The Devil’s Cage

A few hours earlier…

“Are you sure you want me to swallow the two of these?”

Anne Aldrich Augen looked at the [Ring of Protection] and [Ring of Blessing] in Kieran’s hand. Her delicate face was showing reluctance that she didn’t bother to cover up at all.

“Unless you are willing to believe the Saint Relic Association or willing to once again become the fish on the cutting board, allowing others to slice you at will.”

Kieran put the two rings in Anne Aldrich Augen’s hand.

“I don’t want to!”

Anne Aldrich Augen shook her head hard and opened her mouth, swallowed both the rings down her stomach. Then, she took a deep breath and said, “This is the most special thing that I ever swallowed in my entire life! Now, tell me how should I do it so that I won’t kill myself? And you are sure you can save me in time?”

“Don’t forget, saving you is the same as saving myself and I won’t joke with my little life. Just like how the people of the Saint Relic Association would stay put until the situation is clear. Their stand on this has made it exceptionally clear, they would not allow the Griffin Church to be revived and killing me will certainly be their preferred course of action. The coinciding point is, I might still be of use before I die, so why would they not use me? Besides, they will not let go of the heart in my body. So, I am very confident in our plan,” Kieran said with a smile.

“I think you need to come up with more backup plans!”

Anne Aldrich Augen presented herself in a nervous state since it was related to her own life.

“Hmm. I try to think of every possible aspect but most importantly…”

“Improvise! I’ve learned how to do so when I was seven and made myself a master,” Anne Aldrich Augen said by waving her hand and just as the lady said, she was very skilled in improvising and was a master at it.

From the point where Iona was struck down by her comrade that was supposed to “support” her, to Anne Aldrich Augen being held captive and eventually stabbing herself with the dagger. Every step was proceeding perfectly.

The moment Anne Aldrich Augen fell on Kieran, he had woken up from his [Dormant Viper] state.

The dizziness that followed made it clear to Kieran that even if he relied on [Dormant Viper] to slow down his fading life force, his HP was still decreased to an alarming rate.

Without further hesitation, Kieran moved his hand along the dagger wound on Anne Aldrich Augen’s stomach and went inside her abdomen, reaching into her damaged liver wall.

Then, he managed to touch the [Ring of Protection] and the [Ring of Blessing] and after taking his palm out of her body, Kieran immediately used [Ring of Blessing, Light of Revival] without even thinking twice.

The brilliance of the light shone brightly from Kieran’s hand, a 3-meter radius range was filled with the warm presence of healing.

The wounds on Kieran and Anne Aldrich Augen had started to heal at exponential speed, visible to the naked eye.

The sudden changes obviously startled Elder Juen and the overseer.

“Damn it!”

“You bastard!”

The two of them were fighting ceaselessly in a single body when they saw Kieran getting up on his feet.

They cursed together and dashed out together at Kieran but fell to the ground at the same time as the left leg tripped the right leg.

“If you don’t want to die, give me back control of my body!” the overseer shouted.

“Why don’t you give up control of your body to me?” Elder Juen argued.

Though when the elder saw Kieran was coming over, he decided to step back and returned control of the body to the overseer but the elder didn’t let go of all defenses either.

He moved his head around the overseer’s body, wriggling around and made his way to the wound on the back, diving into the wound!

The overseer’s back immediately bulged up into a giant hump, looking like a hunchback monster.

When Kieran saw the scene, his heart was utterly grateful because if he didn’t notice Elder Juen was still alive, it might be him carrying such a hideous form.

“I will rip you apart!!” the overseer said in a low voice as he was adapting to his “new body”. His words were filled with cold killing intent.

The overseer wasn’t that naive to ask how Kieran had prepared for this and, as long as he could kill Kieran, nothing would change and everything would return to the original plan.

“Is that so? Then let us see who will die an incomplete death!”

Kieran swung his hand and used [Ring of Protection] to create [Protection Barrier] as he strode forward.

His shirt on his body was turned to shabby rags from all the attacks, he then pulled it down with his hand, throwing the destroyed clothes away but before his clothes could reach the ground, it burst into strong flames.

Fuuuu!

The clothes were instantly burnt to cinders, more flames burst out from Kieran’s body and following each step he took forward, the flames burned hotter and fiercer, to the point where it engulfed Kieran completely.

The overseer was shaken when he saw the blazing scene.

Especially when a certain aura appeared within the flames, the overseer’s bitten off face started to tremble and the bloody part of his face looked even more vicious and scary.

“You want to beat me by relying on the Devil’s heart? You are too childish! It is the first time you’re using it and you will never understand its horror! You will be devoured right away!”

The overseer’s words sounded tough and fierce on the outside but actually, he was afraid on the inside.

Kieran in fire used the Devil’s energy that flowed in his blood and he clearly sensed the fear from the overseer.

He also knew that the chance before him was very hard to come by. When his plan and various coincidences converged, Kieran had finally gotten the best situation possible.

This current moment was the weakest state of the overseer with Elder Juen in his body without a doubt!

Despite the overseer acting normally, the bone-deep wounds all over his body had proved it all.

“First time? You’ll never know!” Kieran uttered the words in his heart and extended his blazing wings.

Fuuuu!

The violent wind went rampant together with blazing flames, swirling and pushing outwards in all directions but when the runes on the blazing wings shone, all the flames that went out returned to Kieran’s side.

Then, an otherworldly roar was blasted at the sky, blazing flames followed upwards and finally, the Devil’s image appeared under the night sky.

It wasn’t the twisted devilized form of Harondentte anymore, neither was it the blood and flesh puppet that had lost its sanity.

It was the true, authentic Devil!

The wings, the horns, and the gigantic magma body, the extremely hot temperature, blazing flames, and sulphuric stench was telling everyone who saw the scene, the Devil was very real.

Anne Aldrich Augen who had woken up within [Protection Barrier] was looking at the kingly fiery image under the night sky with teary eyes.

She has been wondering where Kieran got his confidence from and now she finally saw the answer.

“Transform into the Devil eh?” Anne Aldrich Augen muttered softly and on the other hand, the overseer growled frenziedly with unbelievable expressions.

“Impossible!”

“Impossible!”

“How can a person perfectly control the heart!? This must be an illusion! Juen, this is your handy work again, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Say something, you bastard!”

Unable to believe the facts before his eyes, the overseer plunged into panic.

He completely pushed the blame of the unusual occurrence to his old rival.

Kieran, however, would not care about how unusual his enemies behaved, he flapped his wings and fired out a 130 degree, 40-meter range of blastwave to sink the overseer completely.

Then, the second wave and the third wave!

When the third blastwave swept across the area, the street which was already in ruins was further turned into a desolate scene similar to purgatory but that still wasn’t the end.

Sparks of lighting started to gather in Kieran’s devilized palm.