The Devil's Cage

Bloody Mary, with its warm and bright smile, calmly glanced over Viscount Sicar, Withering Branch, Resting Deer, and Decaying Water.

"I am here as invited on behalf of my lord," said Bloody Mary peacefully.

"Welcome."

The priest showed a delighted smile and walked up to welcome Bloody Mary.

However, the smile looked very forced, a single glance could tell it was fake.

Bloody Mary still followed the priest into the viscount's chamber.

Similarly, as host, Viscount Sicar also showed how well-mannered he was, stepping up to around 3 meters away from Bloody Mary and showing a very shallow polite smile on his stern and old-fashioned face.

"Good evening, emissary of Mist," said the viscount.

"Good evening, Lord Viscount…"

"Now!

Right when Bloody Mary replied to Viscount Sicar, the priest of Decaying Water shouted and then waved at the viscount.

Thick steam immediately enshrouded the viscount.

In fact, not only the priest of Decaying Water moved, Withering Branch also subtly entangled the viscount with its vines quietly.

Resting Deer stepped back, lowered its head and entered a charging stance before it dashed towards the viscount.

Dak, Dak Dak.

The gallops sounded very concentrated as it rapidly ran across the slabstone floor. Next moment, the antlers made out of tree branches stabbed into the enshrouding mist and then into the viscount's body which was entangled by the vines.

The seemingly sturdy armor was perforated like paper.

Spurt!

Red blood sprayed out and dyed the place red.

Bloody Mary walked over to the viscount and raised its hand as promised to the priest of Decaying Water and Withering Branch.

Similarly, it was also the promise it made with the viscount: it would free the viscount from the shackles and then both of them would team up to take out Resting Deer first and then Withering Branch.

As for the priest of Decaying Water?

The old man was just a mortal, musket and crossbow were enough to deal with him.

Right before Bloody Mary's fingers touched the vine of Withering Branch, the vines retracted and released the viscount from the entanglement. The enshrouding steam faded away together and revealed the viscount, who wasn't harmed and had held the vine in his hand and wore the steam on his head.

Immediately, a horrifying aura emanated from the viscount's body. Layers of faint light images then adhered to his body, thus providing a sense of holiness to the horrifying aura.

Standing there, the viscount felt like a saint of some sort.

Light shone through the seams of his armor and it felt somewhat apologetic.

"I am sorry that I lied to you. It might defy my oath but I do not regret my decision if it's for my lord, God of War! I am willing to bear all the sins!" said the viscount before he slowly drew the sword at his waist.

Chang!

The noise from the sword rubbing against the sheath slowly turned sharp and irritating, but Bloody Mary's gaze wasn't captured, still glued on Viscount Sicar.

The viscount suddenly became stronger.

After the viscount said the word sin, he grew even stronger.

Using the beliefs in his heart and applying it oppositely?

It would not damage his beliefs, instead making them even purer.

Promptly, Bloody Mary determined what state the viscount was at using the Mythical Knowledge that it mastered, very sure this state wasn't at its fullest.

Every zealot shared a similar trump card: burning themselves to gain power.

It was like every demon lied as if it was breathing to them.

Bloody Mary turned around and looked at Withering Branch and the priest of Decaying Water.

"I don't want to lie to you either, but my lord is at a disadvantage."

The priest apologized pretentiously but he didn't slow down at all, the thick steam enshrouding Bloody Mary layer after layer and starting to corrode its body.

Bloody Mary reacted frankly, like it wasn't damaged.

It made the priest frown a little, but promptly, the withered old man smiled.

"I know you must have the resolution to die since you decided to show up. In fact, it's not just you. can also do the same for my lord! If I can clear the obstacles for my lord, I'd be happy to die 10 times over, let alone a single time."

The moment his words subsided, the old man's face turned wicked and frantic.

Though Bloody Mary's gaze wasn't on the old man, looking at Withering Branch in concentration.

Withering Branch was using its vine to draw a mythical magic formation on the ground using its own blood and Resting Deer's blood.

The core of the formation was a circle and a horizontal line was drawn in the middle. On one side of the horizontal line, a pentagon was drawn and a triangle on the other.

At the tip of the pentagon was the blood from Withering Branch and Resting Deer, the tip pointed towards Bloody Mary.

After it was pointed at with the triangle, Bloody Mary certainly felt a sense of suppression, like when it was phasing through ground. It still could move but was unable to do it freely, feeling sluggish and slow. When Resting Deer's antlers constricted it, Bloody Mary couldn't move at all.

"You are the Kin of Mist. The mist, who achieved his descension without anyone knowing, is much stronger than we thought, therefore you are granted similar powers. But, so what? No matter how strong you are, you are just a pitiful soul that fell into our trap—offering you will surely affect the mist, it might even deliver a powerful blow to him. Until then… hahahahaha!"

Withering Branch couldn't hold back its laugh when he spoke of the delighted points.

It never would have thought a 'kin' was this easy to trick.

It was a simple plan yet it successfully tricked Bloody Mary into a desperate situation.

Did he really think based on how powerful the Mist was, he could make them compete for a spot to work together with him?

What a joke!

The more powerful the Mist was, the most they wanted to kill it.

Something worth taking note was that the land of Sicar was only this big, it couldn't house more than 2 Gods who had achieved descension.

Itself and Resting Deer would be sufficient, there was no need and no slot for anyone else.

As for Decaying Water and Viscount Sicar, they were also the offerings for itself and Resting Deer, it just wasn't time to make a move against them.

While it was drawing the mystical formation on the surface of the ground, it was also drawing another one, which was the true formation, underground. The head that Withering Branch controlled showed a mocking smile.

After all that, Viscount Sicar finally drew his sword.

The seemingly normal longsword glimmered in white and felt like it had the weight of a thousand mountains.

Even with both hands holding the sword, it felt hard for the viscount to walk to Bloody Mary.

The blade reeked of danger and Bloody Mary clearly noticed that.

If it would suffer a cut, it would surely be 'damaged', but it didn't 'care'! This was its mission! More importantly, its mission had been completed.

"As I expected," said Bloody Mary slowly as it glanced over the humans and pagans at the scene.

It wasn't showing a lot of expression, instead it looked a little relaxed, like it was being relieved of a heavy burden.

Its expression attracted discomfort from Viscount Sicar.

The discomfort appeared all of a sudden, like when he had decided to become a Dark Walker, those blabbers that would sound occasionally in his ears and made his heart feel uneasy.

Even Withering Branch and Resting Deer couldn't help it as their hearts throbbed.

Decaying Water, who went into slumber in the priest's body, also woke up for that moment.

After capturing the reaction from the humans and pagans, Bloody Mary smiled.

"Am I really stupid? Maybe, but it is only when compared to a smart person. That's why when I met you, you, and you, I did not believe a single word you said."

Bloody Mary pointed at the priest of Decaying Water, Withering Branch, and Viscount Sicar.

"Stop giving excuses! If you didn't believe us, why did you come here? Do you have a death wish?" the priest of Decaying Water smiled coldly.

Although they disagreed with the petty tricks of the priest, Withering Branch and Resting Deer nodded in agreement.

Viscount Sicar wielded his 'sword' over his head, although he didn't show any expression, admitting it from the bottom of his heart.

Bloody Mary laughed again after it saw the reaction from the crowd.

"Yeah, I am here because I have a death wish," Bloody Mary admitted frankly.

"Ridiculous! Outrageous!"

Voices of reprimand came, Viscount Sicar, with the sword over his head, aimed for Bloody Mary's head and crashed it down.

Bloody Mary didn't care anymore, it said so much to them just because it was trying to stall them.

Now?

The time was perfect!

Standing there, Bloody Mary tilted its head up, facing the crashing sword fearlessly, shouting loudly, "Bathe in the wrath of my lord!"

The next moment, Bloody Mary was cut in half by the 'sword', but Viscount Sicar's face behind the mask didn't show joy from the kill at all.

Withering Branch and Resting Deer looked heavier than ever.

Decaying Water, who was slowly waking up, got startled and jumped up right away.

They then looked up to the ceiling, their gazes seeming to have seen through the roof and watching the night sky.

A ball of blazing wrath was coming down from the sky!

KABOOM!

A fully charged Devil Flame did not spare any of them ground to dodge, engulfing the entire building in an instant.

Even without the infusion support from Fire Raven, after [Devil Burning] reached Transcendences, relying solely on the Devil bloodline [Fiery Sulphur]'s buff still managed to bring Devil Flame to rank V after charging.

The image of the devil roared furiously in the rumbling sea of flame.

The light images from Viscount Sicar resisted for a while before it shattered into many shimmering pieces and then quickly disintegrated into the Devil Flame. Viscount Sicar also followed as his body was burned.

"Impossible! My Lord is the God of War! How can I lose?"

Shouting in disbelief and agony, Viscount Sicar was burnt to cinders, together with the priest of Decaying Water and… Decaying Water itself.

Decaying Water, who got startled from its slumber, didn't even get to know what happened and ended up in cinders.

Devil Flame also caught Withering Branch and Resting Deer, the branch wrapping the deer and pulling it into the ground, hoping to extinguish the flame with soil.

Unfortunately, Devil Flame wasn't a common flame that could be killed with water, sand, or mud. It even had the ability to burn one's soul and devour life.

A while after they went into the ground, Withering Branch truly withered. Resting Deer relied on its powerful willpower and managed to survive for a little longer but it was chased by Devil Flame like cancer, then swiftly burned to cinders.

The flame kept burning.

In a breath's time, Viscount Sicar's living place was leveled to ashes, together with many other buildings in the backyard, everything devoured by the flames.

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

Panicked shouts came one after another, and amid the clamours, Bloody Mary slowly regenerated itself out of difficulties.

Feeling the sense of weakness in its body, Bloody Mary really wanted to cry out loud.

Did it have it easy?

In order to act as bait and provide coordination for its boss, it had to die in such unforgettable ways every single time.

That's right! It was sent out as bait and for coordination.

In short, regardless of what the dead viscount and pagans said, all it needed to do was gather them all in a single place so that its boss could wipe them out altogether.

Bloody Mary did a good job without a doubt, getting compliments from its boss and then a full day of holiday!

HOLIDAY! A never before received treatment!

Bloody Mary dare not even believe it, its boss giving it a day off? Was this a dream?

It pinched itself and felt the pain, wanting to make sure it wasn't dreaming and then it cheered.

It then ran towards the hideout of the Mist believers! It wanted to go back to its bed!

...

In a hidden corner of Sicar, Luncar locked his gaze on the burning mansion.

His face was pale, his instigation failing, his plan having gone to waste.

His steady plan had actually failed.

It wasn't just the failure that shocked him, it was also because of the immense amount of resources he poured in. Pretending to be Bishop Sincavolt wasn't an easy task. He couldn't escape the viscount's detection if he hadn't used up some magical items.

Aside from that, he even quietly instigated the priest of Decaying Water and it cost him more than the former.

He had to perform the instigation under the eyes of a God. Even though it was just a puny Demon God who hadn't achieved descension, anything that had relation with the Gods was not something good to provoke.

Luncar instigated several Demon Gods who hadn't achieved descension to team up with Viscount Sicar to go up against the Mist who rose out of nowhere. Even though the Mist quietly achieved descension, Luncar thought his plans were almost certain.

He had experienced a Demon God who had achieved descension and it might be powerful but it had its limits too.

After descension, said Demon God had to 'regrow', and only when the whole process of growth was completed could one truly be a match for a real God—but it would still be a demi-god though.

A demi-god wasn't invincible in the mortal realm either, let alone those who hadn't even been through the growth process.

Therefore, Luncar was very confident, but… the flames that he saw told him that the Mist was already a demi-god.

A demi-god in the land of Sicar!

It might not be invincible, but definitely not something Luncar could oppose.

Run!

Luncar turned around and ran for it without a second thought, but right when he turned around, a musket was pointed to his forehead.

Luncar was frozen, raising his hands up in the air and shrieking in panic, "Don't shoot!"