The Broken Halo

Despite blood gushing out of Simon’s severed arm, he didn’t make a sound.

He only clenched his teeth beneath his mask, and held in the pain. He looked at a tree behind him which had the shadow arrow and his arm pierced into it.

Simon’s eyes flickered with slight surprise at the power behind the arrow.

Suddenly, he felt a sensation in his shoulder and he looked at it.

His bones were reforming and so were his flesh and muscles.

UnholyRegeneration was healing his arm just like it did for his pierced chest, and it was taking so much of Simon’s demonic energy.

Simon frowned slightly, then he removed Blackblade’s sword from his chest, causing more blood to gush out from his chest.

’I wonder. Now that my arm has been severed along with the Chaos Wraps, how would the Chaos Wraps reappear on my arm?’

Simon could recall when he severed his right hand because of the Grave Mark.

Back then, the Chaos Wraps simply extended from his wrist and reformed itself around his newly formed hand.

But right now, his entire arm was severed, so he was curious as to how the Chaos Wraps was going to appear around his newly formed arm.

"Did you get this healing ability when you went to House Mercer? How did you even obtain it?"

Simon looked at Sunless who asked with a curious tone.

He tilted his head slightly, and his lips could not help but curl up.

"If you go back to your little hole and let us leave, I don’t mind telling you."

Sunless chuckled softly.

"Don’t worry. I’m not killing you right now, I still need to excavate more of your secrets."

Sunless glanced at Sonya, Akaza, then Merath and Jorra.

"Well, I’ll kill the others. They don’t interest me."

The expressions of everybody paled.

What could they hope to achieve against a being that’s comparable to a Demon King?

While Sonya and the others were afraid, Simon had a deep frown and his eyes flashed with a confused and thoughtful light.

"I’m curious about something though."

Sunless tilted her head curiously.

"And what is that?"

"Why are you still emitting the strength of an Archfiend? You don’t give off the pressure of a Demon King or a Half-Step Demon King... Is this a clone or an avatar?"

"Is your real body somewhere else?"

Simon believed that he was right in his assumptions because the aura he was sensing from Sunless was still that of an Archfiend.

Even the shadow arrow she released did not emit the aura of a Greater Demon, talk less of a Demon King.

’It’s highly probable that this is a clone, and the three Grave Lords are here to protect this clone.’

Sunless remained silent for a moment, then she laughed.

"Ohh, Blackmoon. This is not a clone. This is my true body. As for why I’m emitting the aura of an Archfiend, it’s because I don’t want to terrify you guys for now."

She paused and could not help but chuckle softly.

"Did you think that you could use that to your advantage? That maybe you could find a way to kill me?"

"I must commend that thought though, cause you have to be insane to have such thoughts when three Demon Lords are present."

She chuckled softly, and for the first time since Simon was stabbed in the back, she moved.

Boom!

It was just a step.

A single step.

But the moment she took that step, the whole realm seemed to shake.

Sonya, Akaza, Merath, and Jorra became extremely pale, their hearts skipped a beat, and their palms became sweaty.

Simon’s expression became grave.

Sunless’ heart rank and demonic energy had not changed, but the aura she emitted was so terrifying that Simon found it very difficult to move.

This was a fraction of the aura of a Demon King.

"My dear and sweet Blackmoon, you’ve had your fun."

"You took the Devourer’s blood essence, a powerful item that belongs to me. You killed Thorgan who was very valuable to me."

"You brought chaos into my academy. Well, I enjoyed watching that since it was actually exciting. The academy has been boring for many years, and I usually lose interest in it in the first few months."

"So, I don’t really have a problem with the chaos you brought into the academy."

Simon’s eyes could not help but narrow.

’So she’s always in the academy? Why?’

As Simon had this thought, Sunless continued speaking.

"You took control of my slaves. You destroyed several buildings and bridges of my clan. You destroyed one of my watchtowers, and..."

She took another step forward.

Boom!

"... And worst of all, you took the Winter Monkey from me."

Another step

Boom!

The world shook again, and this time around, Simon noticed something through ShadowSense.

When the world shook, the shadows also shook.

Not only that, all the shadows in their surrounding was moving toward Sunless.

This... gave Simon a bad feeling.

Just as Simon was pondering on this strange sight, Lilith spoke.

[Can you remember when I said I couldn’t see her heart and soul?]

Simon’s brows furrowed.

[Yes. I can.]

[Well, I’ve finally figured out the reason.]

Simon raised a brow.

[Which is?]

[She’s a Shadow Walker.]

Simon could not help but frown in confusion.

[What’s a Shadow Walker?]

[It’s a long story, but I’ll tell you briefly about them.]

[Shadow Walkers are entities of the shadow plane. A Shadow Walker is meant to be in the shadow plane and not in the material plane or any other plane of existence.]

Simon’s frown of confusion deepened.

He didn’t understand a thing that Lilith was telling him, causing Lilith to sigh.

[Don’t bother yourself about it. It’s a concept that’s too high level for you.]

Although Simon was extremely curious and interested in this high level concept, he knew that now was not the time to gain more knowledge.

So, he asked Lilith a very important question.

[Can you help me in this situation?]

Lilith replied.

[Yes. Just switch your soul with mine, and I’ll be able to help you.]