The Devil's Cage

The fiery flames burst out from the ground.

The seed of fire was rumbling, swirling around fiercely, as the flames were infused with tremendous power, blasting the whole tattoo parlor up into the sky.

A couple of shops next to the branch office couldn’t escape their destruction either.

The blastwave from the explosion leveled the other structures instantly.

Debris, dust flew across the sky.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!:

Lee who was opposite the street behind his defensive structure was laughing outrageously.

The greed within was floating upon his face as he laughed, his face was twisted to a scary look.

"Lee, do you know what you are doing?" A sound of question echoed in his ear.

Ditko the huntsman from Funeral Society HQ who was in chains behind Lee was glaring at him.

In fact, not only Ditko, Kana, Tanya, and Jen were tied up as well, together with Inspector Oaker.

The small crowd was glaring angrily at Lee.

"I know! Of course, I know! Without enough talents and strength, no matter how much efforts I put in, nothing comes my way! I’ve contributed so much to the society but what do I get in return? I am still stuck in this damned corner as a receptionist!"

"And you, Huntsman? You can simply finish a mission and gain the salary equal to my entire year or maybe even more! Whenever one of you are missing in action the HQ will investigate thoroughly, but what about me? Even if I did die, a couple of days later, some other receptionist will come in and replace me, as if I never existed..."

"I don’t want to be rejected like this, I don’t want this kind of life! So I will resist! I will fight, I want to control my own fate!"

Lee didn’t back off when Ditko was glaring at him. He grabbed Ditko by the collars and shouted at him in the face.

"This is how you control your own fate?"

Ditko who was in chains didn’t stand down either, he pushed his head at Lee’s, questioning Lee’s decision.

"YES! This is my way of getting control of my own fate! That Merman’s Meat in that special ice box will be enough to change my life! I can consume it or trade it for something I want! I can even be a huntsman or even a real Hunter!"

Lee nodded heavily, emphasizing every single word.

"You..."

Bamch!

Just as Ditko wanted to say more, he was punched in the face by Lee.

The punch sunk in hard at Ditko’s face, causing him a lot of pain but Lee’s face was very delighted.

"I’ve always wanted to try to punch a huntsman!" Lee said.

Then he turned his eyes to the girls.

The girls were moving their body in an unsettling way when they were stared at by such sickening gaze, even Kana the grumpy one was no exception because she knew the man before her had gone mad.

Lee was forced out of his mind under all those heavy rules yet such sighs couldn’t help her to solve the problem at hand at all.

Kana glanced over the blazing place with the corner of her eyes, an angry feeling rose up in her heart.

"How can you die so easily... what a pretending ass!" Kana muttered with anger.

"What are you waiting for? Waiting for Bird of Death to appear before you? I’m afraid he might be a roasted bird now!"

Lee mocked Kana when he spotted her unusual reactions.

"My knight is immortal!" Tanya said with a trembling voice, shrinking behind Kana.

"Immortal?" Lee laughed coldly and pointed beside the blazing fire.

Two obviously strong and tall men who surpassed common men were standing beside the fire, holding a machine gun in each of their hand.

The pitch black body of the machine guns plus the yellowish orange bullets hanging on top were giving out a ferocious shine under the sunlight.

Anyone who laid eyes on them would surely quiver uncontrollably.

Tanya and the girls were no exception as well.

They even painted the picture of what Kieran had to face if he escaped the fire.

Three girls went quiet and it fueled Lee’s delights even more.

"You girls are all my merchandise, one with talents, one is a half-fiend and another with a special body. Each of you is quite favorable amongst the big names and fiends and you girls will be the first bucket of gold for me!"

Lee was stating what he will do to them and he turned towards the silent inspector.

"And you? Complete trash! Each time you lay your eyes on me, that contempt in your eyes... You think you are so noble, so high up? Assuming you will never be corrupted by the filth around you? That is because you never tasted the power of authority!"

Lee was stepping on the inspector as he spoke, he vented out his anger on the poor inspector.

Ban Ban Ban!

Lee’s boots kept clashing with the inspector’s abdomen. Under the heavy relentless hits, the inspector soon limped down on the ground.

Lee, on the other hand, was breathing heavily from all the beating.

"You useless trash! Only know how to live in your own justifiable world, I will send you to where you belong now!" Lee took in a deep breath to regulate his flow; he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the inspector.

"LEE!" Ditko yelled to stop him.

Lee turned his head at Ditko, presenting a malicious smile at the Huntsman.

His index finger was slowly squeezing the trigger.

BANG!

The blazing explosion scene exploded once more, causing the fire to burn even hotter. A couple of big concrete panels tumbled out of the fire and fell aside.

A figure then emerged in mid-air, above from the blazing flame.

Amidst the fluttering noise, the black feathered mantle was moving as the wind was moving against it.

Kieran!

"Fire! Shoot him into a sieve!"

After Kieran’s sudden re-emergence, Lee couldn’t care less about the inspector anymore. He pointed his gun at the sky and fired his gun directly.

Bang Bang Bang!

Dak Dak Dak Dak Dak!

The handgun and machine guns fired relentlessly.

Kieran who was floating in mid-air was instantly covered with a splash of blood.

The crowd’s sudden joy because of Kieran’s re-emergence was soon replaced by terror once more, especially Tanya. She closed her eyes and kept muttering, "My knight is immortal! My knight is immortal! My knight is immortal..."

Though, her muttering was quickly suppressed by a frantic laugh.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! Even if you are a huntsman, you will die without a grave!"

Lee had completely lost it, all he had in mind was pulling the trigger of the gun in his hand, so were his half-fiend goons beside him.

Their expressions changed drastically as they were filled with delight and something to look forward to.

They didn’t even see the high demon that walked out from their shadows behind them.

The three of them had fallen into the pleasant dream weaved by the high demon.

"I’ve done it! I’ve done it! I am the king of the world!"

Lee shouted in joy, followed by blood gushing out from his seven apertures. His body then started to dry up in an exponential rate as if he was a dried corpse in the dessert for a couple of years.

The other two goons shared a similar fate as well.

The drastic changes in the evil trio caused the crowd to feel uneasy. Their eyes were staring at the high demon with the face of Kieran but the high demon took a step back and went into the shadows, disappearing completely.

Dak Dak Dak.

The rigorous footsteps sounded from afar.

Kieran’s figure slowly came out from the blazing fire.

The lethal heat didn’t even harm Kieran a single bit, on the contrary, a slight breeze suddenly blew over the fire, slowly extinguishing its raging fury.

A small path appeared on top of the fire all of a sudden as Kieran stepped on it.

He was like the blazing king walking his own lands and the mortal flames dimmed down as if they pledged their loyalty to their lord.

The street that was long was sealed off suddenly turned quiet.

All that was left was the burning sparks from the fire.

The gazes from the crowd were like cheers for Kieran’s coronation as the blazing king.

Some other fiends who were around the area saw the scene as well and each of them held their breath back. Their eyes were filled with hesitation but soon enough, greed took over their sanity.

Wung! Wung!

The raging wind suddenly turned into a storm.

Under the fierce storm, dozens of figures threw themselves at Kieran.