The Devil's Cage

KABOOOOM!

The rock body of the divine being collapsed into pieces.

Rumbling stones brought up a big wave of dust in all directions, blocking everyone’s sight.

Everyone instinctively covered their mouth and nose and even their eyes, except Kieran.

When the dust and debris came within 5 meters of him, it couldn’t advance anymore as the black negative energy acted like a shield, protecting him from the dust and debris.

In fact, not only the dust, as long as he was within the negative energy shield’s range, nothing could escape Kieran’s eyes and approach him easily.

When Kieran entered Ciaran City center square, the system had provided him with the third set of notifications.

[High-density negative energy field, player acquired temporary enhancement, all stats +2...]

[Detected player has a special bloodline, Shadow Domain (Incomplete) temporarily activated...]

[Detected player has a skill, Touch of Cardinal Sins, level temporarily boosted by +3...]

[Detected player has skill, Body of Evil, level temporarily boosted by +3...]

[Detected player has a skill, Saint Thorns, skill is being suppressed, temporarily disabled...]

...

It was not related skills and stats increasing anymore but a precise enhancement presented in numbers.

Kieran’s attributes and skills were all boosted and granted him an extra temporary skill, [Shadow Domain]!

[Shadow Domain (Incomplete): Replenish your HP, Stamina with the negative energy around you. While within the negative energy field, you can control a small degree of negative energy (No larger than a 10-meter radius and has Average attack and defense). Acquired Instinct Intuition (Hostile beings will have to undergo two Intuition authentication of -3 and -4. If two authentication failed, hostile beings will be locked on, if one authentication fails, hostile being will be revealed). All collateral beings (includes summons that could adapt to negative energy) would acquire +1 buff, HP and Stamina +5%. Caster ownself and the collateral beings (induces summons that could adapt to negative energy) would acquire an extra Secondary HP Recovery, acquired once Secondary Shadow Armor. Consume a specific amount of negative energy to receive Secondary HP Recovery, Secondary Shadow Armor again.]

...

Although [Shadow Domain] was categorized as Incomplete, it was unparalleled fitting when used together with [Touch of Cardinal Sins] which was boosted to level IV.

[Touch of Cardinal Sins IV: The original sins of desire flowed in your blood. Consume 400 HP to summon either Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath or Envy to assist you. Consume 800 HP to summon Pride to assist you. The embodiment of sins shares your looks but each of them possessed different abilities. The summons last for 1 minute, extra duration will cost extra HP.

When all seven of the original sins are present, consume 1000 HP to fuse them into Cardinal Sins Beast.]

[Note 1: When target is in a state of panic, chaos, fear or has an extreme desire for something, they will be devoured by the respective embodiment of sins.]

[Note 2: Cardinal Sins Beast will lower the rarity of potential spoils of war.]

...

Truth be told, without [Shadow Domain (Incomplete)], Kieran couldn’t even control [Touch of Cardinal Sins IV].

Of course, there was also [Body of Evil] which was boosted to level V. Kieran gained an extra 400 points of HP, Stamina, and boosted the maximum HP of the fusion Cardinal Sins Beast.

Significant buffs and changes in quality of his skills skyrocketed Kieran’s strength in a straight line. It was the perfect translation of the term "home field advantage"!

While under his home field advantages, nothing could escape Kieran’s eyes as he could capture everything with one glance.

"It escaped?" Kieran muttered to himself.

He was certain within the negative energy field, he couldn’t locate the Fallen that he was looking for, which caused him to frown. He believed that the Fallen couldn’t have escaped his Intuition detection under [Shadow Domain]’s buffs even though it was an Incomplete version.

So, there left only one possibility, the target escaped when it saw the situation going south.

It was not a good news to Kieran though, whether who would face off against it again, no one would prefer an enemy of the same caliber as a Holy Knight.

Soon enough, Kieran gathered his attention on what was before him.

The Cardinal Sins Beast which comprised of the seven cardinal sins roared loudly at the sky, the black negative energy around it was rumbling fiercely, scaring the mystics back.

Kieran could feel the part of his heart which belonged to Eye of Chimeras had started to become anxious and feverish. Kieran quickly deactivated [Touch of Cardinal Sins] and expelled the beast without any hesitation.

Even though Kieran knew if he’d continue letting it out, the temporarily boosted level IV [Touch of Cardinal Sins] would really level up to the real [Touch of Cardinal Sins IV] but it would only compromise the balance of the [Fusion Heart].

A balance of power was what he sought, balancing out the different powers in his heart was the most important aspect. Kieran knew it since his last rampant encounter.

In fact, he already could feel a slight pain stinging his heart, which was quite impossible under normal circumstances and a normal body.

The only explanation was the balance of [Fusion Heart] would be compromised when a huge amount of negative energy sprayed its influence.

So after Kieran picked up the golden spoil of war, he directly headed outside the negative energy field and got away from its reachable range.

The mystical individual crowds were dodging left and right, opening a wide path for Kieran to walk.

He didn’t even properly size up the crowd around him as he left in a hurry after feeling the changes in his heart.

Fortunately, after the previous battle, the negative energy field was shrunk to only the central city area.

Soon enough, Kieran was standing under the warm sunlight and when he was showered by the brilliant radiance, all kinds of buffs went away together. He felt weak for a while and followed by a vigorous beating from his heart.

The beats from his heart expelled the unreal weakening state, even the pain went away like nothing happened.

Though, one thing did exceed Kieran’s expectations.

[Absorbing substantial amount of cardinal sins energy, Touch of Cardinal Sins leveled up to Touch of Cardinal Sins II!]

"It already leveled up? That’s the reason for the sudden restlessness?"

Kieran squinted his eyes over the achievement notifications from the system, which was good news.

Although the system description of [Touch of Cardinal Sins] was very obscure and vague, as the user, Kieran knew how useful was the skill to him.

He was able to kill without taking form or being noticed!

It was how Kieran commented on the skill. If it didn’t affect the spoils of war, it would definitely be Kieran’s favorite skill.

The level up was not only the only reward as well.

Surrounded by a golden glow, a palm-sized scale appeared in Kieran’s hand.

[Name: Scale of Judgement]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[Attribute: Judgement 1/1]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: Heart of Ruling]

[Remark: This is the last item that the God of Judgement left behind in the mortal realm. It can be very powerful or very weak.]

...

[Judgement: The sinner will suffer the wrath of heavens!]

...

"Heart of Ruling? What is that?"

Kieran frowned over the prerequisite but he quickly put it away in his backpack and turned his attention to Ohara.

"I need to get back to West Coast City as soon as possible! I would be much faster if I travel alone!" Kieran said.

From the hidden message that Kieran had gotten from the squad of alchemy enhanced warriors, not only did Kieran know what Braid’s plans were but he also knew that the Loran faction had not only sent out Braid alone, there was another leader headed towards West Coast City.

Although Kieran wasn’t certain whether Barry was lying, he couldn’t afford to be careless in such matters.

Therefore, Kieran bid Ohara goodbye and well from a certain angle, blocking a direct contact since he was eager to leave Ohra behind.

It was torturing for Kieran when Ohara stared at him affectionately.

While to make his statement more persuasive, Kieran directly activated [Night Owl Token].

Once the scarlet-eyed black horse appeared, it already attracted the attention of the mystic individuals from afar but Kieran didn’t even bat an eye, all he saw was Ohara.

"Take care on the way there!" Ohara’s farewell speech made Kieran let out a sigh of relief.

Kieran raised his hand over the horse and supported himself up, after another glance at the thick black field at afar, Kieran waved at Ohara and went off with the horse.

Kieran believed that the leftover negative energy in Ciaran City wasn’t a big deal for the Sanctuary members to deal with even without him.

He had nothing left to worry about in Ciaran City, what he worried about was West Coast City.

After feeling Kieran’s intention, the Night Owl let out a long neigh and switched its light galloping into lightning-fast sprinting a moment later.

The black warhorse galloped off with its robust hooves into the wind. The black crow feathered mantle opened up, fluttering amidst the strong wind whistle.

Leaving behind the busted city, the dying breath in the air dispersed as well, as if everything had ended.

But when those mystical individuals back at the busted city saw Kieran’s figure disappearing from sight, a sudden thought couldn’t help but bloom in their hearts.

"The bird of death brings death wherever he goes eh?"

The crowd looked around, seeing the wounded city and bodies scattered around, it seemed like everything around them was verifying their thoughts.

Only Ohara was different, she grabbed the car keys from Azinder and ran over to where the car was parked despite Smulder yelling at her.

It was correct that she didn’t want to drag Kieran’s speed down but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t follow up with her own methods!

After around twenty minutes...

Vrrooooom!

The modified car’s engine let out a loud roar, speeding off towards West Coast City recklessly.