The Devil’s Cage

“Who am I? I am the house leader of K, Erbus. K.”

Erbus. K sat in its chair, holding the glass of blood and spoke transparently.

“Is that so?”

Bloody Mary crossed its arm and sat on Erbus. K’s side of the table. Then, it emphasized with a dull tone, “Since when can a human become the house leader of Blood Kin?”

“Humans were never the house leader of Blood Kin.”

“Me? I’m just…”

Erbus. K reacted like it was going to explain to Bloody Mary, but when it was halfway through, it launched a sudden attack

The blood in his glass flew out like arrows and pierced Bloody Mary’s chest.

The waiters and musicians in the room then dashed towards Bloody Mary while letting out beastly roars and with movements like ferocious wild beasts.

But some of them were stronger, they weren’t the soft and weak humans from before.

Bloody Mary was dragged into the ‘human’ whirlpool by a formless force and was swiftly drowned.

Watching the scene, Erbus. K slowly stood up from his chair.

“I thought we could still work together, but you think too highly of yourself.”

“Somethings are better left a secret even if you know it, aren’t they?” Erbus. K said softly.

It knew the High Demon couldn’t hear its voice. Although the High Demon’s abilities were quite enticing, since Erbus. K dared to propose a collaboration, he would be fully prepared.

As though it thought of something delightful, the house leader of the Blood Kin continued, “There are too many weird and unexplainable things in this world.”

“Although I am not pure-blooded, my mixed lineage granted me some abilities that pure-blooded Blood Kin don’t have, like creating some puppets.”

“All I need to do is choose some suitable humans, infuse them with some Blood Kin’s blood, and they will obey unconditionally and became stronger. Some special ‘puppets’ can even manifest the abilities of a real Blood Kin.”

“Isn’t it great?”

“Of course, the most surprising thing is, the humans living in Eiders are exceptionally suitable for puppet creation, especially those underage little girls.”

“They are like presents gifted to me from heaven!”

“I may be a hybrid, but my powers allow me to lead an entire Blood Kin house, or even… All of them!”

“Marquis K? No, no, no!”

“I will be the house leader of all the Blood Kins in Eiders, I will be the only acknowledged Blood Kin in Eiders, a Grand Duke!”

Erbus. K sounded more excited as it continued, his breath even became hurried, but it didn’t seem to notice the changes. Instead, he became more excited than ever, until—

Ding-Ding!

The noise produced by a knife and fork cutting against porcelain plates entered its ear.

Instinctively, Erbus. K turned around, his eyes shrunk.

What did he see?

Monster Hunter D, who was supposed to be crushed to bits by the puppets, was sitting at the other end of the banquet table, cutting a piece of steak. Even under Erbus. K’s astonished gaze, Monster Hunter D acted normally and grabbed the golden sauce boat with black pepper sauce inside and carefully poured it over the steak.

The black pepper sauce was poured thinly, and yet it entirely covered the steak without any excessive spillage on the plate.

“How? How are you here?” Erbus. K shouted fiercely.

Kieran didn’t answer, he concentrated on the sumptuous dinner, which was hard to come by. The knife and fork in his hand were cutting the steak quickly and carefully, the fork then delivered the piece of steak into his mouth and not a drop of gravy was lost in the process.

The arrogant eating manners infuriated Erbus. K.

It felt a burning rage uncontrollably rushing into its mind.

Its brain felt like it was boiling.

Its brain felt like it was burning.

Then…

It was really burned!

Black flame filled with negative emotions appeared and engulfed Erbus. K completely.

“Aaaaargh!”

“KILL HIM!”

Screaming in pain, Erbus. K managed to give orders to its puppets.

The puppets that drowned Bloody Mary in the first place stood up one after another, a loud, fierce wail later, all of them charged towards Kieran.

Kieran took a glance at the puppets.

The puppets were immediately paralyzed and in the next moment—

Bang Bang Bang Bang!

Their heads exploded like watermelons!

[Deadman’s Gaze]!

[Fear Illusion]!

Following [Half-dead Gaze]’s activation, the human puppets infused with Blood Kin blood were wiped out quickly.

Kieran raised his hand, a big piece of tapestry swiftly flew out from the wall with [Vast Remnant Eye, Telekinesis]’s pull, blocking all the splattering brains from reaching the banquet table.

Things that shouldn’t belong on the dining table should not be on the dining table.

“Aaaaargh!”

Erbus. K’s excruciating cry was still going on, but it was getting softer, and in the end, it became quiet.

However, the black flame filled with negative emotions didn’t die off after that. Quite the opposite, it burned even fiercer, similar to how Wrath appeared, unstoppable and overwhelming.

Soon, Erbus. K’s body was burned to ashes.

Wrath gave a rare satisfying roar in Kieran’s heart. The other one who was also satisfied was Gluttony.

When it noticed working with Kieran granted it endless delicious food, Gluttony became the easiest to control among the cardinal sins.

It didn’t care about the outer world when food was placed before its eyes.

It followed Kieran’s taste buds and tasted all kinds of cuisine.

Pride watched coldly, as its name suggested, it grunted coldly and arrogantly while hiding deep in Kieran’s heart.

Even though Pride had the most significant contribution in this mission, it had nothing to say, or rather, it was too disdainful to say anything.

Sloth yawned, rolled around and continued its sleep, as though nothing mattered, all it wanted to do was sleep to the end of time, even with Greed creating a scene beside it.

Greed and Sloth didn’t care about Envy, neither did Kieran.

He concentrated on tasting the food before him. He didn’t even stop when Bloody Mary re-appeared with something in its arms.

“This bastard is definitely fishy. Otherwise, how could it keep so few valuables inside the vault of a famous Blood Kin house?”

Bloody Mary placed the things on the banquet table, it ranted about the results and didn’t even feel shameful for raiding people’s treasure vault.

In Bloody Mary’s perception, after killing the enemy, it must clean the battlefield meticulously and not miss out on a single spoil of war. Otherwise, it would be an insult to the loot—it was the conclusion it had after observing Kieran’s actions, time and time again.

On top of that, it agreed with Kieran’s action, just like how it agreed to its previous viewpoint.

How could a human become a house leader of the Blood Kin?

What hybrid, what unique lineage?

Through Bloody Mary’s senses, Erbus. K was a real human, the purest of its kind and given his condition, Erbus. K should never have the chance, and he couldn’t become a house leader.

Unless…