The Devil's Cage

Where did Kieran go?

Soon, Hayden Ow saw Kieran’s figure flashing over the waves of Corpse Puppet.

Each time he appeared, several Corpse Puppets would be cut in half, and completely robbing their mobility.

It was like Kieran was taking a stroll in his garden as he moved around the corpse wave.

Afterimages of himself were left behind in the spots he appeared, one couldn’t precisely pinpoint where the real Kieran was based on the confusing scene.

Hayden Ow eyes were glued to Kieran’s hands because he saw Kieran tear apart a Corpse Puppet as if he was tearing a piece of paper, he couldn’t help but gasp.

Hayden Ow knew how much power was required to tear a human body apart with a pair of bare hands.

Even if a sharp weapon was included, it was an extremely hard feat for someone without any training, let alone tearing apart a Corpse Puppet.

After the rigor mortis process, Corpse Puppets had surpassed the normal range of dead bodies, other than their heads, their bodies were reinforced and hardened.

Any well-trained member of the Funeral Society with a sharp weapon could easily take down the head of a Corpse Puppet but to tear apart its body, it was impossible.

He himself couldn’t do it either, let alone being as easy as Kieran did.

“This is a God?”

Hayden Ow muttered to himself before shaking his head hard.

What a joke, strength like this was the God that he knew of?

The enemies were just too weak!

They were so weak that they weren’t worthy enough for Kieran to show his true strength!

Hayden Ow exclaimed in his heart and soon it was replaced by joy.

So what if the enemies were weak?

Who didn’t like weak enemies?

Nothing else in the world was more delightful than facing off against weak enemies!

Besides…

“Forest City will be safe!”

A deep breath later, Hayden Ow drew out the dagger.

Since victory was coming, he didn’t want to welcome it by standing there and doing nothing.

With Kieran and other reinforcements joining the fray, despite the numbers of Corpse Puppets in Canmore Cemetery being overwhelming, they didn’t stand a chance in resisting at all. Even more so when two of the reinforcements lit up the white candle like Hayden Ow, it was just a matter of time before the sea of Corpse Puppets were eliminated.

And when Kieran plunged his hand into the Corpse Ghoul’s head, the time was hastened by a lot.

“Your Majesty.”

Hayden Ow strode over to Kieran’s back as he was sizing up the Corpse Ghoul, the leader of the reinforcements joined them too.

“It’s strange,” Kieran said softly.

“Are you referring to this Corpse Ghoul?”

“It is strange indeed!”

“It might be powerful but it couldn’t move. On top of that, the Corpse Puppets that it controlled had surpassed common level… It could be some kind of mutation I suppose? Or it might be some changes that we didn’t know of,” Hayden Ow replied.

“Changes?” Kieran turned around.

“Yes, changes. Some changes were impossible for us but for Your Majesty and the Godlike beings…”

Hayden Ow didn’t finish his sentence but the meaning was obvious.

In this fiend lurking world, the “impossible” that commoners assumed was just something they “assumed”.

As for the facts?

It would be something that never crossed their minds.

“Your Majesty! I have urgent news to report!”

The other Funeral Society member that came after Hayden Ow suddenly spoke.

“What’s wrong, Fergus?”

Hayden Ow looked at his assistant with a serious look.

He knew what kind of person his assistant was: reliable, loyal and a man of few words.

If it wasn’t something urgent, Fergus would never speak under the situation.

“We’ve noticed a lot of unknown individuals in Forest City. Each of them is armed and are gathering at a spot rapidly. And…” Fergus paused.

“And what?” Hayden Ow asked.

But the moment his question escaped, he realized something was wrong.

The loyal and reliable assistant was emanating killing intent.’

“Care-”

Sou!

Before the word even formed, an arrow was fired at Kieran.

The arrow was very fast! To the point that Kieran didn’t even react to it as it plunged into his chest.

“Hahahahahaha!”

“I did it!”

“The infamous Bird of Death was nothing more than this!”

Overjoyed, frantic laughs came from Fergus.

“Fergus, do you know what you’ve done?”

Hayden Ow pointed the gun at his “ex-assistant”, asking.

“Of course I know!”

“Slaying a God!”

“Just like Perforation Sting’s leader, Jin, and what 2567, Bird of Death did—if they could do it, so could I. As long as… it goes according to plan!” Fergus explained word after word and neglected the gun pointing at him.

“When the God of Forest City was killed, Neil the idiot approached me and he wanted to borrow my power to divide the treasure in the vault.”

“Of course I wouldn’t agree!”

“The risk is too huge! To the point that I dared not even touch.”

“But who knew this idiot here still had two hidden ace cards.”

“One of them was this!”

“The crossbow forsaken by the Gods—it’s a treasure that is claimed to never exist but Neil had it!”

“That idiot is really a coward!”

“He had a tool like this yet he didn’t even know how to use it! All he did was use it as leverage to trade for this and that, all useless things!”

“I am different! I know precisely how this thing works!”

Fergus was swinging the little crossbow in his hand while he explained.

“So that’s why you wanted to kill His Majesty?!” Hayden Ow’s breathing became hurried.

He was sizing up the assistant who he should be familiar with yet felt was a stranger at the moment, he never thought his assistant was hiding so much.

Or in a more proper sense… He never truly knew his assistant, just like he never saw the inhuman eyes that were similar to a jackal.

“Half-fiend?” Hayden Ow took in a deep breath.

Pak!

A slap, as fast as lightning, landed on Hayden Ow’s face.

“Address me as Your Majesty!”

“Call me like how you call the others Majesties—aren’t you all like this?”

“Begging and wagging your tails in front of Gods?”

“Showing your hypocrisy and fake mercy in front of weak fiends?

“Yet what is truly inside of you people? It’s nothing less than brutal suppression!”

“What is the difference between you people and the dead God of Forest City?”

“There is none! You are all the same!”

“That’s why I will become your new God, what’s wrong with that?”

“However… Before that, I shall take back the interest that’s owed to me from you people bit by bit.”

Fergus looked down at Hayden Ow who fell to the ground because of the powerful slap, his tone was getting colder and more vicious.

“I thought you’d forgotten.”

Hayden Ow said in a blurry way since half of his face was buried in the ground.

“Forgotten? Would you forget after you’ve endured all of that?”

“You people really think a word or two and some damn food can save the world?”

“How naive are you, Hayden Ow?”

Fergus’s considerably young face showed a mocking smile.

Hayden Ow kept quiet, he didn’t reply anymore.

“Speechless I see?” Fergus continued.

This time, Hayden Ow closed his eyes.

“Can’t bear to witness your death?”

“Fine, I’ll grant your wish! I’ll erase you with my divine power…”

“…Divine power?”

Fergus finally noticed something was wrong.