The Devil's Cage

Jialong was 30 meters long and as thick as a barrel, a human seeming small in front of the legendary dragon, let alone a pair of chopsticks.

The pair of chopsticks were too insignificant in front of the dragon but they easily pierced through the Jiaolong's scale and precisely grabbed its tendon under the skin.

Gluttony squeezed the chopsticks, shook his hand, and curled up the 30 meter long Jiaolong like a noodle.

And then…

Slurped! The legendary dragon was slurped in! It looked like Gluttony was eating a very long piece of noodle!

"STOP! STOP IT!"

Smith shouted in Kieran's face furiously, a ball of flame rising in his hand and hurled towards Gluttony.

Fuuu!

The ball of flame flew out like a meteor and produced a heavy whistle, but before it could reach Gluttony, it was stopped by Principal Romuse.

BANG!

Principal Romuse raised his hand and formed a barrier to block the fireball. Upon clashing, the flames splashed everywhere but didn't land on the floor—quite the contrary, the flames flew towards Gluttony's mouth, which was ridiculously huge. His mouth was so huge that it devoured not only the Jiaolong but the flames as well.

"What a scary Ghost of Appetite!"

"Such a monster!"

"Undoubtedly a monster!"

Everyone who saw the scene was utterly shocked.

Under the spotlights of the gymnasium, the crowd clearly saw Gluttony's face. Although similar to Kieran, the aura and feeling was completely different, so everyone naturally thought of the Ghost of Appetite.

Rumour had it Kieran could see Renata's Ghost of Appetite, so when the students received the news, they were curious about how it happened. Now, after seeing Gluttony, the questions were solved—Kieran had his own Ghost of Appetite, and it was obviously higher ranked than Renata's.

Even Renata thought so herself.

"That is why he can see mine! He also has a Ghost of Appetite!"

The shock on Renata's face was obvious when she looked at the lively Gluttony.

Ghost of Appetite wasn't any simple talent, it was the rarest of all the talents out there.

It was rare to find an Eater with Ghost of Appetite in every generation, one might not even appear for a few generations, and yet there were two in a single generation!

"Is this fate?" Renata muttered softly, her eyes glimmering unusually.

Prejudiced by first impression, when Renata's words were heard after her reaction to the scene, everyone assumed they had found the answer, including Smith.

"So this is the trump card you've been hiding?"

Smith's face was dead as still water after Principal Romuse broke free from the difficult situation due to the Jiaolong being eaten, half of its 30 meters body inside Gluttony's mouth.

Smith always assumed Kieran was tremendous trouble and the facts proved him right.

Kieran had once again foiled his plans.

Smith had to lure Kieran into the Mystic State to distract him, but he never thought Kieran would own the talent of Ghost of Appetite.

The most frightening thing was the Ghost of Appetite, Gluttony, had reached a certain peak. It was not only strong but possessed its own mind, becoming a one-man army!

"You are really lucky," Smith said coldly at Principal Romuse.

"Lucky? I guess so."

Principal Romuse glanced over at Gluttony, who was eating the Jiaolong, and showed a smile with a nod.

"I hope you can still smile after this," Smith's voice sounded colder when he saw Principal Romuse's smile.

At the audience seat, Senile jumped towards the ring and not only him alone, at least one fifth of the professors, teachers, and janitors followed Senile.

"Senile, why?"

Leonard couldn't accept his friend's betrayal, he shouted loudly in confusion but Senile had no intention to answer.

When he chose to side with Smith, he already knows what he would face. Any kind of scolding, questioning, and insults were expected.

But… so what?

As long as his goal would be achieved, everything would be worthwhile.

"So many of them chose you?"

Principal Romuse sighed as he watched the crowd leave the audience seat and gather around Smith.

"Because they know I am right!" Smith pointed at the crowd that had gathered under him.

"Right? The dead cannot be revived! No matter what you do, you will eventually fail!" Principal Romuse shook his head.

"Romuse, you age is catching up to you, your mind isn't even thinking straight . Reviving the dead is such a shallow goal, why would they follow me because of that?"

Smith sneered, reverted back to his bald, one-eyed, crippled look, taking a deep breath and saying, "We want to destroy the Mystic State! We want to destroy that cursed place that took countless lives, including our loved ones and friends!"

Smith shouted the last part of the sentence.

Principal Romuse, who had been calm, was frightened.

It wasn't because of what Smith said, but he heard multiple explosions further away and he knew what those explosions meant.

"Smith, do you know what you are doing?"

Principal Romuse's aura skyrocketed, the substantial, tenacious and heavy aura surrounded him as he floated in mid-air, ike a hovering mountain peak! The unrivaled gravitational force from before was casted on Senile and the others once more, causing them to shake.

However, the next moment, the heavy pressuring force vanished because Smith reverted back to his own look and blocked the aura.

He looked at Romuse, widening his mouth and revealing his yellowish teeth.

"Romuse, your opponent is me," Flames gathered around his hand again and it engulfed Smith into a flaming giant!

He widened his mouth and roared at the principal.

"Romuse, I shall burn you and your old rules into cinders!"

KABOOM!

The fiery Smith spat out a fire pillar as thick as a train from his mouth, but it grazed the principal and hit the gymnasium's wall.

A large hole was melted by the fire upon impact, the remaining flames splashing everywhere.

The crowd at the audience seat fell into panic and scattered away but they quickly realized the flames did not fall on the ground. Instead, all of the flames were sucked into Gluttony's mouth.

"T-Tasty!"

Gluttony grumbled and continued eating the Jiaolong. The legendary dragon was much stronger and tastier than expected.

He swore that other than the gigantic snake, the Devourer, he had never eaten something so tasty!

"You are as hateful as your master!"

The flaming giant Smith saw the scene, his eyes twitching, and threw a right punch at Gluttony.

Fuuush!

Before his fiery punch hit Gluttony, a numbing roar sounded and Principal Romuse blocked Gluttony behind him, defending him against the punch.

Whenever a Ghost of Appetite was hurt or died, the owner would be affected too, and as the Ghost of Appetite grew stronger, the effect would become more severe.

According to Principal Romuse's deduction, a Ghost of Appetite in the likes of Gluttony, once hurt or died, would also cause Kieran to suffer, and Principal Romuse would not allow that to happen.

KABOOM!

Principal Romuse raised his own punch at the flaming giant. They clashed.

Waves of air exploded in all directions when the two fists of two different sizes clashed. Based on the size, the flaming giant should have the advantage, but in fact, it was he who faltered backwards. Some part of his flaming body was beaten away and when the flames tried to reform Smith's body, they were sucked into Gluttony's mouth.

Loud crunches came out from Gluttony's mouth as he continued to eat the Jiaolong.

"DAMN YOU!"

Furious roars came out from the flaming giant, Smith dishing out a barrage of punches at Gluttony and every punch blocked by Principal Romuse without a miss.

More flames from Smith's body were sucked into Gluttony's mouth.

Kakrooom!

As the violent wind exploded with every clash of fists, the sturdy gymnasium started to crumble.

Another clash from the principal and the flaming giant later, the big ceiling of the gymnasium cracked. The crack was as wide as an arm and spreading throughout the entire ceiling—it spread like a spiderweb and then collapsed.

"Run everyone! Leave this place immediately!" the security guards shouted.

Half of the audience had went away after Smith's sudden entrance, so the remaining audience could hasten their departure, including Leonard and the other teachers.

However, while Leonard was watching his friend, he noticed Senile wasn't moving.

"What are you doing? Come on! This place is going down!"

Leonard shouted at Senile before he headed into the exiting passage.

Despite the betrayal, Leonard didn't wish for his friend to be buried in the rubble.

"I'm sorry."

Senile found it hard to lift his lips to talk to his friend, instead showing an ugly smile and waving at his friend.

He had a lot of things he wanted to say to his friend, but… he couldn't. All he could say was his apology.

After he said sorry, Senile's face was at peace, having given his final farewell.

Senile looked at the others who had sided with him, and then he headed towards where he belonged: the center of the main ring.

The others who had sided with Smith also made a move, some of them jumping up to the ring and some of them heading to the audience seat.

When everyone was in position, a small knife appeared in their hands and they slit their wrists deeply

Blood gushed out from the cuts, spraying the walls and the ground but the weird thing was, the blood did not flow, instead it was absorbed by the ground and walls.

Karoooom!

The gymnasium shook even fiercer.

Principal Romuse saw the scene, and he frowned. He realized something wasn't right but he couldn't spare his power to stop it. He was evenly matched with Smith; should he spare his attention for other things, he may face defeat.

Fortunately, it was only Smith, if Bolt was here…

Hold on, Bolt?!

Principal Romuse's face turned ugly when he thought of the large dog that always followed Smith like his shadow.

At first, when Smith impersonated Kieran, Bolt would have hid itself but after Smith exposed himself, there was no reason for Bolt to hide anymore.

More so, during battle, Bolt's assist to Smith was self-explanatory, but now Bolt wasn't here!

"Where is Bolt!" Principal Romuse glared at the flaming giant?

"Where do you think he is?"

The flaming giant showed a grin and spoke with a sneer, dishing out another flaming punch.

This punch was similar to the ones before, powerful and hot, but unlike the previous punches, the flaming punch died off halfway.

More precisely, the blazing flame that engulfed Smith died off into nothing.

A breath's time later, the core of the flaming giant exposed itself: it wasn't Smith but a stranger!

The middle-aged stranger was charred badly like charcoal.

"Where is Smith," Principal Romuse asked in a heavy tone.

"Hehehehe, why would I tell you where Lord Smith is? Too bad, although I've tried my best in utilizing the power of Seed of Fusion, so that the lord's power can stay in my body for a little longer, I am still too weak…"

Blood gushed out from the stranger's mouth as he spoke fanatically.

"Soon! Soon! Soon everything will be over! Our dream will be realized by the lord!" The damned Mystic State and mystic monsters will never roam this earth anymore—everyone can return to that peaceful time and live a …"

Before the stranger finished, his voice died off, followed by the signs of life. His eyes widened, as though he was looking at the scene that he dreamt of.

Principal Romuse sighed.

He stepped up and grabbed the charred stranger from the air, laying the stranger down on the main ring before he closed the widened eyes.

"You people were wrong, from the very beginning."

Principal Romuse looked at Senile.

Senile was widely known for his unreliable character among the students but at this moment, his wrist was slit and blood gushed out like a fountain, his face as pale as paper.

"You still haven't forgotten the incident?" the principal asked.

"I am not a fish, my memories don't allow me to forget it," Senile mocked himself with a tease.

"Hmm," Principal Romuse nodded, he had no questions anymore.

They were nothing but a bunch of pitiful souls.

They fell into the past and unable to break free from the shackles of time, in the end, they were deceived by Smith, his old friend, so they volunteered themselves as sacrifice.

No! From this moment onwards, Romuse was no longer friends with Smith, they were sworn enemies!

"SMITH!"

Romuse shouted furiously, he raised his right hand and punched the main ring at his feet.

KABOOOM!

That single punch shook the entire Theorate campus, and it opened up a secret passage underneath the concrete ground after the main ring was destroyed.

Romuse jumped in without a second thought.

After that, that secret passage closed up on itself.

Kak!

The opening sealed up tightly after a thud, as though it was a perfect ground.

Other than that, the trembles that shook the collapsing gymnasium stopped too.

A ball of flame the size of a palm appeared above the biggest ring after the secret passage sealed up.

Inside the flame, images of people overlapped each other, cries, cheers and agonizing screams sounding relentlessly from that flame.

Bolt, with a giant claypot on its back, jumped through the cracked ceiling and nimbly landed beside the flame.

It shook its body to fling the claypot towards the flame and it precisely landed on top.

Gruuuu, Gruuuu!

After the claypot was heated up by the flame, a rich aromatic smell spread out from the pot.

Further away, Smith limped in step by step, looking at the giant claypot with a gaze full of anticipation.