The Devil's Cage

Panda Novel

Fate is like a river.

It was a metaphor but also somewhat true.

Kieran once had the help of the God who commanded over fate and was able to take a peek at the Fate River.

Although it was just a glimpse, it left an impression on Kieran.

The materialization of the concept that merged time and space, mixed with a little coincidence, was astonishing.

Even the coincidence that Kieran was always vigilant again felt the same.

You hate it, but that doesn’t mean it does not exist, that doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful, just like death.

Everyone fears death, but who can escape its grasp?

Even if one fights till the end, one could never escape that grim fate.

For example, the female Demon Hunter who was locked up for many years.

While Kieran was thinking about Broker’s plan, Anderson came in and interrupted him.

“Miers has passed,” Anderson delivered the news to Kieran with a sorrowful look.

Kieran was stunned. He wasn’t too familiar with this female Demon Hunter, Miers, also known as the Tracker, but he paid attention to her.

It wasn’t just because of her gender, which was rare among the Demon Hunters, it was because she was a titled Demon Hunter. In addition to her relationship with Anderson, Kieran was always cautious against her.

His cautiousness was without malicious intent, it was just a habit.

As time passed, the cautiousness would certainly decrease.

Even after he ignited the divine fire and acquired his divinity, Kieran’s energy wasn’t limitless.

He couldn’t pay attention to every single thing, all he could do was focus on the important parts.

Likewise the sudden death, it was one of the important matters that he was concerned about.

Again, Kieran’s cautiousness was raised by the news, but he remained shocked on the outside.

“How did it happen? Wasn’t she in a stable condition before this?” asked Kieran.

“After I rescued her, she was never in a good condition, even the royal doctors couldn’t do anything except treat her with care and their effort for Miers was an inadequate measure. If we were a few years earlier…” The old Demon Hunter couldn’t continue anymore, looking down in sorrow.

Holuff also came over and tapped on his friend’s shoulder.

“She was strong, she liked to laugh, and her laughter was empowering to us. Keep your tears, don’t you want her to rest in peace?” Holuff said softly.

Then, the retired Demon Hunter walked to the middle of the group of Demon Hunters, scanning over his surroundings before raising his voice.

“Today, we are sending away a friend by funeral. Now… go get prepared.”

The retired Holuff couldn’t help but choke on his words when he made the announcement.

Then, he walked back with his head down.

“It’s the wind, it’s too strong,” He said to Kieran stubbornly, even though his tears and snot were already mixing together.

“Mm. The wind is strong today,” Kieran nodded and looked at the group of Demon Hunters tearing up in the wind.

Beside him, the vassal Monte also appropriately showed sorrow, but it was just on the outside.

Death to a person who makes a living in the royal palace was all too normal, but it was time for Monte to perform.

“Your Highness, do you need me to help prepare anything?” Monte looked at the prince he served.

“Go prepare everything that’s necessary,” said Kieran.

“Yes, your Highness.” The vassal bowed then left in a hurry.

Soon, the items that were used in the funeral of the northerners started to appear in the camp.

A coffin, a flora ring, and alcohol were the basics.

Only the noble and the rich were able to use expensive golden accessories for a funeral.

After inquiring with Anderson, Monte didn’t use any golden accessories. The Demon Hunters needed none of that, what they needed was a weapon, a silver dagger would be enough.

Amid the busy preparations, Kieran walked over to Anderon and asked, “Can I have a look at Madam Miers?”

“Of course,” the old Demon Hunter did not reject, lifting up the drapes of the tent for Kieran.

Kieran walked in.

There were already flower rings in the tent, decorating the coffin that Miers was lying in. A plain white dress was worn by the female Demon Hunter and a small linen handkerchief was placed over her face, blocking her mummified face.

A metal rack, which was half a person tall, was set up in front of the coffin. Candles were lit on the rack, making the whole tent appear brighter.

Kieran didn’t touch the body, he only looked at it carefully.

Looking from the surface, Miers was really dead. There was no breathing, no warmth to her body, but…

To Kieran, death wasn’t just about the body anymore, it was also about the soul!

In short, death could only be considered done when the soul and the body died together, and common souls could not have escaped Kieran’s eyes.

Under [Tracking]’s sight, everything will be revealed.

But what he saw with his [Tracking] was very normal.

There were no traces left behind, it was just a simple funeral to bid farewell to the dead.

The only difference was that the sky had the divine light of God of War and Lady Calamity fighting each other at the moment, thunderous claps sounding from time to time.

“What a unique farewell. May you rest in peace,” said Kieran before he left the tent.

Bloody Mary was already waiting for him outside the tent.

With Bishop Simon’s appearance, Bloody Mary nodded at Kieran before it went inside the tent.

As the person in charge of the Mist camp, whether in name or not, it had to show up.

A while later, Bloody Mary came back out.

“Prince Colin, I have something that I need to inquire of you, do you have some time for me?” asked Bloody Mary.

“Sure. Let’s go to my tent,” Kieran replied.

It was a very common conversation, no one would suspect anything, especially when all eyes were on that ‘Miers’.

Inside Kieran’s tent…

“Boss, isn’t it a little too coincidental? Borl just left and she died? There must be something wrong with her. Besides, she’s also a WOMAN!”

Right after the two of them entered the tent, with the hounds and Silent Guards on duty, Bloody Mary brazenly voiced its own thoughts, specifically emphasizing the word ‘woman’.

“Yeah. Anyone would pay attention to such a coincidence. The more coincidental thing is that this all happened after we discovered that bastard Broker’s true goal,” Kieran nodded.

Bloody Mary wasn’t an idiot, sp after a quick daze, it reacted to the situation right away.

1“You are saying that she was used by that bastard too? Using her death to distract our attention, so that the other woman can do what she wanted to really achieve?” Bloody Mary asked.

“No. If I were him, I wouldn’t only do as such, I would even mobilize all the power within my reach to fight me. Just like what we did before,” Kieran shook his head in a confident manner.

“She wants to expose us? Impossible! She can only rely on the Demon Hunter and the Demon Hunters are on our side, unless…” As Bloody Mary expanded its thoughts, it thought of something suddenly.

“Unless we moved her ‘body’. It will cause suspicions and doubts in the Demon Hunters and she will use it to counterattack us. But if we don’t touch her ‘body’, she will have time to search for a chance to grow powerful swiftly,” said Kieran as he inhaled deeply.

“This is really a difficult situation, we can neither go forward or move back. Hence she gave us only one other option: slay the God of War!”

“Slay the God of War?” Bloody Mary was stunned heavily this time.

“Yes! She has always been in the camp. Although I’ve made some necessary arrangements, I believe she can clearly sense my changes. Borl’s departure isn’t the condition that triggered her ‘death’, it was me getting my divinity. She couldn’t allow me to continue to grow stronger. That’s why she’s forcing me to choose: do I turnover all of my setups and risk a battle with her or slay the weakening God of War to gain more divinity before I am confident enough to go to battle with her,” Kieran nodded and slowly laid down on the sofa.

He slightly adjusted his posture so that he could sit up straight in a more comfortable way.

Then, he smiled and continued, “And that Broker must have predicted this outcome, that’s why he lured me into this dungeon world! The dungeon world that Starbeck and I went into when we were attacked was a bridge to his one. It was done just so that he could guarantee my entry to this dungeon world, he even used Borl as bait and set him up like a target in this dungeon world. Besides, he gave me quite a lot of hints notifying me to be prepared. What a bastard!” Kieran sighed.

He finally knew Broker’s true goal.

It wasn’t too late. Right after he gained his divinity, Kieran had related guesses about the endgame.

It was simple. While Gluttony converted the items into energy, Kieran couldn’t help but expand his thoughts: could Broker predict such an outcome?

The answer was yes.

Broker might not be able to precisely predict the whole process, but the ultimate goal wouldn’t stray that far, which was Kieran getting his divinity in this dungeon world!

The situation and settings of this dungeon world and Kieran’s way of maximizing his gains had determined the path that Kieran would take.

Then there was the million dollar question: was Broker a person who would fund his enemy?

No! The answer was also a solid no!

Then, under what circumstances would Broker do it?

It must be facing an even more powerful and scary enemy.

Among everyone that Kieran knew, other than the Witch, there was no other player that could make Broker feel like he was facing his greatest foe.

Likewise, Broker also gave his tip to Kieran a long time ago: it was Borl!

Borl was a person who was closely related to the Witch.

He didn’t just bear the Mark of the Witch, he was also an ex-member of the Guardians.

More importantly, Borl once went ‘missing’.

Kieran described the absence as ‘missing’ but Borl described his absence as a ‘slumber’.

Missing and being in slumber were two different things.

Borl wasn’t lying.

The slumber was just something Borl thought he was going through, but as for what the truth really was? Borl had no idea and no one else had any idea about that.

Except for Kieran.

After he discovered that those who bore the Witch’s Mark could kill each other and absorb a part of the opponent’s powers, Kieran was already wondering what would happen if the Witch herself killed all the ones who bore her mark?

She could get more power from it? Or everything from her killed targets?

Of course, by relating the unusual and strange images that he saw when the Witch’s Mark appeared, the Witch must have some harsh conditions to fulfill before she could kill the bearer of the mark.

However, there was one thing that remained unchanged: death!

Due to the normal bearers of the Witch’s Mark having to kill each other to absorb a part of their opponent’s powers, no matter how harsh the conditions were, death was inevitable and somewhat the first step to all, more and more conditions would pop up after that.

That’s why Borl was dead before! Meaning, when Borl claimed that he fell into a ‘slumber’ because of the Witch and woke up after a long time, it was actually a process of coming back to life.

The revival process was actually ushered in by Broker, but of course the process was not complete, all the process could do was extract a part of the whole.

Or rather, Broker purposely wanted to extract this part because in Borl’s time, the Witch existed!

The Witch that once disappeared from the big city, in that particular time, in this dungeon world, truly existed.

Kieran didn’t know in what ways Broker resolved to revive Borl or what methods he used to trick the whole big city to set up the current situation, but his ultimate goal became obvious.

Broker wanted Kieran to kill the Witch in this ‘particular’ time.

In fact, Broker didn’t even have to do so many things, Kieran was already a thorn in the Witch’s flesh.

Even though the Witch in this time didn’t understand a lot, nothing would change because Kieran had robbed her of her resources.

With Broker’s intentional selection, all the resources that Kieran snatched were key to the Witch, such as the Lord of Mist, which he had always absorbed, and the resources in the south.

If Kieran didn’t enter this dungeon world with Borl, what would happen?

The answer was self-explanatory, all of Kieran’s gains would be the Witch’s instead. Hu!

Sitting on the sofa, Kieran exhaled a heavy breath.

“Boss, what should we do now? If we are going to slay the God of War, we better be prepared soon. After losing most of his believers, he won’t last long under the Lady’s onslaught.”

As the one who orchestrated and arranged everything, Bloody Mary was eager to turn the tide on the current situation. So it was natural that it was thinking how to slay the God of War.

“Who says I’m going to slay him?” Kieran asked.

“Didn’t you say…”

“Only an idiot will move according to the enemy’s pace.”

“But we are stuck in this situation, we can’t move forward or back off now…”

“Then I won’t choose.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’ll flip the table!”

After Kieran finished, he stood up and walked out of the tent.

Mist started to amass and within a breath’s time, the mist enveloped the whole of Edatine Castle.

“Leave! This is not the place for you to have your war! Leave! This place is under my protection!”

Under the night sky, a heavy bellow, as loud as thunder, sounded from the mist.

The next second—

A titan formed completely out of mist stood tall in the middle of the sky.

In the titan’s hand, a blazing flame burned fierce, the scorching wave flying out in all directions, the blinding light shining and shedding light over the night sky.

The people of Edatine looked at the blazing titan in a blank state, many starting to instinctively kneel down, let alone the believers of the Mist.

They were already praying, no one noticing three figures slipping out of the Mist camp.

One of them was arrogant, one of them kept yawning, and one of them was drooling.

The arrogant one headed straight to War God Temple.

The yawning one headed to the temple of Lady Calamity hidden in the alleyway.

The drooling one was looking rather absent-minded.

“K-kitchen… no, palace,” he said amid the mutters, making a sharp turn away from the kitchen and heading to the palace instead.