The Devil's Cage

Before the roads were sealed off for checking, Kieran and Larry arrived at a secluded alley, waiting for their target to appear.

Larry, who was in the passenger seat, was looking outside cautiously. He was afraid that the police or a bounty hunter might ambush them, especially the latter. As an informant himself, he knew perfectly well how bounty hunters worked. They were vicious and dirty, and would resort to any conceivable means.

A bounty hunter’s only concern was catching a wanted criminal.

No rules applied to them. In fact, some of them were even worse than gang members.

"Are we really going after Creedo?" Larry asked again anxiously. "That guy must be busy sharpening his knife for us! If we appear before him, we’ll be like sheep approaching a wolf!"

It was the fourth time he had said that, so Kieran answered him impatiently, "Leonard offended Creedo before you saved him! Although it might have been a misunderstanding, one thing’s for sure. Creedo was looking for Leonard, and so was Sphendix! I don’t know if the two of them are related, but all we can do now is try to connect the dots. It’s better than sitting around doing nothing!" Kieran repeated quickly, looking at Larry again.

"Tell me something, though. I’m curious, how can an informant like you be such a coward? Others are not like you!" Kieran told Larry, his eyes filled with doubt.

"It’s because of my cowardice that I became a qualified informant! And because I am honorable and trustworthy!" Larry answered seriously.

"This is the first time I hear a coward talk in such a prideful, righteous manner!" Kieran rolled his eyes at Larry.

"I’ll take that as a compliment!" Larry thanked Kieran with a smile.

"That scary guy that you mentioned before... Who is he?"

Larry was smiling proudly, so Kieran took advantage of it and asked him about the security consultant.

Instantly, the smile froze on Larry’s face, and his eyes filled with fear.

Kieran did not pressure him for an answer. Instead, he waited for him to collect his thoughts.

After about five seconds and a long deep breath, Larry looked at Kieran with a bitter smile and said, "I call him the Scary Guy, because I do not even want to remember his name if I can help it. Kailuark the Executioner. The personification of the Devil himself. He has killed over 200 people, and every time he cuts off his target’s head and keeps it for his collection! All the headless bodies dumped in the sewers and drains are his work!" Larry said slowly in a calm tone.

Kieran could tell that he was trying hard not to shiver in fear.

"How has such a guy not been put on the electric chair?" Kieran asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That’s why he’s scary! No one knows where he is, and no one has ever seen him kill anyone!"

Larry was shivering as hard as if the executioner himself had appeared before him.

"So how is he a security consultant at Sphendix? Did he retire?" Kieran had even more questions.

"Of course not! He became known to the public after he became Sphendix’s security consultant!

"In fact, he is the very reason Sphendix is so powerful and influential. The Executioner is responsible for removing Sphendix’s competition. All their competitors had their heads cut off, so anyone wanting to oppose Sphdendix is hesitant now! He is like the Guardian God of Sphendix!" Larry explained.

"Not bad as far as Guardian Gods go," Kieran said, not making any further comments on the man. He did not say anything about the man’s intentions, because Kailuark the Executioner sounded like some kind of myth or urban legend. Kieran even speculated it might be a smokescreen used to scare off Sphendix’s competition.

Of course, people had died, but it might not have been by the hand of this Kailuark guy. Sphendix certainly had the manpower to kill anyone they wanted. Kieran had witnessed that first hand earlier.

When Larry noticed Kieran’s disbelief, he wanted to say more about the Executioner to scare him and make him understand how terrifying the Executioner was.

Just as he opened his mouth though, he was interrupted by Kieran, who signalled with his finger for Larry to be quiet.

"Here he comes!" Kieran pointed up front, and Larry quickly stopped thinking and kept quiet.

Kailuark might be scary, but he didn’t pose an immediate threat to Larry’s life. If the situation at hand went south, on the other hand, Larry would definitely get killed.

Larry understood perfectly well what his priorities were.

...

In the alley across from Kieran, stood two teams of four. One team headed further down the alley and another slowly walked in Kieran’s direction.

They did not venture deep into the alley, though. They stopped after only crossing a third of it.

One of them flipped over a trash can and started searching it.

"Hurry up! That Larry really did it this time! All the policemen in the city are looking for him! Quick, grab the stocks and let’s go!"

A stout-faced, half-bald fat man, who seemed to be the leader of the group, kept rushing the others.

His men started to speed up as their boss breathed down their necks. When all the trash cans had been flipped over though, the stocks were still nowhere to be found.

"Nothing, boss!" one of the men reported.

"What?" The bald, fat man pushed him aside and started searching himself.

Just as he bent down, the flash of a bright light shined behind him, followed by the growling sound of an engine.

By the time the man got up to check what was happening, a car had already rushed into the alley.

A strong hand came out of the car and grabbed the fat man by the neck. Before he could even react, the pain on his neck had knocked him out cold.

The man passed out, still not understanding why his men could not find anything after he’d sent them all out to search. Had he still been conscious, he would have known why.

As Kieran threw the unconscious fat man inside the car, he jumped out and headed straight for his men.

After a few punches and kicks, the three remaining gang members did not even know what had hit them. They all fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

Considering Kieran’s Grand Master [Hand-to-Hand Combat] and his exceptional constitution, it was a piece of cake for him to deal with the thugs, who were only relying on their number.

"Good job!"

As he witnessed Kieran’s amazing fighting skills again, Larry, who was still in the passenger seat, cheered in joy. It was different than before, when he’d had to hide in silence.

Larry had nothing to worry about. He even wanted to get out of the car and give Kieran a celebratory hug.

However, Kieran signalled at Larry with a heavy expression, preventing him from coming out.

Ever since the fight had begun, Kieran’s eyes had been fixed on the end of the alley, and he had not moved them during the whole fight.

Larry quickly went back inside the car before he could do anything. Kieran’s expression told him that something was not right.

Larry immediately stared at the end of the alleyway, his eyes wide open. Under the car’s bright headlights, a human figure emerged from the shadows.