Chapter 152: Agony And Awakening

Kane forced his expression into a mask of bored indifference, even as the footage twisted his stomach into knots.

"Cute slideshow," he said, voice steady despite the electric agony coursing through his body.

"Really drives home the whole ’tragic villain backstory’ thing you’ve got going."

Elias’s smile faltered slightly at Kane’s dismissive tone.

"You see their suffering and feel nothing?"

"What I see," Kane replied, fighting to keep his voice level as another wave of voltage made his muscles spasm, "is a desperate wolf playing with toys he doesn’t understand."

He fixed Elias with a steady stare, ignoring the way his vision flickered.

"So what’s the goal here? All this torture, all these experiments—what exactly are you trying to achieve? World domination? Revenge fantasy against Cyrus? Or are you just bored?"

Kane’s voice grew harder despite the pain.

"Because from where I’m sitting, this looks like a very expensive temper tantrum thrown by someone who never got over being second choice."

Elias’s amber eyes flashed dangerously.

"You think this is about Cyrus?"

"Is it not?" Kane challenged. "The elaborate setup, the dragon construct, and the kidnapping of his boyfriend all seem pretty personal to me."

The wolf spirit leaned closer, its predatory smile returning.

"This is about evolution, little fox. About creating something better than what nature provided."

Kane stared at Elias, genuinely baffled.

"Evolution? What the hell does that even mean?"

The wolf’s explanation made no sense. Kane had seen the labs, the torture chambers, and the spirits being systematically broken down and rebuilt into weapons.

"You’re talking about creating something better, but all I see is a psychopath playing mad scientist with innocent people."

Kane’s voice grew sharper despite the electricity coursing through his restraints.

"What’s evolutionary about torturing a kelpie until she breaks? About stealing a salamander’s fire and turning it into some synthetic poison? About building dragon constructs from stolen scales?"

Elias’s predatory smile widened, but his eyes remained cold.

"You see individual suffering. I see potential."

"Potential for what?" Kane demanded, frustration bleeding through his attempted composure.

He gestured as much as his bonds allowed toward the laboratory beyond.

"You’re not improving anything—you’re destroying it. Taking something perfect and natural and turning it into a perverted mockery of itself."

Kane’s fox ears flattened against his skull.

"So enlighten me, because right now this just looks like elaborate cruelty for its own sake."

Elias circled the restraint table, his footsteps echoing in the sterile laboratory.

"Since you’re such a curious little fox," he said, amber eyes gleaming with fervor.

"I’ll indulge you."

Kane kept his expression neutral despite the pain radiating through his body.

"How generous."

"Look around you, Kane." Elias gestured toward the facility beyond the reinforced glass.

"Eight centuries ago, during the Night of Falling Stars, our people were forced to flee into this realm like refugees. We’ve been hiding ever since, cowering in human shadows, pretending to be something lesser."

The wolf’s voice grew heated, pacing faster.

"We’ve grown weak. Complacent. Satisfied with our little illusions and quiet lives while mortals multiply like insects, consuming everything." Elias slammed his fist against the metal table.

"We were gods once, Kane. Beings of pure elemental force. And now? Now we serve coffee and sell trinkets."

Kane watched Elias’s rant with growing disgust.

"So you torture spirits to make them... what? Stronger?"

"I’m restoring what we lost," Elias snarled.

"The synthetic compounds break down the limitations we’ve accepted, the mental barriers that keep us small. These experiments will create a new generation of spirits—ones who remember their true power."

Kane let out a dry laugh despite the electricity making his muscles twitch.

"Right. So basically, you want world domination."

Elias’s eyes flashed with annoyance.

"I want liberation."

"Same thing, different packaging," Kane replied flatly.

"Replace ’ruling from the shadows’ with ’ruling from laboratory-enhanced thrones.’ Still boils down to you thinking spirits are superior and humans are disposable."

Kane met Elias’s glare with steady defiance.

"But hey, at least you’re honest about being a megalomaniac."

The wolf’s smile turned razor-sharp.

"And you’re honest about being naive."

Elias studied Kane with the calculating gaze of a predator sizing up prey.

"You know, I’ve always sensed something different about you," he mused, circling the restraint table again.

"Something... untapped."

Kane’s stomach dropped at the wolf’s tone.

"Here I thought my sparkling personality was what set me apart."

Elias ignored the quip, his amber eyes gleaming with scientific curiosity.

"Most fox spirits are clever but weak. Street-smart scavengers at best. But you..." He tilted his head, studying Kane like a specimen.

"You’ve survived things that should have killed you. Formed bonds that should be impossible. There’s power in you that even you don’t recognize."

Kane’s pulse quickened as Elias gestured toward one of the white-coated technicians.

"Perhaps it’s time to unlock that potential."

The scientist approached with a syringe filled with violently purple liquid that seemed to pulse with its own malevolent light.

Kane’s eyes locked onto the vial, his blood turning to ice.

"Is that—"

"Essence of the Screaming Shard, yes." Elias held the vial up to the laboratory lights, watching the liquid dance.

"Concentrated, refined, and enhanced with my own synthetic compounds. One injection should unlock whatever potential you’ve been suppressing."

Kane’s mind raced. Cyrus had secured the shard in Vault Seven—biometric locks, blood seals, magical keys. Only Cyrus could access it.

"That’s impossible," Kane breathed. "Cyrus locked it away. How did you—"

"Oh, my dear fox." Elias’s triumphant smile widened as understanding dawned in Kane’s horrified eyes.

"You think I gave Madam Xiu the original? How charmingly naive."

Kane’s blood turned to ice. "You bastard—"

The needle pierced his neck before he could finish the curse.

The purple liquid burned like molten fire as it entered his bloodstream, and Kane’s scream tore through the sterile laboratory air.

His body convulsed violently against the restraints, every muscle seizing as the synthetic essence rewrote his spirit core.

Elias stepped back, amber eyes gleaming with triumphant fascination as Kane’s transformation began.

The careful glamour he’d maintained for decades shattered completely, revealing pointed fox ears and the base of a tail.

Power crackled around Kane’s writhing form—raw, chaotic, and completely uncontrolled.

The lights in the laboratory flickered as spirit energy pulsed through the air.

Elias shielded his eyes against the blinding silver radiance, but he was grinning.

"Yes... show me the true fox."