The Devil's Cage

As the Devil Flame roared into an explosion, Livezel was sent flying.

The elegant dress on him was turned into cinders upon contract with the Devil Flame, his hair was also burnt to nothing, and his skin also suffered severe burns.

But! A moment later, a layer of snake scales spread all over his body and covered the burned skin.

Sss, Ssss!

Amid the hissings, Livezel's tongue turned into a snake's tongue, and as he hissed, his eyes that were looking at Kieran turned cold reptilian.

"Ryan?"

Livezel didn't shout or scold angrily. Quite the opposite, his tone sounded like he was mocking himself.

"Right! It should be you!"

"It must be you! Other than you, who else can it be?"

"After all, you are the 'Hero,' you know?"

When Livezel mentioned the term 'Hero,' his face, covered in snake scales, couldn't hold back the sneers anymore. A low, heavy laugh came from his throat.

"Do you still have hope about the Gods?"

"Don't forget what happened to the last 'Hero'!" Livezel looked at Kieran with his reptilian eyes.

"So you've sided with the Devourer?" Kieran didn't answer the question; instead, he asked him in a heavy tone.

To make himself look more serious, Kieran purposely squinted his eyes. He didn't want other emotions to leak from his gaze, because it was astonishing for him!

Despite predicting problems to befall the westbound convoy, Kieran never thought it would be this kind, the kind that benefited his own plan.

Of course, to maximize his gains, he still had to slightly 'adjust.'

"Why not? It gave me more power and gave me new choices!"

"Why can't I side with the Devourer?" Livezel raised his tone.

He then pointed at Harvest Temple's archpriest, who managed to get away from his grasp temporarily but was still dispirited.

"Or do you want me to be like him? Betrayed and abandoned again?"

Livezel's questions further stunned the archpriest who was already in a gloomy state.

What else was more terrifying than losing faith?

Being betrayed by the sole existence you believed in.

That moment of losing everything, it was scary.

It was worse than death!

"You were betrayed by the God of Melody? Then, did you think the Devourer is more reliable than your previous God?"

"Maybe now it still hadn't done anything that will disappoint you, but that is now. One day, it will put you through a similar experience again. Until then, what do you think it will do to you?" Kieran asked in a heavy voice.

"Who knows?"

"The only thing I know now is that I can do whatever I want!"

Livezel grinned widely, the dark red tongue of a snake hissed swiftly. A strange aura started to appear around him, the snake scales on his body began to buzz, like an angry cat with its fur erected, but compared to a furious cat, his reptilian way of erecting his scale was more ferocious and much scarier.

The other scarier, unacceptable thing was the thin little maggots that started to crawl out from the seams of his scales, and they swiftly grew into clouds of flies, flying towards the temporary defense line further away.

Kieran raised a brow.

If it weren't for inappropriate timing, Kieran would have to praise Livezel because what he did was remarkable. Kieran needed the scene very much, but despite that, he looked cold, he raised the Devil Flame in his left hand and hurled it out at the swarm of flies.

Boom!

The Devil Flame crashed into the swarm of flies. A lot of the flies were burned down, but even more flies came out from Livezel's body, and they were heading for Kieran.

"Not so fast! I won't let you save them so easily!"

"I want you to feel helpless, and the despair that follows!" Livezel shouted loudly.

The colors of the snake scales on his body changed repeatedly, a subtle spirit blast was hidden in his strange aura and was fired at Kieran.

Livezel's heart had been twisted, he never thought of the consequences and only wanted others to feel the pain he was feeling.

At first, Livezel was doing quite well, the archpriest of Harvest Temple had fallen into despair, but when Livezel's opponent was switched to Kieran…

Livezel picked the wrong guy to mess with.

Aside from the fact that Kieran wouldn't act like a true hero whose heart was filled with compassion, Kieran's own steady and firm heart and mind had determined that Kieran would never fall under the influence of helplessness and despair. Quite the opposite, he'd grow stronger with each defeat and setback.

As for the spirit blast?

Kieran's strongest attribute was Spirit!

The spirit blast that could affect an archpriest was nothing but a breeze in Kieran's face.

But Livezel didn't know, in his impression, Kieran was similar to the Harvest Temple archpriest.

It was true that Kieran had more battle achievements and credits, but which archpriest didn't have their own?

And when they were compared to Kieran's, the only difference was the number of achievements; therefore, misunderstandings ought to occur.

"I want you to see with your own eyes…"

Bang!

Livezel grabbed Kieran by the neck, just like what he said, he wanted Kieran to witness the miserable scene at the end, but before he could finish his words, Kieran landed a kick on Livezel's face, pressing his entire head to the ground.

Bang!

Louder than the bang from before, Livezel's head was stomped into the ground, and Kieran hurled out another Devil Flame.

It wasn't at Livezel, though, because he still had some use left in him.

The Devil Flame was hurled at the flies swarming the air instead.

Amid the blazing flames, the flies were burned to cinders swiftly, and all of them fell down from the sky.

Livezel beneath Kieran's feet was struggling fiercely, Kieran calmed him down with two more stomps, and Livezel immediately passed out.

"Archpriest Pelder?"

After taking care of Livezel and the flies, Kieran turned to the archpriest of Harvest Temple.

"I...I am fine."

Archpriest Pelder wanted to say something with his mouth opened, but in the end, he waved his hand and said something generic.

"They still need you."

"They had been betrayed once, a second time will destroy them."

Kieran pointed at the temporary defense line further away.

"But… what am I now?" Archpriest Pelder smiled bitterly.

Right, what was the old man?

After losing his God and the beliefs, what was left in him?

"At least, you are still alive."

Kieran then grabbed the unconscious Livezel and walked towards the defense line.

His black figure was walking under the bright sun.

The bright, radiating sun shone on his black feather mantle, turning the black color into golden shine in a split second.

The civilians who lost their concentration saw the golden figure, their out-of-focus gazes were slowly regaining their shine, but hesitancy lingered.

Inside the darkness and chaotic space, that weak fire jumped for a moment and returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.

Kieran, who was always concentrated sharply, noticed the fire in his body and the slight movement.

His smile got wider, and he felt happier.

This is really a good start.