The Devil’s Cage

As the knocks on the door sounded, Dale was overjoyed.

“Who is it?”

Dale asked as he jumped off his chair and went to answer the door but he was stopped by Renata.

“Senior, there is someone at the door,” Dale spoke carefully.

Dale was scared of Renata from the bottom of his heart.

It wasn’t just because of how powerful she was, but also because her emotions were at a constant drift; a moment ago she might be flirting and smiling at you but a moment later, she might decapitate you.

Although most of the time she was bound by the rules of Theorate, pain on the body was inevitable.

Dale had suffered before and not just once, therefore every time he saw Renata, the painful experience haunted him and he’d feel weak from the bottom of his heart.

“Are you afraid? Little Dale? Am I so scary?”

Renata bent over with her smiley face, her cheeks getting closer to Dale.

Her charming and beautiful face was getting closer, there was a glimpse of white flash over her eyes and it scared Dale away in panic. He almost fell to the floor.

Renata was very amused by the panicked look, laughing charmingly.

“Senior, please don’t tease me. I concede,” Dale said in a bitter tone.

Renata had no intentions of giving up the little game just because Dale conceded, she wanted to tease the little boy more but she was stopped by Jemara.

“Footsteps,” said the 3rd year First Seat.

Dale was stunned for a moment before he replaced his bitter smile with a serious look.

Footsteps!

There was only the knocking on the door, there weren’t any footsteps!

Even though Dale was captivated by the conflict between Renata and Jemara earlier, given his abilities, he shouldn’t have missed the footsteps.

Dale unconsciously looked at Tai.

Cough Cough Cough!

Amid his coughs, Tai lifted his left hand and waved at the door.

Renata chuckled and took a step away from the direction where Tai was waving at; Jemara frowned but she chose to step away also.

The fastest among all was Dale, the moment Tai raised his hand, Dale was already in the corner of the meeting room.

The reaction from his juniors put a smile on Tai’s face as he once again felt how powerful he was, looking at Dale and said “Open the door…”

BANG!

He was interrupted before he even finished.

The door was kicked away by the person behind it.

Fuuuu!

The door plank was sent flying towards Tai after it was kicked off from the frame, tumbling whilst causing a heavy whistle.

The action was so fast that it felt like lightning.

All 4 of the First Seats in the room were caught off guard and they widened their eyes at the door plank flying towards Tai.

As a matter of fact, after Tai made his move, all four of them in the room, including Tai himself, had lowered their guards. Tai had absolute confidence in his abilities.

He might be weak and baffled by sickness, he might not be suitable in melee combat but his abilities were a solid choice for long range battle or support. Otherwise he wouldn’t have ascended to the First Seat of the 5th year.

However, Tai dodged to his right in panic right before the door plank hit him.

Bang!

The door plank flew over his head and crashed into the wall behind him. It was smashed to pieces and some parts of the door plank were embedded on the wall, making it look like some modern abstract art installation.

Dust clouds rose upon impact, a cold, keen gaze sweeping across the room.

Jemara put her right hand on the hilt. When her palm held the hilt tight, her sword had become her arms and legs, an extension of her will and becoming one with her heart. The dust in her sight quickly cleared up and she saw the man who walked into the room.

She locked at the target and… her sword was drawn!

Kak!

Kak!

The cold glare of the sword flashed like lightning but it lasted less than a second.

Jemara did not sheath her sword though, it was another hand that caught hers. The explosive powers from the fingers suppressed Jemara easily, she couldn’t even resist the absolute force as the hand pushed her almost drawn sword back into the sheath.

Jemara’s cold face flushed. She wasn’t just angry about her sword being suppressed, she was also angry about the other hand touching hers. She had never allowed a stranger to touch her before and yet the unknown hand held her palm tight.

Anger from embarrassment had robbed the calm away from the talented swordswoman, and whenever a sword-wielder lost his or her calmness, defeat was imminent.

In Kieran’s eyes, regardless of he or her, the outcome would be the same.

“You…”

Bang!

Just as words came out of Jemara’s mouth, Kieran skillfully landed a punch in her abdomen, robbing her of her mobility.

After Jemara fell to the ground, twitching, Kieran turned around.

In common sight, the spot Kieran was looking at had nothing but dust but in Kieran’s sight, there was an illusory figure that looked like an evil spirit and it was jumping at him with sharp claws and teeth.

Without further ado, Kieran dished out his kick.

Bang!

When Kieran’s kick landed on the evil spirit, it burst like a bubble and revealed a pitiful looking Renata.

“I-I did not do it on purpose! I’m just protecting myself! You will forgive me, right?”

The beautiful Renata had puppy eyes and her charms were overflowing, one would really want to love her if seen. Sweetness started to fill the air; even a tough guy would grow timid and soft under the sweet smell.

Kieran wasn’t a tough guy, but sometimes, his heart was hard as stone.

After kicking the evil spirit, Kieran did not lower his foot, he went along with the motion and landed his shoe on Renata’s face.

Bang!

Renata was sent tumbling to the corner, the sweetness in the air vanishing right away.

Kieran continued forward.

Souu!

When the whistle sounded, Dale arrived above Kieran.

The 2nd year First Seat was hiding in the corner a moment ago but he was above Kieran now and his kicks whipped up a series of afterimages. The myriads of kicks enveloped Kieran wholly, fast and fierce.

However, Kieran too had mastered the art of kicking, his kicks faster and fiercer and even more powerful!

Kieran’s right kick whipped up a series of afterimages too, the explosive speed not just overpowering its counterpart and devouring all the opposing kicks, but catching Dale together.

Bang Bang Bang Bang!

After multiple heavy thuds, Dale was sent flying away with a swollen face.

When Dale finally crash-landed, all four of the First Seats, which represented the highest battle power in each year, were wiped out.

Though, there was someone who did not submit to the defeat.

Tai channeled all his energy to heal his comrades and attacked Kieran.

Similar to previous blows, when the odourless, colorless Sick Energy clouded Kieran, the Plague Force in his body accelerated, as though the Sick Energy was some lackey offering to his boss.

It slowed Kieran down a little but since the meeting room wasn’t all that big, no matter how slow Kieran walked, he’d reach Tai in a dozen steps or less.

Tai looked up at Kieran, who was right in front of his eyes, lowering his hands down helplessly.

“The rumoured 2567… you are even scarier than rumoured. Are you here to vent your dissatisfaction at us because we changed the tutorial lesson for the freshmen?”

As the dust settled down, Tai’s sick face showed a bitter smile after he saw Kieran’s face.

“Dissatisfaction? No,” Kieran shook his head.

Why would he be unhappy about attackers who provided him with food?

Similar to how he held back his strength when he struck down all the First Seats.

All the First Seats before him were hard-to-come-by food suppliers.

“Then you are here to show off?”

Jemara stood up slowly, quickly recovering due to her powerful body and Tai’s healing.

“I think you have some misunderstanding about my purpose here. I am not here to show off, it will only make my enemy more cautious. What I prefer is to strangle danger in its cradle!”

Kieran said calmly and appeared before Renata in a flash.

Renata was quietly moving towards the exit but when Kieran appeared before her, she showeda seductive look.

“You want to strangle me? But I…”

Bang!

Kieran landed his shoe in her face again. She was sent tumbling back to the corner and Dale, who had woken up, clearly saw the scene.

The 2nd year First Seat raised both his hands up in the air.

“The tutorial lesson was Renata’s suggestion, I had nothing to do with it!” he said loudly.

Kieran didn’t care about Dale and walked towards Renata.

Renata was lying on the ground with messed up hair, her face, which was healed just moments ago, swollen again due to the second kick.

“I hope you can tell me why the escaped attackers fled here after attacking the freshmen tutorial lesson?” Kieran asked from a commanding position.

It wasn’t a lie, neither was it a trick to deceive her. One of the attackers who fled the scene really came here.

The truth was spilled under Kieran’s ‘persuasion’.

“How would I know? All I did was give my suggestion! What is this attack that you speak of?”

Renata’s swollen face was confused.

Tai, Jemara and Dale were also looking at Kieran in confusion.

“During the freshmen tutorial lesson, we were attacked…”

Kieran briefly told the First Seats what happened and after they heard about the modified busses at the scene, Tai, Jemara and Dale frowned.

They weren’t idiots since they were the First Seats of their respective year.

They soon knew the attack on the freshmen wasn’t about killing but abducting someone.

As for why the abduction?

If the abduction was a success, many things could happen.

Every freshmen represented a Fast Food class meal, which allegedly suited their abilities; one Fast Food class meal might not be anything but what about 300 Fast Food class?

In order to secure the freshmen’s safety, given their understanding of Principal Romuse, the principal might very well agree to the terms.

Moments later, Tai, Jemara and Dale looked at Renata differently.

“You sure it’s me? Can it be someone else? Don’t you feel Little Dale there is also very suspicious?” Renata chuckled but she stopped because of the pain on her face. She turned to Dale and the short First Seat shrunk his neck.

He knew Renata named him because she was taking revenge for what he did to her earlier.

However, such a petty ‘revenge’ struck suspicions in Dale’s mind because based on his understanding of Renata, if she really did arrange the attack, should it go south, it would not just be such a little ‘revenge’. Something much more well-rounded, ruthless and relentless would happen.

As a matter of fact, even Jemara, as Renata’s rival, had quite the suspicion.

Tai took the more direct way, asking “What is going on?”

“Of course it’s the spy! There are some who I ‘persuaded’ among the attackers. They blamed themselves for their past and wanted to forsake darkness for light,” said Renata as she flipped her hair.

It should be an elegant, charming move but with her swollen face, it looked weird.

Dale couldn’t hold back his laughter at the weird look.

Jemara lifted her mouth corner.

Tai couldn’t bear the weird look anymore and lifted his hand to heal Renata.

“What else?” Kieran asked.

“Principal Romuse found me, he told me to play along with the attackers. I guess the principal is really fed up with those rats hiding in the dark. He wanted to cleanse the school. You can ask him if you don’t believe me,” Renata looked at Kieran.

Her eyes showed a never before seen judgmental gaze. It wasn’t the arrogance from teasing and toying a man, it was the intrigued feeling against the unknown.

Kieran saw her gaze but he had no intention to care.

Kieran was in deep thought at the moment.

“Romuse wanted to cleanse the hidden danger of E Block. Smith sacrificed his research lab for the cause and struck a deal with me, leading me here. Actually, he doesn’t even need to make a deal with me, I would eventually end up here by chasing after the fled attackers. After that, I will get a good look at the picture. Then…”

Kieran turned around and walked out with squinted eyes.

“Wait!”

Jemara, who was quiet after her defeat, suddenly spoke.

Kieran heard her but he didn’t want to stop.

“I want to challenge you!” The swordswoman voiced her strong words.

“One Bento per challenge. Find me when you are ready, that goes for the rest of you.” Kieran then hastened his steps.

He had reached his goal and had no reasons to stay.

As for the challenges from the First Seats?

They will come and surely more than once because they were unwilling to accept defeat.

They thought they were underprepared this time and they thought they will perform better with full preparation next time.

In order to give them the wrong feeling, Kieran didn’t mind holding back again.

After all, it was a rare opportunity for him to grind, no one would give up the chance, but Smith did.