The Broken Halo

The demon panicked and became extremely terrified.

He didn’t know what to do, so he tried to circulate even more of his demonic energy once again, but it was to no avail.

Simon’s demonic energy remained in his body and the wind chaos left behind in his body made his flesh tremble.

He took a step back.

Then another.

His confidence was gone.

The earlier mockery on his face was gone.

Only fear remained.

”I... I surrender.”

His voice came out hoarse.

However, Simon watched him without taking a single step.

The Prime Archfiend looked toward the official outside the barrier, but the official did not immediately lower the barrier.

His surrender had been spoken.

The match was over.

However, Simon was not breaking any rules and everybody knew the end result.

The demon was not in his right senses, so he believed that once he surrendered, somebody would come and help him.

He believed that surrendering meant he would be able to keep his life.

Doesn’t Velmora need recruits?

Even if he was not among the talented ones and powerful ones, he still held some value.

Shouldn’t Korran and the other officials force Simon to expel his strange demonic energy from his body?

Unfortunately for the Archfiend, he held some value, but he was not valuable enough.

Also, nobody could perceive that Simon’s demonic energy was not easy to expel from one’s body.

In their eyes, the demon was so untalented to the point that he could not even expel the demonic energy of his opponent in order to prolong his life even by a few minutes.

Funny enough, this led to his value decreasing.

Countless chaotic thoughts ran through his head as his neck continuously bled, causing a pool of blood to slowly form on the ground.

”Help me.”

The Prime Archfiend pressed harder against his neck, but blood continued to pour out. His legs trembled, and he dropped to one knee.

”Help me! I surrendered!”

His voice cracked.

He looked at Simon again, and this time, there was no pride left in his eyes.

Only pleading.

”You... stop it. Stop the wind inside the wound. Remove your demonic energy. I surrender. I already surrendered!”

Simon looked at him with an utterly indifferent expression.

He did not move.

And he did not answer.

It was quite funny though.

He was kicked and insulted by this demon, but this demon lacked the ability to bear the consequences of insulting and mocking him.

Why in the world would he help the demon?

And if he was in the demon’s shoes, bleeding out like he was, Simon was a thousand percent certain that the demon would even mock him the more.

He might even be spat on.

The Prime Archfiend’s face became pale. His breathing turned wet, and blood began to spill from the corner of his mouth.

He tried to crawl toward the edge of the stage.

One hand remained pressed against his neck.

The other clawed at the floor.

”Please...”

His voice became softer.

”Please... help...”

His body trembled.

Then... his arm lost strength.

Thud

He collapsed on the stage, blood spreading beneath him. His fingers twitched a few times, then stopped moving completely.

The red barrier dimmed before disappearing.

The match was now truly over.

Simon stood where he was, his hand already lowered.

His expression had not changed from beginning to end. He looked at the corpse for a brief moment, and if anybody could read his expression, they would know that he was not satisfied.

The cut was deep, but not deep enough.

If he was in a better state, the first wind blade would have severed the demon’s neck in one strike. There would have been no begging, no crawling, and no wasted time.

But his body was injured.

His demonic pathways were damaged.

Even a simple wind blade could not carry the sharpness he wanted without him risking pain and worsening his condition.

Simon slowly turned away from the corpse.

’I wanted to end the match quickly but I could not even cut off the head of a mere Prime Archfiend with a wind blade.’

’How disappointing.’

Simon shook his head slightly and walked out of the stage.

The official looked at the corpse, then at Simon.

For a brief moment, he did not speak.

It was not because he did not know the result. Everybody knew the result. The Prime Archfiend had surrendered, but he had still died from an injury he received before surrendering.

Simon had not attacked after the surrender.

He had not broken any rule.

The official exhaled lightly and announced,

”Stage Four. Winner, Blackmoon.”

His voice spread across the compound, and the demons who had been watching finally reacted.

Some stared at Simon with strange expressions. Some looked at the corpse on Stage Four and felt a faint chill in their hearts.

The match had not looked as violent as some of the previous fights.

There was no tearing of limbs.

No crushed skull.

No desperate exchange of claws and teeth.

Simon had only used two wind blades.

But a Prime Archfiend had still died slowly, begging for help while Simon watched with an expression that was colder than the stage beneath his feet.

That kind of death made some demons more uncomfortable than a quick, brutal one.

At least with a crushed skull, there was no time to think.

But bleeding out while begging?

That was different.

A few demons remembered the Prime Archfiend’s words before the match truly began, and their expressions became even stranger. The demon had tried to get into Simon’s head, but in the end, he had only dug his own grave.

Sonya stood outside the stage with a cold smile.

The anger in her aura had not completely disappeared. She had heard what the demon said, and if Simon had not killed him, she might have looked for a way to do it herself later.

Akaza remained silent, but his gaze lingered on Simon’s arm for a moment.

He did not care about the dead demon. He cared more about Simon’s condition.

He knew that at the end of the day, if Simon was back to full health, he could learn more from Simon.

Korran Veyl also looked at Simon.

Unlike the others, he did not focus on the corpse for long. His attention was on Simon’s expression.

There was no pride, no excitement, and no satisfaction.

Instead, Simon looked slightly disappointed.

Korran’s eyes narrowed faintly.

A demon who killed a Prime Archfiend with two wind blades and still looked dissatisfied was either arrogant beyond reason or knew he should have done better.

Korran was beginning to think it was the latter.

The guards entered Stage Four and dragged the corpse away. The blood on the floor sank into the dark red runes, and the deep marks left by the demon’s claws slowly repaired themselves.

Simon returned to Sonya and Akaza without saying anything.

Sonya tilted her head slightly.

”Good job little kitty.”

Simon glanced at her but chose not to say a word.

Before any more words could be exchanged among the demons, the black plate in the official’s hand lit up again.

Several tokens glowed at once.

One of them belonged to Akaza.