The Devil’s Cage

A girl in a school uniform slowly rose up from the well, holding a jar with a slim neck and rounded body in her arms.

The formless energy around was supporting the translucent body, allowing it to float in mid-air.

”Senior Ling!” Kana cried in shock.

Tanya, on the other hand, seemed to have realized something when she saw ”Ling” with a terrified face, she was staggering backward a few steps.

The half-fiend wasn’t an idiot either, after the initial shock, the rage of her realization followed.

”You were behind all of this from the start?” Kana tried to question the eerie figure before her.

”Um.”

”Ling” didn’t deny the accusation. She nodded slightly and turned her eyes to Jen who was ever confusing. ”Ling”’s fair white hand called to her in a soft manner.

”Senior!” Jen, with an absent-minded smile, reacted to the calling and wanted to walk over.

”Don’t move!”

”Watch her!”

Kana yelled. The first one was at Jen and the second at Tanya.

”My servant informed me, death razed this place.”

Tanya said with a sour expression while holding back Jen with all her might despite Jen moving forward in an automated manner, as if she had lost her mind.

Regardless of how different Tanya was to the others, her having talents was a true fact. She could clearly sense that death was approaching the three of them, especially when she grabbed Jen, the shadow that followed death almost devoured her alive.

”I know!” Kana replied. She clenched her teeth and turned back to ”Ling”

”Why’d you lie to us!?”

Her voice was filled with rage, she ignited her hands with bright flames. Kana leaped out like a striking leopard, throwing herself at ”Ling”.

Fuuuush!

A blazing fierce wind echoed within the confined space.

However, upon impact, Kana went straight through ”Ling”’s body without any resistance.

The flames in her hand didn’t even cause a single bit of damage to the spirit form body.

Kana was stunned.

”Fire eh? You are still too weak!”

”Ling” said as she swung her palm out.

Pak!

A clean, powerful chop landed behind Kana’s neck.

Even with the extraordinary resistance of her half-fiend properties, she still fell to the ground, limping after one strike.

”Ling” didn’t even take another look at Kana who had fallen, she slowly floated towards Tanya who was holding Jen back with her life.

”Still not going to let go of my body?” ”Ling” said in a calm tone.

However, the surroundings started to change drastically. The chilly, gloomy aura from Ling had turned into a violent wind and started to ravage the place.

Tanya who was holding Jen felt like her body was frozen the moment the violent wind struck her.

”I...I...I have a myriad of servants, a plethora of followers and M...My knight will never spare you…” Tanya’s mouth was shivering heavily, the words that came out from her mouth sounded broken.

”What a clown… It’s really a pity that you wasted your talents. If your brain wasn’t short-circuited, you could have been able to qualify as my vessel!”

”Ling” was slightly interested in Tanya, seeing her unwilling to let go of Jen despite the harsh cold wind ravaged her, still the slight spark of interest wasn’t enough for Tanya to stall for long.

Fuuung!

The ravaging cold wind turned into a huge formless hand as ”Ling” swung one of her arms around.

The formless arm split Tanya and Jen apart, and the seemingly mild splitting force turned violent the moment both of them were apart.

Tanya was thrown backward and crashed into the wall, embedding her body in the bricks.

Tanya was different than Kana, which her half-fiend bloodline could still provide ”Ling” with some use. ”Ling” wasn’t planning to show any mercy to Tanya, at the same time she didn’t mind the life energy slipped away from Tanya’s body.

Without paying further attention to Tanya who was doomed, ”Ling” slowly floated towards Jen.

Even with Jen’s current condition, ”Ling” was still a little excited when she looked at her vessel.

She plotted the scheme for a long time and it had come down to this exact moment!

The excitement even caused her translucent body to ripple.

”Life! Reborn!” ”Ling” couldn’t help it anymore as she softly chanted those words.

However, just as her ghastly hand was about to touch Jen, a gunshot was fired.

BANG!

[Bullets of Blessing] grazed her fingers, causing her to retract her reach.

”Ling” turned around angrily and stared at the troublemaker.

Though, when ”Ling” set her eyes on Kieran’s sudden appearance, grabbing Tanya by the back of her neck and pointed the gun at her with the other hand, ”Ling” was shocked. More rage then burst out from the deepest part of her soul, infuriated because of the embarrassment.

”Ling” knew she was deceived.

”When did you find out?”

Still, a certain matter couldn’t cross her mind, her plot seemed so flawless, where did she go wrong?

”The very beginning! The moment I saw you, I started to suspect you and after you slaughtered the reinforcement from the Funeral Society, the suspicion grew heavier. Any normal person with a sense of logic would guess it was you all along, let alone the surveillance that you’ve sent out was too easily noticeable and traceable.”

Kieran was firing verbal attacks at ”Ling” with all the skilled talking techniques he possessed without holding back.

Actually, Kieran himself wasn’t even sure at first, even though he saw the scene that Ling’s soul was being freed with his own eyes and sensed her presence was similar to the evil spirit. Right until the crime scene where the reinforcement support from Funeral Society was slaughtered, only then did he confirm a couple of crucial leads.

If the murderer couldn’t have gotten the traveling route of the Fiend Hunter from the HQ itself, then there was only another explanation left: having the ability to foresee the future!

Coincidentally, there were two of them who fit such criteria in Saint Brilliant High School.

One was ”Ling” who died and the other was Tanya who had heavy eighth-grade syndrome running wild.

Another coincidence was, judging from the crime scene, Tanya’s suspicion was greater.

What would cause the Fiend Hunter to suddenly stop his car and make a hard turn?

A phantasmal image that could disturb reality!

Not much was needed to fool the Fiend Hunter, all it needed was an image of a common person, displaying what the mastermind behind the scheme wanted.

Tanya indeed possessed such an ability and more importantly, based on how she acted at other times, it couldn’t help but lead others to think it was all a coverup.

Yet, everything was perfectly coincidental, causing the ever doubtful Kieran to plunge into deep thoughts even more.

Eventually, he proceeded with his plans, requesting another reinforcement support from Funeral Society HQ from Lee and decorated himself as an anxious huntsman that only cared about the missions given from the Funeral Society.

All that just to lure out the true mastermind behind the scheme, in simple words, Kieran also just realized who the mastermind was after he fired the bullet.

But none of those wild guesses were made known to ”Ling”.

Her proudful scheme was seen through with ease by others, such embarrassment made her even more furious.

However, ”Ling” suddenly laughed.

”I will slowly chew on you and taste the blood from your flesh! Especially your brain! I’ve always loved the brains of a smart saint! But it seems that you are a little too smart, didn’t you noticed that I am stalling here?”

”Ling” spilled out each and every word clearly at Kieran.

Batak! Batak! Batak!

A series of heavy fluttering of wings sounded all of a sudden.

The black birds were like wasps having their hive invaded, bursting out of the old well like a thundercloud, heading towards Kieran in an instant.

”Is that so? Well how coincidental, I am too!”

Kieran smiled.

Right off the bat, a clear, sonorous chant sounded from behind ”Ling”.

”AIO!”