The Broken Halo

’His body has finally reached its limits.’

Lilith felt that it was a shame that Simon’s body was giving up at this point.

She had just killed the physical body of Sunless and she has also located Sunless’ soul.

They were close to truly killing Sunless, but Simon’s body could not take those last few steps.

’A shame indeed.’

As she fell head first to the floor, she looked down with a calm and indifferent gaze.

If she crashed to the ground with Simon’s current state, he would either die or his injuries would become worse.

She wanted to make sure that Simon landed properly before she handed control of Simon’s body back to him, but she struggled to even move a single finger.

She frowned.

[Let me take control of my body. I’ll handle it.]

Although Lilith was not sure if Simon would be able to do anything with the current state of his body, she knew that he was not foolish and incompetent.

So, she closed her eyes and gave Simon back his body.

Simon’s eyes opened once again, his sky-blue feline slit eyes and the broken black ring glowed for a brief second.

The moment Simon regained control of his body, the first thing that hit him was pain.

So much pain that Simon nearly blanked out because of the magnitude of it.

However, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay awake despite the pain.

Though, he could not help but release a deep and painful groan.

He then closed his eyes, and he started interacting with the wind.

Though his body was beyond wrecked, his wind affinity was extremely high and he could control it to a certain extent with his mind.

At some point, the speed of Simon’s descent began to slow down and it started looking like he was using a parachute.

The wind gently brought Simon to the floor, and by the time Simon’s back touched the floor, he was surrounded by Sonya, Akaza, Merath, and Jorra.

They were more about ten meters away from Simon.

They stared at him with wide eyes that were filled with wariness, awe, suspicion, and confusion.

Simon opened his eyes, and he frowned deeply due to the pain all over his body.

It was a pain that would cause many humans and demons to fall unconscious as a safety mechanism.

And this was a testament to Simon and Lilith’s mental resilience and pain resistance.

’I can’t even circulate my demonic energy properly. My demonic pathways are a complete mess.’

’How was Lilith able to use my body to fight? It’s like trying to control a broken puppet.’

Simon was slightly amazed, and if not for the urgency of things, he would have taken his time to inspect his body.

Fortunately for him, Devour and UnholyRegeneration were working hand in hand to heal his body.

With Devour, he was passively absorbing the demonic energy in the air, and this provided the demonic energy that was needed for UnholyRegeneration to heal his body.

However...

’It might take me months before Unholy Regeneration is able to heal my body even with my current proficiency.’

’Her power... is beyond what I expected.’

Simon released a soft sigh, or at least, he tried to.

Then he spoke, though his voice was cracked and rough like a human who had been shouting for days nonstop.

"Can one of you please carry me. I can’t move my body."

Sonya, Akaza, Merath, and Jorra looked at one another.

The wariness in their eyes did not fade away despite his words.

"Little kitty?"

Simon sighed... or he tried to.

"I’ve told you so many times to stop calling me little kitty."

Sonya’s eyes flashed with a strange light, then she took a step forward.

"How do we know that it’s you and not that powerful ghost that possessed you?"

Simon’s lips could not help but twitch, and even Lilith’s lips twitched too.

’Calling Lilith a ghost is not wrong, but at the same time... it feels wrong.’

If Simon could chuckle, he would. But he didn’t have the energy for that.

"Just come and carry me Sonya, or Akaza. Jorra and Merath should not carry me. I don’t trust them."

The two demons and two daemons looked at one another, then they looked back at Simon.

They were still cautious.

The power Simon or the being inside Simon used against Sunless was permanently imprinted in their minds.

That power... It terrified them.

As for Simon, he was getting frustrated.

"Oh for fuck sake. If I was still possessed, why would I need you guys to help me?"

"Fucking carry me and take me to the withered tree. Sunless is still alive. The more time you waste, the lower our chances of killing her."

This time around, Akaza approached Simon.

He looked at Simon’s sorry state, and he could not help but shake his head.

"You look terrible."

Simon looked at him, though he found it extremely difficult to move his neck, he still did it.

"Yeah. Better than being dead at least."

Akaza chuckled beneath his mask.

"I’m tempted to kill you honestly. I doubt I would have such an opportunity like this in the near future."

Simon’s smile could not help but freeze.

Though he was still smiling, his smile did not reach up to his eyes.

His eyes were slowly becoming cold.

He subtly forced his demonic energy to circulate around his body despite the pain.

But in the next moment, Akaza removed his mask and threw it on the floor.

"Don’t worry, I won’t kill you."

He turned his head and looked at the destruction all around him with a complicated expression.

"I didn’t know you had this sort of power in you."

Simon closed his eyes and wanted to shake his head, but he hissed as a sharp pain erupted throughout his body from that small attempt.

Akaza chuckled softly.

"Even if it’s not your power, your body did this destruction around us, and... I want this sort of power too."

Akaza’s eyes gleamed with desire and a heavy determination.

He crouched, then he carried Simon who grunted and cursed the martial demon for not being gentle.

"I believe that instead of killing you now, I can become this powerful if I follow you. So, I’ll follow you and have my revenge later."

Akaza grinned as he carried Simon on his back.

"Let’s go to the withered tree and kill the soul of a demon king."

Unknown to Akaza, a demon king was a terrifying entity for a reason.