The Broken Halo

“You lied to me kid.”

These words reverberated in the room, and they carried a threatening tone that could not be ignored.

Simon however was calm, though several calculations and simulations were going on in his mind.

“What do you mean?”

Ormon’s grin widened, then he chuckled.

“Still trying to act like you’re ignorant, boy?”

A flicker of anger and irritation flashed in the four eyes of Ormon, and the tension in the air between them increased.

However, Simon was not pressured in the slightest and he kept his cool.

“You seem pissed, and you’ll have to tell me why you’re pissed so that I can understand. I don’t have the ability to read minds.”

Ormon chuckled with a wide grin, then he pointed at the wall that was edge of the bed.

Simon looked at where Ormon was pointing at, and his pupils constricted the moment he saw a sword resting on the wall.

“Now, you told me some sob touching, ball scratching, and absolutely rubbish story about why you don’t use the sword.”

“I believed you to a certain extent cause I had no reason not to, but imagine my surprise when the healers told me about those black wrappings around your arm.”

He pointed two fingers at the Chaos Wraps and one of his arms had a finger tapping the side of his head.

“Obviously, I got curious and I tried to remove that thing around your arms because I couldn’t and can still not perceive any sign that it’s an artifact.”

“I failed to remove those things, and I started thinking.”

He paused, then he rested his chin one of his free hands and leaned forward.

“If that thing is actually an artifact, what does it do? What could it possibly do?”

“I have never heard of you using those black wraps in any of your battles, so I was even more baffled.”

“Then…”

Snap!

He snapped his fingers.

“Voilà!”

“I remembered the bullshit story that you told me, and I remembered how you fight like a swordsman.”

“No matter what, a demon who has a talent would not cripple his talent all because he killed his fucking childhood friend.”

He leaned to the back, then he rested two of his arms on the armrests of the chair.

“With your innate talent as a swordsman, you must definitely love swords and there must be a reason why you don’t use a sword, and after putting two and two together, I realized that it must be related to that artifact around your arms.”

“Most likely, it has an ability that affects the sword you hold or in general, the weapon you hold.”

“As for your fists, I have felt your punches earlier, so I know that it doesn’t really do much to your fists.”

He pointed at the Chaos Wraps, and Simon glanced at it with an utterly calm expression.

Even with everything that Ormon said, he was completely calm.

“Now, what I want you to do is simple. Take that sword and start swinging it. Don’t use demonic energy, and you don’t have to do any moves… just swing it around.”

Simon looked at Ormon, then he looked at the sword on the wall before looking back at Ormon.

He opened his mouth and was about to speak, but Ormon immediately waved a finger.

“No. No. No. I do not want to hear a single word from that slick tongue of yours. Just do as I say.”

“Hold the sword, swing it, and let me be certain that those black wrappings are not the reasons

Simon’s lips could not help but twitch because he was actually about to come up with a lie or to manipulate everything into his favour, but Ormon already expected this from him.

He looked at the sword again, his brows furrowing deeply.

’And a single mistake of mine is going to expose one of my secrets.’

Simon could not see a way out of this no matter how hard he tried to think of a solution.

At the end of the day, he chose to blame himself and not the healers or Ormon.

If he had not made the mistake of choosing to hide some of his trump cards, if he had not made the mistake of allowing himself to get gravely injured, if he had not made the mistake of failing to account for the healers running tests on his body, he would not be in this situation.

At the end of the day, it was his fault, and he completely blamed himself.

If he chose not to do as Ormon said, it could lead to so many different scenarios and possibilities.

He could lose a potential backer.

He could lose one of the best fist instructors that could teach him in the academy.

And one scenario that worried Simon the most was the scenario where Ormon became greedy and decided to not allow him leave.

Just because Ormon seems to be a demon who does not really focus on getting stronger did not mean that Ormon does not have the desire to get stronger.

No demon who was half a step into the Demon Lord realm does not have the desire to get stronger.

Simon would not put it beyond Ormon to try and take the Chaos Wraps by force or if Ormon decides to torture him despite the fact that he has being extremely jovial to him.

One must not forget that Ormon was a demon, and that Simon trusted no man, demon, or god.

Sigh

He released a deep sigh, and without saying a word, he grabbed the sword and attempted to raise it.

However, he suddenly felt a heat travel across his elbow to his fingers, and in the next moment, the sword turned to ashes.

Simon looked at the ashes on the floor, and for some reason, he felt a little bit of grievance at the Chaos Wraps.

Holding the sword after so long felt nice, but the Chaos Wraps took that away from him.

It was like he had being blue balled.

He shifted his gaze to Ormon, and he saw the Raksha looking at the ashes on the floor with a baffled expression.