The Broken Halo

Simon dismissed the two Shadow Eyes he had created during his earlier experiments.

The strange black eyeballs closed, transformed back into shadow runes, and slowly dissolved. The fragments of mental energy contained within them returned to his Sea of Consciousness without causing him any discomfort.

A few moments later, Simon created another ShadowEye and left it in the shadow of the door of his room.

If anybody entered the corridor or approached his room, he would know.

Simon then reduced the range of Shadow Sense to a hundred meters radius around him. The sensitivity and perception he received after reducing this range was a lot higher compared to the seven hundred meters range.

’Not bad at all.’

ShadowSense through the walls, floor, and nearby rooms. Simon sensed no hidden presence, unfamiliar aura, or demon secretly listening to him.

And only then did he lean back in his chair with his eyes closed.

Before he could rest or delve into his thoughts, Lilith’s voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

[Why don’t you continue with your original plan?]

Simon’s fingers stopped moving against the arm of the chair.

[Which one?]

[Locating isolated settlements belonging to Two-Horned Demons and killing everyone inside them.]

Lilith’s tone was casual, as if she were asking why he had abandoned a route during a journey.

[Black Banner has a Prime Demon Lord as its leader. Two other Demon Lords serve beneath him, and the organization has existed for more than two hundred years.]

She paused briefly.

[Compared to them, an isolated settlement should be much easier to deal with. You could wait until you become stronger, find one without a demon that’s beyond you, destroy it, take the hearts, and leave before anyone discovers what happened.]

Simon looked at the Murmur Bone on the table.

[That was my original plan because I knew nothing about Crownless Dawn. Plans are made according to the information available at the time. Clinging to one after the situation changes is not persistence. It is stupidity.]

Lilith remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.

Simon’s first difficulty was obvious.

[Locating those settlements will not be easy.]

When he first arrived in Velmora, he planned to gather information about isolated settlements of Two-Horned Demons throughout the Darkness Kingdom. However, such places were called isolated for a reason.

They were rarely marked on common maps.

Many avoided major roads, trading cities, and territories controlled directly by the ruling clans of the kingdom. Some settlements moved every few years, while others existed within mountain ranges, underground regions, dangerous forests, or areas filled with powerful beasts.

Even rumours about them would not be easy to obtain.

Simon had planned to build a reputation in Velmora, gain access to merchants, wanderers, restricted auctions, and demons who dealt in information. Once enough demons considered him useful or important, he could begin asking the right questions without immediately attracting suspicion.

That alone could take years.

[I estimated that obtaining reliable information on one suitable settlement might take two or three years. Perhaps longer.]

[You could force the information out of someone,] Lilith replied.

[If I knew who possessed it, I would not need to spend years searching for it.]

A merchant might have heard of a hidden Two-Horned settlement without knowing its location. A wanderer might know the road but not the current state of the settlement. A captured demon that dealt with information might deliberately guide Simon into a trap.

Rumours were not enough.

Before attacking, Simon would need to know the settlement’s location, population, protectors, formations, alliances, escape routes, and the strength of its leaders.

A mistake would not merely waste his time.

It could expose his purpose and that would lead to even more problems.

Lilith considered his words for a moment before speaking again.

[But you know that one settlement could still give you all the hearts you need.]

[That is unlikely.]

Simon rested his cheek against his fist.

Aside from the six main tribes, most demonic tribes contained between one thousand and three thousand demons. An isolated settlement might have a similar population, or it might be even smaller.

But a settlement controlled by Two-Horned Demons would not necessarily contain only Two-Horned Demons.

Stronger demonic races often allowed weaker races to live beneath them as servants, miners, farmers, beast handlers, craftsmen, and ordinary workers. Those weaker races could form most of the population while the Two-Horned Demons remained above them as rulers and warriors.

A settlement with two thousand inhabitants might contain only two hundred or three hundred Two-Horned Demons.

Perhaps fewer.

[Even if I find a settlement with more than a thousand inhabitants, there is no guarantee that nine hundred and ninety-nine of them will be Two-Horned Demons.]

[Then destroy several settlements.]

Simon’s lips curled slightly.

[That creates the next problem.]

One settlement might provide a few hundred hearts.

Another might provide less than a hundred.

If the numbers were unfavourable, Simon might need to destroy five, seven, or even more than ten settlements before meeting Lilith’s requirement.

Those settlements would not be located beside one another.

One could be hidden in the northern part of the kingdom, another beneath the eastern part of the kingdom, and another within a region that took months to cross without the right beast or artifact.

Spatial teleportation would not solve everything.

Simon needed to know the destination before teleporting. Crossing enormous distances also consumed demonic energy, and unknown formations or unstable space could interfere with the journey.

Every settlement would require scouting.

Every attack would consume resources.

Every battle would carry the possibility of injury, escape, or unexpected reinforcement.

[The time and resources required would be enormous,] Simon continued. [And I would need to destroy every settlement completely.]

Lilith laughed softly.

[Since when has a massacre troubled you?]

[It does not.]

Simon’s expression remained indifferent.

Killing thousands of demons was not the issue.

Allowing one to escape was.

If news spread that an unknown demon was destroying villages, tribes, and settlements controlled by Two-Horned Demons, the incidents would eventually form a pattern.

Even if he took all the corpses so as to not leave a trace, the smart demons would notice the pattern with time.

The Darkness Kingdom might initially send Archfiends or Greater Demons to investigate. If more settlements disappeared, the matter could reach the royal clans or one of the kingdom’s Demon Lords.

Simon would no longer be hunted by a tribe, city, or clan.

He would become a wanted enemy of the strongest kingdom in the demon realm.

[To keep the secret, I would need to kill every demon in each settlement. Not only the Two-Horned Demons. Every servant, traveller, merchant, beast handler, and child who might have seen me.]

[You could disguise yourself.]

[True. With the help of Hollow Sky Eye, I might be able to deceive many demons or maybe even all the demons, but there’s also the possibility of my disguise failing. If there’s any survivor, they’ll remember my abilities, weapons, and techniques. Even without my face, repeated massacres with the same pattern would attract attention.]

There was another problem.

Isolated did not mean defenceless.

A settlement that survived far from the protection of a city usually possessed something that allowed it to survive. It could have strong defensive formations, a powerful Greater Demon leader or Demon Lord, dangerous terrain, or a relationship with a noble clan that collected tribute from it.

Some settlements might be hidden precisely because their inhabitants possessed powerful enemies.

Others might be secretly protected because they supplied rare materials, slaves, beasts, or information to powerful demons.

Destroying one could offend someone Simon had never heard of.

Lilith remained silent for several seconds, then she asked the obvious question.

[And Black Banner is safer?]

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