The Devil's Cage

Pride reverted to its human size quickly but still had an overpowering aura.

Its eyes scanned over the idol sculptures and its wicked gaze quickly shrouded all over them.

Sloth yawned, as though it didn't care but its real and twisted presence was too obvious.

Pride didn't care, its pride came from within its soul, it didn't care about others including one of its own, Sloth.

In Pride's eyes, Sloth was nothing but an ant. In fact other than itself, every other existence was as small as an ant.

While sensing Pride's rapid growth in strength, Sloth was feeling a rare anxiety as well, as though the rage inside Sloth was restless.

Eventually, it held its feelings down and looked at the half-dead Hector. Sloth devoured Hector with its wicked radiance without further hesitant. It knew the chance was hard to come by and probably only once. If it didn't seize the opportunity, it will fall back into the abyss for eternity.

The wicked aura went rampant inside the tent, some of the sharper Prairies soldiers sensed that something was wrong with Hector's tent but his orders plus his notoriety halted his men from checking.

However, the grumpy Lapierre was an exception. As the fiercest warrior and the most resourceful during battle plus serving directly under the Prairie King's command, he also owned the mighty title that could rival a thousand men himself, his size was almost two heads taller than a common Prairie soldier.

His bulky muscle even made his huge body look extremely strong, his triceps were already the size of a common man's thigh.

Two strips of blue and black lines were drawn under his eyes and extended down to his face. It made his ugly looks even more vicious, striking fear into anyone who laid eyes on him.

Lapierre strode towards Hector's tent.

The soldiers around quickly made way for him. Similar to how they didn't dare disturb Hector, they didn't dare stop Lapierre who was obviously angry at the moment. Anyone who had the courage to do so would be torn apart.

"Damn it, Hector, don't you know it's way past the promised time… It's you!"

Lapierre was scolding loudly, right after he saw Sloth, his scolding turned into a cry of surprise as he mistaken Sloth for the real Kieran.

Lapierre then smiled viciously and threw himself over to Sloth with opened arms.

Blue sparks were ignited on his robust arms when he leaped over.

When Lapierre was right in front of Sloth, the sparks turned into multiple electric currents. Not only did it seal Sloth's way of retreat, it directly went after Sloth in a more ferocious way.

The blueish white electric current instantly engulfed Sloth wholly.

However, from the start of the electric attack, Sloth's lazy facial expression didn't change, even though its origin energy that it had acquired a moment ago has been half depleted.

Sloth disappeared just like that, it vanished into the thin air under the strong electric current but Lapierre's animal instinct told him that Sloth wasn't dead or hurt, it just vanished.

"Arrrrgh! Damn it!"

He swung his arms around as he felt he was being played. The gathered current on his fist burst out instantly in all directions and destroyed Hector's tent.

The Prairies soldiers around the tent were also caught up by the electric current. The soldiers fell to the ground one after another, the first one who came in contact with the electric current was even burnt to crisp, turning him into a charred corpse.

Rage was bursting out of Lapierre's chest, he turned around and gazed over Lightning Fortress from afar. He then dashed towards that direction without further concern.

That bastard vanished before his eyes but he knew where the bastard really was. He wanted to tear him apart with his own hands.

While such thoughts lingered in his mind, Lapierre's steps hastened swiftly and eventually turned into a full on charge.

But just as he left the premise of the main camp, a palm suddenly landed on his shoulder. The palm shook him and forced Lapierre into a fall, crashing on the ground.

Lapierre wasn't angry at all after he suffered the crashed and ate dirt from the ground, in fact, he quickly got back up and kneeled down in a respectful manner.

"My king!" Lapierre lowered his head and addressed with respect.

"Don't be agitated… It's not time yet."

The person who was addressed as the king had a surprisingly young face. There were many golden accessories hanging over his body, making him extravagant in a sense but the most eye-catching aspect of the man was the wolf pelt that he was wearing over his shoulder.

The wolf head was on one side of his shoulder and as the young man spoke, it felt like it came alive.

"Yes, my king!" Lapierre lowered his head deeper without refutes.

When Lapierre sensed that his king's presence had left him, he then raised his head towards Lightning Fortress with ferocious eyes. He gulped and stomped hard on the ground before returning back to the deepest part of the Prairie main camp.

More precisely, he returned to where Hector's forces were.

Lapierre might be grumpy but he wasn't an idiot. He knew other than the demonic idols inside Hector's tent, Hector's men around him had all sorts of malicious things with them as well.

He might still be reluctant and worrisome when Hector was alive but now?

There was nothing else that could stop him.

The strong devouring the weak had always been the laws of the jungle.

...

Fuuu!

The night breeze was blowing.

The rusty sword that the dead King James VIII was driving towards Kieran's throat shattered into pieces just as it was about to pierce Kieran's throat.

The longsword turned into fine powder and was carried away by the wind, together with its wielder, the dead King James VIII and dead Mary who was hugging him.

Everything around Kieran started to crumble and vanish into dust and without a sound, Kieran returned to the spot where he was still some distance away from the real Lightning Fortress campsite.

Kieran easily contacted his Fire Raven that had surveillance over the campsite, which meant he had finally escaped the Mystic Soul Realm.

He then squinted his eyes at [Fusion Heart]'s description. [Touch of Cardinal Sins] didn't change at all, whether was it the description or effects but through Pride and Sloth's vision, he knew something must have happened, something that he didn't know of.

"Sloth devoured the man!"

Kieran recalled that scene that he saw and easily came up with a conclusion.

Devouring a stronger presence could strengthen the sins' strengths but what else was possible? However, it seemed like the stronger presence wasn't enough to affect the skill to undergo a qualitative change. That was why the system retained its original description.

However, Kieran unconsciously thought of the [Cardinal Sins Beast] which [Touch of Cardinal Sins] transformed into under an extremely dense negative energy environment.

"Perhaps it still has other directions of growth? And the seven of them are trying their best to go that direction?"

Such a theory appeared in Kieran's heart and he theorized further but he swiftly buried those speculations underneath his heart.

[Eye of Chimeras], part of [Fusion Heart] forced him to be extra careful with his thoughts.

It wasn't terrifying if his desires were peeked at but if the sins could get the precise thoughts from his desires and form up a plan to specifically target him, Kieran couldn't accept it.

A balanced [Fusion Heart] was the best for Kieran, he wished not to lose the balance and trigger a civil war within his heart.

If that happened, his biggest ace would turn into his biggest burden!

As he emptied out his mind, Kieran glanced over Lightning Fortress and then the Prairie main camp.

Through Sloth and Pride, he was able to make out the three presences that he had to mark down.

The dead Hector.

Lapierre who was fond of electrifying attacking methods and that wolf pelt young man with extravagant golden accessories.

Kieran frowned. He felt something different from that young man and not just because of his unusual way of dress but something from a deeper level.

The obscure aura of that person! He was hiding something underneath his aura.

It felt familiar yet not entirely and Kieran had a similar feeling from someone else in the past.

"Great Swamp!"

Kieran muttered the name softly.