The Devil’s Cage

Zoyedark was strolling in the streets of Riverdale. He couldn’t help but show a cold grin when he saw that the people were busy rebuilding their homes.

In his heart, Riverdale would soon plunge into eternal darkness, the darkness that reaped life and cursed everything!

“Using this power, I can break through there! Everything will return to its rightful path and progress according to my original plan!”

Thoughts about his long awaited dream coming true caused Zoyedark to shudder uncontrollably with excitement. He hastened his steps towards his final destination.

There, it had the things that he had been preparing for since long ago.

However, when Zoyedark reached the secluded street, he halted his steps all of a sudden.

Through his senses, he picked up a presence that shouldn’t have been there.

Then, he saw that black figure.

Zoyedark’s eyes uncontrollably shrunk out of shock.

“How are you here?!” he asked in a heavy voice.

This wasn’t part of his plan!

At this time, Kieran should have been fighting with the “clone” he set up, and even if Kieran were to ultimately notice something wrong, Riverdale would have fallen into darkness by then!

“How did you notice?” Zoyedark asked again before waiting for Kieran’s answer.

“I’m just a careful and doubtful person. Besides, I like to relate matters into more things. From the earliest invasions of the prairies, to slowly revealing Dragon Sect’s secret, to the gradual realization of the incident that changed it all 20 years ago, I’ve noticed that a single organization is tied to all these happenings. Viper Sect, the Viper Sect that you led and vanished,” Kieran said calmly.

“So what do all these have in common?” Zoyedark squinted his eyes.

“At first, it really did look like nothing was connected but when a few key points are found, everything connects. For example, the Crown Raven. The Crown Raven who you defeated and merged with James VIII. Based on common logic, after defeat, he should have chosen a more appropriate identity just for the sake of safety. Even if he was after Dragon Sect’s secret, Warren Palace had a lot of other viable targets, each of them better than James VIII.

“Now then, why did the Crown Raven choose James VIII?” Kieran asked.

“Grudge. The grudge of a losing dog unwilling to accept defeat, so the dog barks angrily,” Zoyedark mocked in disdain.

“Correct! He was unwilling to accept failure! Neither would he admit defeat! So that only left him with redeeming himself through actions!” Kieran then showed a smile.

Looking at Kieran’s smile, Zoyedark coldly grunted and revealed some very sought after information to Kieran.

“Which means, you went through 20 years of records of what James VIII did, and you realized, other than the merciful governing over Warren, the only other thing that was commemorable about him was defending against the invasion of the Prairies men? Then you boldly connected me with the Prairies men and then you notice something even more interesting by doing so, which was, you realized, your teacher’s last whereabouts were in the prairies. And you also noticed the rumours about the Prairies King inheriting Wolf Sect.”

Kieran maintained his smile, neither acknowledging it or denying it.

Of course, he wouldn’t tell Zoyedark that his speculations were wrong, nor would he deny his current identity.

The most important thing was, Kieran wouldn’t admit that he boldly made speculations and started to deceive Zoyedark after seeing some things.

That’s right, Kieran deceived him. It could even be considered as bluffs.

It was true that Kieran was a self-proclaimed vigilant and careful person.

What he said about the Prairies invasion, Dragon Sect secret and the changes from 20 years ago plus the vanished Viper Sect was also the truth.

But the grudge from Crown Raven was just a common sense speculation, just like how Kieran had been speculating about the Prime Viper’s secret.

Zoyedark undoubtedly had a lot of secrets to him.

While all the sects showed immense interest in Dragon Sect’s legacy, Zoyedark, who had already gained the biggest advantage, almost didn’t make any obvious moves. It wasn’t right.

The only explanation was: Zoyedark had already mastered some form of Dragon Sect’s inheritance.

Or…

He had more important things in mind.

From the looks of it, Zoyedark seemed to have mastered some of the Dragon Sect inheritance and it was almost certain that the inheritance came from Warren Palace.

Given how many forces Zoyedark had in Riverdale over the last 20 years, it would be quite hard for him to achieve that, but not impossible.

The saddest of them all was that Crown Raven.

Since the beginning, he was kept from the truth.

Presumably, while the Crown Raven was laughing at James VIII, the Prime Viper was also mocking the former with similar laughter and that lasted till the end.

As for the more important things?

Destroying the prairies!

It was what Zoyedark considered as important.

He had been plotting the scheme from the moment he bewitched the young Prairies King and incited him to invade Warren.

Kieran didn’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t stopped the invasion but it would probably have ended as a failure anyhow. Let alone James VIII who had merged with Crown Raven, those Viper Sect members that hid in Riverdale were enough to turn the tables around during the invasion with their assassination.

Why would Zoyedark do so, though?

Kieran had no idea but he knew what he must do.

Kieran showed arrogance through his eyes as he stared at Zoyedark as if he were a wise man, who had seen everything, looking at a clown.

His gaze was quickly rewarded with a positive outcome.

“You think you know everything? You don’t know sh*t. You are just a pitiful worm hidden away from the truth. You and your teacher and everyone else are the same!” Zoyedark laughed coldly.

He shook his head and continued. “Every time I see one of you smart ass people who think you know it all, I can’t hold my rage back and that rage urges me to spill a lot of things that I shouldn’t be saying. Fortunately, everyone who hears them is always killed by me. Only the dead can keep a secret, isn’t it? So, are you ready to welcome death?”

After the words, Zoyedark waved his arm.

Shadows!

All the shadows in the street came alive!

The shadows gathered and clouded the sky above the street.

“Darkness is my expertise! You have already seen my clone using this power but what you saw was just a scratch on the surface. Now, I will let you taste the true power of shadows!”

Zoyedark’s voice echoed throughout the darkness.

“I’m not hating the darkness, but isn’t the moment before dawn always the darkest?”