The Devil's Cage

"That would be nice," Kieran said calmly.

He sounded like he was greeting the king with a "good morning" rather than giving it serious thought about his marriage.

The 'Mary' in front of him was surprised and delighted beyond words, the excitement on her face made her run up to Kieran for a hug. The hug was different from what Kieran felt before from her, it was much more passionate.

"This is great!" King James VII muttered softly, he sounded like he accomplished the last mission in his life and was released of his responsibility.

Kieran carefully observed Mary and King James VIII, both of their expressions and actions towards the exciting news was very real indeed, to the point where he could not notice anything out of the blue.

"If you didn't give out the superior feeling… all these might very be real." Kieran muttered softly.

He looked up and saw a particular existence in the void through the tent.

Mary who was hugging Kieran and King James VIII who was muttering to himself froze at that moment. Then, their bodies withered rapidly and turned back into the mummy form.

Dead Mary was hugging Kieran with the strength to strangle an ox, Dead James VIII drew out a rusty longsword and drove it towards Kieran.

However, Kieran remained motionless, as though he didn't see any of them.

...

Meanwhile in Prairies' invaders main camp.

Inside one of the tents in the deepest corner, a figure was sitting inside on a delicate carpet with legs crossed.

Hector had the body of a man yet half of his face looked like a soul monster.

He was surrounded by more than a dozen idol sculptures of various sizes, some of them looked kind and warm like deities, some of them had sharp fangs and green faces like demons.

Regardless of what the idol sculptures were, they were staring at another sculpture in front of Hector with a wicked gaze.

The wooden sculpture looked very lively, it was actually a miniaturized version of Kieran.

"So you still want to resist?" Hector muttered to himself, his voice was filled with disdain.

He slightly moved his fingers and low pitched incantations came from his mouth.

He took out a greenish bronze awl in the size of a dagger and stabbed it into the wooden sculpture of Kieran fiercely.

The bronze awl plunged deep from the sculpture's head and went all the way down. Fresh blood then gushed out from the wooden sculpture's seven apertures, splashing all over Hector's hand.

Hector shook the blood off without being concerned and his delicate carpet was dyed red instantly.

The man then stood up from his carpet and walked outside the tent.

"Send the troops now!"

Hector said to the officer who was waiting outside the tent.

The officer bowed and quickly delivered the order.

After a while, the whole camp started to move out. One leader after another, all of them gathered their own tribe's fiercest warriors who rode on the fastest horses and wielded the sharpest weapons.

Charge!

The entire troops charged out from the main camp as if they blotted out the sky and covered the land.

Hector already saw the vision of Lightning Fortress being destroyed with a single blow. He then returned to his tent in a delighted manner.

Everything had concluded! All that was left was some necessary cleanups which didn't concerned him anymore.

Hector believed the tribe leaders would do a better job.

He then laid down on that blood-stained carpet, he was exhausted, physically and mentally, from all the spell casting. It was originally a plot targeted specifically towards the Viper Sect but who would have thought 2567, the biggest obstruction for his people to take down Lightning Fortress would be caught up in the process.

Still, it was a good news for Hector.

Even though it was a little rushed, his secret technique had completed what it was supposed to do.

That powerful existence who could rival a thousand men that no one could neglect would die in his Mystic Soul Realm. What a joke!

Hector wanted to laugh out loud when he pictured the unbelievable expression on Kieran's face after death.

"After going through all sorts in life and even saw his own child ascended to the throne, yet in the end, it was all imaginary… That feeling… Tsk Tsk! Too bad it was a rushed preparation, otherwise I could have gotten a stronger soul!"

Hector sounded regretful with his soft mocking while laying down.

Sighing, Hector wanted to close his eyes for a rest but at the moment he closed his eyes, he opened it up again.

His was looking at the demon, deities sculpture of various sizes. Some of the sculptures were the souls of the strong ones that he killed and some of them were the demonic idols that reigned above all beings which served as the source of his power.

There was a total of twelve of them. He wouldn't forget the numbers since he cleaned them every day.

But…

The moment Hector closed his eyes, it seemed like there was an extra one.

"1,2,3… 11?!"

After counting, Hector noticed there was actually one missing! Eleven instead of twelve!

"What in the!?"

Hector scowled hard and quickly chanted his incantations.

The energy from the eleven sculpture started to flow and was circulating him at his will.

Suddenly, another energy force appeared behind Hector.

He turned around right away and saw that the missing sculpture reappeared on the short table before him.

Hector was slightly relieved after feeling the energy from it.

He carefully took the idol sculpture back to its place.

It wasn't a rare case for things related to the souls, that was why Hector had to add consolidation talisman charms on them from time to time but it would still cause a lot of trouble for him.

Fortunately, it was just some petty problems that wouldn't harm the essentials.

"As expected of a strong one that could rival a thousand men, after using Mystic Soul Realm, my talisman charms got loose. I have to add another tomorrow…"

Just when he was thinking to add another consolidation talisman charm tomorrow, a sudden thought replaced it and forced him to turn around in a stiff manner.

The wooden sculpture of Kieran had gone missing!

When any of his original twelve sculptures went missing, Hector would know what happened but when a newborn sculpture went missing, it made him felt like he would face his greatest foe.

Hector knew the danger of souls better than anyone.

He quickly cast his secret techniques once more disregarding his exhaustion after casting Mystic Soul Realm.

Instantly, the dozen idol sculptures started to move vigorously as though they came alive, however this time around, there seemed to be an extra one mixed inside.

It was the miniature sculpture of Kieran but its aura was different from the real Kieran.

It was Pride!

Hector laid eyes over the miniature sculpture as it suddenly expanded from a palm size to a grown man and continue expanding like a bloated balloon.

Moments later, a giant figure was staring down at Hector like the great alps.

The gaze was cold and arrogant, its presence was like that of a God that had descended before him.

Hector felt like he was an ant being stared down. He knew he had to break away from what he saw quickly, otherwise, it would be too late.

However, he suddenly felt his body faltering and his eyelids shutting, he couldn't hold back his sleepiness.

"No! I can't sleep! I can't sleep!"

….Huuuu

A moment later, Hector fell asleep with snores despite the fact that he kept reminding himself to be awake a moment ago.

Sloth was yawning as it walked out from the shadow.

However, when it looked at the sculptures around him, its eyes were shining brightly and were absent of any laziness but he quickly covered them up.

Because…

Pride!