Early morning in the Fire realm was nothing more than the red sky turning redder. The dark smoke from the volcano covered the air as far as one could see from the floating castle. There were no early singing birds, golden sun rays on the horizon, or fresh air smell. At that moment, Dante was washing his face in front of a mirror. He looked up to see a face with hazel eyes and red hair staring back at him. Dante grinned at his own reflection. He was proud of how dashing he looked in the silver armor.

"One more day, Dante...one more day," he slowly spoke to himself. Dante was assigned to guard the Dark Lord's cage by Mutrad. It had been three weeks since they captured the Dark Lord. Until now, the Dark Lord had done nothing but got tortured by various strangers. Dante got a chance to watch the interrogation, which wasn't pretty. Dante and his team were ordered to guard the castle with complete caution two days ago.

Fifty years had passed since the Arctic hall assigned him and his team a task. They were one of the elite squads of the Arctic hall. In Dante's five hundred years of life, this was the third time that he was ordered to bring his entire team on a mission. When they were summoned, Dante expected some action. However, he and his team experienced nothing but utter boredom. They stood outside the Dark Lord's cage and watched him getting tortured and beaten.

Dante heard so much about this so-called Dark Lord in the mission briefing, yet he seemed weak. The Skyhall managed to capture him with a single cage.

"Time to return to my post," Dante sighed. He combed his hair back before leaving the room. He headed for the Dark Lord's cage as usual. On his way, he met several soldiers wearing sky-blue armor. Apparently, the Skyhall sent these soldiers as additional backup to guard the Dark Lord.

Eventually, Dante reached a huge metal door flanked by two Half-Immortal guards. They were his men. One of them was a red-haired woman.

"Hey boss," The red-haired woman greeted Dante with a grin.

"Anything interesting happened?" asked Dante.

"If you call Isaac here yawning and bitching about his life action, I have seen plenty of it," the red-haired woman rolled her eyes.

"I didn't bitch about my life, you bitch," the golden-haired soldier beside the woman snarled.

"Don't mind, Mila. she is just messing with you," Dante chuckled.

"Open the door. Need to see our prisoner,"

Mila and Isaac pushed open the door as the runes began to radiate faint light in the door. Opening the door exhausted their strength. It took two Half Immortals to open the door. After the door opened, Dante saw the Dark Lord's cage. Isaac and Mila gawked at the Dark Lord. Six other Half Immortals stood around the cage. When Dante entered the hall, all of them bowed toward him.

Dante nodded as he walked toward the cage. Since this was early morning, he had a chance to see the Dark Lord up closer. Once the interrogators entered the hall, they would send him and his team out of the hall. The Dark Lord seemed calm and collected, leaning against the glass with no worries in the world.

"Are you going to try something?" Dante asked the Dark Lord.

"Have some patience, my friend," the Dark Lord answered.

"I am going in," seeing Dante talking to the Dark Lord, Mila couldn't stay still. She wanted to have some words with the Dark Lord too.

"Hey, wait," Isaac tried to stop her, but she was already on her way toward the cage.

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"Sorry, boss. I couldn't stay there," said Mila.

"It's cool. I don't think something will happen. Am I wrong?" Dante asked the Dark Lord.

"Maybe. Maybe not,"

"Come on, dude. Do something. You have so much hype around you," said Mila in a playful tone.

"You guys have families?" asked the Dark Lord.

"Why? You want to threaten us using them. That's cliche, don't you think?" Dante replied to the Dark Lord.

"Nah," the Dark Lord slowly shook his head.

"I just want to give you some time to talk with your loved ones. After all, when I come outside, you will all die," the Dark Lord spoke with a gentle smile as though he was having a normal conversation with them.

"Dying will be better than standing out there listening to Isaac bitch about how his woman cheated on him with another man," Mila rolled her eyes.

The Dark Lord chuckled.

"You guys seem cool. I might feel bad after killing you," said the Dark Lord.

"So, is this what you do? Daydreaming all day. This bad boy will hold you here forever. It sucks to be you," Dante said.

"You guys shouldn't believe everything the Skyhall says. Ask yourselves, if I am their number one priority, why aren't they here?"

Mila and Dante remained silent for a while as the Dark Lord continued.

"They didn't send their strongest because they didn't want them dead. Instead, they are using you. I bet except you, the others are just Half Immortals," the Dark Lord pointed his finger at Dante. To Dante's surprise, he was right. Except for him, all of his team members are at the Half Immortal stage.

"If I am not wrong, you are a Half Immortal yourself. You might be strong, but no way you can walk past all of us," said Mila.

"I am used to creating ways when there is none,"

"If you are hoping your minions will save you, I have bad news for you. No one is coming. The last time I heard, they are not even making an effort to find out where the hell you are," said Dante.

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To their surprise, the Dark Lord just smiled.

"I know. I ordered them not to," said the Dark Lord.

Mila frowned.

"And why would you do that?"

"Because I don't need them," the Dark Lord shrugged.

"Well, if you are going to escape, please do it soon. I am getting bored to death here," Dante sighed.

"Careful what you wish for, my friend," said the Dark Lord.

As they were talking, Dante heard footsteps. He and Mila turned around to see Mutrad, Alicia, Norvin, and a few others walking toward them.

"It seems like our small chat is over," said Dante.

"A pity,"

Dante and Mila took a step back from the cage.

"I am glad you are here, Alicia," Dante heard the Dark Lord. He saw Alicia's eyes glimmer with cold, murdering intent. For a few moments, they all stood outside and watched the Dark Lord in silence. He slowly stepped toward the glass.

"How is Peter doing?" Michael asked Alicia. There was a strange smile on his face. Looking at him, Mutrad couldn't help feeling dreadful.

"Aww, don't be mad, Alicia. Peter would love to get out of his house. How long till he stepped outside?" Michael rubbed his chin. Suddenly, the runes around and inside the cage flickered.

"What's happening?" Mutrad panicked. Alicia frantically looked around as the cage containing Ghost trembled.

"Do you know what I like about the runes the most? It's so easy to hack them. You can turn your enemy's weapons against them with a few minor changes," said Michael. Under their shocked gazes, Michael grabbed his broken right arm and jerked it. Mutrad heard the bones inside his arm cracking. In a few moments, he clenched his fists.

"How did he heal himself?" Norvin asked. Alicia flicked her wrist, trying to open the cage. However, the cage refused to listen to her commands.

Michael turned around, walking toward the center.

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"STOP!" Alicia raised her voice. She conjured a sword made of chilling ice.

"Take one step further, and I will send you straight down into the volcano," Alicia threatened Michael. She pointed her sword at the chains holding the cage.

"You wouldn't do that," Michael turned around.

"You wanna test me," Alicia growled.

Mutrad's mind went blank. He feared something would happen, and it did. To Mutrad's utter shock, a bright light flashed across the cage. They all closed their eyes. When they opened their eyes, someone else stood beside the Dark Lord.

"Peter!" Alicia shouted.

"Where am I?" It took Peter a few moments to realize he was teleported from his home. He saw Alicia shouting at him. The others around Alicia looked pale.

"Hello, Peter," Peter felt a chill when he heard the voice. He recognized the voice almost immediately. How could he now? He was reliving what had happened two years ago at the tournament in his mind ever since. He slowly turned his head to see a man with a bushy beard and long hair staring at him. The face seemed unfamiliar to Peter, but those eyes betrayed the person behind all the changes.

"Ghost,"

Peter clenched his fist. Seeing GHost up close, Peter's whole body trembled. The veins in his eye popped, turning his eyes blood red. His life was turned upside down by him. Not only Ghost revealed his identity to the world, but he was humiliated. Ghost literally wiped the floor with him. Those images were eternally etched into his brain. Every time Peter closed his eyes, he saw how Ghost humiliated him in front of thousands of people. Not a single night passed without Peter thinking about ending his life altogether. Only the flame of vengeance kept Peter from doing so.

"ARGGHHHH!"

Peter roared as he threw his fist at Ghost. Before the punch landed on Ghost's face, he simply caught Peter's fist.

"No no no no," Alicia muttered as she focused all her energy on opening the glass. Yet, the glass didn't even move an inch. The runes responsible for opening the cage lost their glimmer.

Michael grabbed Peter by his throat and lifted him off the ground. Peter squirmed in his hand as Michael turned his gaze toward Alicia. Peter's face slowly turned pale. He gasped for air.

"Mutrad, we need your orders," Dante asked Mutrad.

"We need the cage opened now," Norvin shouted. The muscles in Norvin's body bulged as he dashed at the cage to break the glass.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," When Norvin was about to punch the glass, Michael stopped him.

"Punch the glass hard enough, and the cage will fall straight down. Peter won't like that, will he?"

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"Let him go," Alicia growled.

"What did I say? Every time we do this dance, it always ends in bloodshed,"