The Devil's Cage

Back Cross Street’s graveyard, most of the dead that were buried here were commoners in addition to some nameless wanderers.

So one wouldn’t expect it to be any kind of good. The broken wooden fence, gate, and the messy distribution of the tombstones looked like wild grass grew in disorder and was scattered all over the place.

The gravekeeper who was taking salary from his job even passed out drunk in the hut beside the graveyard but it also saved Kieran some trouble.

He shuttled across the tombstones and searched for the one named Kent.

Searching for a specific tombstone in a big messy yard was not an easy task, even Kieran had to spend more than an hour to do so but the rewards were satisfying enough.

Kieran found a greenish blue gemstone the size of a tiny finger tip.

[Name: Curse of Aikhar]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attribute: Restraint 1/1]

[Prerequisite: Knows the corresponding incantations]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: No]

[Remark: Aikhar created this curse with an ill intention]

…

[Restraint: A curse specifically targeted towards the Church of Light, suppress all target’s attributes by 25% and will affect the target’s Origin Force, power decreased by 25% and consumption increased by 300%, 2-second duration]

…

Kieran smiled coldly when he saw [Curse of Aikhar]’s description.

He then quickly left the place.

This time, Kieran didn’t want to delay anymore. He returned to St. Paolo School and headed straight for the dungeon.

He knocked out the retarded captive and dragged him into St. Paolo Church.

When Kieran stepped into the church, Ancilanco’s voice already heard with an anxious tone.

“Let me out! I will agree to all your terms!” The voice echoed in Kieran’s ears.

“Very well! Seems like you’ve thought it over. We can have a good talk now,” Kieran said with a smile.

“What do you want, speak!” Ancilanco asked restlessly.

“I want the [Daybreak Dawn Art],” Kieran said slowly.

“[Daybreak Dawn Art]?” Ancilanco sounded like he didn’t know anything about the question.

“Seems like you don’t have enough sincerity yet.” Kieran shook his head and dragged the captive away.

“Wait! I really don’t know what the [Daybreak Dawn Art] you are referring to is!” Ancilanco shouted.

“You don’t know? Then, does that mean the books from the church that stated this place is where the knights of Dawn came to realize or awaken the [Daybreak Dawn Art] is all false?” Kieran coldly grunted.

“The knights of Dawn realized that here? They are here because I was…” Ancilanco uttered out of instinct.

But the moment the words sounded, Ancilanco kept quiet but it was still enough for Kieran.

Everything was exactly what he thought.

The [Daybreak Dawn Art] was indeed [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art]!

When Ancilanco “borrowed” Dawn Force for his usage, Kieran already had a question in his heart, how could a God of Plague “borrow” the opposite energy?

After Kieran got the Basic level of the [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art], it stated that it wasn’t an Origin Force, neither was it energy that could restrict one, so it propelled Kieran’s guesses further but the point that truly verified Kieran’s guesses was the unknown Dawn Knight’s hint of “entering the first land of divine miracles”

After the encounter with Ancilanco previously, Kieran had a question in his heart.

Why would a God that wished to be revived brush him off with the [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art]?

This God might either be anxious to be revived or the long imprisonment made him somehow lose his sanity, he shouldn’t have made such mistakes, yet he did.

So Ancilanco must have his own reasons and it was the thing that Kieran couldn’t figure out for a long time.

Until Kieran saw the hint from the unknown Dawn Knight. At that point, the question was solved.

The reason Ancilanco did what he did was because there were similar cases before in the past, misleading him to think that the [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] was effective enough to destroy Kieran.

Therefore, Ancilanco displayed the [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] to Kieran and used euphemistic words to describe it.

The truth was, the [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] was really effective against the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art]. In fact, it was super effective!

It would advance the skill to the next level!

Thinking about the divine miracle that happened back then, more clues began to reveal themselves.

The Goddess of Dawn was able to easily heal the plague that went rampant around the city but she didn’t thoroughly eliminate Ancilanco, the God of Plague. She might have realized this point as well which was, the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] and [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] had an interpromoting relationship and would incite qualitative changes.

The people who suffered from the plague, how much of a joy would it be to be healed?

Despair often gave birth to seeds of hope.

Plague Force hastened Dawn Force to its advance stage.

Kieran had the deepest thoughts and feelings since he did heal a lot of people infected with the plague. He branded the smiles of those who were healed and regained life in his heart.

Similar to how he would never give up and didn’t mind to getting more benefits for himself.

It was one of his life goals.

“Bastard! You sneaky little bastard! You are really as cunning and evil as that damn woman! I’ll kill you! I’ll crucify your soul on a wall without believers, letting it wither as time passes!”

The roaring caused buzzes in Kieran’s eardrums but Kieran replied with a smile.

With enough benefits, he didn’t mind Ancilanco causing an uproar but of course, it didn’t mean he was willing to play along with Him.

“Do you still want to get out?” Kieran asked.

Right away, the roaring stopped but a heavy pant that lingered, which mean Ancilanco was still angry.

“I can continue to wait!” Ancilanco spoke insincerely.

“You can continue to wait? So, you don’t want the vessel that I brought?”

Kieran took out a dagger, pretending to drive it into the captive in his hand.

“Wait!” Ancilanco halted Kieran with a shout.

“See, can you continue waiting like this? We should be taking what we need from each other. I hope that you can show me the [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] again and this time, don’t show the basic version but the one with your own experience in it. Likewise, if you complete my wish, I will let you out and form a contract with you, stating to not harm each other.”

“What do you say?” Kieran smiled.

Ancilanco didn’t reply but the human figures made of light that Kieran were familiar with appeared once again.

When the figures appeared, system notifications spammed Kieran’s vision like a waterfall.

[Carefully read through display of origins, Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art level +1]

[Carefully read through display of origins, Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art level +1]

…

Line after line of notifications piled up, the [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] leveled up at rocket speed and within a breaths time, it had reached Master level.

Meanwhile, in the city’s sky, an airship was coming closer.