The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Oscar retrieved his buckler from his back while Mary brandished her spear. The two were prepared for battle and released their Ein with hostile intent, ready for Edward and Adam's retaliation. Oscar stared at the two men and said, "Do you want to fight? I'd rather we don't, but if you're insistent, we'll accompany you."

Edward Calpto raised both his hands. He looked easygoing with a friendly face, sporting short blond hair and green eyes. Everything about him seemed relaxed as if nothing bothered him that much; even his shoulders hung down rather than posture for an attack. "I don't want to fight either. I came here with a proposition."

"A proposition?" Oscar didn't relax his stance but grew interested in Edward's words. Right now, he could only assume Edward was behaving this way due to his ranking on the leaderboard. However, if Edward were to learn about his Grade Four, then Oscar knew Edward wouldn't pass up the opportunity to fight the easy difference in grade.

He could win with the Prinstyct, Reis, and Awaken, but the question was how much damage he would take from the battle. Oscar inferred Edward to be someone with Grade Seven Exolsia due to his placement and the difference between him and fourth place. What sort of Anima did he possess, and what kind of spells did he use?

In this place where they didn't need to fight to pass, Oscar didn't want to take the unnecessary risk of failing because he or Mary might become too injured to continue. So Edward's words were what he wanted.

"Fine, but two things. You will not take a step closer, and we will not disclose our animas and spells." Oscar saw they were a single sprint away, but that was enough for Oscar to react if they did.

Edward stopped and turned to Adam Erio. Adam had a strong, tense face with a pair of sharp black eyes and reddish-brown hair; he stopped and sighed with his arms crossed.

"We agree. Of course, it's common sense not to reveal our cards to each other." Edward looked understanding, and he kept his hands up not to rile Oscar and Mary. "The proposition I'm talking about is related to the rewards the Pavilion will hand out at the end."

Oscar remembered the talk about rewards before coming here. The rewards were meant to be given to those who passed the Inner Hall Exam after the trial. But the caveat was the number of rewards was exact to the current number of people and any pair that couldn't get the items in time had to forfeit and give up their rewards to be split to the winners.

If Edward's proposition was about that, then Oscar could only think of one plan that fit the bill. He didn't let it show on his face, but his heart grew cold, and his mind thought about how to avert the plan.

"I'm suggesting we team up," Edward said what Oscar thought he would. "If we team up, we can do away with the team with Serena Fulgir and Lucy Maine. They can easily fly away with the Azure Feather if it were just Adam and me, but with both our teams, we can chase them down to the ground and take away their items. There's no way they can do anything to get their items back in time. They'll fail, and we split the profits."

"So we pincer them and eliminate them." Oscar made himself sound interested in this deal.

Edward hummed a little. "I also noticed that Serena Fulgir seems to bother the two of you. Mary Jones appears to have a less than friendly relationship; while you seem to be her target, no doubt she was trying to get something over the one in First Place."

"You seem to understand her well." Mary Jones narrowed her eyes.

"I'm from a noble family, but we also run many shops as merchants. We've competed on numerous occasions, and I've lost to her. I understand her very well, and I can tell you that she's incredibly stubborn and wily." Edward scrunched his face, recalling the past times Serena got one over him when running trades and transactions. The image of her arrogant face as she emerged as the top seller made him frustrated every time. With that, the idea that she would be in love with Oscar rather than trying to take some advantage was some hogwash.

'She doesn't have a good reputation regarding her rivals. For someone to be this angry with her must mean she's outdone them many times.' Oscar could see the small hints of anger in Edward's slightly rushed breathing. 'She must be one hell of a merchant. Though she's completely unhinged.'

"So we're meant to settle a personal grudge for you?" Mary asked and turned to Oscar for his decision.

"I won't lie in saying some of it is personal," Edward admitted. "But it doesn't change the fact that the two of you stand to gain something from working with me."

Adam looked tired and said, "I still think you're rushing into this. Why not just safely enter the Inner Hall, so we're in a better position? You can settle your grudge later."

Edward tsked. "The idea of a better reward doesn't entice you? Without any greed, you won't get far. But don't worry, we'll be fine with these two fine people joining us. So, what do you, Oscar Terr?"

Oscar put away his buckler. "We agree. But we take the Frost Orb they have."

In a hypothetical situation where the items need to be divided, Oscar preferred to have an extra Frost Orb so that they could scale the mountain safely. There was no telling how intense the cold would be as they went up.

Edward did not hesitate and answered, "You can take the Frost Orb. We'll take the Azure Feather from them."

"Then let us depart for the other team. Do you already know where Serena and Lucy are or are you still searching for them?" Oscar asked.

"I wouldn't be much of a negotiator if I didn't have all the information in place. The hardest was looking for you until Adam mentioned you could have been hiding away from the mountain." Edward shrugged his shoulders. "Serena's team is in a small cave on the other side. They're hidden well, but I found them. They're going to wait until the time comes to climb."

Oscar narrowed his eyes. "Then when do you think we should strike?"

"If we leave now, we'll get there before nightfall. Then we only have to wait moments until they leave their cave." Edward answered.

"Alright. Let's set out." Oscar tugged on Mary to move.

Edward, Adam, Oscar, and Mary moved together but not too close in case of a betrayal. Their pairs were a small distance away but enough to feel secure. Edward and Adam were silent while Oscar whispered to Mary.

"Don't forget what I said earlier." Oscar didn't elaborate on his words because he didn't know whether Edward or Adam could have the means to hear him.

Mary looked stuck in thought, thinking about what Oscar said. Then she lifted her eyes in realization, remembering what Oscar said about dealing with other teams. Was Oscar's plan to hightail out of there before they fought?

They wandered around the mountain until Edward stopped and signaled for them to wait. He came up to Oscar with Adam. "That spot over there is their cave. They tried to hide it well, but you can see little wisps of fire smoke mixed in with the snowfall."

"Now we wait. We will ambush them together and get rid of an annoying rival." Edward had a curt smile, sure of his victory. Adam remained silent next to him.

Only a short amount of time passed as the two suns almost set on the horizon. A burst of snow collapsed to reveal a cave, and out walked Serena and Lucy. Serena, covered in black fur hide, hummed as she put her wing hairpin on her hair.

Serena and Lucy walked away from the cave entrance and did not notice anything unusual. They chatted happily together. Serena had her Ein shroud up while Lucy did not.

Edward stood slightly and nodded at Oscar. They unleashed their Eins and burst out toward Serena while Mary and Adam ran toward Lucy. The explosion of power shocked Serena and Lucy, but they reacted in time and unleashed their power.

Lucy summoned her eagle anima while Serena summoned her axe anima.

Oscar summoned his deer anima while Mary summoned her large bear anima.

Adam summoned his mace anima, a cylindrical blunt weapon, while Edward summoned his lion anima.

Oscar looked at Serena and signaled her with his eyes. He couldn't tell whether she understood because her poker face was good. Right as they were about to clash, Oscar turned and swung his buckler at Edward.

They both looked shocked at each other. Oscar didn't understand why Edward would turn on him when he hated Serena because that part didn't seem like a lie. But Edward was also shocked that Oscar would turn on him with the information he gathered.

Edward shouted, "Serena! Now!"

Oscar was confused as Edward dodged his buckler and deer antler strike.

Even more confused was Edward, who felt a rope of water wrapped around his waist and pull him.

Serena cut into Edward with her crisscross of 'Tidal Edges'. Her axes cleaved into him and spewed out blood as she smiled cheerfully. "You idiot. Though, I do have to thank you for showing me that Oscar wouldn't betray me."

Oscar was dazed at this scene. "A double cross?"