The Broken Halo

Before the Furnaceback Centipede swallowed him, Simon had created two ShadowEyes.

The first rested beneath Wagon Eighteen.

He had placed it inside the darkness beneath one of the damaged wheels when he began chasing the Prime Calamity Crag Hound. The wagon, Sonya, Akaza, and most of the central battlefield remained within its sight.

The second Eye had been formed a heartbeat before the centipede’s jaws closed on him.

When the beast’s enormous shadow covered Simon, the false guard, and the Crag Hound, his own shadow touched it. A tiny black pupil opened inside the darkness beneath one of the centipede’s front segments and moved with the beast.

Blackmoon had disappeared from the battlefield but Simon had not stopped watching it.

Inside the Furnaceback Centipede, heat and darkness pressed against him from every direction.

The creature’s throat was wide enough to swallow several demons together, but its muscles tightened constantly, attempting to crush everything it had consumed and force it deeper.

Burning liquid dripped from the walls.

Each drop hissed when it touched Simon’s layer of compressed wind and space.

The Prime Calamity Crag Hound had already been reduced to broken armour plates, meat, and blood. Simon kept the rebel thief close with a current of wind, preventing him from being dragged farther down.

The demon was barely conscious, and that was fine.

Simon needed the cases inside his spatial ring, not his cooperation.

UnholyRegeneration closed the wound across Simon’s shoulder while he divided his attention between both Shadow Eyes.

Through the Eye beneath Wagon Eighteen, he saw Sonya tear through the battlefield and strike the Furnaceback Centipede’s eye.

Through the other, he saw the beast turn toward her.

Then the centipede charged.

Simon’s expression became slightly colder and darker.

’This fool. Why didn’t she just listen to my orders like Akaza did?’

As he had this thought, the four jaws opened around Sonya at an extraordinary speed and was about to grant her the same fate as the dead Crag Hound.

However, something suddenly landed between them.

A golden clawed hand caught two of the outer jaws, and the impact travelled through the centipede’s entire body. Even inside its throat, Simon felt the beast stop so suddenly that the surrounding flesh tightened like a fist.

His ShadowEye shifted with the centipede’s moving shadow, and the demon standing before Sonya entered Simon’s view.

He was enormous.

Even among the large demons fighting around the convoy, he stood out like a wall built in the middle of a road. His shoulders were broad, his chest was thick, and his arms carried the heavy shape of someone who could crush stone without needing demonic energy.

Black armour covered almost his entire body.

It was thickest around his chest, shoulders, forearms, and legs. The pieces did not belong to one clean and matching set. Some were larger, some were older, and several carried cracks or deep scratches from past battles.

Yet nothing looked carelessly assembled.

Every plate protected exactly what it needed to protect. The uneven armour made him look less like a knight and more like a fortress that had been rebuilt after every war it survived.

Dark chains were wrapped around his waist and right arm.

Both hands were covered by heavy black gauntlets, but the one stopping the centipede had changed. Its plates had opened, and a much larger dark-gold claw covered the gauntlet beneath them. Five thick metal fingers gripped the creature’s jaws, each ending in a sharp golden talon.

The most striking part of the demon was his helmet.

It completely covered his head and face and had been shaped like the head of a Blood Jaguar, a demonic beast known for its powerful bite and violent temper.

The helmet possessed a wide metal mouth filled with sharp teeth. Two short horns curved backward from its sides, while dull yellow eyes stared through narrow openings above the jaws.

From a distance, it looked as though the Blood Jaguar was biting down on the demon’s head.

The strange helmet should have made him look ridiculous.

But it did not.

Combined with his size and armour, it made him look like a beast of hell and the abyss that had learned how to stand like a demon.

And despite the weight covering him, his stance remained relaxed. One foot rested behind the other. His free hand hung loosely beside him.

He had stopped a charging Half-Step Abyssal Beast with one arm, yet his body did not appear strained.

Simon stared through the ShadowEye.

’Did Korran hide an armoured building inside the convoy?’

The thought was ridiculous.

It was also the simplest way to describe what he was seeing.

The Furnaceback Centipede screamed and pushed forward, causing the armoured demon’s boots to sink into the fractured road.

Cracks spread behind his heels, and he was forced to move back half a step.

Only half a step.

Shock moved through both sides of the battlefield.

A wounded soldier forgot the blood running down his face as he stared.

”The Armor King...”

A nearby recruit’s eyes widened.

”That’s him?”

One of the rebels on the right ridge became pale.

”Why is the Biggest Kev here?!”

The name travelled faster than the title.

”Biggest Kev!”

”The Armor King was part of the convoy?!”

”Black Horn hid the Biggest Kev inside the convoy!”

Even a few Crag Hounds nearby recoiled from the struggle between the two monsters.

Simon’s expression became strange.

’The Biggest Kev?’

He looked again at the massive demon holding back the centipede.

’That name should sound stupid, but... why does it fit him perfectly?’

The Biggest Kev tightened his golden claws.

Metal shrieked against the centipede’s jaw plates. One of the beast’s outer jaws was forced wider, exposing the softer flesh beneath it.

The Furnaceback Centipede thrashed its head, but the armoured demon moved with it instead of releasing his grip. His chains struck his armour, and his black plates groaned beneath the pressure.

Sonya remained behind him, one hand pressed against the road.

She could not see the demon who had saved her, but she felt his weight, the steady force travelling through his legs, and the impossible resistance stopping the creature in front of her.

”Who are you?” she asked, still breathing hard.

The demon turned the Blood Jaguar helmet slightly toward her.

Before he could answer, the centipede screamed again and tried to close all four jaws around his arm.

A deep laugh rolled out through the helmet’s metal teeth.

The sound held no fear.

If anything, he sounded pleased.

The Biggest Kev faced the Half-Step Abyssal Beast again. Simon could not see the face beneath the helmet, but he could hear the grin in the demon’s voice.

”Come on, big worm,” he said as his golden claws dug deeper into its jaws.

”Let’s see whose armor breaks first.”