The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

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 like rotten eggs and bit into the sour fruit, flavors so foul he could not get used to them. The only comfort was the extra piece of smoked, tough chicken jerky, a reward for winning yesterday's battle. Once he finished his first meal of the day, he went to work on his daily assignments. He cleaned the floors, stairs, and the rooms of the isolated, the dirtiest and most foul of all, drenched in human waste and blood. On other days, he did the laundry for the guards and polished their armor. During these monotonous times, the horrid words echoed through the prison, telling him to denounce his home.

Then, he would fight after resting for three hours. He and his cellmates reigned as kings in the steel cage fights, winning every match and keeping their rewards. Alec's lack of involvement in these battles bothered him, but Oscar let it be since it didn't mean anything to his escape plan. Then, every time at night, he waited by the cell doors and watched the Sweeper trod with heavy steps, meeting its hollow gaze every night while it bared its sharp teeth.

After half a month of cleaning the floors and listening to the guards' idle conversations, Oscar, Fred, and Emily put together a general outline of the prison. The long elevator shaft ran through the entire prison from top to bottom. A set of stairs on the edges allowed the guards to move from floor to floor. He relayed everything to Erden, who told the details to the Pavilion Master and Elder Saul.

Then, finally, the day had arrived. At the break of morning, after the terrifying Sweeper retreated away into wherever it came from, the lights in the Rurin Gaols flickered on, showering every cell in its brightness, not a place, edge, and corner shrouded in shadow. Exhaling, Oscar woke up on schedule, clenching his fists under his blanket. He rose from bed, rubbed his chin, and ran his fingers through the overgrown beard. If Avril saw him now, she would definitely laugh at his expense. Oscar smiled fondly at his memories of Avril, still as clear as the bright light above him, unaffected by a month of Maia's persistent seduction spells at the end of tortures.

'One more time.' Oscar palmed his face as if he was washing it despite the absence of water and brushed his slightly long hair back, letting him see fine without annoying bangs in the way. The guard came on time and banged his weapon on the open cell door, and the entire cell stood at attention, raising their hands as per protocol.

"Get a move on, you degenerates! Anyone falling behind will lose their free hour!" The guard shouted, banging his weapon on the wall.

Oscar stepped outside the cell, his feet instantly cuffed and linked to the next person who exited, Alec. In well-coordinated steps and equal strides, Oscar and the others marched down the halls under the somewhat lazy eyes of the guards, some not paying attention at all as they were too engrossed in their conversations. Their lack of enthusiasm and alertness was exactly what he needed. Whether it was pride or the belief nothing could happen inside the Rurin Gaols, the guards continued their folly under Oscar's expectant gaze.

'I can feel you, Erden. How much farther are you?' Oscar sent a mental transmission.

'Fred saw her exiting through the side doors, turning toward downstairs at the end of the six hours. I can start the distraction in time, but we don't know what measures they might have in place. You need to come quick.' Oscar coughed and rubbed his nose, the thick smell of blood, new and old, choking his nostrils. His feet squelched on the wet and dry blood until he arrived at the torture chamber. The rusted door scraped open, and Oscar breathed deeply and told himself this was the last one.

The five hours of torture commenced, and the captors were too happy to receive him again. Unlike the others with one torturer, he faced two of them and stared defiantly into the eyeholes of their strange, unsettling masks. They circled him, clicking their tongues and cackling in high-pitched tunes, hollering at him with their long, gloved fingers wriggling around.

"Prisoner Felix, it's an honor to have you again. We haven't had someone not make a sound within a month. Most can't last the first week without screaming out in pain." They taunted.

"For goodness sake. Get on with it. I'm getting bored waiting for you to start." Oscar spat on one's mask. They tilted their heads, necks creaking unnaturally, and raised their tools to their chests. Oscar gritted his teeth as sweat drenched his shirt. A fierce smile grew from his lips, and the dagger, heated to a bright orange, cut along his arm.

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Five hours later, Oscar sighed, still hung from the chains. He smiled and laughed at the clearly dissatisfied torturers for failing to induce even a forced grunt from him. Their hands clenched their tools, but the time was over, so they slammed their hellish devices on their table. A sweet, sickly scent of perfume wafted over, and Oscar looked up to see Maia Claude floating above like she had done every day as if she deigned from touching the ground. Staring into those red pupils, he struggled and tried to resist the charm, but his mind fell apart, unable to form a tangible thought, and his mouth spoke the traitorous words, her seductive figure in his mind pushing aside Avril and smiling fondly.

It ended, and Oscar glared at Maia, almost snarling like a beast. The chains lowered him, and he exited with the others, barely containing the fury burning inside his heart, forcing the veins to pop onto his skin. Along with his cellmates, Oscar returned to his cell and rested. Slowly, the red flush of anger receded from his body, and his heart calmed. The extra hour ended, and Oscar went into the mess hall. He glanced around, found Fred and Emily, and quickened his pace toward them.

He scratched his fingers on the table, relaying Erden's timing. Emily and Fred nodded, gripping their utensils tightly. Oscar looked to the left and right, seeing the guards not paying attention. For the plan to work, a distraction had to happen. He clenched his hands on the Ein-restricting collar around his neck, giving one final nod to Emily and Fred, and gathered the Reis. The entire mess hall trembled from his single Shattering Wave, and everyone turned to the source of the deafening bang, their mouths gaping wide open as Oscar tossed aside the fragments of his collar.

His skin shivered, and a pleasant feeling rose in Oscar's chest. His core danced and pulsed happily within the inner world, and the cool streams of Ein coursed through his body. The time was now! Not skipping a moment, Oscar invoked his Guise, the familiar blue antlers of Eirin extending from his forehead. Swiftly, his hands grabbed Emily's and Fred's collars and broke them easily before the guards could react.

Emily and Fred rushed into action, not a second off in their movements. Emily stomped on the ground and erected stone walls while Fred swayed his hands, sending gusts of wind to swirl around like a cocoon around the mess hall. Oscar bolted from table to table, breaking their collars, already spending much of his Guise powers.

Annoyed by the strange looks the now-free inmates gave him, Oscar shouted, "We're escaping! Kill them all!" To give them one final burst of confidence, he zipped around, flames bursting from one hand and a golden drill extending from the other. The golden drill plunged into a guard's chest, and a circle of fire formed under the guard and erupted into a pillar of flames reaching the ceiling, decimating the guard into ash.

The other inmates cheered and screamed, uplifted by Oscar's charge. They flew around in the mess hall and fought the guards. The guards fought well and held back the raging inmates due to their armaments and beast companions, but Oscar's side had the numbers. In the thick of the churning battle, the tables were coated in blood, and bodies peppered the floor, red blood dirtying the clean white floor.

They were winning. Oscar allowed himself to smile while he rampaged through the mess hall. Unexpectedly, he ran into Alec, Louis, Rolan, and Edclet. Louis smiled and swung his fists together like a hammer, radiant light shining on his knuckles like stars. Rolan strangled a guard, icy blue expanding from his arms onto the guard's body. Alec gathered water and trapped others in bubbles, holding them at bay while Louis and Rolan fought.

"Felix! What the hell is this?" Alec warded off a fire spell.

"We're breaking out, and I need everyone onboard." Oscar threw a flaming spear at a guard, creating a blazing trail as the guard was forced back. For the first time in the month he had known him, Oscar saw Alec smiling widely, a complete difference from the casual smile he wore like a mask. This smile contained the resolve and drive Alec lacked earlier.

"How nice. Fine! Alright, you bastards, let's go!" Alec shouted, summoning his stingray anima. He raised his hands, fingers trembling from exertion as tides rose, separating the enemy. Louis and Rolan pounced, Louis attacking using his towering figure and Rolan sweeping in from below.

Oscar let them be and dashed through the crowd, maintaining his communication with Erden. 'How much longer?'

'Three minutes. We hear the bells tolling already.' Erden replied.

'Three minutes….I got it.' Oscar punched the door and rushed down the stairs, turning a corner to enter a short, wide corridor, plain white all over. At the end was an open doorway, the side route to level four, the prison of the Marshal Exalts and his master.

Halting his steps, Oscar roused his Eirin, surging it to the fullest. He felt the ominous presence coming from below, approaching his set of halls. Red eyes shone in the darkness beyond the doorway as small, quiet steps tapped forward. Maia Claude strode into the light, her white hair swaying to her waist, clear annoyance evident in her pursed red lips and knitted brow.

"Is your purpose the Marshal Exalts below?" Maia's eyes shone, her seduction spell already well underway.

Oscar could sense her insidious intent worming its way into his mind, but he no longer allowed them the freedom to infect his thoughts. He switched with Demon while Erden sent forth a stream of Ein to help Oscar break the spell.

"That won't work anymore. It never will." Oscar reassumed control.

"Impossible." Maia sounded surprised. "Who are you?"

'Two minutes….' Oscar heard Erden call out. He relaxed and forcibly canceled the transfiguration elixir. His joints cracked and popped, his arms and legs extended out, his shirt ripped apart and fell in tatters, and his hair and eyes returned to their obsidian black. Cracking his shoulders, he smiled at the wide-eyed Maia. "It's been a while, Maia Claude. How's your face?"

Her face darkened as a red flush of anger overwhelmed her pretty countenance. In a trembling voice of disbelief and hate, she said in a vicious tone, her words coming to a screech, "Oscar Terr!"

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