The Devil’s Cage

Wiping off the cream on the edge of its mouth, Bloody Mary stood beside the street and looked down at the commercial district which had returned to normal.

The speed was just as boss expected.

Other than the pre-stationed sharpshooters, there were also members from the royal guardians, who possessed spell-casting abilities.

Bloody Mary scanned over several spots in the commercial district, then turned around and looked at the other side of the street. At one end of the street, a hooded man was striding towards it and at the other end of the street, another hooded man appeared.

The moment the two hooded men appeared, the icy cold killer intents were locked on it.

Bloody Mary was very certain had it been someone else, they could never break free from the killer intents, even if they jumped down from the Upper Seven Ring, because it wasn’t just pure killer intents, it was killer intents coupled with some mystical spells.

Though for Bloody Mary, breaking free forcefully was an option, but why? Why would it want to break free?

One thing worth taking note of was that Bloody Mary was wearing Luncar’s face, the man who ‘talked’ himself into every crack and crevice.

Therefore, before the two hooded men truly approached it, it raised its hands into the air.

The two men were obviously surprised about how cooperative Luncar was, slowing down and looking at him in a dubious gaze.

Bloody Mary also sized up the two of them. Its gaze was able to penetrate the shadow from the hood and allowed it to clearly see their true faces.

A rather familiar face allowed Bloody Mary to confirm their identities almost instantaneously, but they weren’t men from Councilman Colipo, which was the info it got from Luncar’s memories, they were from another councilman.

Luncar’s setup worked!

Councilman Colipo was heavily suspected!

No, more precisely, a lot of other councilmen were hoping to see Councilman Colipo fall!

Right away, Bloody Mary’s heart turned calm and it talked frankly.

“I don’t want to resist because I know what I did and I am not guilty about it! Everything that I did was for the society!” It sounded very decisive, hence it slowed down the killer intents of the two men.

“We are just carrying out orders to bring you back. You can tell the councilmen yourself later,” said one of the men.

“Has the Council Meeting been confirmed?” asked Bloody mary.

“No. They are still not sure whether or not to hold the Council Meeting, since…”

“CORRUPTED! As I expected, the continuous victories have changed the society from the roots, it is no longer the society that I know. We are in a life and death situation yet they hesitate!”

Before the man could finish, Bloody Mary stopped him with its own words. Filled with righteous indignation, Bloody Mary said strongly as it pointed at the commercial district, “Did you know what just happened here? The Demon Hunters are back but our councilmen is still being so calculative about trivial matters! No! I guess in their eyes, this isn’t some trivial matter because it it is closely related to their power and benefits.”

Bloody Mary chuckled vaguely then laughed loudly with mocks.

The two men looked at Bloody Mary and listened to its mocking in silence.

Deep in their hearts, they somewhat agreed with what Bloody Mary said because it was the truth!

Meanwhile, Bloody Mary’s sharp instinct allowed it to grasp the thoughts and emotions of the two men.

It said in a heavy voice, “I’m sorry, I cannot go with you. I might not be a match for the both of you but I will have to try, because I still have friends in Silent Night Town! I don’t want them to sacrifice for the councilmen as they fight for power and gains!”

Bloody Mary’s words were like a heavy mullet hammering the hearts of the two men.

It was simple actually, they too had friends in Silent Night Town, or even close ones.

Silent Night Town would be caught in this incident?

The two of them were in thought, yet they found it hard to believe.

Bloody Mary, who had a grasp over their thoughts, was slightly relieved.

‘Great, not a bad start,’ It said in its heart.

It was a fact that Luncar had friends in Silent Night Town.

Although Luncar feigned every friendship that he had, no one knew that, Bloody Mary was sure of it.

The other thing that it made sure of was that those ‘friends’ had already fallen under the councilmen’s control.

This would be the best entry point after the decent start.

“My friends had fallen under the councilmen’s control right? Are they… hurt?” Bloody Mary asked all of a sudden.

“No, they did not resist…”

“That will be enough,” Bloody Mary showed a smile as if a great burden had been lifted.

Its truthful smile immediately won some fondness in the two men’s hearts.

A very small part of the fondness was real and most of it was because of Bloody Mary’s influence. It was similar to the Instigator’s abilities but much more subtle.

As the situation further unfolded, the man who spoke earlier spoke again, “Things aren’t that bad right?”

“It is worse than you can ever imagine! The councilmen are too careless by allowing the Snake to infiltrate our society! And there is more than one!” Bloody Mary changed its tone after the last sentence, “How can you be sure that the councilman you pledged loyalty to and serve isn’t a Snake?”

The two of them went quiet, unable to tell.

Bloody Mary sighed when it saw the reactions on their faces.

“That is why I wanted to initiate the Council Meeting! Believe me, the Snake is very elusive and also very dangerous, but it is impossible for them to infiltrate the whole society! They might be able to corrupt one or several members but definitely not all! Only when all the councilmen are summoned together and prove themselves, can we be safe! Otherwise… if we meet anyone or two of them alone, we might get silenced! Think about it, your comrades that went missing mysteriously in the past few years. Some had a great future ahead of them but they lost their lives in some easy mission and it wasn’t only once! Those missions that were bound to succeed failed mysteriously! Can you guys understand and look at the big picture now?”

Bloody Mary’s tone grew heavier and it’s pitch went higher.

The two men’s bodies quivered slightly following what Bloody Mary said.

They couldn’t help but recall what had happened in the past few years.

Cold sweat broke out from their forehead.

Bloody Mary, who had its eyes on the two of them since the start, smiled in its heart.

‘After a decent start, here comes the decent progress.’

What it said was the truth but such situations might happen in any kind of organization.

After all, accidents or perceived accidents were everywhere.

During normal times, it was nothing significant, but during a critical moment, it could be a fatal point.

More so, it was enlarged indefinitely by Bloody Mary’s own techniques.

The demonic traits from its roots quietly bewitched the two of them. The two of them had taken precautions against the Instigator, but how could the Instigator be compared against the Superior Demon?

Should they be measured in a scale, the Instigator, who relied on his skills and medications, was around 1; a normal demon could reach the scale of 1.5 to 2.

However, Bloody Mary wasn’t a normal demon, it was a natural Hetero-form!

Aside from that, with help from Kieran, it had ascended to Superior rank!

This ascension was extremely rare, there might not even be one among 10,000!

Therefore, Bloody Mary should be ranked around… 100!

“You guys want to become one of them? Well, I don’t want to, so I fought back!”

Bloody Mary looked up to the two men with a sincere gaze and spoke word by word.

“Join us!”

The two men looked at each other with hesitation.

“Do you want to become a sacrifice and die without knowing why? Without name and achievements? Have you ever thought about your friends and family once you are dead? Or maybe… if you guys are lucky enough to survive, what about your friends and family? They might die! Do you really want to see it happen before your eyes? Do you want to live in silent regret for the rest of your life?!”

The loud and strong words were the last straw that crushed the camel.

The influenced and shaken men clenched their teeth and nodded at the same time.

“We will join you!” said both of them in one voice.

“I swear you guys will not regret the choices you made today! Now! Let us gather more of us! I strongly believe other than us, there are many more out there who are not happy with the situation! We must band together and stand united! Only then… can we hope to survive this!” said Bloody Mary loudly.

Bloody Mary then extended its hand, with its palm facing downwards.

The two members of Silent Night Secret Society too extended their hands and laid them over Bloody Mary’s.

“For our friends!

For our family!

For our important ones!

Let’s fight!”

Following each word that Bloody Mary spewed out, their eyes grew stronger and firmer. When the last ‘fight’ was spoken, the two men were completely brainwashed by Bloody Mary.

They might not follow every command but they would now advance towards a common goal.

This common goal was exactly what Bloody Mary sought, or more precisely, what Kieran sought.

He didn’t need a complete and powerful Silent Night Secret Society as his foe.

A Silent Night Secret Society on the brink of collapsing would be better, and if he could take in a part of the members under his command, it would be the best of the best.

Sitting in the wagon, Kieran watched Bloody Mary’s performance.

When the performance was at its climax, Kieran couldn’t help but applaud.

He leaned back in his chair and started to carefully comb through his entire plan, searching for any potential flaws.

Kieran knew he wasn’t an extremely gifted person, it was impossible for him to be flawless in planning.

What he did was think about the plan for a long time and be vigilant at all times.

Tapping the table lightly with his fingers, he looked outside the wagon.

Kuer Horton, who had just finished placing his orders, was returning to the wagon with a bright smile. There was a sea of people around him and they moved around like an endless current. It was a quarter before evening, the commercial district of Edatine Castle in its peak hour.

Morning and early noon was the time when the merchant group returned to the city, so that particular time slot belonged to the merchants.

The quarter before evening belonged to the civilians, when they would come out and buy food for the next day and replenish some daily supplies.

Of course, the civilians who were able to shop in the commercial district were mostly wealthy families, at least a lot wealthier than normal civilians.

Therefore, their purchasing power and options were a lot wider, not just limited to bread and vegetables.

Some meat, like beef jerky and sausages, were on their purchasing list.

Some restaurants and eateries became the main place for them to visit.

Those restaurants Kuer Horton selected were by no means bad, the price they offered was a lot cheaper than those in the Upper Seven Ring. The fact that they set up shop in the commercial district had determined that the price they offered wasn’t that ridiculous.

A decent taste coupled with a considerate pricing, it was natural that this commercial district became the favorite place of many.

When Kuer Horton walked out, a lot of other civilians walked past him, most of them wealthy civilians, yet they tried to keep a certain distance from the young noble.

It was considered respect to the nobles but their way of showing respect made the traffic even worse.

A little figure had fallen down amid all the pushing.

“Waaa!”

The loud weeping attracted Kuer Horton’s attention right away.

“Excuse me! Excuse me!”

The young noble said loudly and carved a path to the little figure, the people around him also making way for him quickly.

Civilians were unlike nobles, they were the heart of the population but not all agreed to that.

Two figures acted differently in the crowd.

While the crowd made way for the young noble, the two figures ran towards him.

The daggers in their hands were aimed towards Kuer Horton.

Kuer Horton calmly pulled out the flintlock pistol that he carried with him all the time.

Bang!

Smoke came out from the muzzle after the shot and a person fell down immediately. The pistol switched to its next target and the trigger was pulled again.

Bang!

The second assassin joined his partner in crime in the other world.

Kuer Horton slightly shook his head. It wasn’t the first time that people tried to assassinate him, so the scene before him was nothing.

Compared to how vicious the assassination attempts of the past, this one didn’t even make top 10.

The only thing he had to be concerned about was keeping the civilians away from harm.

“Hey kid, are you okay?”

After he put the pistol at his waist, Kuer Horton looked towards the child who had fallen on the ground.

The child wore a red linen dress and had long braids.

She fell down earlier, with a slightly blushing face and eyes that were teared up.

“I-I’m fine.”

The little girl was scared after she noticed Kuer Horton’s attire and understood the differences in ranks and status.

Kuer Horton smiled, he squatted down right away.

“Don’t worry. I’m a knight, I will protect the wea-…”

Kuer Horton said with a smile but before he could finish, the ground suddenly shook.

A sharp and narrow scimitar burst out from the ground behind the little girl, like a shark that lunged itself towards Kuer Horton.

The little girl was the first to bear the brunt though.

Without even thinking, Kuer Horton grabbed the little girl and retreated as fast as he could, but he was too slow!

Right before Kuer Horton managed to step back, the scimitar suddenly extended itself, the edge of the sword flying towards Kuer Horton’s face in an instant.

The sharpness of the blade stung Kuer Horton’s face.

Shit!

Kuer Horton instinctively wanted to toss the little girl to safety but before he could, a black figure came from the sky and landed behind the scimitar.

Bang!

A loud thump later, a splash of blood spewed all over the ground.

The scimitar that went for Kuer Horton’s face was frozen in the air for a moment before it fell to the ground heavily.