The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Something was happening. Kragg's ears perked up. The noises and screams of his captors outside incited his rage as he wondered who could have stolen his prey. For many years in this windowless room, he longed to tear his torturers, the New Dawn, apart limb by limb and gnaw on their bones. The hunger imposed on every thought he mustered, having been starved for several weeks now, no light, no food, no comfort, and Restel was missing. He paced and prowled back and forth, hunched and drooling. His rationale slowly trickled out, replaced by beastly instinct, intent on pouncing whoever came through that door.

The screams ended. Steps neared the prison door, thick and encased in steel. The door flung off its hinges and dropped to the floor with a loud clank. Light flooded the room and forced his eyes shut, the first blinding radiance in several weeks. He smelled someone at the entrance and lent the lion all of his strength, giving in to the hunger. Lightning surged from his pores and clad his fur. Kragg roared like a lion full of pride and leaped in, baring his fangs, mouth wide open. The unnatural hardness between his teeth gave him pause, a hint of thought emerging in the violent storms of the lion's instincts in his mind.

Still, he disregarded it and gnawed, trying to chew through this tough exterior. His eyes recovered and regained clarity, focusing on the man clad in armor and helmet and garbed in a deer's pelt. Kragg grunted, realizing he had tried to eat someone. The sudden appearance of this stranger was shocking and quelled the lion inside, allowing him to ponder. But the man lifted his arm, somehow unharmed, raising Kragg's head higher.

"Trying to take a bite out of me…are you more beast than human? If so, then I have no use for you, and you have no reason to roam free." The man said in a chilling tone, one that straightened the ends of his fur, every fiber of his being screaming to run away. Not even the maniacal laughter of Faust and other New Dawn members filled him with such dread. A kick rammed into his chest, flinging him onto the steel wall. Kragg howled in pain and tried to get up, but the man dropped a heel on his head, stomping him on the floor and holding him under his foot.

"I ask again. Are you a man or a beast?" The man asked, pushing on his head.

Kragg struggled and failed even to raise his head, the man's strength far beyond his own. The lion inside refused to surrender and took over. He couldn't resist the lion's rage and slammed his claws on the floor, swiping them toward the leg holding him down. The weight on his head lifted, and he rushed up toward the exit, choosing flight over fight. Another man, a pretty boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, a damned pansy in a white suit, stepped in between him and the exit. Kragg opened his mouth of lightning-coated fangs and chomped down, missing the other.

"My Lord asked, and you haven't answered. What rudeness." The man scolded him and hammered a black, scaly fist right on his nose, knocking him back to the wall, caving in the steel further.

The lion retreated deeper into the depths of his mind, and Kragg spat out a bloody fang, slumping down and coughed out, "Just kill me."

"So you can talk. I was beginning to wonder if these documents were outdated." The armored man, who seemed to be the head, judging from how the other bowed his head and stood respectfully to the side, flipped through papers and pulled one out, showing it to Kragg. It had his face and detailed information on his powers and previous experiments. "You can read as well. Then, I suppose I can't put you down like a beast. Then, Experiment 23 of the Predator series, Type: Lion, will you join me or leave and live a normal life?"

"Your sister?" The blonde man gestured to the door. "You mean her?"

His eyes followed the gesture and locked on his little sister standing outside beside another stranger wrapped in bandages from head to toe. He glared at them and growled, rising to his feet and overcoming the pain in his head. His anger flared at what purposes these strangers may have for Restel. He wouldn't let them run amok. Lightning suffused his body and emitted a bright radiance all over; his entire figure now wreathed in lightning. "Let her go!

As he raised a claw and almost struck the armored man, the most dangerous one that loomed over him, Restel cried out, "Kragg! Stop! They are not our enemies!" He snapped his gaze to her, and she shuddered, muttering, "S-s-sorry…Sorry." She fidgeted and stammered, "I-I am joining them."

"Restel?" Kragg had never heard her decide by herself, always relying on him to make it for her. Her statement stunned him, and he froze, believing his ears were playing a trick on him. Seeing the firm stance of his sister, despite the slightly trembling legs, he grunted and lowered his claw, returning to his human form. In a natural growl, he asked, "Why?"

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"I want to be useful…I-I don't want to run. S-sorry for deciding without you." Restel raised her head, showing the blindfold underneath the shaggy, overgrown black hair. Reminded of the eyes they robbed from her, Kragg stomped closer to the armored man, drawing the attention of the blonde one, who slowly clenched his hands. The man waved off the other and stared at Kragg, his figure matching his in height. Kragg growled, "Did you deceive her?"

"No. I don't do tricks unless it's against my enemies. To allies, I offer only the truth. Join me, and you might kill many New Dawn, or don't and leave." The armored man said. "I won't stop you if you reject me."

Kragg clicked his tongue. "And leave my sister? Are you a fool? But if it gets too dangerous, I'll run away with her."

"You can leave anytime. But if you abandon me during a battle. I will kill you first before the enemy." The armored man said in that chilling tone.

Kragg shivered and smiled widely, "And you abandon me, I'll tear out that lying tongue."

"If that satisfies your delusions," He waved off the blonde man again, who stared at Kragg with an enraged look. "I am Draven, now follow me."

…….

"Marvelous, Experiment 23! Your parameters far surpass our older projections!" The vile Faust sounded elated, his grotesque face still lodged in the chest of the Sweeper. His eyes behind the round glasses stared down, the smile widening. "Is that Experiment 20 in your shadow? What a perfect combination! Is it the bond between brother and sister? Shall I dissect you both and figure out what other secrets you've been hiding? How did you evolve so much since your escape?"

Kragg crossed his arms and blocked the heavy fist of the Sweeper, the sheer weight shaking every bone in his body, rattling them in his flesh. Forcing his rolled eyes back, he gritted his teeth, swallowing the blood rising from his throat. His clawed feet scraped against the room, spewing sparks as the Sweeper roared, pushing him for several feet. For a good hour now, he had fought this damned monster, clashing up the stairs and past several halls and rooms. His claws were dull, one of his lungs had collapsed, inducing faint wheezes, and his fangs had been torn off several times by a strong grip and pull.

However, he held on. His lightning-lion form, having endured the endless thundering storms of the island where he trained, burst in pulses of erratic lightning that coiled and lashed in all directions. The uneven fluctuations of light emitted by his chaotic lightning twisted and stretched his shadow, allowing Restel to reach out a hand and knock the Sweeper off balance at any angle. Her support had saved him several times now, lessening the strength behind one of its devastating blows and letting his attack through the gap in its defense.

Kragg took the chance Restel gave him and clawed on the Sweeper's exposed face, streaking deep gashes in the flesh. He had done this many times that the Sweeper's face was a messy pulp of flesh, parts of its cheekbones showing, and an entire row of teeth exposed on the right side. It never had eyes to begin with, so that was a moot point. Kragg noticed it prioritized protecting Faust in his chest but couldn't find the opportunity. A fist closed in, and Restel shifted the Sweeper slightly, diverting its path, but it still broke off his newly formed fangs.

Kragg roared and sped up, gathering lightning into his claws and palms, striking the Sweeper on its guard and pushing it back. The lightning burned parts of its skin right off the flesh, but the Sweeper looked unconcerned, emotionless as always. He wondered if the Sweeper even had a rational thought at all. A mindless, murderous brute was all it was. Perhaps he would have been like it if not for Restel, Lordy, and the others. He clenched his growing fangs and swiped his claws, each strike releasing a thunderous boom that deafened his ears. Lightning crackled on the Sweeper, but it stood firm.

A quick stomp crushed his foot, and Kragg howled in pain, struggling to escape. It held his foot down with such strength he couldn't break free. The Sweeper gripped his wrists and held Kragg close, a mouth of sharp teeth gaping wide and chomping down. Kragg swerved his head and dodged the fatal blow as it instead crushed his shoulder.

'Kragg!' Restel cried from his shadow through the telepathic link formed by him and her.

"Experiment 23. Was it the meeting with the perfect Reis user that changed you? Our initial projections had you and Experiment 20 dead way before. Yet you persisted. I'm curious. Answer me, for old time's sake." Faust's glasses tilted, and he couldn't adjust because the Sweeper had Kragg's wrists, locking the arms and claws.

"Bastard. You call this a bite?" Kragg strained himself, knowing his wounds were deep, but he didn't care. Opening his mouth, he roared, filling the air with crackling lightning that crawled up the Sweeper's legs. The light glinted off his sharp fangs as he pushed back and bit down on the Sweeper, pulling off a thick chunk of flesh. Restel acted at that moment and jumped up, stabbing a short sword at Faust. The Sweeper retreated fast, but Faust's scream proved their efforts had worked.

"You damned experiments!" Faust shouted. One of his eyes was shut and dripping blood from the deep cut that split the eyelid. "I'll grind your bones into dust and tear off each vein from your flesh!"

"Is that all you got? Faust, you're a disgusting meal. But it's too weak. I once tried to take a bite out of that man. You're nothing but a rotten meal." Kragg licked his fangs and surged his lightning to the fullest, flashes of light and continuous thunder filling the room.

'I can only take on so many wounds. Hurry up, you damned brat.' Kragg burned his shoulder and stopped the bleeding. He couldn't believe he had to leave it to Auren.

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