Oscar exclaimed at the tall golem clad in black armor and raised his shield close into a defensive stance. The Lower Marshal Golem pounded its polearm to the floor, stomped its feet, and let out a slow mechanical groan, gears grinding inside the thick armor. The red-glass eyes rolled around asymmetrically like a lizard until they snapped forward, locking onto Oscar and meeting his gaze. From that one gaze, the weight of several mountains pushed on his shoulders, his spine creaking under the pressure, and his knees started to buckle.
Still, he put on a fearless smile and invoked the Guise. A burning shroud of Eirin enveloped his body, alleviating the burden on his body against the pressure of a Lower Marshal Exalt, and blue antlers protruded from his forehead. Quickly, he melded his anima into Erden and shared the Guise. Thanks to it, he and Erden could withstand the oppressive Ein. But it was only a temporary measure. His Guise had its time limit, and the fighting outside kept intensifying.
Taking a bold step forward, Oscar calmed his rapidly beating heart and pierced through the golem with his glare. The only obstacle between him and the core was this golem. Thankfully, it was only a Lower Marshal Exalt, and a closer glance at its figure revealed it was not one of Gol-4's creations. He shuddered at the thought of facing one of Gol-4's specialized golems.
"Are you insane?!" Brigg shouted. "That thing is beyond us. We must retreat."
"I thought you were a proud warrior. Is that not the case anymore?" Oscar said, observing the golem. It stayed put even from the opening given by conversing with Brigg.
"Warriors know when to retreat. This is foolish. Retreat for now and come back with a stronger force." Brigg warned and advised, but Oscar shook his head.
"That is only a Lower Marshal Golem. It doesn't have anima. It doesn't have a Meld or Integration. More importantly, it's not as unpredictable as a human. These conditions are enough." Oscar didn't wait for Brigg to speak further. Stomping on the ground, he kicked off with tremendous speed, breaking the layer of ice coating the floor. Swords of fire flared into existence, and rods of gold formed within. His combined spells spiraled through the air, flickers of embers trailing behind their course. Erden expanded his antler wings and swung them down. Great infernos arced across to the golem.
"Danger. Activate and destroy." The black-armored golem said in a mechanical voice, clear but devoid of emotion. It leaned forward and turned into a blur. Oscar could only catch when it swung its polearm wide, from left to right, a fierce gale bursting from the blade. Oscar's and Erden's spells and attacks began to flail until the winds repelled them, holes and cracks riddled the golden rods, and the flames died, fading away into thin air.
It possessed all the disadvantages that Oscar listed, but that didn't suggest it was weak. The speed and power it displayed still surpassed a Greater Knight Exalt. But that failed to apply to himself. Rousing the Eirin in his and Erden's body, Oscar sped up to match the golem's speed and separated from Erden, both going opposite ways, confusing the single-minded golem. Its red-glass eyes stared in two directions as expected. Charging his burning Golden Drill, Oscar leaped for the head, and Erden enlarged his hoof to kick from below.
The black-armored golem flew backward and gathered winds around its polearm, a terrifying hurricane swirling on its tip. Stabbing it forward, the golem unleashed a current of violent storms. Almost sucked into the cyclone, Oscar grouped up and mounted Erden, and they charged into the sky as the blast passed over them. The walls of the Lighthouse bore the brunt of the attack, no harm to its pristine walls, but the golem shifted the polearm over, the vortex of deadly wind still rushing from its blade, and continued to aim it at Oscar.
Erden bolted, mustering all the speed a Prielapos had, the storm giving chase behind him. The ice covering the interior of the Lighthouse shattered and was sucked into the storm, clattering around until it formed into large hail. Bombarded by the chunks of condensed hail mixed in with the golem's Ein, Oscar put up a fire barrier and tossed out several orbs of flame that exploded, forcing the hail away.
He couldn't keep this up forever. Oscar patted Erden and told him to dive straight for the golem. First, he needed to remove the polearm from the golem's hands since that was how it concentrated its Ein into this piercing storm. Erden roared and released many flames from his wings as they chased after the golem. Oscar encased himself and Erden in golden armor and fused his spells with the antlers into a singular blade.
The golem welcomed Oscar's attempt and brandished its polearm at him, lunging forward as the destructive storms swirled and aimed at Oscar. He filled half of his Eirin into the singular blade he created with Erden and used Omnireus, the most powerful technique in his arsenal, accompanied by the hottest flames possible. He willingly entered the vortex, winds cutting across his golden armor. Oscar winced in pain, blood drawn from his golden armor as the cuts increased.
Finally, after weathering through the storm, his blade reached the polearm, the two weapons clashing. Half of the Lighthouse was engulfed in flames, and the other half was devastated by dark winds. His fifty percent wasn't enough. Oscar gritted his teeth and forced another twenty percent into his attack. The balance between their attacks broke, and he arrived before the golem. Erden rammed into it with all his might and sent it flying, bashing into the wall before it fell to the floor.
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Grabbing the polearm, Oscar smiled and judged it was a good weapon, a grade-four armament for Marshal Exalts. To use all that on a golem surprised him, but so did keeping five other Lower Marshal Exalts in this small, unassuming realm. This weapon would serve better on his side. He stowed it away in his space pocket and faced the golem, his smile flattening at the sight of the golem brushing off the ice on its chest.
"Using only the Pseudoguise and without as much of my Eirin, that move brought down Orden, but for you, it's just a shrug. What a horrid day it's been." Oscar gasped for air. His lungs felt as if a fire was burning inside them. Already, his Guise was flickering, and his blue antlers began to crack. Steeling himself, Oscar charged forward alongside Erden, firing several Golden Breakers from his fingers.
The golem stood still, unmoving as Oscar's gold projectiles bounced off its armor, not a single scratch. It buzzed, and winds flowed around it again, swirling around its fists and feet, a whirlwind of slashing air covering them. Oscar shouted to rouse himself and entered the golem's range in melee combat. Already, fresh new cuts formed on his body from the raging winds, but he didn't care.
He found the way to victory.
Strength for strength. Power for power. Oscar matched the golem, attacking in tandem with Erden. He brought out his full arsenal. Red hot flames and golden metal burning and scraping at the golem. Ignoring the bleeding and aching from his fists, Oscar punched the golem squarely in the chest, followed by Erden's primal charge, sending the golem straight into the wall. Oscar saw the cracks and dents on its back as it tried to raise itself from the floor. No matter how tough it was, it was not strong enough to endure being slammed into walls that even Marshal Exalts could not break.
Not letting up, he and Erden kicked the golem on the chin, forcing it up, and slammed their bodies into it, crashing it into the wall. The winds tore into him, and he clenched hard, not to scream out in agony. Oscar rammed a Golden Dragon Maw like a hammer onto the golem while Erden bashed its antlers into it. He never let the golem out of its spot, cornered like a rat. Oscar hit it again and again and again. Tens, dozens, perhaps a hundred times, he landed his attacks to keep hitting the golem against the wall, banging loudly each time.
'Stop.' Demon's icy voice quelled the blinding flames churning in his mind. Oscar stopped and stepped back, seeing the golem slump down the wall and lean forward. Its front was intact, but the back had caved in completely, faint arcs of Ein crackling and sparking from the exposed cracks. It creaked its head and tried to stand, only to fall. The red light in its eyes faded as the mechanical sound of gears grinding inside halted to silence.
Oscar knelt on the floor, his left arm limping to the side. He looked down at his chest and chuckled weakly to himself, wincing each time the air escaped his lungs. His chest was covered in blood. One blue antler cracked and fell down, dissipating into motes of Eirin. He was tired, so tired that he wanted to rest on the cold floor and enjoy the view of the far-away ceiling. Oscar groaned and patted Erden's head, seeing how much his friend had also suffered. Blood covered nearly every inch of the snow-white fur, and the antlers and hooves were cracked.
"Well done, old friend." Oscar rested his head on Erden's neck. A sharp gleam radiated from his eyes, and he said, "I can't say the same for you, Brigg."
Switching with Demon, his body moved without hesitation or pain, circling using the invisible Reis movements and Eirin-enhanced speed. Demon showed no mercy and stabbed Brigg in the back.
Gurgling and choking, Brigg stared down at the golden tip protruding from where his heart should be and turned to Oscar, who switched back. "How?"
"How did I defeat the golem? How did I move so well after such a harsh battle? Or How did I know you would backstab me?" Oscar pulled out his drill and sidestepped the river of blood, crunching his feet on the ice. He grabbed Brigg's head by the hair and tugged strongly, glaring at him. "I've dealt with zealots like you many times. You're all annoying but also very predictable since you all follow whatever creed you adhere to. To you, any outsider is an enemy, aren't they?"
"Outsiders must die. We must protect this place and wait for the gods. Your men will die!" Brigg held out his hands, the fingers quivering as they wriggled out to grab Oscar.
"They're alive." Oscar tossed Brigg before he could be touched. He tapped his shield and said, "I signaled them to watch out and be wary of your men. Right now, they must have thrown several explosive elixirs and a sleep-inducing one to escape." After saying that, he ignored the gasping Brigg, who took his last breath. He strode over to the Teragine core, dragging his bloodied feet across. His injuries were so severe that not even a drink of a grade-three elixir healed them enough.
"The Teragine core has its own barrier, but–" Oscar traced his finger along the edges of the bright circle and drew out some patterns. The barrier dimmed and vanished, leaving only the core. According to Gol-4, he had to find the control nodes hidden inside different parts of the formation. He felt grateful to his friend for teaching him so well since he easily spotted them and rerouted the Ein to concentrate on those nodes. Like a key opening a lock, the core spun, and Oscar connected mentally to it, gaining full control.
"Shut down!" Oscar sent his command into the core. It vibrated and pulsed briefly before stopping and levitating down to the ground. He picked up the disabled core and stored it for study and future use. "Let's go, Erden." He turned around, but Erden stayed still. "Erden?"
"I feel something odd. Something is burning inside me." Erden groaned and spat out the dimensional cube given by Gol-4, the special storage cube fit for Primaeres, Isaac's personal one. "Something is reacting."
"Reacting?" Oscar hurriedly picked up the dimensional cube and reached into its spatial space. There were only three things inside of it: the Primaere Beast core that Isaac somehow obtained, a realistic drawing of Isaac's beloved wife, Evelyn, and the seven-star necklace that belonged to her. Taking out the necklace, Oscar felt it heating up in his palm. It shone brightly and started to move by itself.
Surprised, Oscar grabbed it by the lace and found it was pointing toward the set of stairs inside the large pillar. It never reacted like this before. Oscar never knew it had a function other than being a token of remembrance. It was a gift to Isaac from Evelyn, the divine beauty who vanished, something Gol-4, the memory of Isaac, always lamented about. Thinking of his friend and the promise to discover what happened to Evelyn, he walked toward the stairs.
He sighed, "Who the hell are you, Evelyn?"