The Devil’s Cage

A little stone caused many waves.

The moment Kieran’s words subsided, boos came from the audience’s seat.

“Arrogant!”

“Bullsh*t!”

“Who the hell does he think he is?”

Angry words came from the common audience, but they grew softer by the second. The audience saw that the professors were silent, especially the neutral professors, every single one of them looking pale.

What happened?

Doubt came into the audience’s mind and it was further enlarged when they saw the upper year students fall into a similar silence.

“Can it be?”

“Impossible!”

“How can he?”

The common audience found it hard to accept facts that defied their logic, but what they saw told them their logic was useless now.

The gymnasium fell into a weird silence.

Principal Romuse and Professor Tyrese looked at each other before the professor spoke.

“2567, are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kieran nodded.

Professor Tyrese’s temple swelled again when he saw the nod from Kieran.

The professor acknowledged that Kieran was a good kid, but Kieran was also the one who caused him the most headaches.

“Aren’t you inside E-15 Mystic State?” the professor asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.

“I’ve been there, but I was more interested in the food competition, so I came back,” Kieran answered seriously.

‘Interested? I think you know the gains here are bigger than the Mystic State!’

Professor Tyrese had quite the understanding of Kieran, criticizing Kieran in his heart, but he had no reasons to stop Kieran because he was the First Seat.

As one of the First Seat’s rights, Kieran could directly enter the ring without registering.

“Any opinions?”

Suffering from a headache, Professor Tyrese turned to the other First Seats.

The professor was hoping for some suggestions from the First Seats, so that he could deny the battle but to his disappointment, all the First Seats shook their heads together.

“No. As a matter of fact, we are quite looking forward to it,” Tai spoke on behalf of the other First Seats.

They were defeated during the last battle due to the sudden entry. Although the four First Seats didn’t say anything, they felt regretful in their hearts.

They weren’t denying Kieran’s power, but they didn’t think they would lose to Kieran if all of them joined forces against Kieran.

However, the pride in their heart wouldn’t allow them to say something like ‘the few of us really want to fight you together’.

But Kieran had suggested it at his own will, so how would the four First Seats let the opportunity slip?

Tai looked at Dale, Jemara, and Renata before Dale stepped up to the ring, followed by Jemara and Renata. Tai stood behind the three of them.

Although they did not practise this before, they were very familiar with each other, hence the tacit understanding.

Professor Tyrese felt his temples twitching when he saw the four First Seats step up to the stage, chuckling helplessly.

“It’s good being young.”

After Professor Tyrese exclaimed, he turned serious and declared, “The food competition begins now!”

He then quickly got off the ring after he made his announcement.

The four First Seats did not make their preemptive strike, looking at Kieran with a calm face.

“How was the Mystic State?” Tai spoke on behalf of his peers.

“It wasn’t as good but not too shabby. Are you sure it’s just the four of you?” Kieran asked after he answered.

“It’s enough…”

BANG!

Before Tai could even utter a sentence, he was sent flying out of the ring, Kieran now standing in the spot where Tai stood before and slowly retracting his leg.

Tai did not fall on the ground, caught by the 5th year students.

Tai did not even see Kieran’s action and when he reacted to the situation, he was already flying mid-air.

He struggled to climb up as the pain in his chest tormented him.

“Are you still so sure now?” Kieran looked down in a commanding position on top of the ring.

“I…”

Bang.

The moment Tai opened his mouth, Dale fell down in the ring and had his hands over his stomach while groaning in pain. Jemara’s body trembled, not falling but not in good shape either.

Only Renata looked fine, but those with sharper eyes saw her messed up hair and fast breathing.

Gasp!

Everyone gasped hard when they saw the scene.

“When did it happen?”

“All four of the First Seats defeated in an instant?”

The facts before the audience’s eyes shook them more than the guesses they had in mind. They saw the First Seats of the upper year defeated with a single blow. If the audience didn’t know the First Seats would never discard their pride and honor to play along, they would assume it was just a major prank.

“Such speed!”

“Such a powerful kicking technique!”

Principal Romuse, in the audience’s seat, was astonished.

He saw many others with faster speed but for a freshman to reach such a level and display such explosive speed, he was thoroughly astonished.

Plus that kicking technique! The kicking technique was trained to fight against multiple enemies, the body used as weight so that his legs could unleash the powerful kicks. Such kicking technique had completely abandoned the option of defense!

“What a scary young man.”

Principal Romuse exclaimed again, suddenly thinking of his old friend.

His old friend told him more than once that the young man was very similar to himself. Principal Romuse did not acknowledge the saying back then but as time went by, he was forced to admit it, the young man before his eyes was exactly like his old friend, not in terms of looks but in terms of a single aspect of his personality and his way of doing things.

“Hope that tragic scene won’t happen again,” Principal Romuse took a deep breath and continued watching the scene.

The four First Seats falling with a single blow, this fact shook all the upper year students together, their faces showing utter disbelief when they stared at the black figure in the middle of the ring.

Then…

Unknown emotions gushed into their head.

Depression! Frustration!

Moments later, the depression and frustration turned into battle intents of rage!

“Are you looking down on us?”

One of the 5th year students shouted at the black figure on top of the ring.

The black figure did not speak but the blank expression on his face said it all.

The answer undoubtedly infuriated the 5th year student.

“HAR!”

An explosive growl later, the 5th year student dashed towards the main ring. Tai, who was hurt by the pain, didn’t stop his mate in time.

As the 5th year jumped onto the ring, he caused a chain reaction among the other upper year students, the students from 2nd to 5th years all jumping into the ring together.

The large ring was filled with people in an instant.

Professor Tyrese quickly pulled the groaning Dale down from the ring.

Dale felt like his intestines were torn by that kick, opening his mouth to breath harder, hoping to ease the pain but with each breath he took, the pain tormented him even more.

Comparing the pain, Dale looked back up the ring with a dubious gaze.

He had received a kick from Kieran before, but this kick was different from the previous one.

The last time felt more direct but this time, it felt like something was hidden in his kicks.

It was like the kick had some useless extra movements, Kieran could have taken out Dale with one blow but he purposely swung his leg around in a fancy way so that he could pose better.

It was totally unnecessary!

Based on Dale’s knowledge of Kieran, the monstrous First Seat wasn’t a person who would waste his efforts.

Dale endured the pain and concentrated on the ring.

Kieran was drowned by the wave of students but all the agonizing screams did not come from him.

Student after student was kicked off the ring but many of them stood back up, shouting loudly and charging up again, as if everyone forgot the pain in their body or the thought of defeating Kieran had taken the best of them.

“This isn’t right! The changes in their aura are too drastic!” Jemara said with a frown.

“Yeah, not just their aura, even their minds are bewitched!” Renata nodded.

Jemara and Renata’s conversation entered Dale’s ear, he took a deep breath and said, “Not just the students, 2567 too! I feel something is very wrong with him.”

“You noticed that too?” Renata looked at Dale.

Renata thought only her and her rival noticed the unusual scene, otherwise they wouldn’t both have left the ring together.

“Of course, the pain this time is totally different from the previous! He isn’t being direct, he is hiding something! The ‘love’ that he had was gone! My body won’t lie to me!” said Dale seriously.

“Pain? Love? What a weird fetish,” Jemara frowned and glanced over Dale in disgust before she stepped back.

“I only told you my honest feeling, it’s not my fetish…”

Dale wanted to explain but Jemara did not want to hear.

Jemara and Renata then saw Professor Tyrese and Senile run towards the audience seat.

“Thankfully we still have Principal Romuse,” Tai said as he walked over.

That’s right! The principal would surely deal with the situation despite the unexpected!

The other three First Seats nodded in union.

“Senile, are you serious about what you said?”

Professor Tyrese asked angrily as he dashed towards the audience seat.

It was quite rare for Professor Tyrese to be angry. His temper was well-known and the things that could infuriate him weren’t many, but betrayal was definitely on the list.

When Professor Tyrese noticed the unusual scene, Senile told him that he saw Kieran got in contact with some canine.

Getting in touch with some dogs were fine but after Smith’s disappearance, it became a problem.

It was well-known that Smith’s beloved pet, Bolt, could command the other dogs.

‘2567 and Smith are related?’

The thought appeared in his mind as he looked at the unusual battle going on in the main ring and he got even more anxious.

Without pause, Professor Tyrese brought Senile to Principal Romuse.

“Principal!”

Professor Tyrese quickly told the principal everything he knew.

“Smith?” Principal Romuse sighed at the battle in the ring.

He felt very complicated at his old friend, feeling sympathy, respect, and a lot of caution.

He knew what his friend was trying to do and the consequences that followed.

So after Principal Romuse realized his friend had lied to him, he attacked without a thought.

He didn’t want to capture Smith, neither would he kill Smith, so all Principal Romuse did was expel him.

It may seem to be a success, but if his old friend was somehow related to the freshman First Seat who the school looked highly at, then the ‘success’ was nothing other than a lie to numb his senses.

His old friend must have planned everything from behind the scene and Principal Romuse was a step behind, but he wasn’t nervous at all!

Countless battles in the open and fights in the dark told Principal Romuse how important it was to stay calm.

Now, his priority was to end the senseless battle now!

Principal Romuse made his move but not literally, all he did was stare at the main ring and the scene was silenced by a tremendous pressure from above.

It wasn’t just pure aura suppression but sheer ‘force’!

Buzzzz!

The air was disrupted, the ground trembling.

A never before felt gravitational force landed on the main ring, all the upper year students who were fighting the black figure immobilized on the floor.

Only the black figure remained tall in the middle, resisting the mountain-like pressure with difficulty.

“2567, are you related to Smith?” Principal Romuse floated up from his seat and asked in a heavy tone.

“What do you think?” the black figure chuckled coldly.

Bzzzz!

The air in the gymnasium moved again and the pressure on the black figure doubled. The black figure faltered back but remained standing eventually. He laughed in a provocative manner.

“So this is the power of the Chef of Strength? I expected it to be stronger, guess I am disappointed.”

The black figure looked up amid the laughter, the provocative laughter and gaze shown to everyone at the gymnasium,

Utter arrogance!

The term rose in everyone’s mind when they saw the black figure’s gaze.

“2567, do you know what you are doing?” Professor Tyrese shouted anxiously.

Up until now, Professor Tyrese thought Kieran was a good kid, all he did was take the wrong path and he would return to the righteous one with proper guidance.

However, Professor Tyrese’s face turned ugly at the next moment.

“Of course I know, I am… killing Romuse!”

The black figure laughed fanatically as he prolonged his tone. When the last word was uttered, his voice returned to normal.

IT WAS SMITH!

After the familiar voice entered everybody’s ears, Principal Romuse instinctively looked back to the audience seat, where Senile was.

Senile had a little bronze cauldron in his hand and around the edge was a sculpture of a Jiaolong, a legendary water dragon, looking upwards.

It was simple yet meticulously crafted. The horn on the Jiaolong was long and its curling body was very lively.

When the little cauldron was tossed up, the Jiaolong grew bigger with the wind as if it came alive, it jumped out and threw itself at Principal Romuse.

It was very quick, absurdly quick!

But the other terrifying thing was its ability to neglect powers other than its own!

The security guards all moved through the flying dragon and their attack was useless against it, as was Principal Romuse’s power.

Principal Romuse chuckled bitterly when he saw the Jiaolong before his eyes.

He knew he had lost, a total loss that he would not be able to come back from.

The others in the gymnasium were worried and utterly anxious at the scene, they couldn’t imagine what they would have to face if the principal fell.

Staring at the Jiaolong, which opened its mouth wide to devour the principal, everyone held their breath in deep concentration, only the dragon’s roar heard throughout the gymnasium.

Gulp!

A gulp sounded all of a sudden.

It should be a soft noise and yet it sounded in everybody’s mind, as though the gulp of saliva triggered a resonance in their soul.

Everyone felt an unknown hunger at that particular moment. They unconsciously touched their stomachs and started to recall the most delicious food they had ever eaten.

The hunger did not go away even after they pictured the best food, quite the contrary, it got stronger.

Grooooom!

A loud growl sounded like thunder, it wasn’t a growling stomach from the audience but it came from above their head.

The audience looked up.

Another black figure that hid in the ceiling shadow couldn’t hold himself anymore and jumped down like a hungry tiger coming down from the mountain.

The black figure jumped towards the Jiaolong’s head, a pair of chopsticks appearing in his hand as he grabbed the neck of the legendary dragon.