The Devil’s Cage

The red skull behaved very politely, coupled with its respectful bow earlier, it was like the most loyal subordinate of the three kings.

However, the three kings of their thrones didn’t care about what the red skull said. Disdain rose from their hearts, they shut their eyes to rest and no one believed the words from the red skull.

They knew what kind of evil being the red skull was.

Aside from the mouth full of lies, the viciousness in its heart was few times worse than the king’s most cruel subordinates.

A few seconds later, chuckles came from the right throne.

“Ill intentions?”

The chuckles were filled with sneers.

The sneers weren’t meant for Victor but the red skull and the red skull reacted just fine at the sneers.

It bowed again.

“Your Majesty, I can assure you Victor really bears ill intentions. He is here to incite war between us and the outside world. A slight misstep will lead Ring City down a path of destruction,” said the red skull.

“Ring City never feared war. Blood offering is the root of Ring City. Bones piled up as walls around Ring City. And the souls of the dead are the best kinds of desert!”

The voice came from the right throne but unlike the cold chuckles earlier, this voice sounded very bloodthirsty and the urge to slaughter was obvious.

The aura from the right throne also filled the hall following the voice.

The whole hall reeked of blood, like a thousand gallons of rotten blood filled the space.

The soul fire in the red skull’s eye sockets flickered for a moment and then returned to normal.

“Of course. We never fear war!”

The red skull suppressed the trembling from its heart and answered obediently.

It hated this feeling, but was helpless against it.

It wasn’t because of the suppression of power but because of the very first ‘contract’, not with the three kings, but with that King Ren.

Although the three kings weren’t King Ren, the contract between the three kings and King Ren would still affect the contract between the red skull and King Ren. Whenever the red skull thought of the idiotic ways of King Ren, it couldn’t help but chuckle in its heart.

With a more respectful look, it continued, “Not fearing war has always been our strength, it made us invincible but that doesn’t mean we can be manipulated, it will make us a joke and even force us to bear unnecessary risks… More importantly, it will taint the name of your Majesties! So I don’t think we should agree to his words!”

The red skull bowed again after that.

“Are you teaching us what to do?” The voice from the right throne expressed its dissatisfaction.

After standing straight, the red skull bowed again after the slightly angered voice from the right king.

“I dare not offend, sire! I’m just giving a suggestion, a suggestion from a loyal official!” The red skull said while trembling.

“You little…”

“Enough. Where’s Victor?”

Right after the right voice spoke, it was stopped by another voice from the center throne.

Unlike the grumpy and harsh voice on the right, the center voice sounded kind and pleasant.

“He is washing himself up and changing into some new clothes.”

‘Sire, do note that he came here by the Reek River,” said the red skill with slight embarrassment.

When Reek River was mentioned, the center king jolted and fell backwards on his throne, even the left and right kings reacted the same.

The right king even grumbled loudly, “You piece of shit! You better make sure he is clean! If he stained my carpet, I’ll hang you and him on the walls until you dry up!”

The power of Reek River was endless, even the three kings of Ring City had to step back against it.

No one would quarrel with a cesspool. Whosoever was stupid enough to fight with it, regardless of victory or loss, would end up in shit.

“I’ll make sure he cleans himself more than three times.”

The red skull bowed again before it left the grand hall.

After it stepped out of the hall, the soul fire in its eye sockets flickered.

Everything went smoothly!

It was easier than expected!

A hundred years had passed, it allowed the red skull to learn how to deal with the three kings and perfect its ways.

Only obeying wouldn’t work. Instead, using unorthodox ways to reason with them would grant surprising results. Though the red skull must know when to use its methods and control it with perfection, or it would end up with the opposite of what it desired.

Compared to the grumpy and easy-minded King Liao, the red skull was more careful against the soft and kind words of King Reow.

As for King Qi, who wasn’t really a talker?

The red skull had no idea at all. If King Qi wasn’t in his throne throughout the meeting, the red skull would not even have realized his existence.

Nonetheless, all three kings were serious foes of the red skull and whenever it thought about going up against them, the soul fire in its eye sockets would jolt.

Though it quickly regained its calm because it had acquired an ally, an unreliable ally with malicious intents.

But, having one would be enough!

The red skull hastened its step, when it returned to the guest room, Victor was already cleaned up.

“I would tell you to put… Umm… right, perfume. You people call it perfume, right?” said the red skull.

“I want to know when the three kings will see me, not to put on perfume or not,” Victor said.

“After you put on the perfume!”

As the red skull explained, it extended its hand out of its sleeve and gave a thumbs up to Victor.

Victor wasn’t surprised about how it went down.

The reason why Victor picked the red skull to be his ally was because the red skull had the capabilities to carry out his plan, and he knew a lot more than the red skull thought.

“Do you think I will be carrying things after I come out from that place?” Victor asked.

“Of course not. I gave you the robe anyway, so I prepared some other things for you.”

The red skull then took a glass bottle out from its sleeve. Inside the bottle was some black liquid but when it uncorked, the smell of grass and dirt flew out.

The smell was shallow, one would need to give it a good sniff to get the smell but it was very good in cover ups.

When the grass and dirt smell came out from the bottle, the smell from the Reek River was instantly suppressed.

“This is the essence of grass seeds I gathered from the surface, it’s been grinded and extracted into its purest form. I usually use it during celebrations around Ring City,” the red skull explained.

Victor didn’t say anything, taking the bottle and pouring half of it on his body.

The red skull watched in satisfaction.

Both of them were smart people, not all ideas must be communicated through words. Tacit understanding and contract were always the basics.

However, some precautions must be taken before moving forward with the collaboration.

The essence from grass seeds was real, but something else was mixed into it.

It wouldn’t do any harm in a short time but as time went by, if the liquid wasn’t mixed with another kind of substance, the target would rot.

“Follow me please. Remember what I told you, you must be respectful when you meet the three kings,” the red skull reminded Victor.

Victor nodded.

However, after he entered the grand hall with the red skull and saw the three kings on their thrones behind the shadow, Victor remained straight and had no intentions to bow.

The red skull pulled Victor’s sleeve to remind him but Victor didn’t care at all, instead he stepped up boldly.

The soul fire in the red skull’s eye sockets started to flicker again and just when it was about to move forward with its plan, King Liao of the right throne spoke.

“Hmph!”

“Ignorant mortal!”

“You are going to express your honor with your bold moves? Do you know what happened to the last guy who did that?”

The cold grunt echoed in the hall like a clap of thunder..

The threatening words, together with King Liao’s aura, poured down on Victor like a mountain above him.

Victor turned pale against the pressuring aura but he did not step back or bent over. He gave his best effort in straightening his body.

“Hang me dry on the city walls?” Victor asked.

“You knew?” King Liao was startled.

“I saw those obvious bodies on the city walls when I came in through the gates,” Victor said calmly.

“Don’t worry, you will join them soon.”

King Liao obviously felt mocked, slamming his arm on his throne.

Several evil spirits sprung out from the ground and surrounded Victor, trying to take him down.

The icy chills stung his body and spread to every inch of his muscle.

Victor looked at everything calmly, as though the one being taken down wasn’t him.

Right before the evil spirits draged Victor out of the grand hall, the throne in the center spoke.

“Wait!”

The kind and pleasant voice sent the evil spirits away, Victor then walked back to the kings again.

This time however, unlike the first, Victor bowed respectfully towards the king in the center.

“Your Majesty,” Victor said.

“I don’t like people who play tricks. The reason why I let you come back is because I am curious why you are here. If you can satisfy my answer, I’ll spare you. If not, I won’t hang you dry on the city walls, instead I will drown you in the Reek River.”

The voice was still pleasant and kind but the contents were spine-chilling.

Victor smiled, “Sire, do you want to leave this place?”

Victor spoke like always but it forced the presence around the throne to a pause.

Not only King Reow in the middle, even King Liao on the right and the quiet King Qi on the left were shook. The shadows around them were affected by their emotions, starting to gather above Victor like a dark cloud over his head. It was suffocating and lightning even rumbled across the hall.

“What do you know?”

“Scarlet, did you leak this?!”

“Kill!”

The first one was from King Reow.

The second was from King Liao and it came after King Reow, the hostile aura shrouding the red skull.

The third was from King Qi. The moment his words subsided, the whole hall turned cold, like the place had fallen into an icy hell.

It wasn’t an illusion!

Victor clearly saw his breath turn white!

As for Scarlet the red skull?

It already knew Victor would persuade the three kings with some special methods but not this special. Scarlet cursed Victor in its heart but the power from the ‘contract’ forced it to bow.

“I did not leak any information regarding your Majesties! I swear!” Scarlet said.

“He has nothing to do with this, I researched this place before coming,” Victor said.

“Researched?! You are lying! Ring City would never be researched by the likes of you!” King Liao ferociously laughed.

“That’s under normal circumstances. What if… I used the Philosopher’s Stone?” Victor said with a smile.

Philosopher’s Stone?

The three kings jolted.

The fearsome aura in the hall temporarily dispersed.

The hall returned to its peaceful state and the three kings exchanged gazes with each other in the shadow.

They heard of the Philosopher’s Stone before, especially of its miraculous acts.

If it was the real Philosopher’s Stone… They could very well get away from this place! Away from this cage!

Eager, King Reow did not speak anxiously, looking at King Liao.

King Liao got the signal and said, “So? You used the Philosopher’s Stone to spy on us, so that you can trick us to eliminate your enemies?”

“Of course not! We have a common enemy, because the stone is in their hands!”

Victor corrected King Liao’s words and before the king could speak, Victor added, “In fact, everything is part of my plan. I accidentally got a piece of a shard from the Philosopher’s Stone and through this shard, I can locate the core. It’s with that group of people! However, under normal circumstances, I can never get the core of the stone.

That is why I proposed this Battle of Winter Night and I hope I can get your aid, your Majesties! I need that core, I must have it! With that core, I can revive my wife! Of course, reviving a mortal wouldn’t use a lot of the stone, so it will be enough for your Majesties to get away from your cage. I assure you what I said is the truth and I am willing to form a contract.”

Victor bowed respectfully after he finished.

The three kings didn’t speak any further, a piece of contract flying towards Victor.

Victor glanced over the content and bit his finger to sign it.

After the contract was formed, the atmosphere in the grand hall eased up, even King Liao put away his hostility.

The contract was valid, it was proof that Victor did not lie.

The Philosopher’s Stone was real and it would be their last hope to leave this cage.

“Tell us, what are you going to do?” King Reow asked.

“I need the humans and monsters who come for their juniors to find something special in the city—it does not need to be too valuable, but must be enough to move their hearts,” Victor said.

The three kings looked at each other and nodded en masse.

“Very well,” the kings promised.

The whole King City went to work immediately.

Precious items and Crossing Coins were moved out from the treasure vault in boxes.

The guards of the King City stood guard around it as they were waiting for the time to move out.

The sunlight would still affect them, so they had to wait for night.

While the guards waited patiently, they did not notice a pair of eyes under the ground were watching everything in glimmers.