The Broken Halo

The difference between a Fiend and an Archfiend was not merely the quantity of demonic energy they possessed.

Neither was it merely the density of their Chaos Flame.

The true difference between a Fiend and an Archfiend was Chaos itself.

Every demon possessed Chaos.

Every demon possessed affinities.

The moment a demon awakened their Chaos Flame during their Coming of Age Rite, their affinities were born alongside it.

Some demons possessed fire affinity.

Some possessed shadow affinity.

Some possessed earth affinity.

Some possessed ice affinity.

And some possessed affinities that were far rarer and far more mysterious.

However, regardless of how powerful or weak the affinity was, one thing remained the same.

The affinity was dormant.

A Fiend could sense their affinities.

A Fiend could passively benefit from them.

A Fiend could even unconsciously influence them.

But Fiends could not truly wield them.

Only Archfiends could.

The path from a Burning Heart to an Infernal Heart was the process of awakening Chaos itself.

To advance, a demon had to enter the Chaos Flame Space.

Inside this space, the affinities within the Chaos Flame would manifest.

The demon would then have to seize control of those affinities and force them into the Chaos Flame.

One after another.

Only after successfully fusing the affinities into the Chaos Flame could the second stage begin.

Compression.

The demon would compress their Chaos Flame.

Not part of it.

Not most of it.

Every single part of it.

The entire Chaos Flame would be compressed into a single point.

The more affinities present within the Chaos Flame, the more dangerous the process became.

Because Chaos was not obedient.

Wind wished to remain wind.

Fire wished to remain fire.

Shadow wished to remain shadow.

Every affinity wished to exist according to its own nature.

Forcing them together was equivalent to forcing natural enemies into a cage and demanding they become one.

Many demons died during this stage.

Their Chaos Flame exploded.

Their Demon Heart shattered.

And their lives came to an end.

If the demon succeeded.

The compressed Chaos Flame would collapse inward.

The resulting implosion would engrave Chaos into every layer of the Demon Heart.

The Burning Heart would become an Infernal Heart.

And only then would a demon truly wield Chaos.

Inside his prison cell, Simon sat motionlessly.

His breathing was calm.

His expression was indifferent.

The increase in power he had just gained was immense.

His physical capabilities were now comparable to a Minor Greater Demon.

He had successfully devoured Elder Mulon’s Ice Affinity.

His heart rank had reached its limit.

And now...

It was time.

’Hopefully the Soul Mirror Demon elder arrives a little later.’

Simon closed his eyes.

Then his consciousness sank.

The prison cell disappeared.

The stone walls disappeared.

The chains disappeared.

The silence disappeared.

Everything vanished.

A moment later, Simon slowly opened his eyes.

He stood within a vast darkness.

An endless darkness.

There was no sky.

There was no earth.

There was no horizon.

Only darkness.

And Chaos.

’Hmm.’

Simon’s gaze swept across the surroundings.

Then he saw them.

The manifestations of his affinities.

A violent storm floated in the distance.

The storm was enormous.

Countless currents of wind collided against one another and formed gigantic cyclones.

The winds screamed like living creatures.

This was his Wind Affinity.

A silver crack floated in the darkness.

It stretched endlessly.

Like a wound in reality.

Space folded around it.

Distorted around it.

Anything that came close to it disappeared.

This was his Space Affinity.

A sea of shadows stretched endlessly beneath him.

The shadows moved.

They twisted.

They coiled around one another like black serpents.

This was his Shadow Affinity.

A frozen wasteland occupied another portion of the darkness.

Icebergs.

Blizzards.

Mountains of frost.

The temperature there was so low that even space seemed frozen.

This was his newt gained Ice Affinity.

And finally.

An endless inferno.

Black and orange flames burned without fuel.

The heat distorted the darkness around them.

His Fire Affinity.

Simon silently observed the five manifestations.

His expression remained calm, but his eyes narrowed slightly when he observed his ice affinity.

’My Ice Affinity is stronger than I expected. Should be high C grade.’

He could feel it.

His ice affinity was comparable to his shadow affinity.

Unfortunately.

His Wind Affinity was still the strongest.

By a ridiculous margin.

’The Sky Daemon Tiger is truly a master of the wind. And from what I can see, I’ve not even tapped into its true powers.’

Simon stared at the silver crack and the hurricane.

The spatial crack seemed calm, but the wind was definitely not.

Both gave him the greatest sense of danger.

Much more than the inferno.

Much more than the ice.

Much more than the shadows.

Wind was terrifying, and space was even more terrifying.

It was one of the reasons why demons possessing spatial affinity were so rare.

And so dangerous.

Simon withdrew his gaze.

There was no point thinking about it.

He had a breakthrough to complete.

Without hesitation, Simon stretched out his hand.

The storm immediately reacted.

BOOM!

The winds became violent.

Thousands of wind currents surged toward him.

The darkness shook.

Simon calmly stood where he was.

His Will spread outward.

The raging storm immediately resisted.

The winds slammed into his consciousness, and they tried to scatter it.

They tried to tear it apart.

They tried to disperse him like a ragdoll.

However.

Simon remained unmoving.

His Will was like a mountain, and his innate talent over the wind element was terrifying.

The winds howled.

The cyclones grew larger.

The resistance intensified.

Then...

The storm slowly began shrinking.

The gigantic storm became smaller and smaller.

The cyclones disappeared.

The winds became calmer.

Eventually.

The entire storm transformed into a sphere of azure light.

Simon stretched out his hand.

The sphere floated into his palm.

’First one.’

Without hesitation, he fed it into his Chaos Flame.

The dark silver Chaos Flame instantly trembled.

The azure sphere disappeared.

Then the Chaos Flame gained streaks of azure within it.

The flames danced more violently.

The surrounding darkness shook slightly.

Simon ignored it.

He shifted his gaze.

This time.

Toward the sea of shadows.

The shadows immediately surged upward.

They formed countless black tendrils.

The tendrils rushed toward him, and they tried to drag him into the darkness.

They tried to consume him.

They tried to drown him.

But Simon only frowned slightly.

’Annoying.’

The shadows became even more violent.

They sensed his disdain, or perhaps they were simply reacting according to their nature.

The darkness surged endlessly.

Simon took a step forward.

Then another.

Then another.

The shadows wrapped around his body.

They wrapped around his neck, around his arms, around his legs.

They tried to stop him.

They tried to consume him.

But Simon ignored everything.

His Will continued advancing.

A few moments later.

The sea of shadows began collapsing inward.

The endless darkness shrank.

It compressed.

It condensed.

It reduced.

Until only a black sphere remained.

Simon grabbed it, then he fed it into his Chaos Flame.

BOOM!

The Chaos Flame shook more violently this time.

Azure and black streaks appeared within the dark silver flame.

And the instability increased.

Simon’s eyes narrowed when he saw this.

’As expected.’

He could already feel the resistance.

And he had only fused two affinities.

Yet he was not worried.

Not yet.

His gaze shifted toward the inferno.

Then the frozen wasteland.

Then finally.

The silver crack.

His second strongest affinity, but the most dangerous affinity.

And perhaps...

The affinity that would cause him the most trouble during this breakthrough.

Simon’s expression remained calm.

However.

The gears in his mind were already spinning rapidly.

’Space is going to be very crucial for me.’

He stepped forward.

Toward the inferno.

The inferno reacted the moment Simon approached it.

BOOM!

Black and orange flames exploded upward like a volcanic eruption.

The darkness around the inferno distorted violently as waves of heat swept across the Chaos Flame Space.

Simon stopped walking.

The flames rose higher and higher until they formed a gigantic pillar that stretched endlessly into the darkness above.

’Hmm.’

Simon narrowed his eyes.

Unlike the Wind Affinity and Shadow Affinity, the Fire Affinity felt much more aggressive.

Much more destructive.

It wanted to burn.

That was its nature.

It didn’t care about control.

It didn’t care about stability.

It only wished to spread.

It only wished to consume.

The inferno suddenly surged toward him.

A tsunami of black and orange fire descended from above.

The heat was enough to melt steel.

Enough to turn ordinary demons into ash.

Yet Simon didn’t move.

The flames crashed into him.

BOOM!

For a brief moment, Simon’s figure disappeared completely.

The inferno swallowed him whole.

The darkness trembled.

The flames roared triumphantly.

Then Simon’s voice echoed from within the inferno.

"Is that all?"

The next moment, his Will erupted.

The sea of flames shook violently.

The inferno resisted.

It struggled.

It roared.

But Simon’s Will descended upon it like a mountain.

The endless flames began shrinking.

Ten thousand meters.

Five thousand meters.

One thousand.

One hundred.

Ten.

Eventually, the inferno compressed into a sphere no larger than a fist.

A sphere of black and orange fire floated before him.

Simon grabbed it.

The sphere struggled violently in his hand.

The flames tried to escape.

They tried to burn him.

They tried to break free.

But Simon’s grip didn’t move in the slightest.

A moment later, he fed it into his Chaos Flame.

BOOM!