The Devil's Cage

A darkness that was not visible to commoners appeared with a sense of gloom and coldness.

The three boys that were beaten down by Kana slowly rose up.

Yet, their movements seemed strange and unusual.

They didn’t rely on their hands or body to support themselves up but instead stood straight up from the floor, like they were tied up by an invisible rope, dragging them up.

More precisely, it seemed like the three of them had been turned into puppets, being controlled by something invisible to the commons.

Though, Kieran could see what it was, so did Kana and of course Tanya.

Yet, Tanya had no idea what was going on compared to the other two.

"Rise my servants! Destroy this wicked..."

Bang!

Kana punched Tanya’s head strongly again, shutting her up once more.

"This is the Puppet Fiend, if you don’t want to be its toys, letting it tear you up limb after limb, you better leave now!" Kana said with a serious face.

Things were more serious than she imagined. A fiend appearing under broad daylight, if this continued, it might...

The thoughts that bloomed in Kana’s heart made her clench her teeth, she wouldn’t allow such things to happen.

"Hehehehe...Hahahahaha!"

"A half-fiend!"

"The perfect food!"

Three of the boys gave out an eerie laugh and threw themselves over to Kana.

Not only they were fast, but strong as well. Far stronger than common boys during their youth.

Kana launched a barrage of punches at the trio.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Three of the boys were sent flying by the strong punches but stood up right away.

"Holding back?"

"I see, as expected of a half-fiend, still having concern in such a critical moment..."

More sneers and laughs sounded from the three boys’ bodies.

While they were sneering, an almost invisible line quietly headed towards Kana without leaving a trace behind.

Kana seemed to have not noticed the line approaching her.

"Got’chu!"

The Puppet Fiend said loudly.

The thin line jumped up like a venomous viper and hurled itself to Kana.

Fuuuu!

The flames on her hands were burning hot as she caught the line with her insight to the chance.

"No, I’ve got you!"

She grunted heavily and pulled the line with her hands like competing in a tug o’ war, dragging the Puppet Fiend out at the other end of the line.

Kabooom!

A hole burst out from the wall, dragging out a pillow size, wiggling sarcoma in front of Tanya.

"What a hideous look you have, you should be purified..."

"Shut up! Run!" Kana warned her again. As a half-fiend, she knew the battle with the Puppet Fiend wasn’t over, though her warning seemed to be a little late.

Boooush!

The pillow sized sarcoma exploded like a meat bum, bursting out stenchful juices in all directions.

Finger-like beige colored tentacles threw themselves at Tanya like fangs and claws.

While the unsettling, disgusting scene unfolded before her, Tanya shouted out of instinct at first before shouted loudly at the monster, "How da..dare you disrespect me! Ma...My Knight wi...will surely..."

Eighth-grade syndrome was a sickness but it wouldn’t cause one to become an idiot.

As danger approached her rapidly, Tanya knew she would have to draw distance from the disgusting monster. In fact, if it wasn’t for her limping legs, she would’ve ran the first moment after Kana reminded her.

Tanya closed her eyes as the tentacles were inches away from her.

Then...

A strong wind blew at her as the wind whistle sounded in her ears. Yet she didn’t feel any pain.

Tanya slightly opened one of her eyes and followed by both eyes opened wide.

Her odd colored eyes dazzled brightly like gemstones under the brilliant sun.

A body of black raven feathers stood before her, the disgusting fiend was sliced into half, giving out vile stenches that assaulted her nose.

Yet Tanya couldn’t care about any of those, she raised her hands and grabbed the feathered mantle.

"My knight..."

"Hands off!"

Kieran shook his mantle off the girl’s hand with a cold voice and he turned his attention to Kana.

Having such an "illed" president in the Occult Society who was heavily in need of medications, Kieran wouldn’t get what he wanted from her but the half-fiend, Kana before him obviously knew more than the eighth-grade syndrome president.

In simple words, Kieran was deceived by Kana’s rash and hot-tempered outlook.

Now, Kieran was more cautious and he already thought of how to deal with her.

Just as Kana saw Kieran, she quickly turned around and ran.

She was fast for commoners, able to leave nothing behind but dust but compared to Kieran, it wasn’t enough.

Before Kana could dash out of the old storeroom door, her neck was grabbed from behind and when she was ready to resist, she suffered a hard punch on her stomach.

Bang!

Kana curled up right away like a fried shrimp. Kieran had perfectly controlled his punch, it would only cause pain and not enough to knock her out, thus taking away her ability to resist.

After grabbing Kana who was immobilized, Kieran disappeared from into the storeroom before Tanya could react to what happened.

After one to two seconds, Tanya came back to her senses.

She covered her eyes and muttered to herself, "It’s like a fated meeting! Destiny must guide us!"

She then took out a crystal ball and slightly touched it.

The crystal ball instantly gave out a faint layer of glimmer.

...

At the roof of the main academic building of the school.

Behind a turning corner that wasn’t quite visible for the others, Kieran grabbed Kana by the back of her neck and held her over the edge of the roof.

Kana opened her eyes while angrily glaring at Kieran and he replied with a smile.

"You still have one more chance. Though I think you should learn a lesson or two. Being a half-fiend, there might be a certain chance that you won’t die even if I throw you down from here right?" Kieran then suddenly let go of his hand after he finished.

"Aaaaaaaa-"

Kana screamed out of instinct but her scream stopped abruptly because before she could really fall off the building, Kieran grabbed her once more.

Though, Kieran wasn’t looking at her after his little trick but looking at the ground instead, which infuriated the half-fiend.

"You bastard! You’re playing me now!?" She yelled.

"Play? What do you have for me to play with? Your small amount of hair?"

Kieran tilted his head up, smiled coldly, and released his hand again.

Kana told herself that she wouldn’t scream anymore, telling herself that Kieran was only trying to scare her but her body wasn’t as obedient as she thought as she screamed once again, she sounded even miserable than before.

Kieran didn’t catch her this time, allowing her to fall freely.

’He really wants to kill me!?’

The thought bloomed in her head instantly. Her hands then instinctively extended towards the edge of the room, trying to hold on for dear life.

Her survival instinct urged her to save herself. Yet she slipped the first time but thanks to her strong-willed other half which belonged to a fiend, she managed to grab onto the edge of the third floor after the first slip.

But before she could catch a breath, a sharp presence appeared behind her back causing chills down her spine.

TL Note:

Eight-grade syndrome = Chuunibyou!