The Devil's Cage

The blazing flames rumbled, the scorching waves burning even the air.

The Mist titan’s appearance instantly attracted the attention of the battle happening in the heavens.

God of War’s killer intents were overflowing, Kieran could sense them even without [Tracking]; the icy cold and gloomy presence also locked onto him instantly.

The former was a bloody presence that reeked like rust.

The latter was strict and stern like a machine.

Kieran felt like he was standing in a very old workshop filled with bodies at the moment.

Then… his feelings came true!

The scenery before Kieran drastically changed, his misty body fading away.

He sensed some very minor changes inside him, it felt like his real body was whispering and his muscles, bones, and blood were being replaced by something else.

[Destruction]! [Scheme]! [Trickery]!

The three divinities intertwined to form a new body and then he found himself, with his new body, inside a workshop.

Before his eyes was black machinery and below his feet was scarlet blood. The machinery before him operated ceaselessly, accompanied with loud clunks, but soon enough the clunks were replaced by battle cries and painful moans.

Or more precisely, the machinery produced new battle cries and painful moans to replace its original clunking.

The battle cries were loud as thunder, the shockwaves rippling as if they were going to tear the sky apart.

The painful moans were endless and ghostly, as if they could seep into Kieran’s body and tear his soul.

Ka, ka, ka!

Amid the armor clunking, a three meter tall giant appeared in Kieran’s sight as he walked around the black machinery.

His face was hidden behind the armor, only his eyes, as bright as lightbulbs, showing.

The sneer in his gaze felt very real.

“Know your limits,” said the armored figure.

This armored figure was certainly the God of War, finally revealing his true body before Kieran.

As for Lady Calamity?

In the dark corner of the workshop, a lump of darkness rumbled and its eyes were sizing up Kieran.

The eyes were red and sharp, its gaze felt like it could sting.

The Mist titan’s shell was completely useless in this place, Kieran was left with his own body and the Devil Flame in his hand.

Kieran wasn’t in a panic.

God of War and Lady Calamity had fought more than once but not a single time did they truly damage Edatine.

It was an unbelievable feat by itself.

One thing worth taking note was that battles nearing the divine level could already easily destroy cities, let alone a real battle between two real Gods!

It was a little bit of an exaggeration to say the battle was catastrophic but destroying cities was a fact.

However, nothing happened to Edatine at all, causing Kieran to speculate that the two of them must have fought somewhere else.

But… he never thought it would be a giant workshop factory.

On top of that, this factory did not fit the time and style of Edatine at all. Instead, it felt much more like something in the recent ancient.

“Is this the next tip?” Kieran muttered.

It was almost certain that this factory had many more clues hidden in it’s cracks and crevices, or the existence of the factory alone was a tip by itself.

Broker must have left this place behind as well, and although there was a high chance that this factory wasn’t built by him, there were sufficient tips in here!

The machinery! The blood! Or more accurately, the slaughter!

As for who built the place?

There was one person that was worthy of Broker’s schemes and planning, and other than the Witch, Kieran couldn’t think of anyone else.

As for why the Witch built such a factory?

It must be for the power! Or more accurately, it must be to inherit the power!

Kieran’s eyes shifted to the darkness in the shadow. Even his senses couldn’t pry through the darkness but the scarlet red eyes were enough for him to determine a rough contour of the face.

Without a doubt, the Devil Flame was tossed out, not at Lady Calamity but at… the God of War!

Huu!

After charging, with the buffs from his bloodline power and [Destruction] divinity, rank VI Devil Flame was tossed out.

God of War chuckled coldly and effectively dodged the flame.

“Your attacking trajectory is too obvious. You pesky little rat, you think you can hide here and there? Let me tell you what’s—”

God of War bellowed, he wasn’t an idiot.

After he saw Kieran’s true body, he quickly understood the truth behind the series of events that happened recently.

Everything was this pesky little rat’s doing.

He was deceived, the supreme God of War was deceived by a demi-god! It was unforgivable!

So he prepared to shred Kieran into a thousand pieces, but before he could finish, the tossed out Devil Flame made a U-turn and flew back, quicker than before.

“Hmph!” God of War groaned.

His huge figure vanished like a phantom. It wasn’t his speed that allowed him to do that, it was some kind of teleportation ability.

But when he reappeared, he was in the trajectory of Devil Flame and the fireball crashed into him.

Kaboom!

A fierce explosion sounded, accompanied with a blazing flame that burned high.

The God of War was caught off guard and was in a daze as he was engulfed by the flame.

He was certain that he had dodged Kieran’s attack, both the first and the second time.

One thing worth noting was that this factory was unlike the material world. If he had dodged the attack, he would have dodged the attack, even if the attack had some homing attributes.

Unless… the pesky rat had a divinity higher than himself? But was it possible?

A demi-god? How could a demi-god possess a divinity higher than his?

The speculations and guesses in his heart made the God of War struggle, his ‘destruction’ divinity starting to come into play as he was able to expel the Devil Flame.

Then, three more giant fireballs crashed into the God of War’s body simultaneously.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Devil Flame burned once more.

While he was burning God of War, Kieran was carefully observing Lady Calamity.

However, Lady Calamity did not attack, as if she, too, was observing Kieran, an unannounced intruder.

Or rather, she didn’t know whether or not she should attack Kieran or attack her old rival, God of War.

‘She’s even more dull and stiff than I thought,’ Kieran thought and then raised his hand.

Kakkrooom!

Three more balls of Devil Flame exploded on God of War.

Although the flames were expelled quickly, Devil Flame reignited itself with such an exponential speed that it surpassed God of War’s expectation.

Then, for quite a while inside the whole workshop, the God of War was forced into a vicious cycle in which he expelled the flames and Devil Flame reignited.

After about a dozen times, God of War’s wrath made him bellow.

“You rat! Don’t expect to use these kinds of tricks to win against me in battle! I will let you know the gap between our strengths! You puny bastard!” God of War bellowed furiously, disregarding the consequences and charging towards Kieran.

Kieran dodged the charge by moving his steps. A set of rhythmic movements that seemed to understand the rules of heaven and earth appeared, as if the dodging move wasn’t performed by Kieran’s body but a part of a natural phenomenon.

‘The changes of the divinity in this space?’ Kieran speculated.

After God of War charged past Kieran, he stopped and stood at the spot where Kieran was standing. From there, further in front of the God of War, was Lady Calamity. He stopped charging but Lady Calamity saw an intimidating God of War before her eyes.

Without a second thought, Lady Calamity jumped out.

“Stop! Stop you crazy woman! Stop it! The real enemy isn’t me!” shouted the God of War.

But Lady Calamity didn’t care, continuing to fight God of War.

Kieran didn’t do a thing anymore, watching the two Gods fight.

“Destruction?”

While the two Gods fought, the presence they emanated was clearly sensed by Kieran and he had a better and more straightforward perception.

It was a very pure ‘destruction’ divinity, but the direction was different.

The God of War’s destruction was more focused on battle, using his body and weapon to kill his opponent.

The other one, Lady Calamity, used the plague to cause destruction.

Kieran was able to differentiate it clearly as he, too, had [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] in him.

At the same time, he really felt the difference of this place.

There weren’t any fancy techniques or tricks, it’s just a head-on brawl.

Who’s divinity was stronger, who would emerge the victor.

Of course, it must be under the condition where their true bodies were at the same level.

Kieran didn’t know whether it was the place that caused it or the way the two of them fought had really no techniques at all, but he wasn’t used to this kind of brawl out.

Other than the fact that it was his first time fighting with his divinity, it was also his battle habits that he trained through many fights.

But… everything here provided him with a huge advantage and he had more than just one backup.

Looking at God of War and Lady Calamity, whose Destruction divinity was a rank higher than himself, brawl it out, Kieran stepped back and activated his Trickery divinity, then concealed himself in the dark.

…

Pride didn’t have the intention to infiltrate War God Temple, he just brazenly walked in.

“Hold it right there! You are… Prince Colin?!”

The members of Dark Hall on guard duty outside War God Temple shouted and stopped Pride.

They were a little uncertain of Pride’s identity.

As the heir to Snake Sect and Edatine, Kieran’s portrait was sent to all families, houses and factions. Everyone should remember his face by now, there were many who purposely came out to have a look at the real Kieran.

Pride, who had the exact same face as Kieran, was obviously going to be treated as him, but his aura and presence didn’t seem to match.

Kieran’s was much shallow, and unless one was really close with Kieran, it would be difficult for those who weren’t to differentiate between him and Pride.

The same went for the guards. They weren’t sure about what he saw but they couldn’t be hesitant about it either.

Pride didn’t give the guards much time to think, striding forward on his own.

The black flame started to spread.

The flame that could burn souls touched the Dark Hall member instantly and he was engulfed whole.

“Aaaaah!”

These Dark Hall members with ulterior motives and a ruthless hand all fell to the ground.

Every single one of them fell into an illusory realm where they were greeted by their worst nightmare.

It was something they’d never wanted to experience at all.

Pride glanced over these men, who did atrocious things in the name of God, with disdain. He didn’t stay for long, then walked forward.

He could feel his own powers become stronger. It seemed like it was because of his big brother’s divinity, though Pride didn’t have the time or attention to get to the bottom of this, because in his point of view, it was all natural. Otherwise, why would he acknowledge Kieran as his big brother?

Likewise, those who stood in his big brother’s way should all be dead.

Standing in the way of his big brother was a shameless thing to do!

Pride strode into the cathedral.

He ignored Mortor’s existence and looked at the statue of God of War.

“It’s you!” Mortor rounded his eyes in shock as he looked at Pride, managing to notice something different but it didn’t matter at all.

Even if Pride wasn’t Kieran, he would still assume that Pride was because only then could he redeem his losses and rebuild the glory of the God of War.

From a certain perspective… it was great!

Edatine royal court, Snake Sect, everyone else would be gone soon!

“Surrender, Prince Colin!” said the bishop in council as he walked to Pride.

A faint glow appeared around the bishop’s body.

A small sword was pointed at Pride.

Pride didn’t even spare a glance at the sword, a giant black greatsword appearing from the void and swung down at the bishop.

The dragon and the tiger roared!

A faint image of a giant dragon rose to the sky and the illusion of a tiger descended from heaven.

“Stop being so stubborn!” said Mortor.

He then vanished, the dragon and tiger illusions passing through his afterimages and when Mortor appeared, he was behind Pride, the small sword thrusted into Pride’s back.

An effective strike.

Mortor was stunned and he immediately thought of something, which caused him to look extremely ugly.

He looked up and saw the illusion of the dragon and tiger make a change in direction and head for the God of War’s statue.

“NOOO!” Mortor squealed, but he could no longer change the outcome.

Kaboom!

…

Inside that hidden and avoided alleyway, Sloth yawned countless times.

He was waiting in silence.

With his sleepiness troubling him, Sloth really wanted to sleep on the spot, even if there was no mattress around.

He was very tired. The calculations that he just performed exhausted him once more.

‘Big brother’s enemies are really troublesome,’ thought Sloth deep down in his heart, his eyes looking at the entrance to the alleyway.

A figure appeared at the entrance. The figure wore a wide robe and the face was covered.

Sloth didn’t have any intentions to avoid being noticed or to dodge, because he knew in front of the robed figure, avoiding and dodging would feel useless, like child’s play.

Rather than hiding in the dark, might as well step out righteously.

“Good evening,” greeting the figure.

Sloth yawned again.

The figure kept quiet and glanced over Sloth.

The figure then headed straight to Lady Calamity’s temple.

Sloth did not stop the figure, instead inviting the figure in with a polite gesture.

The figure stopped and fell into deep thought when Sloth performed the inviting gesture.

“What did you do?” The voice of the figure was rough and heavy, as if the throat was made out of sanding paper.

A quick night breeze blew and the hood over the figure’s head moved slightly, revealing the mummified face beneath.

“I didn’t do anything, Madam Miers. No, I should call you… Madam Witch,” Sloth replied with laughter.