The Devil’s Cage

Bang!

The golden throne fell, and upon impact with the floor, the massive throne created cracks, as if it had been dropped onto a glass surface.

In the end…

Kang!

The whole scene shattered like a glass mirror.

Kieran returned to the small wooden room again.

The ear of golden wheat didn’t shake anymore, but instead, a dispirited elderly was kneeling in front of him.

“I surrender! I am…”

Bang!

The kneeling elder said sonorously. But before he could finish, he was interrupted by Kieran’s kick.

A plain old kick landed on the elder’s face. The elderly man was like a ball bouncing off a wall, flying outwards with tremendous force.

Kieran also followed the elder outside.

It was still the field! The lush green fields of endless crops!

It wasn’t the wooden room back in Arya Outpost.

The elderly man flew quite far away, and after mowing down a bunch of crops, he climbed up in a struggling way, he looked at Kieran with an astonished gaze.

“How did you…”

Bang!

Kieran appeared in front of the elder in a flash, dishing out another kick.

He would never explain or have an idle conversation with his enemies; neither would he believe that his enemies would surrender.

An attack was the best answer, killing was the best option.

The elderly man was sent flying once again, but this time, before his body fell back to the ground, Devil Flame struck his body.

Kaboom!

The blazing flame engulfed the elder’s body, and a while later, the elderly man was burnt to cinders.

But when the cinders fell all over the lush fields, the elder appeared again.

The elderly man seemed to have the ability to come back to life and regenerate his body.

“You are strong, but here, your powers are… Ugh!”

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by the pain.

Gluttony!

The cardinal sin appeared once again without the elder’s knowledge and started to devour the lush crops like a madman.

“Stop! I said, stop it, you animal!”

The elderly man shouted loudly, trying to stop Gluttony from mowing down his crops, but Kieran appeared right in front of his eyes.

“Disturbing someone’s meal isn’t very impolite of you.”

After those righteous words, Kieran swept a kick toward the elder’s calf, and when the elderly man fell to the ground due to the loss of balance, Kieran followed up with a step to the elder’s head, pushing it into the dirt.

The elderly man was struggling.

Kieran’s foot was like a sky-piercing pillar, not only cumbersome and robust but indestructible, no matter what the elder did, he couldn’t free himself.

The struggle grew weaker by the second.

Kieran, however, had never placed his attention on the elderly man from the very beginning.

A weak, dying old man wasn’t his target.

His target was…

Darkness appeared. Without the lush green corps, darkness appeared.

It wasn’t the dark color of the fertile soil on the ground, but abysmal darkness that could devourer all.

Gluttony, on the other hand, wanted to jump on the cloud of darkness without a second thought, but before he could, the reminder from Kieran struck him.

It wasn’t words but a gaze from Kieran.

Gluttony, who was one with Kieran, caught a glance of Kieran’s eyes, and he knew what his host wanted to do.

Gluttony wiped his mouth, gulped his saliva, and stepped aside.

“As I expected. You are really different from the others, you are quite similar to the fella that I once knew.”

A hissing-like noise was emitted, followed by words from the darkness under Kieran’s feet.

The darkness was rippling like water, and when it spread throughout the fields, a snake-head figure slowly appeared.

The Devourer!

No, it should be a clone or an avatar of sorts.

“That fella? Algor?” Kieran asked.

If he could grasp more information, Kieran didn’t mind continuing the conversation.

Of course, if the snake-headed figure wouldn’t give valuable information, Kieran didn’t mind striking him harder, giving him a quick death.

Sparing the figure? Impossible!

In Kieran’s creed, the enemy would always end up the same: death.

“Em. That fella, you two are very similar, so… fierce and merciless.”

The Devourer’s clone described Algor, the man once known as a Hero, with such words. The cold reptilian eyes showed sneers and disdain.

Kieran didn’t comment on the figure’s reaction, though.

Was he being fierce and ruthless? He didn’t argue since he had always been like that against enemies.

As for the Hero Algor? Without solid proof, he wouldn’t believe what the snake-man said.

Although he really hoped to dig up some valuable information from the snake-man, it didn’t mean he would pour all his trust into what it said.

The snake-man was an enemy, completely trusting an enemy was a suicidal act.

“Even your dubious character, it’s exactly the same!”

As if the clone sensed the disbelief in Kieran, the snake-man laughed.

A laugh should be a pleasant expression, but with the hissing of snakes, it struck chills down one’s spine and caused goosebumps.

“You seem to grasp people’s hearts quite well.”

“Then, why don’t you guess what will I do next?” Kieran smiled.

“Kill me? Or let that animal eat me?”

“This look is just a fragment of the power I left behind, it’s not even an avatar. Even if ‘I’ die, it won’t cause any real damage to my real body.”

“But, do you know what will I do to you during our next meeting?”

The snake man’s words had hidden malicious intent.

Kieran laughed. Amid his laughs, Wrath, Greed, Lust, Envy appeared beside him, and after Gluttony, all of them jumped on the snake man.

“This snake is delicious, it’s a little wasteful for you to have it alone.”

“Sharing is caring, caring will double your happiness.”

“Likewise, getting chewed on by five mouths will also multiply the pain,” Kieran said calmly.

“As for our next meeting, I’ll be looking forward to it!”

Kieran added the last sentence as if he suddenly thought of something.

“I will kill you!”

“I will torture you with pain that you cannot imagine, you will wish that you are dead!”

“Aaaaaa!”

“Release me, you bunch of crazy dogs! Release me!”

It seemed like the snake man wasn’t as calm as he presented himself, or was it like actually as Kieran speculated, did 5 mouths means 5 times the pain?

But none of that mattered anymore for Kieran had finally returned to the wooden room.

The ear of golden wheat tainted with black was falling apart bit by bit.

A vigorous, bold energy and a gloomy, strange energy were revealed as the cardinal sins tore the snake man apart, and the two strange energies entered Kieran’s hearts.

Dong, Dong Dong!

Kieran’s hearts started to beat violently.

Devil Force, Dawn Force, Plague Force, and Saint Thorn Force jumped on the two external energies.