The Devil’s Cage

Any small changes in the world should not be neglected.

A flap of a butterfly’s wing might cause a storm a few thousand miles away after a while.

A nail short of hammering might lose a war or doom a country.

Wu’s prayers didn’t bring a storm or doom a country though.

All she prayed for was to change the power in Kieran’s body, the power of the Devil Lord that resided in the Origin Force; it was melting away as time passed.

The power didn’t increase or decrease; its changes were on a constant level.

The power, as dim as a fire on a dying candle, became firm within a breath. It was still a small fire, but it was also the fire that shook all beings.

Kieran slowly sat up, eventually crawling up.

The whole process was like a dying older man trying to stand up, but his face was still youthful and the injuries on his body were healing without any medicine or treatment.

The golden lion looked at Kieran, who returned his gaze.

He had seen enough, so…

“Thanks,” Kieran said.

After the thanks, Kieran felt like he had come back alive. Not just in terms of aura, but his body as well. He was revitalized from the old dying state to a youthful and energetic state.

He then strode towards the cone.

The sentient cone had already stopped its pursual of Bloody Mary; it ‘looked’ at Kieran in a doubtful and anxious way.

“What are you doing? Stop! I said, stop! STOP!” The cone shouted.

A sheer coldness that could freeze one’s soul came with the shout.

This sheer coldness wasn’t simply spreading like before; it was like an avalanche, sliding toward Kieran. What came along with the coldness wasn’t just ice anymore but also…darkness!

The darkness felt like death in a harsh winter night, suffocating and despairful.

Kieran was drowned in it, but he wasn’t affected at all.

He was like a traveler pressing through a blizzard, his steps steady and absent of any hesitance; he walked straight and firm towards his target.

The suffocation couldn’t stop his breathing because his breaths were hot and burning; the pressure from the suffocation withered to nothing.

Despair couldn’t crush his mental state because his heart was tenacious and unyielding. Instead, despair itself was crushed.

Huu!

Huu!

Breath after breath, light appeared in the darkness.

There were sparks!

Bits of sparks grew larger as he took his breaths. The sparks grew from a small light to a fire that could incinerate an entire field. The fire was unstoppable as it flew up to the sky.

In the middle of the pillar of fire, a giant Devil mirage roared loudly.

Chaos, arrogance and ruthlessness formed a blazing tornado and wreaked havoc.

The darkness was expelled, and the coldness turned warm.

All that was left was the sentient cone object in sight and Kieran walking towards it with [Arrogant Word].

“Wait! I…”

The cone still wanted to say something to save itself from the impending doom, but Kieran was not one to spare chances for his enemies; not before, not now and certainly not in the future.

The bewitching greatsword swung down with a heavy slash.

The blazing tornado, as if it had attached itself to the greatsword, spun fiercer and hotter as the greatsword moved.

Until—

Roar!

Another heavy, deafening roar. It sounded like the first roar of a slumbering monster. It was as loud as thunder and as pressuring as mountains, and its form… even pierced the ninth heaven!

A dragon!

A massive dragon form took form amidst the blazing tornado. It flew out and devoured the cone object with a single chomp.

The fiery dragon didn’t stop there. It rammed against the ceiling of the lab, burst out from the ground and flew up to the sky.

The dragon spotted Wu further away on a building’s roof. It roared at the sky again.

Roar!

The fiery dragon that should have been illusive felt like it had truly descended on earth. All of Eiders was shaken, but Wu, kneeling on the roof, smiled instead.

She knew she had succeeded.

She had the confidence to turn that damned fate around.

…

Underground lab. The fiery dragon flew up to the sky and vanished soon after.

Kieran leaned on [Arrogant Word] while panting heavily.

[Fury Slash] and [Sword Skill, Rising Dragon], combined with the power of Devil Force and [Lionheart], consumed much more Stamina than he had imagined.

Even with his special constitution, he had almost depleted his Stamina.

The sentient cone object split in half and fell to the ground.

The energy from within the cone gushed out and went into [Wilco’s Redemption] and [Seattle Right Hand].

Most of the energy went into the two pieces of equipment while the remainder formed a crystal and fell to the ground.

Ding!

The crystal fell in front of Kieran with a clear sound; it shined dazzlingly.

Kieran bent down and picked up the crystal with difficulty.

At the same time, he also savoured the power in the deepest part of Devil Force.

However, the Origin Force that seemed to have synced with him before went away at this moment.

It didn’t vanish though, as Kieran could still clearly feel its presence in his heart, but…

He couldn’t utilize it.

He could use Devil Force like it were his own limbs, but the stronger Origin Force hidden inside the Devil Force was not reacting. It caused him much discomfort after multiple attempts at trying to move it.

Once he was sure that he couldn’t utilize the Origin Force for the time being, Kieran looked at Pride. The latter nodded and, with that, vanished without saying anything.

Perhaps in Pride’s eyes, there was nothing to say.

They won, and it was enough.

Other than that?

It wasn’t Pride’s concern anymore, as Kieran could deal with it perfectly.

As a matter of fact, Kieran did exactly that.

“Block those people outside for me. Buy me 10 minutes to rest,” Kieran said to Bloody Mary in the corner.

He didn’t want to face a bunch of strangers in his worst condition.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Bloody Mary asked as it made its way to the entrance of the lab.

“What do you think?” Kieran said in an upset tone.

He didn’t understand why Bloody Mary, a nearly immortal existence, was so scared of dying. It didn’t make any sense as to why it didn’t fully utilize its gifts.

“I don’t want to. If I get it right, I’ll feel depressed. If I’m wrong, I’ll feel even more depressed.” Bloody Mary shrugged and went up.

A moment after Bloody Mary left, a figure slowly descended from the hole in the ceiling that the fiery dragon had rammed through.

“It’s me.”

It was Wu. To not cause unwanted trouble, she stated her identity and looked at Kieran with a smile.

Her smile was sweet. It came from the bottom of her heart, and it was powerful enough to taint people’s hearts.

The smile… made Kieran frown.

Goodwill was good, but when the endless goodwill was because she treated him as another person, Kieran was not willing to accept it, even if some other people were willing to enjoy it like bitter malt.

He knew the saying “give and take”.

The more he ‘took’, the more he would have to ‘give’.

Wu?

In his perspective, that would not change.

So, Kieran didn’t want to entangle with Wu anymore.

He straightened his body, but before he could speak, Wu took out a scroll and used it on him.