The Devil’s Cage

Herasu was shivering ceaselessly when he saw that elder in the priest outfit from Sin Temple approaching fast.

The outfit was different than the common priest outfit, there was a gold line embedded across the robe.

In most of the temples, the gold line meant only one thing: the archpriest!

The archpriest of Sin Temple, Burwell!

Burwell played a heavy role within Naveya City or even the entire Southern region and it wasn’t just because he was the archpriest of Sin Temple but he himself was a legend!

A living legend!

Burwell killed two gang members when he was 13 and was severely wounded in the process. He was then adopted by a nameless Sin Temple deacon, thus started his astonishing life.

When he was 14 and after recovering from past wounds, he relied on some techniques that he learned from the Sin Knights and wiped out that gang with a total of 20 members single-handedly, he then fell back into a heavily wounded state.

Everyone else thought he would be done for but after passing out for three full days, Burwell woke up again.

Everyone was shocked by Burwell’s willpower and they thought he would quietly and honestly inherit his adopted father’s position since then.

He did just that for the next two years until the poor nameless deacon was killed by robbers on the way to the south.

That year, Burwell was 16 and after he heard the news, he vanished from the temple that night.

Burwell didn’t know who killed his adopted father but it didn’t matter. All he needed to do was kill every single robber along the way to the south.

Ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand.

One day, ten days, a hundred days, a thousand days.

A year, two years, three years and ultimately ten years!

Burwell transformed from a 16-year-old teenager to a 26-year-old young adult and his name became the nightmare for the robbers of the southern road.

Every robber was horrified by mention the name alone and therefore, the numbers decreased gradually.

From the most dangerous era where hundreds of thousands of robbers lurked the southern road to only a handful of them left and ultimately none at all.

After that, 26-year-old Burwell returned to Naveya City.

He returned with broken and ragged shirts with a rusty sword in his hand but he was received in a heroic manner. However, he didn’t care about any of those, instead he returned back to Sin Temple immediately, successfully challenged the chief knight and replaced him as the new one.

20 years after that, he successfully ascended to officiant and eventually archpriest.

Burwell reached the status of archpriest in the age of 46, a number that would be remembered by the people to come but in Burwell’s case, it wasn’t that all surprising.

He had too many achievements, too many merits in battle, it convinced everyone easily and people felt a heartfelt admiration for the man, even though he had aged, the admiration hadn’t changed.

At least, Herasu from Hunter Temple was dumbstruck completely by Burwell’s arrival.

Looking at the Sin Temple archpriest that appeared before him, Herasu was left shivering and a messy state of mind, he never thought it would be so coincidental.

Just as Herasu was about to pick a side, Burwell appeared!

It was too coincidental! To the point that even Herasu who was dumbstruck realized something wasn’t right.

Herasu unconsciously turned his eyes to Kieran beside him.

“I’ll forgive Pudd, just like how you are willing to stand with Thorn Temple.”

Kieran said in a plain and slow tone as though he was stating an undeniable fact.

However, from the start of his speech to the end, Kieran didn’t even lay an eye on Herasu.

His attention was completely captivated by the arrival of Sin Temple’s archpriest.

Likewise, the archpriest, Burwell didn’t care about Herasu either, instead, he went straight to Kieran.

Burwell stopped when he was almost 20 meters away from Kieran.

Both of them gazed at each other.

Burwell’s eyes were sharp and shining while Kieran’s eyes were different from the calm ones from before, his eyes too became sharp as a sword, unrivaled by any other.

Huuu!

The night breeze was whistling but when it approached Kieran and Burwell, it sank instantly as though it was blown into a bottomless abyss without any echo.

Silent.

Extremely silent.

The silence made one feel uneasy, the silence made one feel cold and terrified.

Herasu who was ignored by the two of them felt his chest cramping as if he was hammered on the chest. It was so difficult for him that he almost spat out blood.

Without further thoughts, Herasu took his pet hound and retreated dozens of meters away from them but right after that, his face turned uglier.

“GO!”

Herasu ordered his pet hound as he was riding on his hound’s back

He was laying over the back of his hound and was feeling the calming heart within him as he ran further away. Unconsciously, Herasu turned and glanced at what was happening behind him.

His eyes instantly enlarged as his pupils dilated. His mouth hung open as he displayed an expression of disbelief.

What did he see?

A mountain of bodies and sea of blood!

Thrones that were built by countless bones and skulls!

Hundreds and millions of souls were wailing in agony at the moon!

Two asura-like kings were wielding blades in their hands as blood covered their body!

Kill!

Kill! Kill!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

…

A series of thunderous chants were echoing in Herasu’s heart, his already calm heart was instantly struck by the thunderous chants!

Puk!

A mouth full of blood was spat out, he couldn’t endure it anymore.

“M-Monsters! T-Two monsters!

Herasu growled as blood rolled down his chin.

He then passed out on the back of his pet hound as it carried him away. Herasu had left the battlefield but more people sprang up from the dark instead.

They were looking at Kieran and Burwell with interested gazes.

“King of Killers versus King of Slaughter?”

“This will be interesting! Interesting indeed!”

“Both executioners are going to destroy each other!”

“Wait, executioners? No, no, the strong should be respected, they are like asuras!”

“Damn am I lucky to witness such a battle!”

…

Countless voices were conversing in the shadows and corners, softly and loudly.

Some expressed admiration, some were just purely interested in the outcome and some were contemptuous at the battle but none of them bothered to hide their intentions because they were either archpriests or officiants themselves, there was no need for hiding.

There was no need and it wasn’t necessary.

After all, Kieran and Burwell having a life and death battle wasn’t related to them, they were just observers.

Kieran and Burwell didn’t care either, both of their attentions were placed on each other.

Other than their opponent, they couldn’t see and hear others.

Fuuuu!

The night breeze was getting more intense.

Kieran’s crow feathered mantle was fluttering loudly, his hair was being blown up high in a messy way, it revealed his unforgettable eyes, they were clear as water yet filled with overflowing killing intent.

The reflection in Kieran’s eyes showed Burwell drawing his sword from his sheath.

The sword looked normal and filled with rust, red rust to be exact. It made the sword look like scrap iron but as the sword was drawn, eerie and irritating wails of the dead were getting louder to the point that it overpowered the night wind.

A mirage of millions of slaughtered souls started to appear in everyone’s sight, including Kieran’s.

He directly felt the power from the sword but he was also not affected by the power.

The night wind was roaring.

The wails were echoing around the ears.

Kieran suddenly vanished on the spot as he jumped up high in the sky.

The huge, bewitching purplish red greatsword was raised over his head.

Promptly, the purplish moonlight shone on the blade, causing its bewitching glimmer to become the center of attention as it was slashed down at its target.