The Broken Halo

Caesar’s eyes flickered with surprise as he watched Simon swing the Chaos Blade at him.

Simon expected Caesar to react.

To either block, dodge, or attack him.

However, Caesar only stood in the same spot and did not make an attempt to block his attack.

Slash

Thud

Thud

Caesar’s head flew and landed on the floor with a thud.

However, Simon’s expression was ugly despite cutting off Caesar’s head.

Why?

Because the Caesar in front of him was a fake.

"So your hatred for me is this much? To the point that you don’t want to say a single thing to me?"

Caesar’s voice suddenly drifted into the ears of everybody, causing Simon and the rest to look at the severed head on the floor.

Simon had deeply furrowed brows as he looked at Caesar’s head which had roots coming out of its neck.

’Roots?’ Simon’s frown deepened.

The roots turned the head so that it would face Simon.

"Are you disappointed that you couldn’t kill me?" Caesar asked with a tinge of ridicule in his voice.

Simon did not respond.

Instead, he looked at the headless body of Caesar with a frown.

Despite having no head, it remained standing.

Simon could also roots in the severed neck.

It was extremely strange and creepy to look at.

He subtly glanced at Caesar’s brother, Korth who had not said a single thing ever since.

He only stared at him with a cold and indifferent gaze through the eye holes of his emerald mask with small thorn-like designs on it.

Simon’s eyes flashed with the light of realization as he observed Korth.

’He’s the same. This is not his true body.’

Simon looked at Caesar with a frown.

"Where is your true body? And what do you plan on doing?"

Caesar chuckled softly, then his headless body shrugged.

"I was about to tell you how cute it was watching Brama giving you inside information of my factions. I won’t lie, you took me by surprise when I learned that he became your slave, but that was all."

Before Caesar could continue, Simon cut him off.

"If this is what you want to tell me, then I’ll be on my way. I don’t have time for this nonsense."

Caesar smiled.

"Oh yes. Your magnificent escape."

He chuckled.

"Thank you for the chaos you brought in the clan. You’ve made it easy for me to leave. I’ll be using your escape route by the way."

Simon’s widened with surprise and disbelief.

"What?"

A bolt of realization suddenly struck him, and he looked in the direction of the destroyed watchtower.

"I guess you figured it out."

Just as Simon was about to look at Caesar’s head, Korth moved.

A crystal ball appeared in his hand, and he threw it up.

Simon looked at it with narrowed eyes, but what happened next made his eyes widen.

"Shit."

Bang!

The crystal ball exploded, and a bright flash of light was released above them.

Simon’s expression darkened when he realized what Korth just did.

It wasn’t an attack.

No.

It was a signal to the demons in the clan.

Their location was exposed to everybody that was searching for him.

"Goodbye, Broken Halo. Hopefully, somebody is able to kill you."

"Oh, and..."

The headless corpse suddenly threw something at Simon who used the wind to stop it midair.

When he saw what it was, he frowned.

"I’ll be giving you back this fake spatial ring. And don’t forget... What belongs to Caesar, belongs to Caesar and no one else."

"I always get what’s mine."

Simon’s head snapped in the direction of Caesar, then his eyes widened when he sensed a frightening and unsettling demonic energy in from Caesar’s headless body and Korth.

Without hesitating for a single second, he jumped to the back while coating his body with demonic energy.

He chose not to teleport because it would take some time, and time was something he did not have.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Caesar and Korth exploded, and the shockwave sent Simon flying and it nearly sent Sunless, Sonya, and the rest flying.

Simon controlled himself in the air while protecting his upper body with his arms, but his eyes suddenly widened when he saw something he didn’t expect.

In the exact spot that Caesar and Korth’s puppets self destructed, a wall of roots was now present.

The purpose of the destruction was not to kill Simon and the rest, but to summon this wall of roots.

"Tch."

Simon clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw this, then he looked to his left and right.

He could sense and even see dozens of demons running and flying toward them.

His Sky Eyes could see the killing intent and greed that was in the eyes of all the clan members that were approaching them.

Simon calmly shifted his gaze from them and stood to his full height.

Then he looked at his right hand for a second before pointing two fingers at it and raising them up.

Whoosh

A thing and extremely sharp wind blade shot out from his fingers, and his hand was severed from his arm.

He grabbed it, then he burned it to ashes using the chaos flames.

Sonya, Akaza, Sunless, and even Merath and Jorra had stunned expressions when they saw Simon do this.

It didn’t take long for them to understand why he cut off his hand since it was because of the Grave Mark which could be used to track him.

But they had questions.

If he planned on cutting off his hand, why didn’t he do it a long time ago?

Why was he doing it now when they were so close to escaping?

Was Simon going to cut off their hand too?

And what was that black flame?

What Sonya and the rest did not know was that without the Grave Mark, Simon would not be able to teleport around the clan like he did earlier.

There were formations that prevented clan members from teleporting in the clan, and there were formations that prevented outsiders from teleporting into the clan and around the clan.

The latter was more powerful, more thorough, and more advanced.

If Simon cut off his hand a long time ago, he dared not teleport like he had been doing since he would be branded as an outsider by the formations of the clan.

Which meant...

He looked at Sonya and the rest.

"We’re running and killing anything and anyone that stands in our way."