The Devil's Cage

The strange atmosphere was broken when one party decided to strike first.

It wasn’t the pursuers that had the advantage of numbers nor the sword wielder who looked strong but it was Celty who decided to move first.

Fuuu!

A ball of fire was hurled out at the sword wielder and Celty too clenched his teeth and dashed to him as well. If he had any other options left, he wouldn’t risk such a reckless move but options were a luxury he didn’t have at the moment.

If he delayed his actions any further, once the poison spread throughout his body, he would die without a proper burial. Rather than waiting for his end, might as well risk the last bit with his life.

Had he succeeded?

The reason he chose to go after the sword wielder was to increase the "what if" chances.

Celty was quite familiar with the pursuers on his tail, if he wasn’t poisoned or wounded, they were no match for him but to confront them with his current condition would kill him instead.

Compared to the pursuers, even though the sword wielder looked much stronger, he was only one man.

Quantity was always the standard to measure one’s strength.

Facing a single strong person was much better than facing a bunch of average ones with effective teamwork.

At least it was what Celty had on his mind.

However, Celty was stunned right at the next moment after his forward dash.

The sword wielder who was supposed to be engulfed in flames twisted his body in a freaky way, He didn’t just dodge the fire and prevented it from burning his body, he swiftly appeared before Celty and drove his sword towards Celty’s throat with sharp hisses from the sword tip.

Viper Sect! Celty was astonished, he never thought he would run into the Viper Sect in such a place and never did he think that the particular person was related to the Viper Sect.

"No, it couldn’t be! That person shouldn’t be related to the Viper Sect, unless... Is this all a coincidence?"

Ridiculous thoughts bloomed in Celty’s heart yet he couldn’t laugh at any of them.

The Raven Sect and the Viper Sect were mortal enemies!

The fire that he cast had revealed his identity as a member of the Raven Sect, therefore the Viper Sect person before him would not spare any explanation before killing him.

Souuu!

The blade flashed as it was inches away from Celty’s face.

Within a spark of fire, Celty couldn’t think of anything else except leaning backward with his instinct like a pole falling down.

The grudge between the Raven Sect and the Viper Sect had allowed both of them to particularly research about each other’s techniques.

Celty knew what he should do but so did the sword wielder.

The moment Celty fell backward, the sword wielder dished out a kick straight towards Celty’s crotch.

It was a cheap yet vicious move but it was also one of the traits of the Viper Sect techniques.

Before falling to the ground, Celty twisted his body aside and supported himself with his right hand on the ground. His body went along with the momentum and spun in mid-air like a spinning top.

Pak Pak!

Celty used the advantages of his body movement to dish out two kicks with clear noise. It wasn’t just fast but precise at its target as well, it struck out like a raven’s claw diving down at its prey.

The first kick was to prevent the sword wielder’s further action and the second kick was launched towards his head.

The Viper Sect sword wielder grunted coldly in disdain. His body twisted once again in a freaky way as he dodged Celty’s counterattack, he too launched another kick of his own with a snake hiss. His kick defied his joint structure when his leg went around Celty’s prevention kick and landed straight at Celty’s thigh.

Bang!

As the sword wielder’s feet landed on Celty’s thigh, Celty was like a kite let loose and was sent flying diagonally upwards. Though he seemed to be flying a little bit too high, even higher than the roof of the houses around.

The sword wielder has been tricked!

The moment his kick landed on Celty’s thigh, he knew it went wrong when he couldn’t feel the sense of touch as he remembered. Immediately, he wanted to compensate for his mistakes but someone was faster than him.

The pursuers behind threw out a big net as though they had predicted Celty’s movement.

The net descended from high and caught Celty who was sent flying. The pursuers then pulled the net and dragged Celty down from the air.

Coincidentally, Celty was falling towards the spot where Rover was hiding.

The royal wizard smiled bitterly.

He didn’t have the strength to catch Celty nor have the intention to be a human cushion; he also didn’t have the resolution of being caught altogether by the net.

He rolled away from the shadow and swung his dagger towards the incoming net.

Pak!

The edge of the net was cut off, granting Celty a slight breathing window but his eyes towards Rover turned sour even more because he knew the Viper Sect sword wielder was there for Rover. He was just coincidentally crossing the path of Rover and the Viper Sect.

An outrageous feeling rose in both their hearts at once but both of them didn’t exclaim further. A quick exchange of gaze later formed a temporary alliance between them both through the tacit agreement in their mind.

Celty and Rover then ran towards the pursuers together.

The Viper Sect sword wielder had made it clear that his strength was much stronger than he looked, neither of them had the intention to fight him face to face, which left them with the pursuers.

Despite having the disadvantage of numbers, now Celty has Rover on his side.

Fuuu!

Celty raised his hand and cast the Raven Sect fiery spell at the pursuers.

This time around his fire was accompanied by thick smoke.

The pursuers had predicted this long ago, each of them dragged their special made mantle to cover their nose and mouth before continue charging towards Celty.

However, as the pursuers let down their mantle when the fire went off, their feet turned light, or more precisely, they started to stagger.

The thick smoke wasn’t from the fire itself because the Raven Sect had no smoking techniques.

The thick smoke was the powder in Rover’s hand, a kind of powder that could knock one out cold at the same time paralyzing them.

All it required was a sufficient amount of heat to spread and it was also one of Rover’s skilled potion methods, just that he didn’t get the chance to use it while being chased.

With Celty’s help, he could accomplish it with one strike.

Celty had been covering his nose and mouth even without Rover warning him when he saw the powder was mixed into his fire.

Just when the pursuers started to stagger, both of them knew their chance had arrived.

They dashed out with speed exceeded even their peak performance despite being wounded.

When one’s life was being threatened, regardless of being wounded or crippled, their performance would surpass their average strength whenever they caught a glimpse of hope.

It was the survival instinct of every living being.

But when the glimpse of hope was extinguished, the disappointment could suffocate one easily, which Celty and Rover experienced right after.

Their breath almost stopped when the Viper Sect sword wielder appeared before them without even the slightest sign.

Celty’s face turned sour as he muttered to himself, "Viper Steps?"

The sword wielder drove his sword directly without any intentions of replying to that question.

This time around, his target wasn’t Celty anymore but Rover.

His mission priority was to kill Rover first instead of Celty. As long as he killed Rover, everything would be easy to cover up.

Rover, however, didn’t stand still and wait for his demise, despite being shrouded by despair.

Since he couldn’t cast any spells, he dished out tuft after tuft of the powder at the sword wielder but they were struck down easily by the sword.

The cold and shining longsword obviously had a different luster than others which rendered the royal wizard’s methods useless.

Even Celty was astonished because at that very moment he knew the sword wielder wasn’t even at his prime form.

"This is the end!" All hopes were thrashed in Celty’s mind, he knew he would be next after the sword wielder killed Rover and he has nothing to resist him.

Gawk!

Just as both of them had given up on resisting, a sudden raven call sounded.

A sudden heat wave was blasted out, forcing the sword wielder to back off right away.

Celty who had given up all hope instantly regained his delight.

"Is that you, Master Crown Raven?" Celty shouted out loud.

Dak Dak Dak...

Footsteps then echoed in everyone’s ears as a figure slowly emerging from the street entrance.

The black feathered mantle was emanating a distinguished radiance as the Fire Raven landed on the figure’s shoulder.