The Broken Halo

The fight was not a fight.

It was a slaughter.

Inside the carriage, Mira and her companions watched in silence.

They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They already knew that Akaza was strong, but this...

This...

This was beyond their expectations.

They couldn’t help but think of their fates if they were the ones facing Akaza.

The thought caused a chill to spread across their spines.

Sonya rested her chin on her palm and watched lazily.

Simon leaned against the side of the carriage and said nothing.

The bandit leader finally moved.

"Enough!"

His voice was filled with anger, and the demonic energy around him surged. He was a Supreme Archfiend, and the two demons beside him were also Supreme Archfiends.

One controlled ice.

One controlled lightning.

And the leader controlled earth.

The ice user waved his hand, and several thin ice spikes shot toward Akaza. At the same time, the lightning user appeared at Akaza’s side, his body covered in crackling arcs of electricity. The leader raised his hammer and slammed it into the ground.

Bam!

A wave of earth rushed toward Akaza.

For the first time, Akaza stopped walking.

The gravity around him twisted.

The ice spikes slowed in the air. The lightning user’s speed dropped sharply, and the wave of earth sank into the ground as if an invisible hand had pressed it down.

Akaza turned toward the lightning user first.

The lightning user tried to retreat, but Akaza was already in front of him.

A fist landed on his chest.

BAM!

The lightning around his body scattered, and he flew backward with a broken chest.

The ice user tried to control the spikes again, but Akaza pointed two fingers downward.

The ice spikes crashed into the road.

Akaza appeared before him and struck his throat.

The ice user staggered back while holding his throat.

He was choking, but Akaza didn’t care.

He followed with another punch to his heart.

Bang!

He died standing.

The bandit leader’s face finally changed.

He gripped his hammer tightly and roared, causing earth armor to cover his body. His hammer glowed with a light brown demonic light.

Akaza looked at him calmly.

BOOM

The leader rushed forward and swung the hammer with both hands.

Akaza did not receive the hammer directly.

He stepped closer instead.

The hammer passed above his shoulder, missing by a small distance. Before the leader could pull it back, Akaza’s fist landed on his abdomen.

Bang!

The earth armor cracked.

Spit!

The leader spat blood.

Akaza punched again.

Bang!

The armor broke apart.

The third punch landed on the leader’s chest.

Boom!

The leader flew back and crashed into the ground.

Bang

He tried to stand, but the gravity around him increased. His arms trembled, his knees sank into the road, and his eyes widened in fear.

Akaza walked to him with an utterly indifferent gaze.

The leader opened his mouth.

"Wai-"

His words were cut short. Akaza stepped on his head, then he applied some pressure while increasing the gravity around his feet.

In no time...

Crack

The head of the bandit leader was crushed like that of a water melon.

The remaining bandits froze, then they turned and ran.

Akaza did not chase them.

He only raised his hand.

Ohm!

The gravity around the fleeing bandits suddenly dragged them to the ground. Some crashed face-first into the road. Some fell to their knees. Some screamed as their bones cracked under the pressure.

Akaza walked past them one after another.

A punch.

A stomp.

A palm strike.

In less than a minute, silence returned to the road.

Akaza looked around once, then turned and walked back to the carriage.

The driver stared at him as if he was looking at a monster. He was shocked and shaken to the core.

He had seen Supreme Archfiends before, but he had never seen one kill three Supreme Archfiends and more than twenty bandits while looking so bored and making it look like he was killing chickens.

No.

Even chickens would have put up a better fight than these bandits.

Akaza stopped near him.

"We can move now."

The driver flinched, then nodded quickly.

"Y-Yes. Right away."

Akaza entered the carriage and sat down again.

Sonya glanced at him.

"You took too long and you’re so boring. You didn’t even make it entertaining."

Akaza looked at her.

"Fights are not meant to be entertaining."

Sonya shrugged.

"They are. At least if you die while fighting, then you know that you had some fun before dying. Every fight you fight should be entertaining."

Akaza ignored her, not wanting to get into an argument with her.

Mira, Devia, Brukk, and Orven stared at him with stiff expressions.

Simon did not even open his eyes fully.

The carriage began moving again, passing through the bloodstained road.

Simon looked at the corpses on the road, then he spoke.

"Sonya. Dispose of those corpses."

Sonya raised a brow, but she did as Simon said.

She closed her eyes, then she snapped her fingers.

In the distance, a massive and deep hole suddenly appeared beneath those corpses, and in the blink of an eye, the corpses fell into the hole.

A few seconds later, the ground moved and the hole was covered.

"Done." Sonya said with an indifferent expression.

Simon nodded without saying anything.

The carriage became silent once again, but Mira, Devia, Orven, and Brukk were now more wary than ever before.

Staying so close to Akaza who just slaughtered over twenty bandits without breaking a sweat made them feel like they were next on the chopping board.

Devia, Orven, and Brukk could not help but wonder just how strong Simon and Sonya were.

As for Mira, she was extremely curious to know just how strong Simon was for him to be the leader of Akaza and Sonya.

What in the world had Simon gone through?

Why were Sonya and Akaza so obedient to him?

Who exactly were they?

And what had her friend brought to this world?

----

[A/N: The title of this volume is The Three Calamities.]