The Broken Halo

The powerful gust of wind that blew into the shack made it creak and tremble violently, and for a moment, Simon wondered if the shack would be able to hold on.

’Don’t tell me we’re in a desert?’

As the wind blew into his face with so much sand, Simon could not help but ask himself this question.

“Let’s go.”

He suddenly heard Vexa’s voice in his ears, then he lowered his arms and looked at her.

The power behind the wind had reduced, but there was still a lot of sand flying around him.

His demonic energy protected his eyes and body, and he looked at his teammates and saw that they were doing the same as him.

They walked out of the shack, and Simon followed while making use of his wind affinity and Shadow Sense.

If there was an ambush laying in wait for him, he wanted to be ready for it.

’But they could have attacked me when Vexa opened the door cause I was caught off guard. Do they actually want me to complete the mission?’

’Just what is Caesar’s goal?’

The moment Simon stepped out of the shack, his guess was right.

’We’re really in the middle of a desert?’

All around him was sand on the ground and sand moving about in the air.

Aside from the shack behind him, there was absolutely nothing else in sight, and that was even after using his Sky Eye to look as far as he could.

“Where in the world are we?”

He looked at Vexa who closed the door behind him.

Now that she was wearing a mask, he could see her true appearance.

Vexa had sharp golden eyes with slit pupils that resembled those of a predator. Her dark crimson hair was tied into a rough ponytail, and several strands constantly fell over her face no matter how many times she pushed them aside.

Her features were sharp and wild rather than elegant, and there was a faint scar near her lower lip that made her look a little bit more dangerous.

Vexa looked at him, and just as she was about to speak, she raised a brow and looked at him from top to bottom.

“Not bad at all. You really are good looking. How can such a good looking boy like you be such a trouble maker?”

’Boy?’ Simon tilted his head slightly, then he decided to change the topic before it went in a direction he wouldn’t like.

“Where are we?”

Vexa shrugged and walked past him.

“I told you that I don’t know where this place is. This is how it is when you want to go for a mission.”

Simon raised a curious brow.

“What do you mean?”

Vexa pointed at a particular direction.

“That’s where we’re going to. We’ll talk on the way.”

Simon narrowed his eyes and tried to use his Sky Eyes to see what was in that location, but he saw nothing.

’Is it a trap?’

Though he was suspicious, he followed Vexa and the rest while remaining extra cautious.

“Whenever you leave the clan through a teleportation circle, you won’t be teleported to your exact destination. You’ll be teleported to a completely hidden teleportation circle, then you’ll have to go to another teleportation circle which would then teleport you to your desired location or a place close to it.”

“If where you’re going to is very far, you’ll have to use more than three teleportation circles.”

“The location for our mission is not far, so the next teleportation circle we’ll use is going to take us to the place.”

“Hmm.” Simon hummed softly after hearing Vexa’s words.

’It’s quite ingenious of them. It’s like a two factor authentication. If an enemy tries to use the third teleportation circle to have direct access into the clan, they’ll be teleported to one of these completely hidden locations.’

’And I’m certain that the clan has a security system in place to ensure that only members of the clan can teleport into the clan… Most likely through the Grave Marks.’

He glanced at his grave mark, then Vexa spoke.

“As for the mission, like I said earlier, we’re to kill a prodigy of House Mercer so that their rivals, House Vaelor can have peace of mind for a longer period of time.”

“House Mercer is not one of the six great clans, but they have some level influence in the demon realm that cannot be ignored.”

Vexa paused for a moment, then she continued.

“We have to assassinate the prodigy without leaving behind anything that would point to the Shadowgrave Clan as the culprit.”

“Normally, this would have been an easy thing for us to do, but the defenses House Mercer has placed around the boy is a lot.”

“There’s no way we can kill the boy without drawing the attention of House Mercer, and it’s not even certain that we’ll able to escape with our lives if we’re successful in killing the boy in his home.”

Simon could not help but give Vexa a strange look.

“And you guys think that I’ll be able to do what five of you can’t?”

Vexa chuckled softly.

“Of course not, but we’ve finally found an opportunity to kill him, and you’re the only one that fits the requirements.”

’I highly doubt that.’ Simon scoffed internally.

“What’s the opportunity?” He decided to ask.

“There’s an auction going on in Gondor, the capital city of House Mercer. We’ve gotten credible information that the boy is going to be attending, and because of that, House Mercer enforced a law that says only Fiends and below are allowed to attend the auction.”

“No Archfiend, Greater Demon, or Demon Lord is allowed to attend the auction. And this law applies to the boy’s guards also.”

Simon could not help but raise a brow.

’That’s quite a level of overprotection.’

“And what is the heart rank of the boy?”

“He’s a Supreme Archfiend.” Vexa replied.

Simon furrowed his brows with a thoughtful expression.