"No, Elijah!" chastised Elder Eilmar, "you must remember your breathing exercise! Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. Hold. Yes! Now, feel your Spirit Essence!"

Elijah sighed in frustration before closing his eyes and beginning his breathing techniques. As he began to focus more, he could feel his Spirit Essence increasing. "I think I got it!"

"Good, now concentrate so that you don't lose it!"

"Right!" Elijah nodded and began practicing the Second Form of Protector's Fist.

Elijah had only been accepted as a pupil in the Exalted Guardian Society just a few months prior and found that he was struggling behind the other pupils almost right away. Becoming an Exalted Guardian was not his first choice as far as careers went. He considered himself to be much more of a historian or scholar rather than a Cultivator and a being responsible for the protection of Earth, however this path was not chosen by him, but rather for him, it seemed. When he was just a teenager, Eilmar came for him and brought him to the Exalted Guardian Temple and put him to work as a servant before he could be accepted as a pupil of the sect.

Among Elijah were two other pupils who were selected, both teenagers like himself. Of the two, Elijah liked Hakkon the most. Hakkon was ambitious, yet humble, and although he excelled beyond Elijah at a much faster pace, he always took the time to give him some tips along the way. In many aspects, Elijah recognized him as a big brother.

Everyone grew silent and stopped their training as Sage Sovereign Barnath stepped foot in the training grounds area of the temple. “Hakkon,” spoke the old sage, “come with me.”

Hakkon exchanged glances with Elijah before nodding obediently and walked towards the Sage Sovereign.

“Interesting… It appears the Sage Sovereign has selected his prime disciple,” Eilmar stroked his beard as he watched the young man follow behind the leader of their sect.

Elijah smirked to himself, proud of his friend as he went back to practicing Protector’s Fist Second Form.

“No! Sage Sovereign!” came the shriek of one of the Grand Elders of the sect as soon as Hakkon and the sect leader were out of sight.

“What is it? What’s happening?” Eilmar and the other Elders flew from the training grounds to see what was going on.

Elijah blinked as he and the other pupils slowly followed behind their mentors to see what all the fuss was about.

“Hakkon! How could you? What did you to do him?” cried another Grand Elder he pulled at the end of his beard in dismay.

Hakkon stood over Sage Sovereign Barnath with a bloody, red glowing dagger in his hands that appeared to be absorbing the Sage Sovereign’s blood with each glow it emitted. Hakkon wore a grim smile of satisfaction as he looked up from the Sage Sovereign who laid on the ground before him, seemingly paralyzed as he lay there frozen, grasping his heart, where he had been stabbed.

“Seize him immediately!” shouted the Grand Elder as the other Elders all became surrounded with different colors of aura, exposing their powerful amounts of Spirit Essence that they had built over the centuries. Each Elder was more powerful than the next and together they surrounded Hakkon, some of them producing Spirit Fetters, which were thick chains made from pure Spirit Essence that were able to restrain an opponent and weigh them down, preventing them from fighting or fleeing.

The Grand Elders all charged at Hakkon, casting the Spirit Fetters at the young pupil, who simply raised the bloody, glowing dagger and sneered as a crimson red shield-aura formed around him, deflecting their attack.

“Damn! He’s no mere pupil! Do not take him lightly!” Eilmar shouted as he absorbed the Spirit Fetters back into his body and then reached up towards the sky and seemingly gripped the air as a yellow sword made purely from Spirit Essence manifested in his hand.

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“You break through his shield, Brother Eilmar! The rest of us will attack him after!”

“Right!” Eilmar nodded once and charged at Hakkon in full force, a trail of aura flowing behind him.

Elijah and the other pupils watched in shock as one whom they thought was their peer appeared to be much stronger than they could have possibly imagined. They knew that the Elders of the Exalted Guardian Society had the ability to obliterate any of them at any moment- that’s how powerful they were. The fact that Hakkon could take on close to twenty of them at a time was inconceivable to the other pupils.

Just as Eilmar came within reach of Hakkon with his Judgement Blade, the young traitor opened his eyes wide, casting a Glare spell at Eilmar, which instantly blinded him. Hakkon then pointed the dagger at the Elder and sent a wave of spirit essence directly at him, causing him to fly back into one of the nearby pillars.

At this, the rest of Elders all produced Judgement Blades of their own and charged at Hakkon at once. The young traitor only stood there, arrogantly smirking as he raised both arms and over a dozen portal gates opened all around him. From the gates came twenty or so disciples from an unorthodox sect, all with blood red aura gleaming from them as they stood by Hakkon’s side.

“It’s the Infinite Nemesis Cult!”

“What do you want with us? We are a peaceful sect!”

Hakkon chuckled bitterly and shook his head, “the Exalted Guardian Society possesses an ancient relic that we require! Hand it over and no one else has to die!”

“Never! You murdered Sage Sovereign Barnath!” Eilmar shouted back after wiping a bit of blood from his lower lip and stood up. As he stood there, a faint white aura began to swirl around him which caused his hood to come off his head. His eyes seemed to become purely white as he raised both hands above his head and brought them down on the ground in front of him, causing that same white aura to cover the surface of the ground that they all stood on.

“He’s using Holy Ground! Quick, stop him and grab the amulet!” one of the Elders of the Infinite Nemesis Cult cried out.

The Grand Elders of the Exalted Guardian Society all powered up their spirit essence and clashed with the disciples of the Infinite Nemesis Cult. The more powerful members of both respective sects flew off the ground and met each other in the air as they began exchanging spirit-filled blows at one another.

“Elder Eilmar!” Elijah called out in desperation as he came to his master’s side.

“Elijah! You must escape from here and preserve the sect!” Eilmar cautioned his young pupil.

“Can’t we defeat them?” Elijah questioned as a thin blast of Spirit Essence flew past his head.

“I don’t know, my son, but we must not take any chances,” Eilmar swallowed with a solemn look on his face.

“What can I do?” Elijah asked, wide-eyed.

“Here, take this!” Eilmar produced a gold coin from inside the sleeve of his robe and placed it in his pupil’s hand.

“A Spirit Token?” Elijah looked down at the gold coin.

“Yes! It will take you to the Immortal Lion Clan’s fortress. Yahud will help you. Please take it and go! I will try to defend the sect and protect the amulet!” Eilmar ordered as he gently pushed Elijah away.

Elijah stood frozen, looking from Elder Eilmar to the coin in his hand, conflicted about what he should do. At that moment, one of the more powerful members of the Infinite Nemesis Cult connected a knife-hand blow into Eilmar’s diaphragm, causing a direct blow to the Guardian’s spirit essence. “Go, Elijah!”

The Infinite Nemesis Cult disciple stared at Elijah with killing intent, “you’re next, kid!”

Elijah felt his heart race as he gripped the spirit token tightly and then held out his hand. The coin floated up and turned on its side, facing the young pupil.

“Die!” the enemy shouted, charging at Elijah with the same Purge Strike attack that he used on Elder Eilmar.

Before his strike could connect, however, the Spirit Token emitted a bright yellow light that completely enveloped Elijah and sucked him through an invisible portal gate, causing both he and the coin to disappear.

“Hmph!” the Infinite Nemesis Cult disciple shrugged, “I’ll get you next time, Elijah!”

The other Infinite Nemesis Cult disciples finished killing off the last of the Exalted Guardian Society members, not only the Elders, but the pupils and servants as well. Once they were sure that their enemies were all dead, Hakkon knelt down next to the Sage Sovereign Barnath, reached into his robes and ripped the Amulet of Ascension from his neck, grinning mercilessly as he placed the amulet around his own neck.

“We got what we came for, plus wiped out their entire sect. Drakl will be pleased,” Hakkon smirked as the other members of the Infinite Nemesis Cult agreed.

“What about the kid that got away? I heard this old fool call him Elijah,” said the one who killed Eilmar and kicked over his dead body.

“We will put a word out to the other unorthodox sects that if they come across a Cultivator named “Elijah” to kill him on sight,” Hakkon concluded, “now, let’s go!” he ordered as the portal gates began opening up and he and the rest of his sect stepped back through to head back to their lair.