The Broken Halo

"I never knew you had such good friends that were willing to die for you. I’ll make sure to make good use of their bodies."

Sunless’ fingers tightened around Simon’s neck, and a sharp pain spread through his body.

He could not move.

His arms were useless. His legs were useless. His demonic pathways were a complete mess, and even the simple act of circulating demonic energy felt like dragging broken glass through his veins.

Everybody thought he was useless and powerless. They all thought that even an Unawakened demon would be able to kill him in this state.

However... if that was the case, why would he tell Sonya that she should not worry about Merath and Jorra?

That he could deal with them in his current state?

And the reason for this is because his mind still worked.

His soul still worked.

And his eyes still contained the coldness and indifference that could shake the heavens.

Sunless looked at his indifferent eyes, and the hatred in her remaining flesh eye became even greater.

"Why are you still looking at me like that?"

Her shadow eye twitched strangely, and the shadow half of her mouth stretched wider.

"Do you think you still have a way out?"

Simon did not respond.

However, in his Sea of Consciousness, waves surged violently.

A massive structure slowly rose from the sea, and this structure was a maze.

A terrifying, complicated, and extremely strange maze.

It was a maze Simon had once seen and encountered in the Divine Realm in his past life. He had almost died in that maze. Even as a Demi-God, even as the Hero of Earth, even with all his experience, that maze had nearly broken his mind and left him for dead.

It was the most complicated maze Simon knew.

The walls of the maze were tall and without end. Some paths led upward, but when one walked them, they would find themselves descending. Some doors opened into the same corridor. Some turns led to places that did not exist. Some walls moved when one was not looking, and some passages seemed to stretch forever despite being only a few steps long.

Simon had not been able to perfectly recreate it.

Not yet.

But months ago, he had already started creating a copy of it in his mind.

And now, it was time to use it.

This was his trump card.

’Eternal Mind Maze.’

Simon’s eyes flashed with a dark light, and Sunless’ expression changed slightly.

For a brief moment, she saw something in Simon’s eyes.

A path.

No.

A corridor.

No.

A maze.

Before she could understand what was happening, the maze in Simon’s Sea of Consciousness trembled, then the maze vanished from his sea of consciousness.

A slowly rotating cube shot out of Simon’s eyes and entered Sunless’ mind through her gaze.

Sunless froze, then her fingers loosened around Simon’s neck.

Simon fell to the ground.

Thud

The impact caused pain to explode throughout his entire body, but Simon gritted his teeth and endured it. Blood flowed from the corner of his lips, but his eyes remained fixed on Sunless.

Sunless took a step back.

Then another.

Her remaining eye widened, and the shadow half of her body twisted violently.

Inside her Sea of Consciousness, the Eternal Mind Maze unfolded.

Sunless found herself standing in an endless maze of black, grey, and pale gold walls. The sky above her was absent, yet a strange light still existed. The corridors around her twisted and changed with every breath she took.

She turned left.

A wall appeared.

She turned right.

A passage became a pit.

She looked behind her.

There was no behind her anymore.

The maze was not trying to kill her.

No.

It was trying to confuse her.

It was trying to weaken her mind.

It was trying to make her lose the direction of her own thoughts.

Sunless’ body in the real world trembled.

"What is this?"

Her voice was low at first.

Then her remaining eye suddenly widened.

"No..."

The shadow half of her body began to shake violently.

"No, no, no, no..."

Simon narrowed his eyes slightly.

What was going on.

Why was she reacting like this?

Sunless slowly turned her head and looked at him.

Her gaze was no longer merely hateful.

It was furious.

Absolutely furious.

Her killing intent erupted like a volcano.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THIS TECHNIQUE?!"

Simon was stunned.

This was not the reaction he expected.

He expected anger. He expected resistance. He expected Sunless to be shocked that he was able to attack her even in his current state.

But he did not expect her to... recognize the technique.

It was obvious at a glance that Sunless recognized the Eternal Mind Maze.

But the question was... why was she furious about the technique itself?

Her expression became twisted and terrifying, and the shadow half of her face kept changing as though her mind was becoming unstable.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THE MAD SCIENTIST’S TECHNIQUE FROM?!"

"ARE YOU AFFILIATED WITH HIM?!"

Simon did not answer.

He could not answer.

First of all, he didn’t even know what to say. And even if he wanted to, his throat was still in pain from Sunless’ grip.

Sunless suddenly raised her hand.

A massive shadow spear appeared beside her.

But instead of shooting toward Simon, it shot toward the crimson barrier.

BOOM!

The spear struck the barrier and exploded into countless fragments of shadow.

The barrier did not shake.

Simon looked at the barrier and the remnants of the shadow spear with narrowed eyes.

Then he looked at Sunless and saw her grabbing her head with her flesh hand.

Then he realized that the Eternal Mind Maze was working.

She was weakened in every sense. Her mind was unstable, her body was severely injured, and most importantly, her emotions were no longer under control.

The Eternal Mind Maze was affecting her control over body, over her demonic energy, over her sense of direction, and even over her techniques.

This was why her aim was so off.