The Devil’s Cage

The blade of the sword landed on the mask with a fierce slash, part of the blade embedding itself on the mask.

Cracks started to spread like a spider web, starting from the point of impact and slowly enveloping the entire mask.

Kieran wasn’t surprised though. Since the mask was a vessel capable of holding a man’s soul, it must be some unique item, its durability it’s most important point.

“Wait! I can make a deal with you! Aren’t you curious to know why I’m here?”

A hurried voice came from the mask but Kieran didn’t care, continued to press down on his sword.

Of course Kieran was curious, but compared to his curiosity, Kieran wanted to witness this enemy, who trailed after him like a cancer, die right in front of his own eyes.

He believed the best enemy was one who was dead, a thought that never changed since the beginning.

“Dragon Sect secret techniques! I can tell you every single Dragon Sect technique that I know of!”

The mask quickly changed his persuasion tactics.

Kieran’s hand suddenly paused.

“That’s right, I can tell you everything about it, I can even teach you… Aaaaaargh!”

Just when the mask thought it had successfully dissuaded Kieran from cutting it, Kieran, who had paused his slashing sword, finally pressed through the mask after he had held his strength.

Pak!

The mask broke.

A sharp eerie scream came out from the mask and echoed in the hall.

“Oh I really want Dragon Sect techniques but… Definitely not your words or your teachings!”

As long as Kieran was still sane, he would never receive teachings from a hostile enemy, one who harboured ill intentions against him. Besides, Kieran had other ways.

Kieran still had access to [The Queen’s Shield] dungeon, so he had an abundance of ways to get what he sought and not compromise with an enemy at hand.

Pak!

Pak Pak!

The mask broke but Kieran didn’t stop slashing.

He wielded his sword in a flurry,moving his arm until every piece of the mask was almost grinded into dust. Only then did he walk towards the end of the corridor.

Kieran would not touch the dead body for now.

Soon, Kieran found what he was looking for in the corridor.

Grenades!

Kieran skillfully tied three grenades together and pulled the pins.

The grenade bundle was hurled on top of the broken mask.

“You think this is the end? It will be just the beginning when you enter that “place”! You will die a death a thousand times harsher than mine! You…”

KABOOM!

The explosion interrupted the upset voice.

What was left after the explosion was screams of agony, louder than before.

Thick smoke gushed out from the door. Kieran, who took cover behind the wall, tapped the dust off of his body and returned to the corridor again.

The masked man’s body was blasted into many pieces by the explosion.

The mask was further destroyed, the pieces almost as small as specks of dust.

In fact, if it wasn’t for the limited amount of time, Kieran would find a volcano and throw the pieces of the mask inside.

But Kieran had no time for that because…

[Eliminated target, deemed as completing main mission]

[Player will leave the dungeon world in 10 seconds…]

[Please take whatever items you wish to keep with you.]

[Note: Any items that exceed the maximum weight will be discarded!]

…

Kieran glanced over the notifications on his vision, he then quickly searched the body on the floor, but it was fruitless.

Looking at the countdown timer which was less than 5 seconds, Kieran sized up his surroundings.

Soon, he found his target: the slightly bigger pieces of the mask.

Squinting his eyes, Kieran moved the bigger pieces of the mask together with his sword and when the timer was on its last second, Kieran grabbed the pieces with a fling of his sword.

The next moment, Kieran vanished on the spot.

[Special dungeon: Primordial Invasion]

[Dungeon Type: Special]

[Dungeon difficulty: High]

[Main mission: Let enough people know about “the real world” in 180 days]

[Mission Completion: 100%]

[Special rating: Eliminated the intruder (Perfect rating)]

[Calculating player’s final rating…]

…

When he returned to Wallway 13th, notifications were popping up on his vision, but before Kieran could carefully go through the details, his sight went dark, turning completely dark without the slightest light or buzz.

Kieran stood in the darkness, unable to move, talk, see, hear or even smell.

His brows furrowed tightly together. This feeling was unfamiliar to him, but fortunately, a sound echoed in his ear moments later.

Dong Dong Dong!

It was soft and weak but felt very familiar to Kieran somehow.

It was… His heartbeat! The rhythm of his own heart!

It was beating weakly at the moment, as though it might stop any second; each time the heart moved, it felt like it had used up all of its energy.

Fresh blood was pumped throughout the heart, slowly flowing through the veins.

The runes branded on Kieran’s veins were nourished by the blood.

They were from the Transcendence skills, branded on his body, and had become one with his flesh and blood, now inseparable.

The blood continued flowing through his veins, nourishing the other organs and in the end, flowing into his second heart.

The second heart tried to beat at first but was bound down by some unknown forces.

When the blood touched the heart, the bindings could no longer hold the heart down, thus allowing the second heart to beat again.

The beating of the second heart was vigorous and powerful.

Dong Dong Dong!

Each beat was like war drums on the battlefield.

Each beat carried the roars of the Devil Force.

On the dark, desolate, boundless wilderness, the arrogant red figure was roaring at the sky.

The untamed roars shook the sky and land.

It wanted to move forward!

It wanted to step forward!

However, invisible chains appeared, one after another, binding the red figure down, and unlike the previous bindings, this time the chains went after specific spots on the red figure.

The chains were specially prepared to hold down the red figure.

The red figure struggled time after time, resisting the bindings and refusing to be bound on the spot, but each time ended in failure.

It gradually became helpless and and further exhausted its energy and strength.

But, it never gave up on fighting the bindings.

It would never bow down to the so-called destiny or fate.

It would never acknowledge the illusionary peace.

It roared at the sky again. It’s struggling roars started to spread further away, to the point that it reached a very delicate place.

“You need help? Well, so do we! Why don’t we… Help each other out?”

A very lazy voice softly spoke out beside the red figure.

The red figure hesitated, having second thoughts.

Its arrogance made it hesitate, its doubts made it think twice.

“Hey, look, this kind of chance won’t come by that often. You can even say it’s a once in a lifetime. Are you sure you want to give up? What then? Continue getting tied up here, being summoned like a dog at will?”

The lazy voice never changed its tone, but the red figure grew hotter. It was angry, upset by the description the lazy voice had used for his situation.

BUT!

It was furious about its own helplessness.

ROAR!

Another roar sounded, louder and more imposing than before, sounding as if the sky had cracked open.

The red figure was using its greatest strength to deliver a single thought: never give up.

“Great! I guess we have reached an agreement. Well, now, there’s only one more guy left.”

The lazy voice slowly faded away, the red figure settling down because it knew it wasn’t the time for it to waste energy.

It had to store its energy for what was about to come.

It had to wait for that perfect moment to unleash its might.

…

The waves at sea were endless.

In a spot where the waves would never reach, a quiet figure was sitting down.

It looked down on the waves, crashing relentlessly against the cliff.

It watched the waves coming from further away, rushing towards the cliff endlessly.

“It’s useless. It’s useless.”

Mutters sounded from the quiet figure.

“How do you know it’s useless when you haven’t even tried? Giving up without trying… Behind every successful soul is a loser. Why don’t we join forces and do something big?”

The lazy voice echoed in the quiet figure’s head, but the figure turned a deaf ear, its face and body not reacting to the words.

It looked at the waves again, looking at them crashing against the cliff.

The waves were endless but none of them succeeded in moving the cliff, so how could it succeed where the waves had failed?

“It’s useless. It’s useless.”

The quiet figure muttered again.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I really am surprised. I never would have thought that the guy who had iron nerves and never gave up on anything would show a side like this,” the lazy voice said in astonishment. It was really surprised by the quiet figure’s reaction.

“Everyone has a side that no one knows off. He is better at hiding it, but I am still here. Aren’t you the same?” the figure asked.

“Me? Oh, I am not like you. At least I know I would give it my best shot and…”

“Your best shot? What use will that be? Look at the endless waves, crashing against the cliffs relentlessly, trying to enter a new world beyond the sea, but in the end? They fail over and over again.”

The lazy voice was interrupted. It also looked at the waves, feeling absolutely helpless and down, as though it was born a total loser.

“In the end? We are just halfway through and you are talking about the end? A guy like you really gives me a headache. I’ll ask you one more time, do you want to join me?”

The lazy voice somehow sounded pissed. The quiet figure, who sat by the cliff, kept quiet and didn’t bother to reply.

Its silence was answer enough.

The lazy voice didn’t linger for long. It had no time to meddle with this stubborn guy.

It had too many things that it needed to attend to.

One guy short, so be it.

With that thought in mind, Sloth walked out of its room.

It entered the living hall, which was the only place connected to all the other rooms within this building.

Pride was sitting there, not uttering a word.

Gluttony was looking at the others: Wrath, Greed, Envy and Lust.

“Don’t you move. Sit tight or I’ll eat you!”

Gluttony was muttering to the other cardinal sins while wiping its drool.

“Got one, failed to get the other.” Sloth reported to Pride.

“Enough.”

Pride was speaking briefly as usual, his eyes scanning over Wrath, Greed, Envy and Lust. His arrogant face didn’t show a bit of expression.

Although Pride had hoped for an extra pair of hands for manpower, in his eyes, the other cardinal sins didn’t even qualify to speak to him equally.

Even more so during this particular moment, when they were utterly useless, and might drag Pride, Sloth and Gluttony down.

“Make them disappear for a while,” Pride told Gluttony.

The arrogance in Pride’s tone was unsettling for Gluttony but he wouldn’t just let the delicious “food” before his eyes slip away.

“I’ve always wanted to taste one of my own!”

Gluttony then jumped on Wrath, Envy, Greed and Lust.

Of course the four of them fought back, but it was a futile attempt.

Since the four of them were originally suppressed by Pride, after Sloth and Gluttony joined him, the four of them wouldn’t have stood a chance against all of them.

Wrath roared.

Greed twisted.

Envy cursed.

Lust moaned.

So what?

One after another, Gluttony swallowed them whole.

Gluttony’s body grew like a balloon, expanding infinitely.

Soon enough, Gluttony was so big that he reached the ceiling, but the ceiling of the building was too sturdy and after Gluttony hit the ceiling, he started to expand sideways.

Pride remained quiet and placed his hand on Gluttony.

“Sigh. I am always the pitiful one, spending more effort than anyone.”

Sloth also placed one of his hands on Gluttony’s expanding body. His other hand then started to swing around in a flurry, his eyes looking more serious than ever.

Success or failure, it all came down to this moment.

Even life and death would be determined in this very moment!

Sloth’s figure started to fade away as a massive amount of energy slipped away from his body.

Then Sloth disappeared!

“Divide your strength into eight portions. Leave the strongest at 1 meter in front of you. The others, from strongest to weaker, spread them out clockwise with the strongest at 8 o’clock, then 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 5 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 7 o’clock. Remember, strike all the points at the same time!”

Sloth, whose body was almost gone, was shouting loudly at Gluttony.

Gluttony acted as ordered. He divided his strength into eight portions and struck the ceiling at the same time.

Then, his expanding body started to shrink as his strength was all used in striking the ceiling above him.

In the end, Gluttony also started to fade away like Sloth, but he didn’t regret it.

He has been imprisoned here for far too long.

He wanted to get out, he wanted freedom.

Only with freedom, he could achieve his dream!

As their body was drifting away, Sloth felt the building shaking, but he had almost depleted his own power and so did Pride. Sloth was on the brink of vanishing.

Gluttony took in a deep breath.

“Damn it, what are you doing?! Stop!”

Sloth noticed something, and despite his weakened state, shouted with all his might.

Gluttony turned around and grinned at Pride and Sloth.

“FOR MY DREAM!” Gluttony said.

Gluttony then opened his mouth, his body flying up to the ceiling, and went to bite the structure.

He had a dream, a dream to… EAT!

“EAT!”

“MY DREAM IS TO EAT EVERYTHING!”

Shouting his dream out loud, Gluttony landed a bite at the ceiling. His already fading body burst upon contact and with Gluttony’s sacrifice, the sturdy, indestructible ceiling started to tremble rapidly.

Kak!

A small crack appeared and was growing rapidly.

Soon, the whole hall had collapsed.

The cage… was gone.