The Devil’s Cage

“Careful! Sniper!”

Oaker’s reaction was quick as he warned Kieran loudly. At the same time, he instinctively did a standard backroll and hid behind the dead angle of the window.

Oaker then saw Kieran stand still without moving an inch.

“2567…”

BANG!

Fualaaa!

Just as Oaker wanted to warn Kieran, he was interrupted by the shattered window.

Amidst the shattered glass, a person was “thrown” into the room.

Oaker didn’t have a clear look at how the person got in, the reason why he thought the person was “thrown” because the person landed in a terrible state.

The person’s face had glass all over and blood tainted most of his body, even all four of his limbs were twisted to various angles.

It was Kieran who successfully apprehended the sniper and threw him back in.

However, Oaker didn’t care about all those because his attention was captured when he saw a certain tattoo behind the person’s neck.

“You know this tattoo?”

Kieran glanced over the pentagram tattoo and asked.

The pentagram tattoo wasn’t a magic circle, it was just a plain shape without any additional magical runes or activation incantations.

“Um. Remember Footer that I mentioned earlier? This is his unique mark, only the core members of his men were granted the right to bear the tattoo.” Oaker nodded in a heavy expression.

“Dublin Street is where the conflict began?” Kieran muttered softly.

Kieran’s memory wasn’t weak to the point that he would forget what Oaker said just now, it was just that he didn’t expect the sniper to have originated from Dublin Street.

At first he thought the sniper was just some common revenge seeker troubling Oaker during chaotic times but obviously, the sniper had some other more straightforward goals.

The sudden ambush, however, was good news to Kieran who already had an inkling to start his plans.

“Seems like the situation is more severe than you mentioned, perhaps… Your actions of late pissed off the VIP that gained control of Dublin Street recently, this is a protest towards you!” Kieran said.

“Hmph! This is not the first time anyway! If I was cowardly enough to submit to such violence, I would have retired a long time ago!” Oaker voiced out his displeasure while he walked towards the phone but he was stopped by Kieran.

“Can you leave this to me?” Kieran asked.

“Leave this to you?” Oaker was stunned.

Based on Oaker’s knowledge of Kieran, Kieran wasn’t a passionate person that would help others unconditionally, although Kieran treated the inspector fairly well, he had no reason to intervene.

The unusual question caused the inspector to be more serious than before.

“What’s going on? Are you preparing to do something?” Oaker looked at Kieran with a heavy gaze.

A person like Oaker would never forget the debt of gratitude he owed, likewise he would never forget his duties either. During most cases, duty transcended debts of gratitude.

It may sound cold and less humane but it was the reason Kieran chose to communicate with Oaker because the inspector knew what should be done and what shouldn’t.

Oaker would not be moved by some petty benefits nor would he be blinded by vengeance.

The inspector held his beliefs strictly against everyone else and in other people’s eye, it might have a ridiculous baseline but Kieran was particularly fond of such a baseline.

“Relax! I am just curious as to why that fella you mentioned would do something like this. I assure you no other innocent or unrelated personnel will get involved,” Kieran said with a smile.

“I’ll oversee the whole process,” Oaker emphasized.

“No problem.” Kieran nodded without diminishing his smile.

…

Footer’s body was heavily bandaged and had splints over his joints. He was crawling in pain on the sofa.

Gawk!, Gark! Gark!

Clear cracking noises were heard from Footer’s body.

He was biting onto a towel and trying his best to not scream in pain but heavy grunts replaced the screams as he moaned in pain uncontrollably.

Veins were popping up on his bald head, sweat as big as peas kept oozing out of his body and dripping down on the floor. Even the pentagram tattoo on his face was blurry because of the sweat.

This time around the excruciating process lasted around 10 minutes.

Footer’s body was drenched by his own sweat after the process began. A moment before the cracking stopped, Footer spat the towel out of his mouth, turned around and stood up from the sofa.

He was exercising his whole body in a special form granted by the process.

Pak! Pak Pak!

More cracking noises came from Footer’s body but unlike the ones from before, the cracking this time around sounded like peas on a hot pan, not only continuous but concentrated as well.

Under the ceaseless cracking, Footer’s body grew stronger at an exponential speed. His already fit body grew muscular and bigger within a few breath’s time, he was even taller by 1 to 2 cms.

While feeling the energy bursting from his inner body, Footer clenched his fist in satisfaction.

“Power! This is real power! I want more power!”

Footer growled heavily as his face looked slightly vicious after the process.

Once he thought about the reminder his trader gave him, he turned around and walked outside without a second thought.

However, after the first step, a dangerous feeling rose in his heart.

It was the instinct that he gained through killings in the streets throughout his life.

Without a second thought, Footer took a side roll and went behind the desk beside him. His hand even reached out to the heavy caliber handgun at his waist and pointed at the direction that made him uneasy the moment he got into position.

The whole series of actions was as smooth as water in a stream and clouds flowing in the sky with his body physique that surpassed common human, but…

The direction he pointed his gun was devoid of any targets.

There was nothing there except for a ball of black, dense long hair.

Fiend!

The stories that he heard in the past and the knowledge he gained recently taught Footer about the targets he was facing. His finger squeezed the trigger repeatedly before dashing towards the door.

If he had more time to develop himself, Footer wouldn’t even take the fiends seriously but now?

He was still too far away!

Footer turned and ran for it as his self-realization hit him but still, he underestimated the powers of the fiend.

The bullets Footer fired hit the ball of hair with its scorching heat but that was all that happened and it didn’t stop the hair from advancing.

Sou, Sou Sou!

Under the air-breaking sounds of an arrow, the ball of hair fired locks of hair at Footer, entangling him from further movements and silencing him by filling his mouth with hair. The hair suppressed all the screams down Footer’s throat and the ball of hair dragged him out of the window like a string puppet.

When Footer’s men arrived at the scene in reaction to the gunshots, other than a broken window, nothing was found.

The disappearance of their leader instantly caused the men to panic, they started their search like a swarm of busy bees.

Meanwhile, on a car less than 1km away from Footer’s base, Oaker was greeted with an angry glare after Hair Fiend captured the gang leader.

However, his mouth was shut by the hair and only unclear grunts were heard amidst his struggling.

Right after that, when Footer saw Kieran walking towards him, the anger on his face was replaced by horror.

The surprise horrified expression startled Kieran.

Kieran sized up Footer’s expression and went into deep thought.

“You know me and it seems like you and I are enemies.”

“And the enemies that I am facing here are only… Perforation Sting am I right?”