The Devil’s Cage

Trap to catch a bird?

Then… Can the caught bird be eaten?

Roast! It will be tasty!

Apply cumin and chilli powder!

Gluttony was stunned, looking at Kieran with puppy eyes and drool.

Without even sensing his thoughts, Kieran knew what Gluttony was thinking with a single glance, so he changed his way.

“Do you want to be eaten?” Kieran asked.

Gluttony shook his head repeatedly.

He loved to eat, not get eaten by something else.

“Then you can’t go in there,” said Kieran.

“But, but, but, it’s t-tasty…”

Gluttony stuttered, his words disconnected but the unwillingness on his face giving out some hints.

“You’ll need a loyal and nearly undead subordinate to scout the path for you.”

Kieran snapped his fingers and Bloody Mary appeared right away.

“Boss, at your service.”

Bloody Mary bowed with a smile but in its heart, tens of thousands of rampaging llamas were running frenziedly as they screamed ‘motherf*cker’.

It thought once it ascended to Superior Demon, it could be freed from those torturing days. It self-proclaimed itself as the strongest among Kieran’s subordinate after all, so never did it once thought its boss would send it to die again.

‘This…this… is too cruel…’

Bloody Mary thought of the sunshine of the West Coast again.

It missed its original home, its warm and comfortable home.

“S-scout the path?”

Gluttony looked at Bloody Mary with realization before he went into deep thoughts.

‘What the hell are you thinking about?

I tell you, other than Boss, don’t expect to order me around just because you are his clone! Don’t even think about it!’

Bloody Mary was roaring deep in its heart and when Kieran’s gaze came, it smiled and walked towards the only stairs in the hall.

The stairs lead upwards, but Bloody Mary couldn’t see the end when it reached the front. The supernatural darkness clouded everything at the end, hence everything fell into the unknown region. Likewise, the danger skyrocketed.

However, Bloody Mary knew what its mission was, so it stepped onto the stairs with a will forged from iron.

While its feet were moving up the stairs, before it even got close to the end, the thick supernatural darkness eagerly crashed down on it like a tidal wave and drowned Bloody Mary in an instant.

And it was just the start!

After the supernatural darkness enveloped Bloody Mary, the flight of stairs plummeted rapidly into the abyss, as if the ground was non-existent from the first place and stepping onto the stairs was like stepping off of a cliff.

The stairs vanished and a wall replaced the entrance.

The wall was similar to the others in the hall and from a certain aspect, this particular wall was sturdier than the others.

Looking at the wall and the disappeared Bloody Mary, Kieran wasn’t anxious at all. Quite the opposite, he lifted his mouth corner into a grin because he had located that special presence.

…

Where is this?

Sun?

Beach?

This is West Coast?

After the supernatural darkness dispersed, Bloody Mary opened its eyes and was welcomed by warm sunlight and endless waves echoing in its ears. It couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

The humid and salty air entered its body and made it squint pleasantly, opening its arms as though it was trying to hug the sea, despite knowing everything before its eyes was fake.

But…

Why not enjoy it while it lasted? Who’d forbid it?

Without a second thought, Bloody Mary lay down on the beach.

The last time it layed down with a carefree mind was the little ‘break’ its boss gave it after ascending, but the ‘break’ was incomparable to this kind of ‘break’ on a mission.

The former was a little terrifying; the latter was too good to be true.

Its boss wouldn’t get mad at it though, since it was practically its boss’ arrangement.

You’ll need bait to build a trap and catch the bird, right?

Even if you had a bamboo cage with a stick tied up inside, you’ll still need some gains right?

Similar to how Gluttony was attracted to the supernatural darkness earlier, now Bloody Mary was that bait and it could even scout the path.

What should a bait do though?

Wait patiently.

Bloody Mary turned aside on the beach and used its left arm as a pillow, its right hand fondling the white sand.

An hour later, a sandcastle was built. It wasn’t big but delicate enough.

Even doors and windows were carved out by a finger.

“I’ll still need a moat to protect the castle.”

Bloody Mary muttered to itself while looking at its finger.

Where should the moat draw water from?

Since it was at the beach, it should dig a trench and let the sea flow in!

Bloody Mary was digging the aforementioned trench eagerly.

The person who watched the beach through a crystal ball was rendered speechless.

At first, he thought Bloody Mary was pretending, thinking it would show its true self soon, but as time passed, he started to doubt his choice.

It seemed like… Bloody Mary was enjoying it?

The person didn’t want to believe this, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

No! It must be pretending

It’s already in an illusory realm, it should search for the exit anxiously!

And when it fails to do so, its anxiety and frustration will give birth to fear.

Once fear came into play, he would get the initiative to control the illusory realm!

Playing with sand in the illusory realm?

How is this possible?!

The person looked at the projection in the crystal ball, his eyes turning cold.

“Since you don’t want to do anything, then… I’ll make you change it passively!”

The person talked to himself and low incantations echoed in the room.

Promptly after that, a raging wind blew and dark clouds covered the sky at the beach.

Kakroom!

A lightning bolt as thick as a water barrel flashed across the dark sky, the calm sea becoming furious.

Fuaaaa!

A strong gale later, raindrops as big as peas fell down from the sky.

The wave crashed on the beach, rumbling and destroying the sandcastle Bloody Mary built. It left nothing behind except for some bubbles.

Bloody Mary looked on blankly as the white bubbles turned muddy before it sighed.

“Too bad. I thought I could rest longer. But… why would you destroy my castle?”

The sigh turned into a question.

The voice wasn’t loud, so it was unheard of in the storm, but through the crystal ball, the person heard the question crystal clear. He smiled coldly again.

“What I want to destroy isn’t just your little sand castle! I’ll destroy you and your support altogether!”

The man then looked into another crystal ball.

The second crystal ball was showing the battle in Alkender City.

A group of criminals were led by supervillains into battle with the superheroes of Alkender City.

Fist of Justice was very eye-catching among the rest, but what was more concerning was the black figure wielding a black greatsword.

With a cold expression and ruthless melee combat, especially when the black flames burst out from his target, the black figure became the spotlight of the whole battle.

Glutton Emperor!

The man was certain the Glutton Emperor in Alkender City fighting the criminals was the real one, meaning the one underground should be a clone of sorts.

Glutton Emperor’s cloning ability wasn’t a secret anymore, some intentional parties having done research on him during the fight with Mr. Ghost. Hence, it fit the scenario, with him being underground.

He must have planted a clone around Fist of Justice and the others just to be safe, how otherwise would he come down here in the first place? Dig his way through?

Of course, the man’s deduction wasn’t completely precise either, at least he did not expect a second clone, just like the backup plan on the beach.

Though none of that mattered anymore. Once Glutton Emperor entered his trap, the dust would settle.

“Don’t worry! You are just the beginning! The real Glutton Emperor will be next!” said the man before the situation in the illusory realm changed.

The storm didn’t stop, it got scarier instead. The typhoon roared loudly, as though it was some wind god from the myths descending on Earth. One could literally feel the chills without the actual cold.

Kakrooom!

Another loud thunder sounded and a bolt of lightning, as thick as a water barrel, shined over the dark sea.

A big ship with three spar suddenly appeared on the rough sea.

The ship was black, emanating a gloomy and cold presence under the lightning. Cannons were pushed out through the opening; the crew—who were all skeletons—waved an undying torch in the storm and grinned at Bloody Mary, showing an eerie smile.

“Fire away!”

Boom Boom Boom!

The order sounded and the pellets from the cannons bombarded the beach like meteor rain.

The beach had no cover to start with, quickly turning from a clean beach to a devastated battlefield. Bloody Mary was also covered with ashes and sand.

“My illusory realm is very real! If you got hit by the pellets… You get hit for real!”

The man saw the scorched beach from the crystal ball, unable to hold back his laughter.

He had met a lot of powerful enemies, but regardless of who, once they stepped into his illusory realm, their hands would be tied. Other than the confusion and bewitching elements, the illusory realm created by Dark Gold could greatly suppress the target’s ability, leaving them with only 10% of their usual powers.

The man thought Bloody Mary would be dead but when he saw not even a scratch on its body, he frowned.

“Swap into Demon Expel Cannon! Fire the cannons faster!”

The man spoke behind the crystal ball and the skeletons in the dark ship complied. Pellets containing layers of thick oil inside were loaded into the cannon.

BOOM!

The cannons flashed.

When the pellets landed, the whole beach fell into a sea of fire. Through the crystal ball, the man saw Bloody Mary suffering in the fire.

“Even if you are Glutton Emperor’s backup, what do you have to resist the Demon Expel Cannon from the papal era? Die! Die! Burn it to cinders!”

The man shouted loudly, not stopping when he saw Bloody Mary running towards the sea.

The illusory realm was under his control, so everywhere would be the same. Even if Bloody Mary swam to the ocean bed, it could never dodge the bombardment.

Because of that, when the man saw Bloody Mary’s body start to grow in size as it swam into the sea, he felt something wasn’t right.

Bloody Mary’s limbs transformed into fins and a tail, its head growing sharper and a towering fin appearing on its back. It swam towards the ship in the rough sea with its scary fin sticking out, but the scarier thing was its mouth, filled with sharp teeth!

Each tooth was as sharp as a dagger and there were hundreds of them!

“A shark?!”

The man was astonished by the giant shark.

As the most dangerous predator in the sea, a great white shark with 5 to 6 meters in length was scary enough, but the shark Bloody Mary transformed into was 4 meters—not length but width!

It did not look like a traditional shark, it looked more like an absurdly strong elephant in waters. If the mentioned shark wasn’t riding the waves of the rough sea, the man would start to doubt what he saw.

He had never seen a shark as buff as this, it was almost rectangular in shape!

The next moment, the weird looking sharp jumped out from the sea and threw itself towards the ship’s spar. It proved that it wasn’t just the looks, but a real, genuine, weird shark!

It jumped up from one side of the ship, the tremendous impact crushing the spar in the middle and collapsing on the next spar; the shark returned to the sea after the devastating blow.

As for the skeleton crew?

Up against a giant, strong shark, other than being crushed, they had no other ending.

It still wasn’t the end though.

The shark turned around and swam towards the black ship again, and this time, it did not jump up but rammed the ship’s body.

BANG!

Wooden debris flew upon impact, a large hole rammed open and the ship starting to tilt.

The man who watched the crystal ball spat out a mouthful of blood.

Just like what he said earlier, his illusory realm was very real, the damage received inside would be reflected back into reality. It applied to Bloody Mary and himself, but it might be more serious for him.

The man felt Dark Gold growing restless. He tried his best to adjust Dark Gold.

He was just using Dark Gold to his biddings, not transforming it into the Black Calamity!

It was not something he wished to happen.

After some hard effort, Dark Gold calmed down but the ship at the sea was rammed beyond recognition by the giant shark.

The giant shark was growling loudly in the rough waves.

“The bastard who destroyed my sand castle, do you think I am that weak?!”

The man flushed when he heard the provocation from Bloody Mary.

He was infuriated, feeling like he had been played.

The man took a deep breath, ready to conjure more Dark Gold to teach Bloody Mary a lesson, to let the Superior Demon know who was calling the shots.

However, just when he was about to conjure more Dark Gold, he realized the power of Dark Gold was rapidly fading away. At the same time, sucking noise, plus some messy munching, entered his ears.