The Broken Halo

Black Midnight was calm and not in a hurry after seeing that Simon was not in the building.

He approached the blood on the floor and looked at it with a tinge of intrigue and suspicion in his eyes.

He then looked at the amber crystals that were emitting amber light all over the room.

"Hmm. It seems he was prepared for a scenario like this a long time ago. There’s no single shadow in this room."

Black Midnight shifted his gaze back to the blood on the floor, then his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Hmm. He injured them or one of them, and the injury was not light... I wonder why."

Black Midnight took another good look around, then he shook his head and sank into his shadow.

"I’m quite interested to see what the kid’s plan is."

Black Midnight chuckled softly, then he vanished from the bright room.

Meanwhile, in a completely different and far away location that was at the lower floors of the Shadowgrave Clan, Simon suddenly appeared in a room with Jorra and Merath.

The moment he appeared, the familiar voices of Sonya, Akaza, and Sunless filled the air.

"What the hell?" Sonya exclaimed with wide eyes as she stared at Merath.

"Oh fuck."

Even Akaza could not help but exclaim with a tone of shock, disbelief, and confusion.

Sunless’ had a stunned expression, but she was calmer than Sonya and Akaza.

As for Jorra and Merath, they were baffled as to what was going on.

Jorra looked around, noticing Akaza and Sunless, but not Sonya.

Merath could not see anything because of the pain, and after the initial shock and confusion wore off, her brain re-registered the burning pain in her eyes.

"Argg- hmm. Hmm."

Simon suddenly covered her mouth with his hand, preventing her from screaming.

When Jorra saw this, murder flashed in his eyes.

"What do you think you’re doing?! Give her-"

"Sonya, please shut him up." Simon cut Jorra off with an indifferent tone.

Sonya smirked behind her mask.

"With pleasure."

She raised her right hand, and a hand made out of earth rose from the ground and held Jorra’s face.

Jorra’s eyes widened, and he tried to dodge the hand but he couldn’t.

He was tied up by the Chaos Wraps and he was on his knees.

The moment the hand covered Jorra’s face, he froze.

His mind went numb at the immense disrespect and shame he had gone through in the past two minutes.

No one had ever treated him like this before.

While Jorra’s mind was spiraling with a million thoughts and emotions at the same time, Sonya dusted her hands and nodded with a satisfied smile.

She looked at Simon who was already pouring the temporary cure on Merath’s eyes.

The moment he told Sonya to act, he didn’t wait to see what was going to happen next.

He was on a time limit.

Once he was done with Merath, he removed his hand from her mouth and let go of her.

He completely ignored the relieved sound she made and stood.

His brows were tightly furrowed with a thoughtful expression as he paced up and down.

For some reason, the fact that Simon was pacing around with such a gaze did not make Sonya, Akaza, and Sunless to feel comfortable.

If anything, they were worried.

"What are we doing next, Broken Halo?" Akaza asked, but Simon did not give an answer.

His mind was on the revelation of the location of the Herald’s corpse.

He had actually not expected the Herald’s corpse to be located outside the clan’s ravine.

He believed that it was most likely in the dwelling of the Night Sovereign which was at the verge bottom of the ravine structure of the clan.

So many questions were going through Simon’s mind.

For example, why is the Herald’s corpse in such a place?

Why not keep it somewhere that was safer?

Why keep it in such an open space?

What was the withering tree he saw back during the trial?

Just as this question appeared in Simon’s mind, a bolt of realization struck him and he froze for a moment.

He clearly recalled the strangeness of the withered tree and the aura of death it radiated.

It was an aura that reminded him of the Demon King of Death, but now that he thought about it... what if the true source of the aura was actually the Herald’s corpse?

Was it buried underground?

What was the relation of the Herald’s corpse and the withered tree?

And last but not the least... should he take the risk and try to obtain the Herald’s corpse for himself?

Once again, Simon knew that he was being greedy.

Instead of escaping the clan as quickly as possible, Simon decided to kidnap and beat you Jorra and Merath, all because of the Herald’s corpse.

There were two reasons why Simon met Jorra and Merath, and did what he did.

The first is that he wanted the location of the Herald’s corpse.

The second is that he didn’t want them to obtain the Herald’s corpse.

The corpse of a Herald was an extremely valuable treasure, and allowing Jorra and Merath to have it was something he didn’t want.

Was he bothered that Jorra gave him false information?

Not really.

This was why he brought both of them with him.

If Jorra lied to him or if it turns out to be a trap, these two would be baits and shields for him to survive.

’My greed for power might actually kill me one day.’

Simon inwardly shook his head, then he looked at Akaza, Sonya, Sunless, Jorra, and Merath.

’The previous plan was to meet up with only Akaza, then kidnap Jorra and Merath like I did just now. Then I’ll obtain the location of the Herald’s corpse and move around with the three of them.’

’Now... I’m stuck with five children.’

’Teleporting five of them at once is going to be extremely tasking. But I have no other choice.’

’Fortunately for me, Black Midnight seems to be taking his time and he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to capture me... Most likely due to his immense confidence in himself and the clan’s security defenses.’

Simon’s eyes flashed with a cold light.