The Devil’s Cage

Roar!

The Devil’s roar echoed in his ears.

The devil’s mirage slowly appeared behind Kieran after that.

The strong and powerful body of magma, the blazing wings with shining mystical runes and the dual horns that were as sharp as a sword appearing to pierce the heavens.

An arrogant and chaotic aura erupted like a volcano from Kieran’s body, tearing apart the pressuring aura from the Burning Marquis.

Wung!

The air trembled for a while.

Similar to the distortion caused by high temperature, black started to spawn in between the two of them.

The black was as deep as the abyss.

“Mm?”

Burning Marquis was surprised. He looked at his eldest son with a very astonished look.

Based on what he knew from his men, he knew the arrogance in his eldest son’s bloodline had a bigger breakthrough through all kinds of unjust treatment; his strength would surely be enhanced.

However, he never thought that his eldest son would be able to hold on even when he released half of his aura.

“The inheritance of Burning Dawn?”

“Oh ancestors, you really like to joke!”

With such lingering thoughts in his heart, the Burning Marquis had no further scruples and released the limit of his own aura.

BOOM!

KAKROOM!

The ground around the Burning Family mansion started to tremble.

Ear-deafening thundering growls sounded one after another, each successive louder than the before it.

The darkness that appeared was like the rising tide as it enveloped everything in the area.

“What happened?”

“Why is the sky dark?”

Continuous clatter came from the mansion and the civilian residences around it.

Those imperials and nobles that came to the mansion to rope in the Burning Marquis were panic-stricken as well.

They had been through a lot today, to the point that it had exceeded what they could imagine for their whole life and what they could handle.

“Damn it!”

“I’m leaving this place!”

“Leave!”

“I’ll go crazy if I keep staying here!”

…

“Kill! Killing all of them is my only goal!”

“Damn it, why the hell are you people not dead yet?”

“Die! Die”

…

Voice after voice came from the darkness.

At first, it still sounded sane but it gradually turned into a frenzied growling.

Darkness brought fear.

Fear gave birth to despair.

Some bowed down before despair while some gained nutrients from it, learned from it, and grew stronger.

Kieran was the latter.

He looked straight into despair, resisting it, overcoming it.

Therefore, he was quite used to looking despair in the eye.

He even enjoyed the process and the outcome of rising above despair.

However, it didn’t include the devil mirage.

Under the stimulation of despair, the devil mirage was further infuriated.

It growled repeatedly, it felt insulted.

Insults that struck its bones and was carved into it’s soul!

Then, the last bit of its memories gushed into Kieran’s head.

There was a boundless black colored field in sight.

No plants, no stones, and the entire land was made up of dead bodies; poisonous miasma filled the area.

A gigantic figure as tall as a mountain was standing in the middle of the black field.

He breathed flames, his gaze brought fear and his figure struck despair into the hearts of others.

He was the rightful owner of the title: Lord of Despair.

Within his line of sight, any living being would kneel before him, even the heaven and earth would obey his will.

He was the king that dominated everything in the Field of Despair.

He was sitting on his throne, looking at everything under his rule.

How could he be insulted by a half-blood?

How could he take contempt from a half-blood?

Huu!

A blazing brilliance that looked like real fire was shining on the devil mirage behind Kieran.

Its rage was nowhere to be found.

It became cool and calm just like its host, Kieran.

It lifted its chest and looked up with a more contemptuous gaze at the Burning Marquis who altered reality with his aura alone.

No doubt the Burning Marquis was powerful, he might even have a place in the deepest of the abyss but…

He dared not provoke the real Devil King!

appeared in the darkness.

Stars of blazing brilliance turned into an upside down galaxy within a breath, pouring downwards.

The darkness was shattered instantly.

Those people that were enveloped by the darkness saw light once more but the light they saw wasn’t the redemption from the darkness. Instead, it was the devil’s grasp from the deeper part of the abyss, dragging them deeper below.

Submit, or die.

The choices were clear.

No time to think, no chance to regret.

Those who submitted were spared from death yet shivered non-stop.

Those who defied died without an intact body.

Bang! Bang Bang!

Amidst a series of heavy bangs, some of the nobles thought what was happening before them were mere illusions, they led their family and made their decision on whether to submit or defy. They were looking at this fiasco with disdainful gazes, waiting for it to return to normal, however, they would not live to see such a thing.

After the exploding heads and bodies, what was left was blood, flesh, and bone shards.

All the other survivors witnessed the horrifying scene and it robbed them of the ability to choose the opposite.

In fact, if they really had a choice, they would rather be slowly tortured a hundred times over in the darkness from before than being “interrogated” by this kind of destructive power.

The Imperials and nobles were crawling on the ground.

They wanted to live and they didn’t have a choice.

While feeling the pressure from the despair and seing the crowd crawling on the ground, the Burning Marquis laughed, he was convulsed with laughter.

“Hahahaha! Very well! As the ancestor’s heir and my bloodline extension… you’ve passed.”

It wasn’t clear whether was it praising or self-boasting, the devil’s presence on Burning Marquis then became heavier.

Different from the devil mirage behind Kieran, some devil features started to show themselves on the Marquis’ body.

His black hair turned burning red like his eyes, his skin was emanating scorching streams and his forehead had horns growing.

A blazing flame once again engulfed the Burning Marquis’ body.

He once again transformed into the form that defeated Darde the Titan and a giant fireball was hurled at Kieran like a falling comet.

Kieran, however, was looking at the fireball closing upon him with a calm face; the devil mirage behind him laughed ferociously.

It had waited for too long.

It was restless.

It wanted to teach this half-blood a lesson.

It was time for the devil to strike!

A giant flaming sword was drawn out from the void and slashed towards the hurling fireball.

When the giant flaming sword was being wielded, air-breaking sounds followed and it shook the souls of the living around it. The high temperature from the flaming sword evaporated the steam and even the land would dry up and crack at exponential speed.

Bang!

The giant flaming sword was slashed at the fireball.

The indomitable fireball appeared as if it was crashing into an indestructible wall.

Both sides froze and tangled similar to two raging bulls, trying to wrestle their opponent.

That would really be the case if… no one was there to intervene.

“Lord Marquis!”

“Young master 2567!”

“Young master Starbeck is missing!”

Wright the butler’s voice sounded from further away with unconcealable anxiety.

Everything went silent.

Kieran and Burning Marquis who were in a fierce fight plummeted into silence in unison.

Then, two distinguishable Devil Forces that struck fear and despair in people’s hearts with never before seen killing intent burst up into the sky.

The entire Dawn City felt like it was being watched by two devils that crawled out from the abyss.

The city was on the brink of collapsing.