The Devil’s Cage

The immense power from the kick poured into the man’s head, sending him flying away like he was hit by a speeding train.

What was worse was the powerful kick contained another kind of power that could tear souls apart. The soul-tearing power went rampant in the man’s body, as if a violent rhino was running wild.

The man was able to defend against a simple physical attack but against this kind of attack that damaged his soul, his hands were tied.

Crack!

While flying in the air, all the joints and muscles started to twist in an unnatural way, as though an invisible pair of hand caught him, twisting him like a towel. A few moments later, the man was twisted beyond his human figure.

“Aaaargh!”

Amid the inhuman scream, a black mist flew out from the distorted body and converged with the darkness in the surroundings.

The silent darkness that devoured light was instantly transformed into a rumbling mist. A giant face of a man was drawn in the mist.

Kakroom!

As the giant misty face appeared, black bolts of lightening soared the sky, it seemed like the lightning resonated with the giant’s face appearance.

Anyone who saw the unusual lightning would feel scared from the bottom of their heart, regardless of if they were a common man or an Extraordinary individual.

It was an instinctive fear, or more precisely, the fear from the soul!

“The one at the hospital is your clone? Although I expected that, I never thought your true self would welcome me here! I was expecting another clone here, you know.”

The giant face looked down at Kieran, who came to answer the door with a domineering manner.

The face sounded casual and relaxed, as if the kick earlier did not cause any harm.

Likewise Kieran, so the giant misty face continued.

“When you defeated Grudge Dragon, we had been wondering how far you have awakened your abilities. A third generation blood descendant from some historical figures? Or a second generation? So when we came up with the conclusion, it shocked us too because our kind has slaughtered your ancestors, every single one of them! Yet here you are! A Devil Overlord who has hidden itself in the corners of history? I guess it makes sense, only the Devil Overlord’s bloodline is capable enough to give birth to a first generation direct descendant—even though it is because of atavism! It shocked us nevertheless! That is why we ignored those 4 idiots who tried to test you and then we were given a satisfying answer. You are the one we are looking for!” the face spoke endlessly.

It even laughed like thunder at the end.

“Are you curious as to why we are looking for you? I am sure you are, but I won’t tell you! The reason why I said so much is to buy time! Recruiting more help is quite time-consuming you know,” the face mocked.

So what about a first generation devil descendant?

Without the guidance from the ancestor, without grinding through life and death and having only been through a handful of battles in a city, Kieran was nothing to the face!

In its eyes, Kieran was like a flower in a green room.

Regardless of how powerful Kieran was, it would be easy for the face to take him down, as long as it could mess him up and disturbed his thoughts, which the face was very capable of!

As its words subsided, a whistle sounded.

It wasn’t from the wind but louder than the storm!

It was grudgeful with a grievance!

Translucent figures started to spring up from the ground, one after another. They lost their sanity a long time ago, only the grudge towards the living remaining!

Ghosts! Hundreds of thousands of ghosts sprung up from the ground en masse!

They stood in the darkness, looking at the direction where the ‘darkness’ pointed to with their blank yet grudgeful eyes. They were looking at Kieran!

“A single ghost is weak, even the slightest sun can destroy it to bits, but what about a thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Feel cold yet? With this amount of negative energy, it would block the sunlight and expel the sun! And what about you? A first generation blood descendant of a Devil Overlord, what are you going to do to them? Burn them with your fire? I’m sorry to tell you that fire is forbidden here! Though your ability to tear souls apart might be useful against the ghosts. I’m looking forward to the fight between you and my ghost army! It’s like watching that idiot challenge the Calamity Dragon back then! In the end, that stupid idiot lost his father, mother, wife, daughter, and even his son! It was nothing! Am I right?”

The giant face showed a malicious smile.

It was anticipating Kieran’s infuriated expression but what made it frown was that Kieran didn’t show anger, or any expression. He looked at the face calmly.

The calm gaze made the face uncomfortable and a little anxious!

Anxious? What a joke!

How could a mere Devil descendant see through its plan?

“I hate that gaze of yours, 2567. I’ll teach you what is regret!” said the face with each and every word pronounced loudly. It lingered in darkness, emanating a special kind of soul light and causing the sea of ghosts to wail together.

All the ghosts then threw themselves at Kieran like a rising tide.

Kieran’s face didn’t change at all, raising his right hand and pressing it on the door frame, activating Dawn Force.

Buzz!

A soft buzz later, glimmers of light appeared in the darkness.

The light was warm and tenacious, like an unsheathed sword.

Even if the sword was sheathed, it was still keen against its enemy.

The glimmers gathered into the Milky Way in a breath’s time, like the first light of dawn that shined through the darkness. Light was shed on the mountains, river, fields, and the mortal realm.

[Seal of Dawn]!

A huge [Seal of Dawn] appeared over the whole of Randletine Street.

The sea of ghosts were obliterated by the light.

In fact, not just the sea of ghosts, even the darkness rumbled and sizzled violently, like a pail of cold water was poured into a wok of hot oil. The cold water, including the pail, burst!

Kaboom!

The giant face wailed in agony as it fell back. Kieran, who hadn’t moved since the meeting, finally walked, a keen aura starting to appear from him.

“The sunshine may be blocked, the sun may be expelled, but I won’t! I am here, waiting for your arrival quietly… SLASH!”

Chang!

The explosion unleashed the sheathed sword at its enemy!

A 65 meters light sword came out from Kieran’s hand, slashing down at the giant face.

It was straight and sharp and it split the face in half.

Disbelief was smeared all over the face, its ears ringing with the sheathing noise as it was split in half.

It was quick and powerful!

On its last breath, a sudden realization came up to its mind.

‘H-He is also buying time…’

BANG!

The moment the realization came into its mind, it was destroyed by a falling kick.

Kieran’s foot landed on the giant face!

The kick flattened the face a little, but nothing else changed and everything flew away promptly.

The black mist dispersed right away.

The unusual lightning faded too.

The winter temperature returned to normal.

The pure white moonlight basked over the land, as though a layer of white snow was added on top, its beauty bringing out the peaceful tranquility.

In the corner, a faint golden glowing item, which was only visible to Kieran, added joy to the beautiful scene.

Kieran didn’t bat an eye at the golden item though, instead looking up at the seemingly normal night sky.

Dawn Force accumulated again. Two seconds later, another Dawn Sword was unleashed in the sky.

BANG!

KAKROOM!

The giant light sword smashed into the night sky, producing a loud crashing noise, as if a siege weapon rammed into a castle.

It was followed by a loud explosion, as though a ton of explosives went off together.

The night sky cracked.

Cracks spread across the night sky like a broken ceramic plate or glass.

“What is that meow? The sky cracked meow?”

Squatting outside Randletine Street, Selina the Kat Lady couldn’t hold back her astonished meow.

“No, it’s not the sky that cracked, it’s…” said the Knight, but he stopped after the pause.

He turned around to the members who were selected for this mission.

A moment later, the oldest superhero in Alkender gave orders to the others, “Kat Lady, Fortress, Silencer, Machinist, step out. I want you all to protect the civilians at the shelter! Willis, guide them! Tell Drexton to activate the emergency passage!”

Order after order came out from the Knight’s mouth.

The other superheroes were confused but they did not argue with the Knight.

It wasn’t just because of the Knight’s reputation, but because they were used to the Knight being the commander in every single mission.

Even Drexton fell short against this armored elderly in certain aspects.

The superheroes left to carry out their tasks.

After seeing the others off into the darkness, the Knight sighed softly, then looked at Weapon Master opposite him with a heavy face.

“Some big guy hiding in the dark is coming forth!”

The Knight tried to make himself sound calm but he was still quite shaken.

“I know. Never thought we’d meet it one day!”

Weapon Master nodded, his aged face showing shock before it was replaced by sturdy determination. Weapon Master too looked at the Knight.

Both of them laughed tacitly at the same time.

Their laughter was shallow and casual. The Knight didn’t order Weapon Master away because Weapon Master knew what the crack in the sky meant.

He had his own reasons to stay but not the younger ones.

The younger ones still had space to grow, they had endless possibilities waiting ahead of them.

Weapon Master was old, to the point that his age affected his powers, his mind starting to slow down.

Rather than dying in his sick bed, he might as well build a path for the younger ones, just like how his previous seniors did for him in the past!

The Knight gripped his sword hilt tightly as he looked at the young man in the middle of the street.

This young man was their only hope, so the Knight would not allow anything to happen to him.

The Knight strode towards Kieran. Weapon Master held his bo staff tightly and chased after his friend.

These two superheroes were the oldest among them all, walking side by side towards the cracking night sky.

The cracks were still expanding, intertwining. It would break when it reached the limit, but there was still time before that.

“Around half an hour!” The Knight deduced.

“It will be enough, it’s enough for us to buy them time!” Weapon Master replied.

“Leave this to us, 2567! Please leave at once. If you don’t mind, I hope 2567, you can take my place in rebuilding the city,” The Knight turned to Kieran, saying like it was his last words.

“I am not that troublesome but if you run into Dark Arms, tell him that I’m sorry for what happened back then and try not to hurt her,” Weapon Master said.

Kieran lowered his head from the sky to the two elderly who were resolute enough to die a blazing death.

“No. I’m not free and it’s troublesome.”

Kieran rejected the two elderly and then looked back up at the crack in the sky.

Both elderly were anxious.

“I know you are powerful, 2567 but you are not a match for it! You don’t know how scary it is! That crack is…”

“The Calamity Dragon?” Kieran interrupted the Knight.

Both elderly superheroes were stunned.

“You inherited the memories from your bloodline?” The Knight’s eyes shone.

If Kieran really possessed memories from his bloodline, the situation wouldn’t be as dire as it seemed, at least rebuilding Alkender would no longer be just a thought.

“No,” Kieran shook his head.

The shining eyes of the two elderly died off instantly.

Well it made sense, how could Kieran possess the memories of his bloodline?

If he really had them, he would know what the situation represented.

“2567, you may not possess the memories but your potential is infinite, so you shouldn’t…”

Crack!

The Knight tried to persuade Kieran, but the cracks in the sky spread faster and expanded wider.

“This is too fast! He won’t make it!”

The two elderly superheroes looked at each other before showing Kieran an apologetic gaze.

They then turned back to the sky.

“Sorry that we couldn’t save you!”

“Please don’t hate us.”

The Knight and Weapon Master took a deep breath facing the sky.

The Knight then knelt down on one knee and Weapon Master sat on him.

The greatsword was placed in front of the Knight’s chest; the bo staff was placed on the Weapon Master’s thighs.

“There is no hope!” shouted the Knight.

“Only death!” chanted Weapon Master.

“Calamity Descend!”

The greatsword in the Knight’s hand started to emanate a white glimmer.

“Offer the body…”

Pak Pak!

Before Weapon Master could finish, Kieran knocked the two out with a chop.

Both of them never thought Kieran would attack them. Since they let their guard down, they blacked out right away.

Kieran held the two of them and laid them on the ground. Ferris then ran in from further away.

“Take good care of them.”

“Yes, my lord,” Ferris nodded and took the two elderly away.

Kieran didn’t accept the request from the two of them because he thought it would be better for them to deliver the message themselves. Still, he respected them from the bottom of his heart.

Sacrificing oneself for others was a heroic act, not all could become a valiant and brave hero, but everyone could respect them at least.

They should be respected, not laughed at.

Kieran saw Ferris off before he looked back up.

The cracks in the sky had reached their limits.

KACRANK!

A loud cracking noise later, the sky shattered.

A gigantic void, over 30 km in width, appeared in the night sky.

Through the gigantic breach, Kieran saw the monster inside that had a dragon’s head but a lion’s body, covered in scales, at first glance.

It was enormous and ominous, it was seeking blood!

The monstrous eyes looked down at Kieran, who dared to return the gaze. Despite its size, it wasn’t slow at all. The moment the breach was stabilized, the monster jumped out with a loud road.

“I am Calamity! I descend upon… HUH???!”

It declared its return with a thunderous voice but before it could finish, it was replaced by an anxious and doubtful scream.

The stabilized breach was shaken suddenly and started to shrink!

The void breach shrunk only a little, yet its enormous body got stuck in the sky.

What happened?

Calamity Dragon was confused and doubtful.

Kieran, on the ground, curled his lips into a bright smile.

Nicely done, Superior Demon!