The Devil’s Cage

Albunai strode into Dublin Street.

He laughed coldly in his heart when he felt the malicious gazes around him as he entered the street.

A plan formed in his head as he advanced forward.

Not a single soul on the street would escape his wrath, including Zackary and Ethan Hunt.

Although Zackary was a comrade, he had committed the biggest taboo of Perforation Sting, hence there was no reason to keep him alive.

As for said collaborator?

He would go to hell together with Zackary.

This was Perforation Sting’s operating style and it was also what Albunai insisted on carrying out.

“Hold it right there!”

One of the gang members that was tasked with guarding in front of the house shouted at the approaching Albunai.

“I am Albunai, your boss, Ethan Hunt, has a meeting with me.”

Albunai’s heart was overflowing with killing intent as he was eager but he remained calm on the surface.

“Hold on a moment.”

One of them picked up the phone behind them and made a call.

A few seconds later, the man turned around and signaled Albunai with his head, telling him to go in.

The door was opened up immediately.

Albunai walked in as instructed but two other gang members were following behind him with guns in their hands, they didn’t even try to conceal it.

The guns were pointed at Albunai’s back.

“Move, don’t look back or else…”

Albunai tried to take a quick glance behind but was threatened by one of them.

Albunai nodded and complied.

His obedient actions were responded to with a series of sneering laughs from the two gang members.

Albunai didn’t care, who would be angry at a dead man? More precisely, how could one be angry at a man who would die soon?

Albunai wouldn’t and Kieran wouldn’t either.

Kieran who was inside his of office lit up a cigar. He was casually looking at Albunai who was walking in from the window while clouds of smoke were spat out. The smoke didn’t just cover his face, it filled the office and spread outside as well.

Kieran had grown to accept cigars under his friend Lawless’ relentless persuasion. Not only did he accept it, he learned to savor them as well.

Like the one he was smoking, the tobacco smell was almost overpowered by the cocoa flavor. If Kieran’s tongue wasn’t sensitive enough, he might have missed out the slight bits of tobacco.

He was grateful that his tongue was so sensitive, he treated it as a stroke of luck.

The heavy flavor of cocoa was mixed with the faint tobacco smell and it was astonishing. Similar to its dark brown body, it would leave an impression at first sight.

No doubt it was a good cigar and also a perfect tool.

As he smoked, Kieran saw Zackary going outside and welcoming his comrade.

After a change of clothes and receiving adequate treatment for his wounds, Zackary was recovering rapidly despite still walking with a limp.

The half-fiend was originally different from common humans.

Despite sharing the same looks and speaking the same language, their roots were extremely different.

In simple words, a lot of the half-fiends never acknowledged the so-called dominant human race. Humans were nothing but toys and food in their eyes.

Those were also the exact thoughts running through Albunai’s mind.

When he saw Zackary come over, Albunai sensed the bloody stench mixed with antiseptic and medicine on him.

Albunai’s mouth then cracked open, his black and pugnacious face overlapped and formed layers of skin on his body, as if a python was shedding multiple layers of skin. When his long red tongue was shown, Albunai looked like a snake-man.

Hisssss!

Hissing could be heard from the deeper part of his throat.

Lines of fire even formed around him and were fired towards the two gang members behind him like arrows. The two of them plunged to the floor without uttering a word and the signs of life were gone.

Albunai?

He dashed towards Zackary the moment the fire appeared around him.

Zackary quickly rolled backward despite his limping and managed to get back into the office.

He quickly slammed the door and locked it.

“Foolish Zackary, you think…”

Bang!

Bang Bang!

Albunai was laughing coldly but before he could finish mocking Zackary, heavy bangs were heard beneath his feet.

A chilling air that could freeze one’s spine then spread across the corridor the snake-man was in.

Liquid nitrogen?

Albunai was shocked, followed by a drastic change in facial expression.

He turned around and tried to ram through the walls beside him in order to escape the liquid nitrogen filled ice prison, but the moment he rammed onto the wall…

KABOOM!

An explosion went off and he was sent flying away.

A certain herbal mixture together with the sulfuric scent was splashed on Albunai amidst the explosion.

“Aaaargh!”

Albunai was rolling on the ground in pain while he cried in agony.

Despite the effort, it didn’t stop the herbal mixture from corroding his body and the lingering liquid nitrogen was weakening the energy in Albunai’s body as well.

He wanted to resist but the cold made him extremely sleepy.

“Damn it! How did Zackary know my weakness!?”

He kept questioning himself before he passed out.

“Zackary is abnormal… Could it be…”

Sudden speculation formed in his mind but a second later, he passed out before he could understand the situation.

A few minutes later, gang members with cryo suits came in and took care of the steel cylinder holding the liquid nitrogen. They moved the cylinders into a pool of cement together with Albunai in it. More liquid nitrogen cylinders were being placed in the cement pool and it removed the last bit of struggle from Albunai who was already frozen solid.

Tssk… Gak!

The office door was SWUNG opened.

Zackary came out with a smile. His smile grew brighter when he saw Albunai in the cement pool.

“You’re too careless Albunai, you are still so used to your own strength, did you ever consider that this isn’t the dark and chaotic age anymore?

Zackary was acting out his emotions by shaking his head and sighing.

He then turned to Kieran and said, “See, as long as the strategy is suitable, it’s this easy to deal with a powerful half-fiend.”

“Are you reminding me? Or you are hinting about other “things”?”

Kieran replied with his own questions coldly while smoking his cigar.

Although there was no need to cover the herbal smell in the place with the cigar’s scent anymore, Kieran didn’t want to throw the cigar away because he thought it would be a waste; Kieran wasn’t used to wasting things.

“Of course not, I just speak my mind. Besides, you reached your goal. Albunai is considered as one of the people in charge of the operation in Flame City. He has the secret pills you seek and some other unexpected things as well. I assure you his value is more than you can imagine.”

Zackary said with a smile.

“You are suggesting that I sell him to Funeral Society?” Kieran asked for the sake of testing him.

“He is now yours, it’s up to you to deal with him. It’s all in your hands anyway, even if you want to kill him right away, it’s…”

BANG!

Before Zackary’s jokes were finished, he was interrupted by a gunshot.

After the gunshot, the frozen, unconscious Albunai was shot to pieces.

A figure appeared in a flash and left after killing Albunai.

The gang members and Zackary were stunned by the scene.

“Bird of Death!”

A moment ago, Zackary was still full of smiles but when he saw the Bird of Death, he was frozen like an ice sculpture.