath, his body hanging like a hanged man from Oscar's Golden Drill. Oscar undid his spell and gripped the core, pulling it out in a spew of blood.

"I did warn you. But you never listen. Now you've lost an arm to who knows where it fell." Demon scolded, patting down his new body and observing his arms.

"Enough! Let's finish this battle." Oscar clenched his shoulder, stopping the flow of blood. He and Demon joined Erden's battle, much to Krowe's terrified cry. The shielder flailed around, defending from attacks on three sides. Oscar, Erden, and Demon let loose, bouncing the turtling Krowe around with precise and powerful blows until Erden stabbed his antlers into Krowe's back, expanding them to erupt like a bloody tree sprouting from a corpse.

The illusion trembled, and Oscar widened his smile, focusing his Eliren Breaker on the spot that finally revealed itself. A firm and steady mind was required for an illusionist since any disruptions would impact the illusion. The deaths of the two foremost Winds no doubt heavily impacted Loges's mental state, and he finally slipped up. The trio rushed toward Loges before the illusion could resolve itself, and he easily beheaded Loges, taking the core for Erden to consume along with the other two cores.

The illusion vanished, and Oscar raised the three heads of Diamen, Loges, and Krowe impaled on Erden's antlers. His friends paled at the sight of his missing arm, but the enemy went paler at the three heads, some even dropping their armaments without knowing. He shouted to everyone who witnessed him, "The three Winds are dead! Destroy the enemy! No mercy! No quarter!"

Oscar rushed back into the fray, slaying some more Exalts. His army erupted into thunderous cheers as they followed after him, killing off one dejected foe after the other. The soldiers of Emerald and Hyrda had no way to retaliate, no leaders to command them in the same way the Winds had. On this side of the battle, Oscar, with his one arm, led them into a resounding victory.