The Devil's Cage

Endless waves of tri-colored ribbons hung over the dorm corridors, the students walking around the dorm were overflowing with joyful smiles.

The anniversary celebration was here.

The students got three consecutive holidays during the celebration, no uniforms were required during the period, and they were allowed to wear anything they liked. The curfew at night was lifted for the three days as well, it was a rare chance for the curious freshmen to explore Theorate at night.

More importantly, the fireworks, floats, and food competition.

"Maica, are you sure you want to participate in the food competition?" Standler asked.

He was wearing a windcoat and had a ghost mask on his head while applying paint on his exposed hand, he wanted his skin color to match the mask.

"Yeah, it's a rare opportunity."

Maica nodded while he sat down with his legs crossed, his breath wasn't disturbed as he spoke.

"But did you think about what kind of powerful opponents you may run into?"

"I know that the competition has judges but accidents still may occur."

Standler sat in front of his friend and said in a serious tone.

"A powerful opponent? It's all I ask for."

"Accident? I'll overcome it as my trial!"

Maica was sturdy, he was simply moved by Standler's words.

"T-Then, did you ever think about running into the First Seat?"

Standler was hesitant to ask when he saw how firm and battle-aroused Maica was, but he couldn't hold back his urge and asked about the possible outcome.

After the question, Maica skipped a breath before it turned into a hurried mess.

4 to 5 seconds later, Maica said, "If I run into the First Seat, I'll concede."

Maica wasn't bothered by a powerful opponent, he was rather grateful for it but Kieran did not belong in the category, Kieran was the embodiment of despair!

Maica wasn't an idiot, so he knew what he must do in front of despair.

Standler heaved a breath of relief and tapped his friend's shoulder, he was really worried about Maica going into battle with the First Seat.

Although the First Seat might be harmless during normal times, once he entered his battle mode, he would be merciless. The mountains of bodies were the best proof.

A few days ago, when Professor Duyer accidentally died, as an aide to the First Seat who killed the professor, Standler knew something others did not.

Although the majority of the school said that Professor Tyrese did an excellent job to avoid conflict from the neutral professors, Standler knew the First Seat had paid all of the neutral professors a visit that night. That was the reason why the professors conceded and did not cause an uproar.

As for what really happened? Standler did not know.

All he knew was a day after the incident, those neutral professors appeared in the public eye in wheelchairs and bandaged arms.

The professors said they were in some accidents in their labs but Standler did not buy the talk because when Standler headed to Kieran's room for some signed documents, he clearly heard Kieran was muttering about the professors, something like, 'I am returning the favor', 'I can't trouble the kind professor', 'They would be a bunch of decent loot, I really want to take them all out', etc.

Standler didn't know about what the favor or loot was but he knew the kind professor was referring to Professor Tyrese and the rest is self-explanatory.

The neutral professors who were able to attend the anniversary celebration in wheelchairs and bandages should really thank the kind professor. Otherwise, all of them would have followed Professor Duyer's footsteps.

Therefore, Standler acknowledged the saying of Professor Tyrese settling the incident of Professor Duyer's death. After all, Kieran did spare all the neutral professors because of Professor Tyrese.

There weren't many things that could earn Kieran's mercy though and the upcoming food competition was definitely not one.

Standler sighed as he thought of the horrible scene that might happen during the competition.

Kieran on the other hand also sighed.

If he had a choice, he would choose to solve problems in a more direct way but unfortunately, the opponents he ran into were more cautious and cunning than the last one, it forced him to go along with their plans.

Kieran loaded his backpack with many exploration tools and supplies before he quietly left the student dorm for a secluded corner.

He took out the bow and loaded an arrow.

Shoooo!

The arrow was fired out, Kieran moved like the wind and followed the arrow like its shadow.

The students were preparing for the start of the anniversary, no one noticed the flying arrow and Kieran behind it.

[Position Arrow] did not arch over the sky like a common arrow, it kept changing direction in mid-air as though a pair of invisible hands were controlling it.

A full minute later, the arrow finally landed on its target.

Before the arrow landed, Kieran arrived beside the landing spot and sized up his surroundings.

He was still in a certain complicated alleyway of Theorate but at the end of said alley was a door.

Beyond the door should be the Mystic State E-15.

However, Kieran did not move out right away, he turned around and stared at the street.

A tall and upright figure appeared in his sight, was quite handsome, hair was neatly combed, and similar to his leather shoes, they were shining.

"Good day, Sir 2567. I am a messenger from Ryde Family and I represent the leader. He wishes to have a meeting with you." The man walked towards Kieran while he stated his purpose with a smile.

Looking at Kieran who was within his reach, the messenger was overjoyed. He had been in Theorate for quite some time now and he was on the brink of giving up his mission.

His target, Kieran, was being watched every moment by the school and the Dark Eaters, it was quite inconvenient for him to make his approach but to his surprise, Kieran made a move alone right before the anniversary.

According to Kieran's movement pattern and the [Position Arrow] in his hand, the messenger knew what he was up to: going into E-15 Mystic State!

The messenger wasn't a stranger to the well-developed Mystic State.

The first Mystic State that the third-year students entered was mostly the E-15 Mystic State, the professors also liked to train their students in this one as well because, except for its constant shifting location, which caused a headache, it was nearly harmless.

It was the mildest among all the Mystic States but it was almost similar to a barren land.

As for the constant location shift?

After many years of expedition and search, people who were familiar with the Mystic State could easily locate E-15 even without [Position Arrow].

However, entering a Mystic State prematurely was still very difficult for the majority of the freshmen, but it wasn't impossible.

The messenger could imagine if his target would state his request to the school, the school would definitely make the necessary arrangements to allow him to experience the Mystic State earlier.

Unfortunately, Kieran was too young, he didn't know how to utilize his advantages.

The stubbornness of a young man plus the straightforward personality and the rashness equalled stupidity!

Of course, the messenger did not dislike the stupidity.

Without it, how could he finish his mission?

"Please don't worry, we mean no harm, we just want to get some information from you."

The messenger's smile was still bright, his head was quietly calculating the distance between him and his target and when he reached optimal distance, he made his move.

What invitation? What harmless?

The leader did tell him to bring the target back for a meeting but he didn't say how!

The result would be the same, regardless of an invitation or an abduction!

More so, did Leo Ryde and Morphen Ryde die for nothing?

Those two were undeniably idiots and garbage but they were still part of the Ryde Family.

Since Kieran killed the two of them, he should understand what the consequences were!

Souu!

The messenger appeared before Kieran in a blink of an eye, his right hand went after Kieran's neck for a grab.

A faint sweetness spread out as the right hand approached the neck.

However, before the faint sweetness truly spread, it was replaced by a vile stench, similar to a cake gone bad. It wasn't just nauseating, it was a hard sight for the eyes either.

The messenger's clean, long hand rapidly withered down and turned sallow, only his skin was wrapped around his bones, as though it was a hand of a dead body.

Despite the sudden changes, the withered hand moved faster towards the neck and was leaving a weird motion trail. It seemed like there was more than one kind of technique involved.

"Got you!" the messenger chuckled and tried to seize Kieran's neck, but…

Kieran was faster, he counter-grabbed the messenger's neck and the messenger's withered hand was bent in a freaky way, like it was a three-section cudgel.

It happened too fast, to the point that the messenger couldn't react. He cried in agony when Kieran grabbed him but it abruptly stopped at the next moment.

Crack!

After snapping the messenger's neck, Kieran threw him on the ground.

"You people started it first!" Kieran said.

He grabbed his loot from the messenger and turned around to the door.

The door was locked, not by a regular lock but a mystical one, so there wasn't a keyhole.

Since it was controlled by mystical means, it would only open to the right incantation. Kieran didn't know the incantation, so he kicked it down.

BANG!

The door opened right after the kick.

Kieran strode in with his backpack and rapidly vanished beyond the door.

A minute after Kieran entered the door, a troubled Professor Tyrese appeared from the shadow with Senile and Leond behind him.

"Did he notice us?" Leonard asked with a cream puff in his hand.

"I'm sure he did. Didn't you hear what the brat said?"

"You guys started it first, it's obviously meant for us!"

Senile rolled his eyes at Leonard before he squatted down to inspect the body. His mouth twitched when he saw the hand of the messenger bent like a three-section cudgel.

"What quick and strange kick techniques, he is like a snake that jumps out from the bush!" Senile couldn't hold back his comments as he recalled the scene.

"But 2567 is a good person, at least he took my advice the last time," Professor Tyrese defended Kieran.

"Yeah, he heard it. He didn't take the initiative, he counterattacked and killed the messenger… though I don't think he did anything wrong," Senile shrugged and carefully checked the body.

Professor Tyrese felt even more troubled when he heard what Senile said.

He thought he was being less considerate during the last conversation with Kieran, he should be more careful with his words and maybe he should change how Kieran does things or even make him less rash.

"I'll have a talk with him when he comes back from E-15." Professor Tyrese made up his mind to take another shot at persuading Kieran.

"The anniversary celebration would be a little boring without this little brat." Leonard said with a smile as he shoved a cream puff in his move.

"Maybe it will be a good thing." Senile moved his lips and muttered quietly to himself.

Moments later, the security guards arrived and moved the body away.

Rather than being shocked, the security guards were calm, they were calm because they were already used to it. Too many things happened recently, to the point that it numbed their senses.

As for the messenger coming from the Ryde Family?

There was nothing to be surprised about that either. The security guards did move two more bodies from the Ryde Family which got thrown out of the window before this.

Related personnel quickly dispersed from the scene after the body was carried away.

The watchers who paid attention to the scene retreated as well, they quickly carried the news back to their respective organization: 2567 had entered the Mystic State.

A lot of people heaved sighs of relief.

Someone chuckled without being too concerned.

Someone waited for another half an hour before the furrowed brows ease up.

The news had been verified, Kieran had truly entered E-15 Mystic and it wasn't a hoax.

"Finally, the unstable variable has left the equation for the time being."

The person standing in the dark took a deep breath, he stood up from the dark and limped outside.

…

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes to hours.

The sun rose and eventually set.

When the moon hung in the sky, the darkness didn't cover Theorate because the whole campus was lit up like the Fourth of July.

Other than the usual street lamps, all sorts of colorful colors were lit up that night together with many kinds of musical instrument playing loudly.

The sounds of joyful trumpets, melodious cellos, and the thunderous drums lifted the atmosphere. The students who were in all sorts of costumes and masks felt as if they were attending a Halloween party.

When the first float of the parade drove out the freshmen mansion, it marked the beginning of the anniversary celebration.

Amid all the fun and joy, a black figure who had been waiting for a long time came out from the little alley where E-15 Mystic State was located, in a flash.

The black figure did not hesitate to leave the alley and headed towards the first destination: Strainer Alley!

Meanwhile inside Strainer Alley, there were also lights for decoration but compared to where the parade was taking place, the alley was much quieter.

One or two people might walk in occasionally, but it was still deadly quiet because those people who walked into Stainer Alley were sinister-looking and ferocious.

They covered their physiques and faces while they traveled along the shadows into one of the buildings.

The doorkeeper was a short fellow, he glared at everyone who walked into the alley with stern eyes but there was no need for secret codes or show of face, because a Dark Eater was recognized by the unusual aura, it served like a marking at times.

The doorkeeper then saw the black figure from E-15 ally, he sensed the bloody aura hidden in the figure which was equivalent to a mountain of bodies and a sea of blood. The doorkeeper moved away without a second thought.

"My lord, welcome," the doorkeeper bowed politely.