The Broken Halo

”Vashar City.”

The moment Akaza read the words on the signboard, the surroundings became silent for a few seconds.

Akaza looked at the direction the signboard pointed toward, then he glanced at Simon from the corner of his eyes.

”Do you know this city?”

Simon looked at the moss-covered signboard for a few seconds, then he slowly shook his head.

”No.”

He tried recalling if he had ever seen Vashar City in one of the books he read in the library, but he couldn’t remember reading about such a city.

Maybe he did, and he had forgotten.

And this would not be strange since he did not have the ability to record or recall every single thing he saw.

Akaza looked at Sonya, and Sonya shook her head too.

”I’ve never heard of it either.”

The three of them were not too surprised.

The demon realm was vast, and there were countless cities, tribes, territories, and settlements. It was impossible for them to know every single city in the demon realm, especially a city that looked like it was most likely not important as Gondor City.

Simon stared at the signboard for a little longer, then he looked at the dirt road.

”That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

Akaza raised a brow.

”How is entering a city none of us know not a bad thing?”

Simon replied calmly.

”If we don’t know much about it, then the chances that the Shadowgrave Clan has strong influence here might be lower.”

”If they did, we would have been taught at one point or the other.”

Akaza was silent for a moment, then he nodded slightly.

”That makes sense.”

Simon closed his eyes briefly, then he spoke again.

”Before we enter, we need to clean ourselves up a little. The chances of us being questioned and inspected in a city where we’re strangers is very high.”

It was not abnormal for a group of demons to enter a city injured. Demons loved to fight, and injuries were a normal thing.

But if a group of injured demons who were strangers and even Archfiends were to enter a city?

There was a very high chance that these demons would be questioned and inspected.

Akaza looked down at himself.

His clothes were torn in several places. Blood covered his chest, his lips, his chin, and the stump where his right hand used to be. Dirt and dried leaves clung to his body, and there were several bruises on his skin.

Sonya was not any better.

Her face was still slightly swollen from Sunless’ slap, blood stained her clothes, and her missing right hand had already stopped bleeding, but the sight of it was still not something one could easily ignore.

As for Simon...

He looked like a corpse that had been taken out of a battlefield.

Akaza released a dry laugh.

”We look like survivors of a war or a massacre. Damn it. Even if we tell them that we’re like this because we survived the wrath of a Demon King, they won’t believe us in the slightest.”

Sonya glanced at him.

”It’ll actually be a hassle to be interrogated.”

Akaza sighed.

”True. I just want a place I can sleep.”

Simon raised his left hand slightly. Or rather, he tried to raise it.

His hand moved by less than an inch before a sharp pain spread through his body.

He stopped so as to not make his situation worse.

His eyes became colder, not because of anger, but because of frustration.

The feeling of not being able to move his own body properly was something he hated, and anybody would hate.

”You guys should clean up in the river.”

Sonya glanced at him.

”What about you?”

Simon raised a brow.

”I can’t do anything in this state, and you guys are definitely not cleaning up my body.”

Akaza chuckled.

Simon ignored him and continued speaking.

”Sonya, you can just put me on an earth slab and slide me into the water so that some of the dirt would be gone.”

”If you guys don’t want to see each other’s nakedness, then Sonya should create two pathways for the water in the river to flow toward you guys, and then you should create a wall of earth that would cover you guys from being seen.”

Sonya blinked, then she looked at Akaza.

”You’re actually useless, you know that right? You’re not even helpful in this situation.”

Akaza’s lips could not help but twitch, and this time around, he had had enough with Sonya always taking a jab at him.

”It’s not like there’s any point in hiding your nakedness. There’s literally nothing to see. It’ll be like bathing naked with another man... only without a dick.”

Simon blinked in surprise, then he looked at Sonya who was deathly quite and who had an expressionless face.

’Oh Akaza. You’ve fucked up.’

Simon could clearly sense that Sonya was angry, and that Akaza was going to suffer.

’It’ll be a good... Wait... He’s carrying me.’

Just as Simon had this thought, Sonya vanished from where she stood and instantly appeared in front of Akaza with a deathly cold and utterly indifferent gaze.

Her only fist moved toward his face with a deathly precision.

Akaza expected this, so his lips curled up slightly.

He was about to increase the gravity around him so as to catch Sonya off guard.

However...

”You fool.”

Simon spoke, baffling Akaza.

And a fraction of a second later...

BAM!

A powerful force landed on the side of Akaza’s face even when Sonya’s fist had not touched him.

She used the Broken Rhythm Art, and Akaza flew like a broken ragdoll into the river.

Simon fell asleep Akaza flew, causing him to cough out another mouthful of blood.

He cursed both Akaza and Sonya inwardly, and he could not help but wonder if these two brats were going to kill indirectly kill him before an enemy did.

”Say such words in your life again and I promise you that your balls would suffer the consequences.” Sonya said with a cold voice.