The Devil's Cage

Foooosh!

An extending of his wings brought up a scorching wind as Kieran ascended higher in the sky.

The dark clouds were dispersed long ago during the previous fight.

The pure moonlight shone down like a waterfall, showering Kieran’s devil body. The white moonbeam and the red fire resonated with each other, producing a obscure melody of incantations similar to a nocturnal tune, echoing on the sea.

The waves were rumbling non-stop, sending away the debris of the battleships.

Smulder’s battle intent overflowed in his gaze as he viewed the scene.

In order to deliver a fatal blow, he was charging the Sanctuary Force in his fist. He wanted the invader before him to know he was the final victor.

However, a moment later, Smulder’s expression turned bad.

The giant mutated cyclops rose before him again, in an even more frenzied form.

ROAR!

A sonorous roar fired out the red beam of light which was three times denser than the previous one, engulfing Smulder in the blink of an eye and was feeding off the Sanctuary Force in a peculiar way.

Smulder’s face was even uglier when he saw the mutated cyclops giant rise from the dead. He realized he had underestimated the level of Kieran’s Bloodline Evolution.

From the tomes back in the Sanctuary’s collection, Smulder knew if a devil’s blood descendant who could use [Blaspheme Whisper], its ancestor was surely no ordinary devil.

"Which kind of great devil descendant are you?"

Being engulfed by the wicked red light and layers of red was blocking his vision, Kieran’s figure in Smulder’s sight started to get blurry.

Then, he uttered out word by word, "You think you can..."

Smulder wasn’t ready to give up just because he was being restrained, it was not the style of a Holy Knight and his pride wouldn’t allow it.

Therefore, he wanted to utilize his full power to break out from the entanglement. However before Smulder could finish his sentence, his already ugly expression had turned even uglier than ever before, as if his face had turned solid green.

It was the scarlet red eye! The eye that belonged to the mutated cyclops!

The eye started to undergo a special change.

Rings and lines of special mystical symbols appeared on eye surface, overlapping each other as if a delicate armor made of symbols were laid over the scarlet eye.

The lines and rings on the eye were spinning, giving out a combination aura of the decayed, wicked and chaotic.

A moment later, a reddish aura erupted from the lines, almost suffocating Smulder when it appeared. While trapped by the dark red light around him, Smulder seemed to have taken a direct hit. Half of his freed body quivered before sinking back into the red light but it didn’t stop Smulder from aiming his gaze at the scarlet cyclops eye.

There was an unconcealable shock on the struggling Holy Knight’s face.

On the contrary, Devil Kieran was all calm and cool.

"As expected, that general invader was here to deliver the fatal blow to Smulder!"

Kieran extended his blazing wing and glided beside the mutated cyclops.

He quietly glanced over his transformation period which had 30 seconds left, then he raised the beheader sword in his hand.

Kieran and Smulder’s different standpoint was more hostile than friendly.

The restraints from Smulder were too pressuring even before this. If Kieran let this big opportunity slip past him, he had no idea where else to find an invader that wanted to kill Smulder so bad with such specifically targeted measures. Though in the end, the invader had presented the opportunity to Kieran instead.

He had no intention to spare Smulder.

The killer intent was chilly, even among the fiery body of his, it would send shiver down one’s spine.

"Wait!"

The cry came from the island far away. Kieran heard it but he turned a deaf ear.

A simple thought came from that symbol-armored scarlet eye and it fired out a beam of light with decay, wicked and chaotic aura inside.

The charged beam was blasted out like a violent typhoon, whipping up waves beside the eye.

The red beam drowned Smulder in an instant and Kieran was following tightly like its shadow, the beheader sword in his hand was raised high up, but before he could deliver the final blow...

White!

Amidst the area of tainted energy, a dash of white appeared, like a lotus blooming from the mud, its petals quivered and stamen shook, looking lively as ever.

The sudden sense of danger exploded in Kieran’s heart, forcing him to retreat without a second thought.

KABOOOM!

Just as Kieran drew distance between him and the trapped Smulder, a huge explosion occurred.

The explosion shook the sea and sky, shining over the dark night. The scarlet red beam and white energy clashed together and blasted out in all directions like arrows of light.

A big tsunami came following the huge explosion, drowning the mutated cyclops at the first moment. The waves then went for the island further away.

A huge area of Sanctuary Force lit up the island after that. The formless force field barrier that shielded the island was pushed to its limit as it slowly materialized.

Still, compared to the dozen meters tall tsunami, with all sorts of unusual energy contained in its water, it was barely enough.

Crack Tsk, Crack Tsk Tsk!

Upon contact, the force field barrier started to form cracks. When more of the strong waves containing the unusual energy beated on the force field barrier ceaselessly, even with the Sanctuary Force supporting the barrier, it didn’t even last three seconds.

KABAAM! CRANK!

The barrier that was shielding the whole island shattered completely like glass that fell on the floor.

The members of the Sanctuary who was pouring their own force into the barrier fell to the ground one after another, spitting out mouthfuls of blood.

Their face were filled with despair when they saw the tall waves that even covered the moon.

"Look! Its Sir Smulder!" A sudden voice called out to the Holy Knight.

Everyone was looking at the person in mid-air, who was donning the Sanctuary Force armor.

Even though the armor was already gloomy, his appearance assured the members more than anything at that moment.

The pale Smulder glanced over the members of the Sanctuary who had hopes for him. Without a second thought, he turned at the tsunami that was going to crash down on them.

The powerful beam strike from the mutated cyclops had made him suffered quite the damage, he should be resting instead, but when he was facing the impending tsunami, he knew what his duties required of him.

He was the Holy Knight, the Sanctuary’s most honorific title! He was the banner of the Sanctuary and it was time for him to uphold that meaning with his existence!

As the only living Holy Knight from the fruitful era, the title had more meaning than it seemed to him.

Smulder didn’t retreat, he didn’t escape from his duties because he knew if the banner was broken, as long as the fundamentals were not harmed, a new banner would rise again someday. If once the fundamentals were wounded, no matter how glorified the new banner was, it wouldn’t have any meaning to it.

Huuu!

Smulder took in a deep breath. The gloomy Sanctuary Force regained its shine once again.

Then, he unleashed his punch straight at the tsunami.

KABAAM!

The burning white blastwave was like divine sword unsheathing itself, bringing a prideful aura with it but when it clashed with the waves, it only held back the raging waves for a few seconds before shattering into pieces.

Smulder utilized the last bit of Sanctuary Force in him and turned it into the brightest sword he could yet it flew out like a firefly and only lasted for a while. As its light dimmed out, Smulder fell to the ground from mid-air head first.

The wounded body plus the overextension of his power had led him into an unconscious state.

A couple of the Sanctuary members leapt up and caught the falling Smulder.

Even though Smulder was arrogant at times, his self-sacrificing personality at crucial times was still very respectful.

However, it didn’t help the situation at all. Everyone on the island looked at the huge waves upon them.

Despair filled their heart, as the only Holy Knight had fallen, what else did they have?

"Never thought I’d die under a tidal wave." Nicil bitterly laughed with a shaking head.

He looked apologetically at Schmidt.

"I’m truly sorry. Smulder was trying to set things up for the Sanctuary, just that no one thought it would unfold like this."

He bowed and expressed his apologies at Schmidt, some of the others member did the same as well after they learnt the truth.

"Hold on! Just hold the hell on please! We still have hope!"

Schmidt said loudly at the Sanctuary members.

Everyone else looked back at Schmidt with an astonished face.

Their only Holy Knight, Smulder had fallen, where else could they draw hope from?

Right after that, a scorching wind blew out at the huge tidal waves.

The blazing figure stood tall and stern in the face of the raging waters.