The Devil’s Cage

After being bathed in the golden energy, a medallion with a lion’s carving slowly turned from blurry to clear, further enhancing to dazzling gold.

The dazzling gold shone through that ice encasement within an instant. The light went through the thick layer of ice smoothly.

Kak!

The harder than diamond ice encasement produced a definite crack, spiderweb-like cracks then spreading out rapidly. When the cracks intertwined and overlaid each other non-stop, the ice produced another clear cracking sound.

Then, it shattered.

Kieran’s life force, which had been swiftly fading away, stopped; he slowly began to recover with his special body and supportive skills.

The sentient cone object didn’t care about Kieran’s defrosting or his recovering body. It was facing the golden lion mirage that appeared out of Kieran’s body in a doubtful and anxious manner.

Although it was just a cone, at this particular moment, it behaved like a human, even looking like it had a face and a pair of eyes.

Even its voice changed, no longer being the mechanical composite voice anymore, but rather a rough human female voice.

“Who are you?”

The voice sounded heavier than ever when it faced that golden lion formed from unknown energy, but the golden lion reacted with disdain.

The golden lion looked around and shook its mane gloriously.

Then—

RAWR!

A massive and mighty lion roar released everything in the area from its frozen state right away. The stillness broke like shattered glass.

Pride, Sloth, Gluttony and Bloody Mary were released from their stillness and returned to normal.

The other thing that recovered was Kieran and the Devil Force inside his body.

When the ice had spread, the temperature in the lab plummeted. And now, the temperature skyrocketed within the blink of an eye. The ground and the walls in the lab even started to crack, sparks rising.

Burning sorrow and despair.

The head of the Devil slowly appeared in mirage form above Kieran with the aura of fear.

Its blade-like horns pierced the sky, its eyes shining in the lusters of hell, staring at the cone without blinking.

Kill!

Kill! Kill!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

The chanting was continuous and endless.

The Devil felt like it was once again in the vast, endless black field where it once stood.

Its arrogance would not be insulted.

Its pride would not be trampled on.

No one would be spared, not even God.

It wanted to tear this cone apart.

It wanted to burn the soul to cinders.

It wanted the cone… to be doomed for eternity!

Roar!

It roared at the sky furiously.

The energy in the Origin Force that had been quiet, to the point that it started to melt, was triggered.

Dong, Dong Dong!

Kieran’s heart started to beat vigorously.

As though the pile of blood he spilt all over the ground heard the heartbeats like they were some battle horns, it came alive and flew back to Kieran’s broken body like a flock of swallows returning to their nest.

The Devil Lord’s power started to spread from [Fusion Heart].

This power of the Devil Lord was very subtle, like fire on a dying candle that might go out at even the slightest breeze. However, it was this kind of weak power that forced the cone object backwards repeatedly.

“Impossible! This is impossible!”

The cone floated backwards as it voiced out its disbelief.

Then, that strange cone body moved all of a sudden.

“I’ll kill you, and what’s yours will be mine!”

It screamed frantically. The ice power spread once again, but the black flame returned as well.

Pride took a step forward and blocked the ice. The black flame was like water from a broken dam, pouring down on the ice.

“Split your fire into five portions. Leave one of the five as the biggest and split two of the remaining four into backup flames. Repeat the steps for the last two portions and… go deal as much damage as you can!”

Sloth opened his blurry eyes, which were shining unusually. He placed his hands behind himself, and his fingers moved as if they were calculating the situation.

The movement of his fingers was rhythmic and extremely fast, to the point that the afterimages his fingers left behind danced in a flurry. While his fingers were busy calculating, his mouth didn’t keep still as well.

“You. You were so eager to attack just now, right? Now it’s your turn. Go behind the cone and use your strongest attack to strike its back at a 40° angle,” Sloth said quickly.

The High Demon, Bloody Mary, dashed out the moment Sloth finished.

While Sloth was calculating, Bloody Mary was already thinking about ways to share the burden with these few comrades cum bastards, so when Sloth told it to go, Bloody Mary dashed forward without a second thought.

A flash later, Bloody Mary appeared behind the cone, and its arm lunged towards the cone’s back like a sword.

Chang!

After the clanking, the cone object shook.

The ice power stopped all of a sudden, allowing the black flame to gush further and expel the ice.

Pride stood in front without moving a muscle, as if all these attacks were reasonable.

Once the calculation ended, Sloth slumped on the ground like a pile of soft noodles again, his mouth muttering, “Damn, it’s exhausting, I need to have a good rest to compensate my loss.”

“COMPENSATE YOUR ASS! What about me? I am still here! What should I do now?” Bloody Mary shouted at Sloth after the initial attack.

After the first attack from Bloody Mary, the cone object was infuriated as if it were hit in some forbidden weak spot. It discarded Kieran from its crosshair and started to chase Bloody Mary instead.

“Do what you do best!” Sloth said with a troubled face, snores then following uncontrollably.

“Best? You useless piece of meat! You want me to die too?!”

Bloody Mary cursed loudly, but unfortunately, Sloth was already in dreamland, unable to hear the High Demon’s scolding.

But even if Sloth had heard it, he wouldn’t have done anything.

How Kieran used the High Demon, Sloth planned to follow his method.

Was there anything wrong with that?

Anyway, with that golden lion around, the sentient cone’s ability was already greatly restricted.

Without the power to seal its opponent, the cone’s danger level had plummeted, but the rest of the cone was still as dangerous as ever; Kieran knew this.

Wu knew this as well. She went up to the rooftop of the building that housed the wooden cottage and knelt on both knees.

Golden and dark golden glowing items appeared around her one after another.

Ten gold and two dark gold items; a total of 12 items were arranged in a specific sequence, circling Wu in the middle.

“I pray for your arrival.

“I hope for your appearance.

“You are nameless, you are formless.

“You are everywhere.

“Please hear my wish.”

Wu muttered very softly, so low that she sounded like a fly.

One beside her might not even hear what she had muttered, but when her words subsided, the night wind suddenly blew.

It blew at Wu’s shirt.

It blew at the clouds of the night.

It blew at the moon of the night.

It blew at the rivers in the mountains.

It blew at every living being on earth.

Its consciousness was blurry, but it was willing to listen to the voice of the closest.