The Devil’s Cage

Trying to fabricate rumours out of nothing wasn’t a simple task; rather, it was exceptionally difficult.

But that was only limited to common people; it was fairly easy for Kieran because he had an efficient and undying companion.

Kieran was sending his orders to Bloody Mary while he was writing. Bloody Mary, who had changed its face into a young man, had been waiting for the new order and after receiving it, stood up and walked out the room.

“Let’s get this party started!”

The face Bloody Mary was wearing belonged to a young man named Palreynold: a 4th year student, average looking, normal recorded power, an insignificant existence even among the 4th years.

Those were just the recorded features though. Beneath the surface, Palreynold possessed decent strength and was comparable to those rather popular 4th year students.

The reason why he laid a low profile was to hide his secret: a disciple of Sil Sect, or more precisely, a spy from Sil Sect.

Palreynold had a special mission: he was sent to Theorate as a student to investigate more secrets of the well-known school.

Bloody Mary found out about Palreynold when Kieran first encountered the Sil Sect and with Frost Wolf’s effort, Bloody Mary easily located Palyrenold, together with a temporary hideout of Sil Sect.

When a secret was exposed, more would follow, similar to how a lie requires more lies to cover up.

After Bloody Mary found out about Palreynold, the Superior Demon started to follow the clues to the origin.

In the past few days, Bloody Mary’s efforts rewarded itself with three hideouts of Sil Sect in E Block, which it now controlled and exposed even more Sil Sect members as a result.

As for why Bloody Mary disguised as Palreynold?

Other than Pelraynold having a rather convincing position among the Sil Sect spies, it was also because the real Palreynold was dead and without any remains, hence saving Bloody Mary a lot of trouble.

It wasn’t Bloody Mary who killed him though, as Palreynold had died in a messy fight.

Other than Garcia and his men, who searched for Index of Eat openly, a lot more organizations and forces were competing in the dark. Sometimes the secretive competition wasn’t so secretive, going out of hand, making conflict inevitable and casualties following.

Palreynold was one of the unlucky bastards. He didn’t step into conflict himself, instead he was caught by an acid mist that melted him into nothing.

More importantly, Palreynold actually had the thought of leaving Sil Sect.

Habit was a scary thing.

Palreynold had spent 4 years in Theorate and was used to the campus life, the meticulous teachings from the teachers, the sufficient resources, and fair competition environment. Even though he hasn’t made any friends, any of the mentioned points were enough to keep Palreynold’s heart in Theorate; he didn’t want to leave.

Therefore, his own thoughts had started blooming 6 months ago, but unfortunately, his thoughts didn’t evolve into some fierce reaction. All Palreynold did was delay his reports and slowly carry out missions assigned by the sect, adding his little actions into the process to get more for himself.

However, it was a usable opportunity for Bloody Mary.

Dak Dak Dak Dak.

Bloody Mary walked down from the upper year dorm and stopped at the vending machine at the entrance. It took out the badge and bought itself an orange juice and a box of yogurt.

The source of motivation for Bloody Mary to carry out each of its missions was undoubtedly the sun and food.

Since there was no sun in the night, food became its only source of motivation but it didn’t simply choose what it liked, wisely following Palreynold’s eating habits.

Bloody Mary walked along the path beside the upper year dorm and headed to the coffee shop further away.

The coffee shop was dark since it was way past closing time.

It took out the key to the door, opened it, and entered without any hindrance. There wasn’t any light source inside the coffee shop BUT Bloody Mary skillfully shuttled along the table and chairs to reach the underground room.

It had familiarizeD itself with the arrangements of the coffee shop in the past few days.

Unlike the dark surface, the underground room was bright.

Seven men already sat in their respective seatS.

Bloody Mary glanced over everyone. It knew every one of them because they were the secretive spies from Sil Sect in E Block.

The leader of the spies, also Palreynold’s direct superior, Morrison, was sitting in the corner.

Morrison was the teacher who taught the cooking utensil usage and maintenance class in 2nd year and the position was probably the highest the Sil Sect spies had ever gotten in E Block.

Palreynold was only a rank below Morrison since he was a 4th year student.

The remaining men, other than a 2nd year student, were all workers on campus.

Originally, Sil Sect had plans to send more spies into Theorate this year, but with Kieran barging into the scene unannounced, their plan was messed up.

The few new members failed to become Theorate’s freshmen, instead ending up becoming guest students.

Without a doubt, those new spies who failed to become students had no right to be in this meeting.

“Everyone is here. I want to hear your opinions about the recent Index of Eat incident.”

As Bloody Mary sat down, Morrison spoke. His voice was altered out of habit, rough to the ears.

“We’ve lost a few good men in a row now! I suggest we stop the operation,” said the 2nd year student.

The moment the suggestion faded, Palreynold threw a provocative gaze at the 2nd year student.

Conflict was inevitable, even within Sil Sect.

As second in command among the spies, Palreynold’s performance in the past 6 months wasn’t convincing, hence someone coveting his spot, like the 2nd year student.

Maybe before the other men died at Kieran’s hands, the 2nd year student wouldn’t have thoughts of his own because even if Palreynold was released from his duty, the benefits would not come down to him, However, it was a different story now!

After the death of those few good men, the 2nd year was just behind Morrison and Palreynold, and if he could remove Palreynold in the process, he would be second in command.

Once he thought about the esoteric gains of the position, the 2nd year student was very eager.

“Agreed!”

“Agreed!”

After the 2nd year student voiced his opinion, the others nodded in agreement.

They weren’t actually siding with the 2nd year student though. Competition for the Index of Eat had gotten a lot fiercer and these men did not possess the abilities to further participate in this fight.

Rather than exhausting manpower or maybe ending up dead on the field, they might as well give up when there was still a chance.

When he heard the agreement, the delight and provocation in the 2nd year student got heavier.

Everything was just as expected.

Morrison glanced over at the 2nd year student, obviously aware of what his subordinate sought, but Morrison did not stop him because it was what he wanted to see.

If it would make the little group more lively and solidify his position further, especially the latter, Morrison wouldn’t object.

“What do you think, Palreynold?”

It sounded like a normal question but it was very provocative.

A stiff and loving group of subordinates wasn’t something Morrison wished to see. He preferred his men to fight to the death for the slightest benefit and spend efforts to win his fondness.

“No,” Bloody Mary answered.

Bloody Mary, of course, saw the provocative gaze from the 2nd year student and if it had a chance, it would not care about the 2nd year ‘goon’ or Morrison’s question.

Its target weren’t these people but for the boss’ plan, it had to play along.

It seemed like Bloody Mary’s effort was rewarded, because when its answer faded, the 2nd year student thought he had seized the chance and jumped out.

“As the second in command, don’t you have any more constructive suggestions, Palreynold? And in the past 6 months, you’ve always give excuses to push your duty away. What are you doing? Could it be… you want to get away from the organization?” the 2nd year student was very forceful with his words.

The others around the table were waiting for a good show. They also knew what the 2nd year student sought after, but what did that have to do with them? The organization treated them the same regardless of who became their superior.

Watching their superiors fighting each others was enough to satisfy their dark, despicable hearts.

While Bloody Mary was calculating the time for the person it has been waiting for to arrive, it stood up from the seat and walked over to the 2nd year student.

The second year student was frightened, wanting to step away but when he realized the chair was behind his back, he knew he had no where to run.

“What are you doing? Pissed off because of what I said? Or…”

Pak!

Before the 2nd year student could finish, a heavy slap landed on his face. The tremendous force sent the student and his chair to the ground.

“YOU!?”

The moment he opened his mouth, his teeth were stainted by his own blood, spilling out from his mouth.

The 2nd year student looked at Palreynold with a blank gaze, never expecting the slap.

“I am just telling you to know your place,” Bloody Mary said calmly.

The calm tone and presence was very similar to Kieran. Bloody Mary did a good job in copying its boss’ presence.

“What are you doing Palreynold?”

Morrison, who had been quiet, shouted as he slammed his palm on the table.

He wished to see conflict in the dark, with people setting up one another, not a direct conflict like this, so he had to intervene and correct it.

Then…

Pak!

Similar to the 2nd year student, Morrison was slapped to the ground too.

As blood gushed out of his mouth, Morrison looked at Bloody Mary in an unbelievable gaze.

He couldn’t believe Bloody Mary struck him and how easy he was struck down.

Since he was able to become Theorate’s teacher, Morrison’s strength was undoubtedly decent. Any common teacher in Theorate was far stronger than students.

Morrison wiped the blood off his mouth and glared at Bloody Mary. Infuriated, he revealed his cold, killer intent.

“You dare go against me? Take him down!” Morrison shouted.

The other five members jumped out and surrounded Bloody Mary.

“Going against you? No, I am just telling you to understand the difference in rank between you and me.” Bloody Mary shook its head.

“What are you blabbering about! What are you people waiting for! Take him!”

Morrison climbed up and waited to join his men in taking down Bloody Mary. Even the 2nd year student stood up, ignoring the pain from his mouth and face. He showed a pitiful yet disdainful smile, wanting to join the others. He swore in his heart that he would return the ‘slap’ ten times, a hundred times harder!

However, the 2nd year student widened his eyes right away.

Pak, Pak, Pak, Pak, Pak!

5 continuous slaps later, all five of the Sil Sect members who had surrounded Bloody Mary fell to the ground with their hands over their face. Similar to Morrison and the 2nd year student, their mouths were bleeding.

Morrison stopped going further, his body frozen as he looked at Bloody Mary with a terrified gaze.

“W-Who are you?! Why are you impersonating Palreynold?”

Morrison didn’t believe Palreynold possessed the strength to do something like this, but someone else did.

“He? Of course he is Palreynold!”

An unfamiliar voice came in and five more powerful men appeared at the door of the underground room, sealing the exit.

Garcia then appeared behind the 5 of them.

“Garcia?!”

Garcia wasn’t unheard of among the 4th year and the moment he appeared, cries of shock sounded in the room.

Then, a bad thought appeared in their hearts.

“Palreynold, you betrayed us?! You sided with Garcia? You traitor!?”

Morrison shouted frenzily, his eyes were subtly looking at the corner of the room.

For the sake of safety, when Morrison picked this room as the temporary hideout, he secretly built himself an escape path but opening it required some time. Morrison needed someone to buy him time.

“Go! Take them all down!”

Morrison incited his men but the next moment, when Garcia spoke, the words threw Morrison down into a freezy abyss.

“Fools! Do you really think I came down here without discovering your secret passage?”

Morrison’s body shook, the blood in his face was frightened away, leaving him with a pale look. The safe and peaceful life in Theorate had taken away his courage to fight to his death. He stared at the 4th year student who was rather well-known, his mouth moving a few times before he said “I-I surrender!”

Morrison’s men were baffled by the series of event and they were even more lost after Morrison surrendered, but they had no choice but to go along with the decision.

“I surrender too.”

“Me too.”

Surrenders echoed in his ears but Garcia didn’t even look at them. From the moment he entered the room, his attention was focused on ‘Palreynold’, who fell into silence after his entrance.

Garcia was satisfied when he saw the expected silence from ‘Palreynold’.

“It seems like you already know what will happen next. Mr. Palreynold of Sil Inner Sect, tell me where Lude is, or… hand over the Index of Eat!” Garcia said coldly.

Sil Inner Sect?!

Sil Sect has an Inner section?

Morrison, the 2nd year student, and the five other men were utterly shocked as they looked at Palreynold. Then, something even more unbelievable happened right before their eyes.