The Broken Halo

Chapter 862 - 861: The Scent Of Victory

For an instant, the rotating broken black rings were reflected in Darius’s eyes. He narrowed them as a faint unease passed through his mind, different from the excitement that had been building with every clash.

His instincts warned him to look away. Darius grinned instead. He had finally found a demon, an opponent worth fighting, and whatever trick came next, he wanted to see it.

Flame burst beneath his boots as he rushed forward. The road cracked behind him, and his spearhead drew a white line toward Simon’s chest.

However, halfway through the charge, he stopped and sniffed the air.

Simon stood directly ahead, the Chaos Blade lowered beside him. But the strange scent that had fascinated Darius since their arrival came from somewhere else.

His left.

Bang!

Darius planted one foot and turned.

”Hehehe! Found you!”

The thrust sent a torrent of flame across what appeared to be empty ground, but a figure suddenly emerged beside it.

Simon had been walking toward him from that direction. He stepped outside the spear’s reach, and the wind carried the spreading flames past his shoulder. His expression remained calm.

The Simon standing farther down the road blurred. Its outline thinned into fog before disappearing.

”Illusions? You really are interesting,” Darius said with a delighted laugh.

He drew the spear back without taking his attention from the demon. Above him, the phoenix spread its upper wings, scattering sparks across the abandoned trench.

”You can fool my eyes,” he continued confidently. ”But you can’t fool my nose. I can smell you.”

Simon said nothing. The broken rings around his pupils turned again, and this time, Darius watched them.

”There!” He laughed louder. ”Those rings. That is when you do it.”

The demon’s outline remained perfectly clear, but his scent shifted. Darius did not hesitate. He swept his spear toward an empty stretch of road on his right, releasing a crescent of fire that cut a black groove across the scorched ground.

Simon appeared behind a ruined barricade and slipped around the burning edge.

”HAHAHA! Again!”

Darius pushed off the road and charged. The exhilaration running through him was almost painful. Simon had speed, strength, an extraordinary sword, strange and dangerous demonic energy, and now an ocular technique.

Yet his nose had saved him twice.

”No matter where you hide like a rat,” he shouted, ”I will always find you!”

Simon moved behind the barricade. Darius changed direction before his eyes finished following. Aether gathered at his spearhead, then burst outward as he thrust through the obstruction.

The barricade exploded, and the figure beyond it disappeared into the smoke.

Darius landed amid the debris and immediately turned his head. The familiar scent had shifted again, this time toward the embankment. He smiled through the blood drying on his lips.

The demon was fast. But each attempt to hide only told Darius where to attack next.

A current brushed the back of his neck. For an instant, the scent seemed closer.

Then he understood. Simon’s wind was carrying old traces around the battlefield. Of course it was. An illusion user who realised his trick had failed would try something else.

Darius dismissed the trail behind him.

Ahead. That was where the scent belonged.

Through the drifting smoke, he saw Simon standing beside a broken stone support. The black sword lifted slightly, and the rings in his eyes turned once more.

”Still trying?” Darius asked, his grin becoming cruel.

He dashed toward the visible figure, allowing fire to stream from his spear. Above him, the phoenix banked toward the same position.

Then Darius stopped so violently that stone burst around his boots.

His nose had found the real target. Not beside the support. Farther left, where the embankment curved around the end of the trench.

Darius turned his body and drew the spear behind his shoulder.

SKREEEEEE!!!

The phoenix released a pericing cry, then its lower wings folded inward, sending streams of white fire down around the weapon. Its silver head disappeared beneath the glare, while the deep-red shaft vibrated against Darius’ palm.

Heat pressed the smoke away from him.

He set his forward foot against the road. His hips turned, his shoulder followed, and the force gathered through his body until even the stone beneath his rear heel broke apart.

Then he threw.

WHOOOOOSH!!!!

The spear vanished from his hand.

A white streak ripped across the abandoned position, drawing the surrounding flames after it. The pressure overturned broken barricades before the weapon reached them. Loose stones rose, struck the burning trail, and burst into glowing fragments.

At the empty spot Darius had chosen, a pale face suddenly appeared.

Too late.

Darius grinned.

BOOOOOOM!

The embankment split open. A channel of white fire bored through it and erupted from the other side. Stone flew across the trench, hammering the opposite bank while the shockwave drove smoke and ash in an expanding circle.

Darius braced against the returning heat.

When the glare weakened, his spear remained buried at the centre of the destruction. A figure was pinned beneath it.

White hair hung over a lowered face. Black wrappings covered the arms lying against the broken ground, and the Chaos Blade had fallen just beyond one hand.

”There you are,” Darius said, exhaling.

His nose confirmed what his eyes had finally found. The strange demonic scent clung to the figure beneath the spear, unmistakable even through the scorched stone and boiling air.

”You should have kept using the sword.”

He began walking toward the embankment. The phoenix remained above the burning trench, its tails drawing loose flames back toward its body.

Darius wanted to see Simon’s expression. That indifference had irritated him more than the slap.

He took three steps before a cold pressure touched his back.

Puchi!

A black point emerged through the front of his armour.

Darius stopped.

For a moment, he stared at it without understanding. He knew the shape. He had watched that blade cut through his defences, and moments earlier he had seen it lying beside the demon ahead.

And the confusing part... It was still there.

His gaze jerked toward the embankment. Simon remained pinned beneath the spear.

Then Darius looked down again.

The Chaos Blade protruded from his chest.

Through his heart.

His mouth opened. Blood spilled over his lower lip before he could speak. The strength gathering through his limbs faltered, and his empty hand closed around nothing.

Someone stood directly behind him.

Darius could feel the presence. More horribly, he could smell it. The same scent. The same warning.

Yet part of his mind still insisted that it belonged to the body ahead.

”No...”

He tried to turn his head. The movement dragged against the sword inside him, and another mouthful of blood choked his next breath.

”My nose...” Darius whispered. ”You’re in front of me. Beneath my spear. I can smell you there.”

He swallowed the blood that was threatening to spill out of his mouth, his face twisting with disbelief.

”How are you behind me?”

Simon held the Chaos Blade steady.

”Your nose told you the truth,” he said calmly. ”I decided what it meant.”