The Broken Halo

(Inside Black Horn Office)

The black cup shattered in Korran’s hand inside Black Horn’s command room.

Dark liquid spilled between his fingers and struck the command table, but none of the officials inside the room dared to look at it.

Their attention remained fixed on the enormous image covering the far wall.

The main view came from a Glass-Eyed Demonic Eagle circling high above the cracked lands. A round observation crystal had been fixed beneath the flying beast’s chest, allowing everything it saw to be transmitted back to Black Horn.

Six smaller images floated beside it. Those came from recording crystals worn by Black Horn officers scattered across the convoy.

Together, they showed the narrow road from above and from the ground.

They also showed the Furnaceback Centipede tearing down the left ridge.

Korran slowly opened his hand. Broken pieces of the cup fell onto the table.

”What is that beast doing there?”

Nobody answered immediately.

A senior beast examiner standing beside the wall swallowed before speaking.

”The last scouting report placed it beneath the Deepfire Caverns . That is several days away from the convoy route.”

”I read the report,” Korran said.

His tone was quiet, but the fury beneath it made the examiner lower his head.

”The beast should not have been anywhere near those ridges.”

A Black Horn intelligence officer looked at the image of rebels and soldiers retreating from the same creature.

”It doesn’t appear to belong to Black Banner. Their Greater Demons are just as surprised as ours.”

Korran’s eyes remained on the projection.

”I can see that.”

The explosive arrows, the collapsing ground, the maddened Crag Hounds, and the repeated attacks against the ridges had most likely disturbed tunnels that had remained sealed for years.

Black Banner had not brought the centipede. They had simply been foolish enough to wake it.

However, that distinction did nothing to improve Korran’s mood.

On the image, the Half-Step Abyssal Beast lowered its massive body and began charging down the broken ridge.

Directly in its path were the wounded Prime Calamity Crag Hound, Blackmoon, and the false guard carrying the three stolen cases.

Korran’s gaze shifted toward a metal compass resting beside the command table.

Thirty-five pale lights moved across its surface, representing the wagons.

Hundreds of smaller lights represented the marked cargo.

Three crimson points had separated from Wagon Eighteen and were now moving toward the left ridge.

The thief still had the cases. He had not given them to another person, and this was supposed to be a success.

Every cargo container in the convoy carried a hidden tracker-like beads. Korran had not known which materials the eastern faction intended to steal, so he marked everything that could tempt them.

Medicine.

Formation resources.

Spatial materials.

Stabilisation cores.

Even several crates filled with hell stones and ordinary materials were marked.

The beads were concealed inside the containers rather than attached to the outside. Once one entered a foreign spatial ring, it would leave a faint imprint on the ring itself. The matching compass could follow that imprint even after the original bead was discovered and destroyed.

Each container also carried a backup tracking rune beneath its inner lining.

Black Banner could remove one tracking, but removing both without opening the cargo and studying it carefully would be far more difficult.

Korran had never intended to stop every thief and rebel.

He wanted one to escape with whatever they stole.

The hidden pursuit unit waiting beyond the cracked lands would follow the marked spatial ring and cargo from a distance. If the thief passed the cases to another demon, the imprint would move with the ring or become active again when the cargo entered a second storage space.

Eventually, the stolen cargo would lead Black Horn to an eastern cell.

Perhaps several.

And if fortune favoured them, it would lead to one of the eastern faction’s important bases.

Very few demons among the convoy knew the truth.

Most soldiers believed they were protecting the materials.

The recruits believed this was a live assessment.

Even several convoy commanders had been told to recover the cargo at any cost.

Their ignorance made the trap believable.

So did their deaths.

Korran had known some recruits, soldiers, and guards would die when Black Banner attacked. He had accepted that before the convoy left Velmora.

The spatial materials were needed to hasten the rift’s opening, but losing them temporarily was a price he was willing to pay if it allowed Black Horn to tear open the eastern faction from the inside.

The cargo could be recovered afterward.

Dead recruits could be replaced.

A hidden rebel network that had infiltrated Black Horn could not be allowed to survive.

However, none of that mattered if the thief died beneath the Furnaceback Centipede.

One of the crimson points on the compass shook violently.

The intelligence officer noticed it too.

”If the centipede crushes the carrier, the spatial ring might survive.”

”Damn it,” Korran clenched his fist.

The officer fell silent.

The beast could swallow the demon. It could drive him into one of the burning fissures. The spatial ring could be destroyed, buried beneath the ridge, or taken by a panicked rebel or demon who was part of the convoy, and would then flee in the wrong direction.

Worse, the Half-Step Abyssal Beast could destroy the convoy before the eastern faction withdrew.

The carefully placed trackers, the hidden soldiers around the empty hills, and the pursuit team would all become useless.

Korran stared at the projection as the centipede’s hundreds of legs tore through the ridge.

”This was not part of the plan,” one of the relay officials whispered.

Korran looked at him.

The demon immediately wished he had remained silent.

”You’re wrong,” Korran said sarcastically. ”A building-sized Half-Step Abyssal Beast was definitely part of the plan.”

Another official looked between the three crimson lights and the approaching creature.

”Should we order Kavren and the others to disengage from the rebels?”

”They are already trying,” Korran replied. ”The rebels know that if our Greater Demons break away, their ambush would collapse. They will not let them leave easily.”

”And the recruits?”

Korran’s eyes briefly moved to Blackmoon.

A Minor Archfiend stood directly in the path of a creature comparable to a Half-Step Demon Lord. Even if Blackmoon possessed more secrets than his rank suggested, this was not an enemy he could stop.

The plan had reached the point where preserving the hidden pursuit no longer mattered.

Korran wiped the spilled drink from his hand and looked at the communication officer beside the door.

”Send the private order.”

The official stiffened.

”Vice Commander... are you certain?”

Korran’s gaze returned to the Furnaceback Centipede.

It opened its four jaws as it charged toward the thief, the Calamity Beast, and Simon.

”Tell him to come out,” Korran said coldly.

”Before that thing turns the convoy into a burial ground.”