The Exalt Cultivation Fantasy

Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 329: Inner Sanctum

Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 329: Inner Sanctum

Demon dropped to his knees. The frozen wounds inflicted on him by Regis had finally sapped the remainder of his strength, especially the large wound across his chest. Drinking a healing elixir, Demon made sure to keep as much of his face hidden, lifting his helmet to expose his lips.

Healing Ein from the elixir did its job and patched up Demon's wounds. However, the deeper wounds, such as the one across his chest, remained as scars. He would need a grade four healing elixir like the one Elder Saul gave him a long time ago.

"PLAYER ONE HAS REACHED THE EXIT! HE IS THE WINNER. ALL OTHER SURVIVORS WILL BE TELEPORTED OUT."

Red dots, representing the other players, began to disappear from the map on the status. Demon relaxed on the stage as a wellspring of Ein burst from the exit platform. Instead of teleporting him, the Ein teleported in a small green token with a tree engraved.

"CONGRATULATIONS TO PLAYER ONE FOR RECEIVING THE SANCTUM TOKEN! YOU CAN TAKE AS MUCH AS YOU NEED TO REST BEFORE TAKING IN THE TOKEN!"

Having the chance to rest, Demon got out of his fabricator uniform, applying salves and bandages to the healed wounds just in case. Bloodstains covered his body which he cleaned with a towel. After thoroughly cleaning, Demon wore the Pavilion's uniform, adjusting his tied-up hair to Oscar's normal appearance.

"I should allow the body to sleep. Oscar should be waking up much later." Demon predicted Oscar would wake up on the fourth day, leaving him ample time to heal and rest. He laid back and closed his eyes, returning to the inner world. Oscar's sleeping astral body was still idle near the core. Fabian's multiple elixirs had done their work well.

"Well then. We wait." Demon sat next to the deer anima.

…….

Oscar felt his throat was dry and swallowed what little moisture remained. He struggled to open his eyes; a hot red light irritated them, forcing them closed. Soothing heat relaxed his body, lulling him back to sleep. Oscar didn't know what was going on.

"Where…am I?" Oscar heard his raspy voice, unable to think clearly. The haze over his mind slowly cleared up, and he finally opened his eyes wide to see an unfamiliar ceiling. Then, he remembered what had happened. Fabian ambushed him and put him to sleep with some powerful elixirs, and he desperately asked Demon to take over.

"Demon…what did you do?" Oscar's voice was strained. He sat up, seeing the vast ocean of magma and arrays of square platforms. Feeling a sharp pain in his chest, Oscar noticed the many bandages wrapped on his body, shocked at the extent of the wounds.

"Guh!" Memories flooded his mind, starting when Demon first awoke. Oscar clenched his head with both hands, gritting his teeth. Demon killed Fabian and ended up in a strange board game. As the memories continued, Oscar saw the many things Demon had done.

"YOU BASTARD!" Oscar shouted, clenching his bleeding fists before slamming them on the square platform. He had never felt so angry in his life. How could Demon do such a horrible thing?

He closed his eyes, barely able to enter his inner world due to how frustrated he was. Oscar charged straight for Demon's seated figure, eyes closed in indifference. Demon's undisturbed appearance infuriated Oscar more. He clenched Demon's neck and held him, wanting to crush his neck.

"How dare you?!" Oscar's enraged shout echoed endlessly, looping back and forth. He dug his astral nails into Demon's neck. "There are lines you shouldn't cross. He was one of us, you bastard. Get out of my body! I refuse to share a single moment more with you."

"I expected this…." Demon sounded as calm as ever. His lack of resistance compared to before was alarming. Demon's cold, dark eyes glanced down at Oscar. "In the end, you want to cling to your methods and ways while I have to pick up the slack. Go ahead and try to kill me. It's impossible."

Oscar didn't hesitate. With both hands, Oscar choked Demon, squeezing tighter with each passing moment. But Demon was unharmed, still staring at him. "Why are you not resisting? Before, you fought back and forced me away. I can't understand you."

"Can't or won't? You've seen my memories. We share our thoughts. Everything I do is for you because you are me, and I am you." Demon said.

Oscar punched Demon, swinging his wayward double onto the dark floor. Then he kicked Demon back up to his feet. "Killing an ally is something I can never understand. You've gone too far. First, Serena, and now this."

"How moronic….I said this already. If you don't want me to come out to clean up your mistakes, get stronger." Demon lowered his head to meet Oscar at eye level. "Who's the one who messed up against Fabian? The moment he showed his pettiness and dangerous pride, you should have killed him to ensure he couldn't harm you in the future."

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Oscar gripped Demon's collar and punched him with his right fist. One, two, three. Demon's head was knocked around several times, yet he still spoke.

"His attack shook you for a moment. Your mind became distracted by how someone could behave in such a manner. If you had focused on killing him right after with your Ein at the ready, you wouldn't have succumbed to the elixirs. I had to kill him for you."

How many times had Oscar rammed his fist into Demon's face? Demon's calm and indifferent words, containing not a hint of agitation, unnerved Oscar. What the hell was Demon?

"Yes. I killed that ally of ours. But would you have let him kill you? No. Perhaps you would have looked for an alternative, a different way, but the game never allowed it, as seen with the woman. In the end, your choice would be the same as mine. The difference is I could care less about some random stranger."

"Don't twist the facts. You knew who he was before you targeted him. You purposely targeted him when you could have targeted anyone else.!" Oscar shouted, holding his punch back.

"He was the closest, and his overlay card won us the game. But you are right. I did target him, knowing he was one of us." Demon responded.

Volcanic anger rushed into Oscar's head. His fist cracked against Demon's nose. Oscar breathed heavily, even in his astral form. Demon's turned head snapped forward, returning to face Oscar.

"Rather than blaming me, you should feel lucky it wasn't anyone we actually knew. If someone like Frederick were participating, I would have avoided him for your sake. But if it were inevitable, I would kill Frederick for us to move on." Demon's eyes widened, and a chilling abyss lay within them.

"I'd rather die than let you do that." Oscar let go of Demon, disgusted at his words. "I'll never let you take control ever again."

"Then, you are an idiot." Demon cracked his neck. "I hope for your sanity that there never comes a time when you need to kill one of your friends. Or you can be you and leave all the hard decisions to me. Anything else that hinders us is a rope to be cut off. You can hate me all you want afterward. Know this. I fight for you to ensure your survival."

Demon's words had always been blatantly frank and true to himself. However, for the first time, Oscar felt Demon had said something with a flicker of emotion, a steeled determination. Oscar was taken aback and went silent. Demon went up and clasped Oscar's shoulder.

"But if you truly never want me to show myself, get stronger and more alert. I'm fine with staying in this inner world forever without surfacing. That means you're still alive on the outside."

Oscar exited his inner world. His stomach churned, and his hands went pale. A sense of nausea swept over his body, and he went to the edge and vomited into the magma. Groaning from the tightness in his chest, Oscar lay down on the cold platform. The foul taste lingered in his mouth.

The figure of the one Demon killed stayed in his thoughts. Thinking about how Demon cruelly crushed his ally's head, Oscar vomited again, repeating the process until he fell asleep. His sleep was the respite he wished for. The gruesome scene continued to haunt him as a nightmare.

Many hours later, Oscar woke up in a cold sweat, seeing the hot magma below. He had fallen asleep with his head hunched over the edge. Wiping the drool from his mouth, Oscar flinched and stumbled back, staring at his hand in horror. He knew he, rather Demon, cleaned them before. So why was there blood all over them?

He blinked once to regain composure. Now the hands were clean, not a speck of blood on them. Closing his eyes again, he saw the helpless victim begging and crying for his life. "I'm sorry. It's my fault."

Oscar went before the green token, still floating and glowing in mid-air. When he reached his hand out to grab it, Oscar saw blood all over it. Shaking his head and gathering his senses, the blood disappeared. His hand gripped the green token tightly.

The oceans of magma and pillars of soot and rocks started to distort. They spiraled infinitely in hypnotic circles of bright colors. Oscar witnessed his own body joining the circus of distortion, and everything went black.

Then a flicker of light shone in the darkness. It grew larger as Oscar floated toward it. A strong force was pulling him, drawing him into its radiance. Oscar became enveloped by the light, and as it cleared, he found himself in a white-crystal room with stained glass windows depicting mountains and caverns.

"Gol-4," Oscar took out Gol-4 from his space pocket.

"You rude brat! Who do you think you–oh, it's you, lad! What happened earlier? How did you change so suddenly?" Gol-4 was angered, no doubt, by Demon's actions.

"Sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen. We can talk later. For now, where are we? I should be somewhere in the inner sanctum." Oscar wanted to forget Demon for the moment. He hoped to find a solution from his master or Elder Saul.

"Hmm, alright then. Let's see…." Gol-4 dropped his questions and started to peer around the room. "Ah, this must be one of the meditation rooms. These are great locations for one to train. I imagine your Pavilion has rooms like this reserved for their elders and favored students. Look at the artistry of the windows. Truly a marvel to behold."

"A meditation room…." Oscar took out the drawn map of the inner sanctum. According to the map, a series of meditation rooms were scattered all over the edges of the sanctum. "I can't exactly pinpoint it here…."

"We're on the fifth day, lad. I recommend training for as long as possible in this room until the end. The battle for the divine essence is not something you should include yourself in." Gol-4 wanted Oscar to steer away from trouble.

"Didn't you want to find another stone slab for you to gain knowledge?" Oscar put away the map and stood up. "Besides, everyone has a part to play. I may not be able to fight directly in the battle, but I can still help out."

Oscar latched Gol-4 onto his belt and stepped out of the meditation room. The inner sanctum was truly a wondrous place. Crystal trees lined the hallways as large arches led to many paths. A river of lava steamed and hissed along the edges of the halls.

Gazing to his right, Oscar exhaled in exasperation, wishing he had stayed in the room for a little longer.

A woman stared back at him with a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'how are you here?' Her scarlet hair lazily rested down her back, and her deep, ruby eyes shone with power. It was Isabella.