The Broken Halo

Chapter 1001 - 1000: What Was Hidden

Simon remained beside the table, thinking about Lilith’s words.

He didn’t like what she had done. But after setting that aside, he couldn’t deny that she had a point.

His friends had fought beside him for decades. His wife had shared his life. He had trusted them so completely that, when they turned against him, he hadn’t been prepared.

Then he had made the same mistake with his mother.

He remembered how thin she had become while feeding him. How she had worked to keep them alive. He had seen all of that and believed there was no possibility of her ever betraying him.

Yet she had sold him.

His jaw tightened before he forced it to relax.

The problem wasn’t that he had cared about them. It was that he had never considered what he would do if they stopped caring about him.

Now he expected betrayal from almost everyone.

Even when Lilith helped him, he searched for what she might eventually demand. When she stayed quiet, he wondered what she was hiding. She had noticed, and he doubted she was the only one.

He pulled out the chair and sat.

He couldn’t continue like this forever.

If he wanted to reach the heights they had discussed, he would need connections. People who could find resources, bring him information, and fight when he was occupied elsewhere.

Was he supposed to interrupt his cultivation whenever some weakling caused trouble?

And when he was injured or exhausted, there would be times when he needed someone to protect him. He had already needed that more than once.

’Then enslave them.’

The thought came easily.

He had done it before. With stronger mental techniques and poisons, he could make it harder for those under his control to resist.

But that would give them a reason to hate him from the beginning. He would have to keep checking their restraints and wondering what they might do if someone offered to remove them.

An enemy might even help them escape his control just to have them turn on him.

Simon rubbed his jaw.

Enslavement was useful, but building every relationship around it would leave him watching his back even more closely than he did now.

He wanted people who had reasons to remain with him even when he wasn’t threatening them.

That didn’t require him to become careless.

He would make sure he remained much stronger than those he gathered around him, and he would keep some abilities to himself. Especially anything that could save his life when an opponent thought he was finished.

Knowing how he usually fought shouldn’t mean knowing everything he could do.

His gaze lowered toward his chest.

Then there was Lilith.

She lived inside him. She watched his battles, knew his habits, and understood powers he still struggled to use. Even reaching his current strength hadn’t put him in a position where he could confidently deal with her.

She knew his identity now, too.

Meanwhile, he still didn’t know who she wanted revenge against.

How was he supposed to keep anything hidden from someone who could look through his memories?

Simon frowned.

There was something wrong with that.

The One had failed to enter his mind and soul. Simon remembered the intrusion passing through his flesh almost effortlessly, then struggling when it tried to reach deeper.

Something had stopped it.

He hadn’t known what, and surviving had left him no time to investigate.

Could Lilith get past something that had resisted The One?

[Lilith. When we fused so you could fight Sunless, did you see all my memories?]

[No. Only a few from your previous life. Enough to know who you were and what happened to you.]

He straightened slightly.

[What about now? Can you go through them whenever you want?]

[No, Blackmoon. There’s a power protecting your mind and soul. I can’t get through it.]

Simon looked down at his hands.

So she had encountered it too.

[But you got past it when we fused?]

[Partly. Our minds were joined while I was controlling your body. That let me see a few memories, but I couldn’t search wherever I wanted. Most of your life was still hidden from me.]

He considered that.

Simply living inside the Chaos Blade hadn’t been enough. She had needed the closer connection that came with taking over his body, and even then her access had been limited.

[Do you know what that power is?]

[No. I couldn’t find its source either.]

Simon was quiet for a while.

He had seen enough strange things happen within his body that several possibilities came to mind. He couldn’t choose one merely because it sounded reasonable.

[You’re telling me the truth?]

[Yes.]

Her answer came without hesitation.

He studied the black wraps around his hands, keeping the relief from his face.

If she was telling the truth, there was still somewhere he could keep things private.

It didn’t erase what she had already seen. Nor would he assume she could never find another way in. But she wasn’t sitting inside his heart reading every thought he had.

He hadn’t realised how badly he had wanted that confirmed.

His mental techniques offered a possibility.

Lilith had seen the attacks he used and knew about the books he had studied. That didn’t mean she could watch every change he made while working inside his sea of consciousness.

He could improve a technique there without immediately showing her the result.

Soul techniques were another possibility, although he knew too little about them yet.

Anything he eventually used in front of her would cease to be much of a secret. He would have to remember that and keep a few methods unused until he truly needed them.

It wouldn’t make him capable of fighting her now.

But it gave him something to work toward if their relationship ever turned against him.

Simon leaned back, feeling less tense than before.

He could accept her help while making those preparations. He could do the same with the others, allowing them responsibilities without surrendering every secret he possessed.

Sonya and Akaza had followed him here. They deserved to be judged by what they actually did, rather than whatever he imagined they might someday do.

When Enigma returned, Simon would listen to what he offered.

He might refuse. He might find something worth accepting.

There was no need to decide the man intended to harm him before hearing the terms.

The possibility of betrayal would remain at the back of his mind. After what he had experienced in both lives, he doubted it would ever disappear completely.

But he didn’t have to treat it as a certainty.

That would take practice. One conversation with Lilith wasn’t going to undo everything his wife, friends, and mother had done to him.

Still, he could begin.

Simon stood and crossed to the bed.

For now, he had a room where he could examine himself without someone trying to kill him halfway through. He had put off doing so long enough.

The power protecting his mind hadn’t prevented every injury. He had felt pain even while The One’s perception struggled to enter. Whatever the protection was, he needed to understand what it could actually do.

What its source was.

And why it was there.

He sat on the bed, resting his hands upon his knees.

There was no point spending any longer guessing.

It was time to find out what was hidden within his mind and soul.