The Devil’s Cage

The impression of the Prairie people in Warren people’s heart was that they were brave and skilled in war.

The fear that the Prairie people were facing was not that they were not brave enough, but that of their natural instincts.

The Prairie soldiers couldn’t defy the suppression of natural order.

A mirage with huge wings on its back and spiral horns formed before them. It roared towards the moon, sending some of the trembling soldiers falling to the ground and others fleeing in panic.

Fear carved a deep impression in the men’s head; the scene before them reminded them of what had happened before in Lightning Fortress.

”It’s the devil! He is back!”

A sudden shout sounded.

The shout made Kieran who was absent-minded and stunned on the spot turn his attention to the source of it unconsciously.

On the opposite mountain wall, the deserter that made an impression in Kieran’s mind was there.

”The spy?”

A feeling of disdain appeared on Kieran’s dull face, the disdain that was built on top of his principles. His principle was he’d never betray anyone, so the contempt towards that betrayer made his gaze more proudful and arrogant when he looked at him.

Whuuuuu!

Flames burst out from the spy’s body and turned him into a blazing fireball in a breath’s time.

Before his companions could react, he fell off the cliff with an agonizing cry.

”The cardinal sins is the original evil. The flames will wash away your sins.”

Kieran chanted like he was reciting a judgement.

A faint mirage that was different from the devil, different from the Creature of Desire formed above Kieran.

The mirage had Kieran’s face, but his temperament was completely different.

Arrogant and deeming everything beneath its ranks.

The Kieran mirage with the devilish temperament looked below at the real Kieran, with the gaze of a superior staring down at ants.

Then it turned to the devil mirage. The devil then stopped its roaring at the moon.

The devil exchanged a glance with the newly formed Kieran mirage; it’s rampant and chaotic aura surged high up in an instant.

Both of them were like centuries old arch-enemies that were destined to brawl it off.

Crack! Crack Crack!

The sky above Kieran’s head gave out a clear cracking noise, then lines of crack started to spread out like a smashed glass. In the end, the sky above Kieran’s head was shattered.

Then, from within the crack, an unrivaled energy stream burst out, turning into a destructive energy, swirling around the mountain walls of Lightning Fortress.

A black lightning formed in devilish Kieran mirage’s hand, and a burning red flame rose high on the devil mirage.

As for Kieran himself, he was standing on the spot, absent of any control of his body.

The backlash! The backlash from [Fusion Heart]!

After a series of minor backlashes, under the stimulation of his killer intents, the cumulative amount finally triggered a qualitative change.

Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy revolved around Pride and the combination of the seven sins’ aura gave birth to a brand new image in the world.

The devil lord mustered its remaining strength in the heart and turned it into the most primitive form of demonic energy, becoming a more chaotic, cathartic form of itself.

Kieran himself below had no realization of anything.

Even though the colossal crocodile, the giant rhino and the golden lion around kept calling for him, none of their roars could wake him up.

The human part of [Fusion Heart] started to weaken off.

The golden lion raised its head; its golden mane was dancing in the strong wind.

Then it tilted down and stared at Kieran’s right hand, or more precisely, the right hand wristband.

ROAR!

The loud roar went into the wristband, while the other mirages couldn’t understand what the lion was doing.

Then, a tiny spider mirage formed on top of the wristband and eventually appeared similar to how the golden lion formed.

The golden lion’s radiance was dimming by the second and the tiny spider’s mirage was getting solid. It really looked like a common spider from a commoner’s eyes, but this was different from previous times since it only appeared for a flash before.

This time, the spider crawled on Kieran’s wrist in a vacant manner. It felt like it was the place it should be, but not really.

Then, the thunder sounded; the tiny spider then raised its head, seeing a black lightning tearing apart the sky and burning red flames scorching the earth.

It saw a face that should be a stranger, but it feel very familiar within its sights, a face of a human.

The loss of its inherited memory prevented it from recognizing the relationship with that human, but it could feel they had something inseparable, a soul connection.

Therefore, the spider felt the human’s anxiety, rage and helplessness! So it was drowned in such emotions as well. The spider mirage started to tremble; the mark that was left in its soul made it feel resentful against such emotions.

This was what the spider shouldn’t feel. The moment it was given birth, it was destined to be a supreme predator! Its identity from the past was an unchanged fact!

The spider was one of the Hell Fiend Spiders! Its name was Mardos!

It was powerful enough to devour the Gods and tear down the Milky Way with its web, the Hell Fiend Spider, Mardos!

Raaaao!

The loud roar that shook the nine heavens, resounded through the netherworld and echoed through the endless abyss came from that tiny spider body.

KABOOM!

The ground beneath Kieran split open, revealing a river of lava underneath.

The tiny spider then leapt into the lava through the crack.

Souuuu! Souuuu!

Two blazing spiderwebs were spat out from the lava river, and were twined on the seven demonic aura complex and the devil lord mirages.

It was not that both of the mirages didn’t want to dodge and resist the web; they couldn’t.

Tracing back to their roots, both of them were incomplete products, products that were derived from other existence.

Even though the Hell Fiend Spider was incomplete, it was enough to handle both of them!

The fiery web dragged both of the mirages into the lava river and devoured them swiftly.

Within a breath’s time, all that was left was the lava river.

The golden lion was standing beside Kieran, staring at the lava river.

When a slightly bigger sized Hell Fiend Spider jumped out of the lava river, it went back into [Mardos Arm] with a satisfied and delighted manner. Only after then did the golden lion dissipate and go back into the medallion, so did the colossal crocodile and the giant rhino.

Pheeeew!

The wind blew through the desolate land; the original look of the land was gone. Both sides of the mountain wall were leveled out at least a hundred meters.

Even Lightning Fortress itself was brought to the ground. All that was left of the formidable fortress was a scorched land in ruins.

HuuHaa, HuuHaa!

Kieran came back from his trance and was heavily panting. He supported his weakened body with [Arrogant Word] stuck on the ground. He looked around with vacant eyes, then extended his hand to his left chest.

Dong Dong Dong!

[Fusion Heart] was still beating vigorously, without the slightest interference of human, devil and desire, as if what Kieran had been through was just a nightmare. Though the scene before his eyes told him it was all certainly real.

”The...The devil!!”

A shrilling scream sounded from afar. Some of the Prairie soldiers who survived were overwhelmed by fear and it drove them mad.

”Devil?” Kieran raised a brow.

He had no time to deal with a couple of madmen as the notifications that piled up before his vision took his attention away.

He then went through the notifications.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

Introducing the new kind of battle that happen within Kieran’s heart.

This will go on until he find something to cure it.