The Devil’s Cage

Kieran pushed the door open, got down and glanced over at the four figures blankly.

Every one of the four figures had sharp teeth and a visible glint around their mouths despite them being closed. Their ears were sharp and small like enlarged triangles, they had very little hair on their heads, and their bodies were nothing stellar, but their red as fire skin left an impression.

More importantly, standing in front of the four demonic figures, Kieran could hear wicked, eerie whispers. The whispers ought to release humans from their darkest, deepest desires. It wasn’t just voices of temptation, but even enlarged false admiration of one’s future.

Anyone with a weaker willpower would surely get hooked on the first word.

Demons! Demons that seduce people into falling for the worst. They looked exactly like how the records described them.

Kieran was certain all four of the red figures before him were demons, but something was off about what he remembered. The demons… seemed a little weak.

The demons stood and dressed like common men, and didn’t possess the looks of the Fallen Form or the Fallen Vessel.

“Descendants of a hybrid?” Kieran muttered in his heart.

“I don’t like your eyes!”

“It reminds us of our miserable past!”

“Rage made us rude.”

“But it will also torture you.”

Each of the demons spilled out a sentence before they walked towards Kieran.

Both sides were not that far apart to start with, only a car front away, and any common man could reach Kieran in two steps or fewer.

However, the four hybrid demons strode forward many steps, yet were still unable to get close to Kieran.

It wasn’t any kind of special ability, but that they were merely walking on the spot.

Almost at the same time, the four hybrid demons noticed what each of them were doing.

“You guys are really cunning!”

“Don’t even think about it; I won’t be a pawn to exhaust his last bit of energy!”

“There’s just a little bit left, what does it matter who goes?”

“Then why are you still here?”

Such words came out of the hybrid demons.

Cunning, despicable, selfish, greedy.

These were the common impressions of a demon, followed by ‘evil’ and ‘powerful’.

It seemed like these four hybrid demons were not purebloods by any means, but they possessed characteristics of a true demon.

They were waiting for the others to strike and then reap the rewards themselves without lifting a finger.

If this continued, one of them might compromise because of the benefits, but Kieran did not spare them the chance. His time was limited, and he still had to play his part to the fullest.

Huuu!

The charged up Devil Flame appeared around the four hybrid demons. It burned fiercely, and with [Fiery Sulphur]’s effect, the rank IV flamewaves rumbled as they exploded into a mushroom cloud.

The four hybrid demons were completely engulfed in a second, not even having a chance to resist before they were burnt to cinders.

Until death, the four hybrid demons couldn’t believe Kieran still had this kind of power.

Based on what they knew, Kieran should be injured. He might still hold some power but definitely not much. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left the city when the Union sent a specialist over for investigation.

Death told them otherwise. Death told them they were wrong about Kieran, absurdly wrong.

Their powers started to scatter.

Gluttony appeared as ordered and sucked in the Demon Energy freely.

Kieran?

His body wobbled for a moment and slowly returned to normal as Gluttony absorbed the energy; at least, it looked like he recovered.

Clap Clap Clap!

A slow clap sounded as a tall man in a dark-colored windcoat walked out.

His face was old, his hair white and the wrinkles around his squinted eyes were long and deep. It was an unsettling face to look at, as though he was a snake with wrinkles.

“Not too bad. The Devil consuming the demons. What a surprising scene,” said the man as he walked closer to Kieran and stopped five meters away, sizing him up carefully.

“A high-tier Devil blood descendant. Who would’ve thought someone like you would exist now. The power that consumed those demons, is it your awakened power?

“The Devil’s power plus the awakened power, someone like you would be extremely troublesome 600 years ago. Now? If you have enough time, I’m afraid no one in the world can stop you, but the Union will not spare you the slightest chance,” said the man in a pitiful tone after a deep breath.

The man then took out a pair of black leather gloves from his coat pocket, put them on and exercised his fingers before continuing. “I have to thank you though. If it weren’t for you, how could I locate the traces of the Broken Fire Council?”

“Don’t worry. After I kill you, I’ll get to them and send them to your side. Oh right, after you die, will you go to hell or the abyss? I really can’t nail down all the details, but I know the likes of you will never go to heaven.” The man’s words obviously held scorn.

A layer of supernatural darkness then came afloat around his hands.

The street started to turn cold. It wasn’t the coldness of common ice or snow, but the coldness that seeped into one’s soul.

“Feel this power yet? This is the power of the Interrogators from the papal era. Only, I perfected it. It is no longer…”

The man prolonged his words and suddenly swung his hand down.

The darkness exploded without a sound, enveloping Kieran and Gluttony.

“Can your powers consume this too? I hope you can surprise me! I heard that you’ve consumed raw Dark Gold before, but after perfecting this, it’s no longer the Dark Gold you encountered, but…”

“It’s tastier!”

The man showing a disgusting smile froze at Gluttony’s words.

Gluttony swallowed his saliva and showed the happiest smile.

He had been waiting for this for a long time, and now his patience was rewarded.

The supernatural darkness felt like hot cocoa with added milk.

It was delicious!

Gluttony widened his mouth and sucked as hard as he could.

Souuuu!

The supernatural darkness that enveloped him was sucked into his stomach.

Gluttony then looked at the main course that he had been waiting for.

The tall man was sweating, his forehead filling with beads of sweat. His body was trembling!

It wasn’t just fear he felt; the gaze from the highest level in the food chain struck a feeling of devastation in the man’s heart as if he was being attacked by beings from another dimension.

What terrified the man more was that he felt Kieran gradually growing stronger.

No, not growing stronger! But recovering!

Kieran was recovering after consuming the Demon Energy and Dark Gold.

‘What in the…’

A sudden thought came afloat in the man’s mind.

“This was all your setup?! You used me to recover your wounded state!” the man shouted frenziedly as if he had seen through everything, but it was useless.

Gluttony jumped over, kicked the man down, removed his gloves and threw them into his mouth.

Crunch, Crunch!

The leather gloves’ texture tasted like roasted pork with crispy skin; it was juicy and crunchy.

“N-Nice!” Gluttony commented honestly.

As for the captive under his feet?

Since his ‘big brother’ did not allow him to eat humans, he kept his mouth away even if the target was his captive.

Dense Dark Gold energy was converted into fuel for the five Origin Forces by Gluttony, but unlike before, Kieran purposely reserved a portion of the converted energy away from Devil Force.

After consuming the four Demon Energies, Devil Force had acquired enough in the meantime, hence the reservation.

Right at this moment, the 4th, 5th and 7th Mordin’s Sculptures, which Kieran kept in [Crimson Ghost Stomach], flew out.

The abstract sculptures got even more obscure as they started to distort. They were twisting randomly like a pile of modeling clay.

Dak Dak Dak.

Footsteps then sounded behind Kieran.

They sounded very common except that the footsteps were coming from a sculpture less than 30cm tall.

The sculpture donned armor, and wielded a longsword in one hand and a demon’s head in the other. Its face was cold and harsh, yet familiar.

[Hell Breath]! Mordin’s final work that had his rescue message carved beneath the base.

The sculpture had gotten away from its base, and it was pointing its sword at Kieran.

“The origin of all sin, the father of calamity! Kill!” the sculpture shouted.

The sculpture then turned its sword around and placed it over its own neck.

Kieran looked at the sculpture’s action from a domineering position. He didn’t spawn unnecessary relations just because the sculpture looked exactly like him. He wasn’t moved at all by the sculpture’s action.

The sculpture stopped its action just when the sword touched its neck. Its hands that held the sword were frozen, and its eyes stared at Kieran. It questioned Kieran with its gaze: why wasn’t he stopping it?

Kieran looked at the sculpture quietly. He raised his hand and did a ‘please’ action.

“Go on,” he said plainly.

“Don’t you think there is something between us? We look the same!” exclaimed the sculpture.

“No, it’s not the same, so please go on,” Kieran said with an affirmative tone.

“Aren’t you curious? I can answer a lot of questions!” said the sculpture.

“No, thank you. Please go on.” Kieran shook his head.

The sculpture felt doubtful about the situation. It looked at Kieran and continued with a serious tone, “I think we can have a better conversation. I was anxious just now and made a mistake. Sorry.” The sculpture then bowed sincerely.

“No need. Please, go on.” Kieran signaled the sculpture again.

The sculpture went silent.

Then… it threw its sword on the ground.

“Screw you! Why am I killing myself? I’m not an idiot! Kill me if you have the balls!” The sculpture shouted its lungs out at Kieran.

Kieran didn’t react differently or show any extra emotions. He just nodded.

“Sure.” Kieran stepped on the sculpture.

Bang!

It was smashed into pieces, and a ball of light shone brightly from within.

“Aaaaaargh!”

An agonizing cry came from the captive under Gluttony’s foot. Streams of supernatural darkness gushed out of the captive’s body and merged itself into the light from the broken sculpture.

On top of that, the supernatural darkness in the area withered swiftly and also got sucked into the light.

The light was a powerful magnet, sucking all the supernatural darkness known as Dark Gold.

Kieran watched it happen.

When he felt the pulse from the light, he grinned.

“It’s here.”

The captive was Gluttony’s main course while Kieran’s main course had just arrived.

Buzz!

After sucking in all the darkness, the light shone brightly like hundreds of flashbang going off together. It enveloped the entire street and blinded everyone within.

When the light faded, Kieran was nowhere to be found.

…

Warm sunlight shined through the window and blessed the office.

Kieran sat down in his chair as the sun shined. Before him was a clean desk with simple items: a notebook and a steel pen.

He opened the notebook. It was empty, not a single word written within.

He took the pen and examined it, realizing it was filled with ink and was usable.

He placed it down and then sized up the office.

Similar to the things on the desk, the decorations in the office were simple too.

Other than the greens in the corner, there was a big, comfortable sofa and a filing cabinet beside the window.

Kieran saw a picture sealed in a glass cabinet.

It was of himself in a white robe and with a trophy in hand.

A line of words were written on the picture.

‘Congratulation, 2567, on being the youngest winner of the Fervon Psychology Prize.’

Kieran raised a brow.

“Psychologist?” The thought came into his mind instantly.

This was different from what he expected.

According to his initial thoughts, even if he was brought away from Alkender City by the light, he should have appeared in hell or the abyss, or somewhere wretched.

How did he become a psychologist?

While he was pondering upon the question, footsteps came from the corridor, followed by knocks on the door.

Dok Dok Dok.

“Dr. 2567, your patient is here.”

With Kieran’s permission, a young, sweet nurse came in and delivered the message. Behind her was a tired-looking middle-aged man with bloodshot eyes.

“Em.” Kieran nodded.

The nurse showed a sweet smile, guided the patient to the sofa and left Kieran to his business.

Third parties were not allowed to participate in a treatment session.

Even though the nurse really wanted to have a look at how the treatment of the youngest winner of the Fervon Psychology Prize would go, as a nurse, she could not disobey the rules.

“I bet it will be fantastic!” the nurse muttered to herself.

The patient on the sofa spoke. “Lately, I can’t seem to sleep again. I did what you told me to, but I always end up thinking of her. She makes me…”

“Can’t sleep? Insomnia?” Kieran interrupted the patient.

“Y-Yeah, I can’t sleep.” The patient nodded.

“Hmm. Well then, let’s put you to a good sleep…”

Pak!

A chop was delivered to the back of the patient’s neck.

The patient fell unconscious on the sofa, followed by snores.