"A pity, you say? I must admit, you're completely different from before. I won't bother asking how your core has changed or how you came to your sudden growth spurt. Rather than prattle on, let's fight for old time's sake." Orden's voice trembled, not from fear. Oscar could see the blatant glee glowing from his eyes.
It was as if he had returned to back then. Facing down his once-bitter adversary, Oscar was reminded of their first meeting long ago, back in the swamps of Ashen Grove. As ...
2023-09-11 03:44:17 +0000 UTC
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As usual in his dreams, Oscar wandered down the fields of grains, the golden heads swaying about from the breeze and glittering like a treasure trove under the two suns. But a dark wind breezed over, and all the shimmering heads of grain bowed before it, their very bodies visibly withering into dried husks. The path underneath him aged, unpaved with unevenly growing weeds, persistent and cracking into the few cobblestones.
Over the hill, the decay spread to the small house, his old home...
2023-09-09 22:21:19 +0000 UTC
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Regis's status opened without his doing.
Name: Regis Folk
Race: Human
Class: The One
Strength: 10
Vitality: 20
Agility: 12
Endurance: 12
Spirit: 500
Skills: [EX - Devour] [EX - The One's Gift]
Traits: [S - Elemental Affinity]
The same voice echoed in the select...
2023-09-09 16:25:22 +0000 UTC
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As the morning unfolded, a wild and icy wind howled, echoing between the mountain slopes, and descended onto Oscar and his team, their Ein shrouds burning like flames to combat the increasingly heavy snowfall it brought. Oscar checked his watch and grumbled. It had been several hours since he set out from Frostveil City and only just arrived at the foot of the mountains. He eyed the mountains from the bottom to the ominous clouds obscuring the peaks, a thick blanket of snow enveloping the mou...
2023-09-08 17:59:00 +0000 UTC
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Oscar trailed a path through the blanket of snow on the terrace, a great tower from where the once brightly-lit and grand busy city was covered in snow, the great roaring fires and countless lanterns all waned away throughout the night. The simple crunches of his feet ignited small flames, melting away the chill that tried to worm its way through the soles of his shoes. As the snow around him melted, Oscar picked up a bundle and rubbed the snowflakes around his palm. The same unnatural feelin...
2023-09-07 04:16:37 +0000 UTC
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The bright smile on her beautiful face and the overflowing tears from her upturned emerald eyes were a sight to behold, her fine features further emphasized by the glow of the multiple braziers around the room. Oscar's mind abruptly went rigid from facing her directly; his heart, which had long since forgotten the youthful love he once bore for Celestina, stirred at the sobbing princess. He quickly quelled the lingering emotions, repeating Avril's name like a mantra. Nervous sweat broke out f...
2023-09-06 04:02:36 +0000 UTC
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Several braziers burned brightly, the faint crackles from the coals releasing a flurry of embers into the air like pollen from a blooming flower. Outside, a fierce, snowy gale howled, pounding the windows and covering them in thick layers of frost, which spread to the curtains, freezing them into beautiful frozen sculptures. Here in the mountainous north, the winter persisted for ten months of the year, something very few outside of natives could handle on a daily basis. Sitting at the head o...
2023-09-05 15:34:08 +0000 UTC
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"Your old friends? You haven't changed a single bit, always rushing. For now, rest up here, and we can discuss your next move." Draven cleared the plates, cups, and snacks from the table with a swipe of his hand. His master placed him atop Erden and led them inside, the familiar dim torches illuminating the black stone halls.
"At least this place has been maintained in my absence." Draven traced his finger along the wall, held it to his face, and rubbed it with his thumb. He nodded in s...
2023-09-04 01:01:18 +0000 UTC
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Inside the dark storms churning endlessly in the spatial domain, Oscar looked from left to right, transfixed on his friends, fellow prisoners, his master, his aunts, and the others, everyone enveloped in a brilliant light, including Gunghir itself. In the next moment, the radiance faded away, and sunlight entered through the portholes, a warm welcome for everyone aboard. Then, Gunghir suddenly dropped harshly onto a hard surface, nearly knocking Oscar off Erden. Thankfully, Erden reacted fast...
2023-09-02 03:11:15 +0000 UTC
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Without resistance, Emily landed on the floor, the ground breaking under her fall, her gaze fixated on the ruined ceiling, lights barely flickering above the wreckage. Pain rampaged through her body, inducing faint involuntary groans from her burning lungs. She gradually rose up from her bed of rubble and supported her bruised and ragged body, covered in scrapes and cuts, with her staff. Her anima separated from the staff and collapsed, and Emily clutched her chest, vomiting blood from the re...
2023-09-01 02:30:14 +0000 UTC
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"How long has it been?" Draven asked, letting go of Oscar and staring around the caverns in confusion.
"Twenty years. It's been around that long." Oscar answered, out of breath but smiling. Excited, Oscar accidentally undid his Guise, his blue antlers shattering into pieces, and was about to fall. The Guise was too sensitive to his emotional state, a major screwup on his part, and he fell. The ground drew closer, the pebbles growing in his sight, but his master and Erden held his limp b...
2023-08-31 04:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Facing Maia, Oscar mounted Erden, firing several golden rods engulfed in spears of flame, exploding into fiery shrapnel the moment they touched Maia's fire. Taking advantage of the obscuring fire, he and Erden dashed across, aiming to bypass Maia via the ceiling. Then, a snort came from the dense fire, and Oscar felt a chill freezing his veins despite the hot flames.
Maia's figure appeared before him, extending her palm toward him, and it shone with fierce light. Below him, Erden sidest...
2023-08-30 02:12:59 +0000 UTC
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A few minutes before landing, a small rod-like ship reached the highest height. Erden opened his eyes for the short, brief moment before the descent would begin, cutting himself from Oscar's view of the white mess hall to a breathtaking sight, one he wished Oscar could behold from his eyes. Outside the porthole window, sealed shut by glass, bolts, and metal, the sky was split into two. The darkness that formed the night and void between the stars blanketed the upper half as the world below na...
2023-08-29 06:03:47 +0000 UTC
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Hearing her screech out, Oscar broke out into laughter, enjoying the twisted anger wrinkling and twisting the face she always seemed so proud of and the shock shaking the ends of her white hair. The force of her Ein permeated the corridor, denser than the thick, humid air and hotter than the flames of a furnace as if he were sinking into a lake of lava. His skin tightened, and his lungs could barely breathe, only taking a twig's worth of air to sustain him. A Marshal Exalt's power was awe-ins...
2023-08-27 05:30:46 +0000 UTC
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Life wasn't good in a prison, especially for prisoners of war. Day after day, he underwent tortures in great variety, the torturers ever gleeful in changing the process and experimenting with new techniques. His lack of agonizing screams behind his clenched teeth only spurred his captors to try harder; their cruelty heightened and focused on him. Oscar never relented even a yelp, not once, even as cold daggers plunged into his sides.
After the torture, he ate the foul slop that tasted l...
2023-08-25 02:25:32 +0000 UTC
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Inside the steel cage, Oscar planted his feet on the stable, flat yet harsh steel stage and clenched his fists, cheers and bangs erupting around him from the prisoners as the fight was about to start. It felt familiar, fighting bare-knuckled against another inmate surrounded by a crazed rabble, a fond memory emerging from the wellspring of his memories. Long ago, he fought against John in the Abyss Prison as a part of his master's test. Staring around, he almost convinced himself his master w...
2023-08-23 22:05:58 +0000 UTC
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"That's what is happening so far," Erden reported to the Pavilion Master.
Remulus snapped the pen in his hand, black ink dripping from his palm onto his blue robes. The books shook off the shelves, the couches and chairs rattled, hitting their wooden pegs on the smooth floor, and the table crumbled into splinters. Rushed by his bare instinct, Erden stomped his hooves, retreating as fast as possible and tucking himself into the corner, his fur standing on ends and his teeth clattering un...
2023-08-22 23:27:12 +0000 UTC
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Maia Claude rubbed her left cheek, a troubled look reflected in the creases along her brow as her gaze swept over Oscar and the rest while stroking her cheek, a deep frown forming on her red lips. He recalled punching her directly onto that side of her face long ago in Ashen Grove and couldn't help tensing up, his lips trembling to hold down the frown. Oscar gulped, averting his gaze from her. Did she feel something from him…something that brought up the memory of what he did to her?
...
2023-08-22 01:05:15 +0000 UTC
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Edclet whimpered, faint sobs leaking out as his body shivered underneath the thin blanket, an unbearable display that crept an unsettling chill in Oscar's back. A Knight Exalt carried years of experience behind them, and Edclet certainly went through more during his post as a captain during the long war, making the sight of his broken, fearful figure much more concerning. Oscar pulled the blanket off Edclet and was greeted by more screams from the blubbering prisoner, who grasped his own head...
2023-08-21 14:32:01 +0000 UTC
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A slight wind tickled the ends of his fur, and Erden peered up from his rest and looked out the wide window, the curtains swaying about as the moonlight peeped in between the long cloth. He growled and turned to the Pavilion Master, Remulus Grant, who was neck deep in scrolls, papers, and binders. The bald, old King Exalt's hands blurred, one scribbled and scratched on the paper, and the other flicked the papers, stacking the finished documents on a pile.
"Is something the matter, Erden...
2023-08-20 02:09:01 +0000 UTC
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Lying on the ground, Oscar coughed and spat out the dirt in his mouth, struggling to breathe properly. A pungent scent, a nauseating rotten smell, stopped him from breathing regularly from his nose, and the iron taste of the blood in the dirt was sickening, his stomach churning to force a fierce rejection in vomit, but he held it in and waited for his chance. From the corner of his unburied eye, only a spread of pale eyes from corpses greeted him, their blood long since drained into the earth...
2023-08-18 19:13:12 +0000 UTC
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"An elf, a musician, and a young boy. Quite a unique combination we have here." The skeletal face man smiled, stretching his skin to a pale white, and spun his hat around his finger, playfully observing Regis and the others. He held his hand out, and a silver tray appeared out of thin air, carrying three scrumptious cookies. "As I said, would you like some cookies?"
"I do!" Regis waltzed over and reached out to grab a cookie, but a fierce tug on his collar forced him back, his neck burn...
2023-08-17 23:05:24 +0000 UTC
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"You dare come to see me and bring along an Oscar look-alike to fool me?" Emily asked coldly, swinging her fist.
Before Emily's fist could land squarely on Fred's face, Oscar swept across the room and grabbed her fist, careful not to accidentally crush her knuckles. Her physical power was as impressive as ever, being the more physically gifted out of their group. He let go of her fist and raised his hands, waving for peace. Emily rejected his call for peace and whipped her leg around, t...
2023-08-17 19:48:09 +0000 UTC
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"Wait! Are we really considering this?" Aunt Rosett gripped Oscar's wrist and pulled him away from Elder Saul and Remulus. She scowled at the two old King Exalts as she placed Oscar behind her. He wondered how she was unafraid of facing two King Exalts and worried for her wellbeing. It had been a long time since someone showed this much care for him, and Oscar didn't fight against her protection with a warm expression, letting her mouth off at the two King Exalts until her face became red.
2023-08-16 22:34:31 +0000 UTC
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"You? What? How?" Remulus, the Pavilion Master, seemed at a loss for words. He slowly left his desk and grabbed Oscar's arms, sweeping his gaze over every inch of Oscar's figure. Despite his increased physical power, Oscar could not escape his grandmaster's powerful grip and waited for him to settle down. The physical powers of a King Exalt were truly astounding.
Remulus let go of Oscar's arms and smiled, "A lost son of our Pavilion has returned, and not just anyone, my grand disciple, ...
2023-08-16 01:49:49 +0000 UTC
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Flying, Oscar basked in the warmth of the two suns, the blue sky now clear from the storm that had lasted for days, giving a refreshing shade, not darkness, through its white clouds. Of course, it wasn't a natural process or a divine providence welcoming him back, which would have been a nice gesture, but no. The Pavilion had always set it so the weather was consistent around its vicinity, always the ever-warm place for their students to live and return to feel comforted. Oscar grew excited, ...
2023-08-15 16:37:15 +0000 UTC
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Oscar lost all thought as his mind blanked into nothingness. Resting his hands on the tombstones, Oscar found he had no strength in his cold fingers and lost his grip, and his knees dropped to the floor, softly rustling on the grass. Before him, the names of his parents, well-carved into the tombstones, stood at eye level. His right hand softly stroked along the name of his father, Henry Terr, and his left hand palmed his mother's, Gwen Terr, but he slipped again and fell on all fours, now cl...
2023-08-15 01:28:27 +0000 UTC
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"Hang on. It's quite stuffy in here." Erden interrupted before the start of the tale and squirmed his way out of Oscar's robes, peeking his small head out the neckline. His short stubby legs leaped through the air and plopped onto the table.
"You must be Erden. Nice to meet you." Fred lifted his cup. "Thank you for being by Oscar's side."
"Same goes for me. I've only seen you in Oscar's memories. Nice to meet you at last." Erden tapped his antlers against Fred's cup, trotted his w...
2023-08-13 17:20:53 +0000 UTC
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Standing before him was Fred, his dear best friend. The face was older than he remembered, slightly rugged and worn around the edges. His green hair flowing down his sides to his shoulders was unkempt, unorderly, and downright messy. Lines, not harsh enough to be called wrinkles, stretched across his forehead, faint but distinct, mapping out the tale of his endless trials and tribulations over the long years. The distinct scar that once covered half of his forehead started to wrinkle as his l...
2023-08-12 04:13:46 +0000 UTC
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Bang! Bang! Bang! Garbed in his fabricator uniform, Oscar struck the swiftly with measured power, not too hard and not too soft, striking just right for his purposes. On the bottom hull of one of the airships, a part glowed brightly from being heated to a malleable, shapeable state. His hammer pounded, striking flatly to round out the hull. Embers and excess impurities sparked like fireworks and showered on him, pitter-pattering like drizzles of sleet hail on his uniform.
For the past m...
2023-08-11 02:09:11 +0000 UTC
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