The Devil's Cage

You jolted.

1000?

She looked at the broken door and was utterly confused.

Victor, on the other hand, reacted quickly.

"I'm sorry, it was our carelessness that made you suffer an unnecessary loss. We will pay," Victor said sincerely.

There wasn't any hypocrisy in him, he really wanted to pay Kieran for damaging the door.

While he was at it, Victor reached inside his pockets but quickly felt embarrassed.

He had no money, or more precisely, he hadn't even seen the money in this world, he only had an idea what money does.

Victor looked at You out of awkwardness, the lady ghost immediately pulling out a golden pea and placing it on the counter for Kieran.

Kieran took the golden pea, inspected it, and then placed it into the money box. He then said, "I'm sorry, we are closed, if you want anything to eat, please come again tomorrow."

"No, no! We aren't here to eat! We are here for protection! I've ran into some unsolvable problems and I need your help...of course, we are willing to pay the appropriate cost," You said quickly.

She did not mention the Dark Dominator though, let alone the Bird of Death.

Even though all these were real, and the owner of this restaurant was the Bird of Death himself, she didn't know what would happen if she simply called them out.

If it was something good, that would be great. If it was something bad…

Terror that she felt from the Dark Dominator ushered her to be more careful.

"Oh? How much is that?" Kieran replied like any other business man.

Even if this was exactly how he wanted things to progress, he had to have a reason to intervene.

A pouch was then placed on the counter.

The string that tied the pouch up was loosened up and when it was placed on a flat surface, the content was revealed: a pouch full of golden peas!

They dazzled brightly under the light.

"The trouble that you are referring to is that thing? This won't be enough."

Kieran took the pouch and weighed it for a second before he pointed at the red skull and spoke to You.

"We have this much for the moment, we will make it up to you when we are safe!" You said.

She brought the golden peas with her just for emergencies and it wasn't a lot.

Kieran shook his head.

"You can't open a tab like this," he said seriously.

The seriousness from his words made Scarlet laugh when it walked in.

"You are really a man of principle! It's been a while, Sir Yan Luo," Scarlet greeted Kieran.

"Mm," Kieran nodded coldly.

His reaction suited the identity and standing of a Herder.

Scarlet didn't care at all, what concerned it was Victor and the bastard on the ground who vomited onto its face.

Under Scarlet's grudgeful gaze, Anna, who fell to the ground after he came in, stood on his feet after a shaky struggle, looking at Scarlet with an apologetic gaze before he too took a pouch from his pocket and went to place it on the counter.

Scarlet's soul fire jumped furiously, reaching out its skeletal hands and trying to grab Anna but it missed.

Anna was dragged over the counter from the back of his collar by Kieran, and that pouch landed right on top of the counter.

Pak!

Strong clanks sounded upon landing on the counter. It wasn't purely metal or iron but something more valuable.

Kieran picked the pouch up and curled up his lips when he saw the gemstones inside.

"Deal done," Kieran said, he then tossed the pouch beside the money box.

He then turned around to Scarlet.

"Please leave, you are not welcome here," Kieran invited Scarlet out.

"I thought we could be friends," Scarlet said in a heavy tone.

"Of course we can be friends, and because of that, shouldn't you understand the difficult position that I am in now?" Kieran smiled.

Scarlet didn't say anything but the soul fire in its eye sockets jumped up high, the scarlet energy from its body glimmering like a neon light.

An unknown aura started to fill the restaurant.

Victor felt the suffocation again.

No! It wasn't just suffocation this time! Victor felt like its soul was leaving its body!

As a matter of fact, it really was.

You's body was starting to fade and distort.

Anna, who was weak after vomiting, frowned, his face showing a painful expression.

"You know, I really don't want to do this. I would have tried to sort things out in a peaceful way but there is always someone in my way. So…"

BANG!

Before Scarlet even finished, a sudden kick landed on its face lightning fast and interrupted its big speech.

It never expected Kieran to move in its soul-restricting spell.

In fact, Kieran did more than just move. The kick that he delivered straight to Scarlet's face had surpassed the skull-face's expectation.

Kak!

The boot mark printed itself on the skull and Scarlet was sent flying, as if it was knocked by a speeding truck. Scarlet fell to the end of the alleyway, little cracks from its crown starting to spread downwards to the center of its eye sockets.

However, the cracks on its skull were the least of its concern now because Kieran's second kick followed like its shadow and the kick went for the skull again!

Bang!

Kieran further stomped his foot on Scarlet's skull like a hydraulic hammer of some iron forge, all four of Scarlet's limbs swinging upwards as it plunged a few meters deeper into the asphalt road, and that was not the end!

Scarlet kept sinking down into the ground because Kieran kept stomping on its skull.

Stomp after stomp, each stromp stronger than the previous one, Scarlet struggled heavily, but its efforts were rendered useless!

It raised its arm and placed it in front of its skull in hopes of performing an effective block but its skeletal body, which was harder than reinforced iron, couldn't withstand Kieran's stomping!

As though the one stomping on its skull wasn't human but a devil from the abyss. The moment the boot came in contact with the bones on Scarlet's arm, both arms were pressed down into its face and its whole body sank deeper into the ground.

Kaboom!

A heavy buzz rang in Scarlet's skull but it didn't care, it knew it had to counterattack.

Fuuung!

Red mystical wordings around Scarlet started to appear, and right after that, murmurs sounded everywhere.

Some sounded ferocious, some wicked, some bewitching and so on, all the signs pointing to the murmurs being very powerful.

"Careful!"

Victor called out in shock as his soul trembled, Anna even trying his best to chant a set of incantations in hopes of helping Kieran.

As for You?

When the red wordings appeared, she fell to the ground and couldn't move at all.

Kieran, on the other hand, turned a deaf year, stomping on Scarlet's skull.

Scarlet replied with a laugh.

"Arrogant! Or do you think you can use this kind of savagery to win against me? You underestimate me! Now, become part of me!" Scarlet said loudly.

Right after the loud shout, the scarlet red wordings came alive and flew towards Kieran and Scarlet like red vines, covering both of them completely.

Anna finally completed his incantation, a light arrow fired towards the red wordings, but it did nothing.

The scarlet red vine cloud of wordings shook for a moment before returning to normal, even slowly expanding in size.

The cloud of red that contained Kieran and Scarlet inside it started to expand to the street.

Anna was shocked by what he saw.

"What is this?" Victor asked.

"Some unknown spell, it can devour everything and convert them into energy to buff it's caster," Anna said in a heavy expression.

Victor was shocked.

"Is there no other way? There is!"

Anna nodded, then walked forward slowly, and as he walked, he said, "This kind of secret spell has quite a lot of restrictions and also has an obvious flaw, it's devouring limit! As long as the limit is reached, the devouring process will result in a repulsion to its caster! Leave it to me!"

Anna stood still less than 10 meters away from that red vine cloud, yet at that very moment, a dash of blood painted over the red vines. It was real blood and Anna could prove that.

Ough!

Anna vomited like there was no tomorrow.

The minimal energy that he had recovered went down the drain again.

The bloody red vines swirled, rumbled, and gathered into the shape of a skull—it was Scarlet!

First its skull, then its rib cage appeared above the red vines, and when it formed until it's pelvic bone, the formation stopped.

"You are powerful, but your weakness is too obvious," Scarlet said coldly, then looked at Victor with its brightly burning soul fire.

The strong soul fire was emanating sheer killer intentions.

"You! You are to blame for everything! I said you had better wish you were dead! And I intend to keep my words!"

Scarlet's voice was like the arctic wind, sending chills down one's spin but not Victor's. He did not feel scared or worried at all.

In a more accurate sense, Victor indeed feared Scarlet at the beginning, but when he sensed Scarlet's current presence and aura, the worries went away.

Wasn't Scarlet powerful?

Very! The red skull was very powerful!

Victor didn't have even a tenth of Scarlet's power!

All Scarlet needed to do was raise its skeletal finger and it could kill Victor right away!

BUT!

Red skull was very different from the Dark Dominator.

The power from Dark Dominator was the suppression from life itself, like the gaze from the top of the food chain!

The Dark Dominator was already so ridiculously powerful, so how powerful would the Bird of Death, the lord that the Dark Dominator served, be?

Victor was looking forward to it, and because of the anticipation, Victor showed a smile.

When Scarlet saw the smile, a bad feeling rose from the bottom of its soul but it couldn't tell exactly why and where it came from.

"BLUFFS!" Scarlet laughed coldly.

Its power had spread into the prey inside the vines. Scarlet was going to end this meaningless battle. Yet, at that very moment…

An unrivaled power of devour appeared within the red vines.

It wasn't part of the secret spell that Scarlet casted, it was from Kieran! The power of devour was from Kieran's body!

This power of devour was something that Scarlet had never seen before, yet it certainly felt the fearsome presence.

Dong Dong Dong!

Its heart, which should be silent, throbbed suddenly, and each beat sounded loud and lively, yet with each beat, Scarlet felt its secretive powers being devoured.

On top of that, that power that it feared used its own secret power and invaded its skeletons!

Its powers were further devoured and quicker than before. It had to stop it from invading but it couldn't do anything to stop it! Scarlet was the one who invaded Kieran's body first!

A trap?

As it was moving closer to the cliff of death, the thought of all this being a trap popped up in its skull, yet it was too stubborn to admit it. It hadn't lost yet!!

"DIE! You freaking monster!" Scarlet rose both its hands up and shouted frenziedly.

Wung! Wung Wung!

Scarlet branded many mystical runes throughout the bones in its arms. They were the source of nourishment of his trump card, instantly turning into invisible blades and plunging into Kieran's soul.

However, when the blades plunged in, there was no reaction and sound at all, as if the blades stabbed a piece of cotton. Quite the contrary, the invisible blades were being devoured quickly.

What Scarlet feared the most was the munching and chewing noises that sounded in its head!

Amid the irritating, scary noise was a blurry phrase: Delicious.

"Delicious?" Scarlet jolted.

Promptly, it felt something bite its bones, pain starting to spread uncontrollably.

"Get your mouth off of me!" Scarlet screamed in pain.

What it got in reply was...Kak!

Its left arm was bitten off, followed by a series of munching noises. The invisible power of devour munched and ate Scarlet's left skeletal hand, and before it could even react, its skull was bit.

"NO!" Scarlet screamed in despair, yet it did not stop Gluttony.

The more Scarlet suffered, the happier Gluttony was in eating the bones. Kieran didn't stop the cardinal sin either.

When he first saw Scarlet the red skull, Kieran already simulated the possible ways of its attack and tried his best to anticipate potential attacks. When those scarlet marks appeared around him, Glutton jumped happily and expressed his hunger to Kieran. After Gluttony assured Kieran these powers were delicious and fragile, Kieran released Gluttony and let him go on a rampage.

Kieran had started to trust Gluttony, despite having to point Gluttony in the right direction most of the time. Though no one could disagree on Gluttony's power and its uniqueness.

Right now, Cardinal Sins Force surged as Gluttony ate Scarlet, the energy that he devoured converted into nutrients for the other Origin Forces.

Devil Force, Dawn Force, Plague Force, and Saint Thorn Force surged high.

Unlike the breakthrough when consuming Crossing Coins, all five of the Origin Force surged on their own this time.

This savage increment made Kieran squint his eyes. He could feel the Origin Forces in his body skyrocket, but it was only at Basic level, not even Entry!

Even though all five of his Origin Forces kept growing, it still couldn't cause a qualitative change, despite the quantity having surpassed the requirement.

"The seals?"

Kieran muttered the only possible reason for this hiccup, his eyes once again seeing the space with chains again, plus that door hanging in mid-air.

He took a deep breath and told himself, "I can't wait anymore!"