The Broken Halo

More than a month had passed between Simon’s meeting with Ivara and Sava and the morning Black Horn’s campaign bells began to ring.

And those days had not been quiet.

Three days after the meeting, Sava delivered the oath artifact Ivara had promised. The oath artifact was a mirror... Two mirrors to be exact. One remained with the Eastern Faction, while the other was brought to Simon.

The agreed clauses appeared across both mirrors as pale-red writing.

Simon examined every line carefully. He made Sava remove two phrases whose meanings were broad enough to become traps. Acting against Crownless Dawn became knowingly sabotaging an assignment after accepting its terms. Exposing the Eastern Faction was narrowed to identities and information gained through their agreement.

Only then did Simon press his thumb on a needle on the mirror so as to draw a drop of blood and his demonic energy into the mirror.

A black mark resembling a torn banner appeared briefly across his palm before sinking beneath his skin. The oath did not demand loyalty or obedience. It only enforced the agreement they had made. If either side violated one of its clauses, the offender’s demonic pathways would suffer a violent backlash, and the matching half of the artifact would reveal which clause had been broken.

Simon accepted that much.

At the same time, the observation surrounding him intensified.

Selan’s operatives continued watching Pipeline Inn, city guards passed through the street more frequently, and unfamiliar demons belonging to the White Crown’s retinue began appearing around places connected to Blackmoon.

The Lesser Demon wearing his face had outlived his usefulness.

Simon teleported into his room. He made sure to enter the bathroom which had its windows closed and no method for those watching him to notice anything from the outside.

He then teleported the Lesser Demon away after he removed the face-altering artifact on his face and changed his clothes.

To Black Horn, Blackmoon had never left his room.

With the duplicate gone, Simon relied on changing his face and appearance, teleportation, and brief mental illusions whenever he needed to leave unseen. On one occasion, a watching operative spent an hour believing Blackmoon was cultivating behind a closed door while the room was empty.

The new agreement with the Eastern Faction also began producing work.

Sava offered Simon several assignments, but he accepted only the ones whose danger and payment suited him. The rewards were modest- hell stones, information, and a few random things he believed would be useful for the invasion- but each task taught him more about how the Eastern Faction operated.

The first required him to discover whether a captured rebel courier had been transferred into the White Crown’s custody. Simon used a mild application of Hollow Gaze on an assistant healer, making the demon believe he had already received permission to discuss the prisoner’s condition. The courier had been moved before Ivara’s people could arrange a rescue, so the plan was abandoned.

Another assignment involved obtaining the revised roster of rune masters assigned to the rift’s outer anchors.

The third assignment required simple deception.

A temporary Eastern Faction hideout was about to be searched. Simon altered an information inside Black Horn’s records and made the investigators believe the warehouse of the rebels stood in another district. The mistake delayed them for half a day, which was enough for the rebels to empty the actual location.

He refused two other tasks.

One required him to interfere directly with an investigation of one of Prince Varen’s subordinates. The other involved placing an unknown object in a location that was heavily guarded because it was on the direct path to the rift. Simon rejected both before Sava finished describing their payment.

However, even with his help, the Eastern Faction could barely move.

The White Crown’s arrival had tightened Velmora like a hand closing around a throat. Clerks disappeared into questioning rooms. A rune master who had served Black Horn for decades was exposed as an informant. Two minor cells were broken apart, and one temporary shelter was raided less than an hour after its occupants escaped.

Simon understood why Prince Varen’s reputation inspired unease.

The Prince did not simply chase visible rebels. He forced them to change routes, forced the rebels to change their schedules, sealed important information inside smaller and trusted circles, and watched which demons reacted. Every adjustment forced hidden pieces to move.

Black Banner responded by reducing its activity.

For several days, the Murmur Bone produced no warmth or sound at all.

The Shadow Eyes Simon placed on Sava and Ivara provided less information than he hoped.

Before the connection was lost, he learned the locations of several rebel shelters. None appeared important. They were temporary rooms and replaceable meeting points designed to be abandoned at the first sign of danger.

He also learned that Sava and Ivara’s relationship extended far beyond master and subordinate.

One of the eyes followed them into a private room.

Simon saw enough bare skin, kisses, and wandering hands to understand exactly what they did together. The sight awakened a fire in his lower body, and several images remained difficult to forget afterward. He was a man, and one who had never experienced such things personally in this second life of his. Lustful thoughts were hardly surprising.

Unfortunately, the connection he had with the two demonesses ended because they both used a teleportation formation to move to an unknown and far location.

The formation self-destructed after, preventing him from going to its location and using it or learning its structure.

The rest of his time went into training.

Simon did not push his Infernal Heart beyond ninety-two percent. His elemental balance and bloodline evolution remained more important than forcing the final eight percent.

Instead, he refined his control over earth and his other elements, practised solidifying space, and worked on the Fury Tempest Art. He also trained with the sword.

Sonya helped him understand his new earth affinity.

Her method of teaching mostly involved insulting his senses, striking the floor without warning, and asking why he had failed to feel an attack she claimed the entire city should have noticed.

Akaza occasionally joined them, turning the lessons into sparring matches that damaged more than one rented training room.

A day before the invasion, the three entered an isolated training room.

Akaza stood near one wall with his arms folded, and at the centre, Simon faced Sonya.

Her bare feet pressed against the stone, her fists rose, and the entire floor seemed to lean toward her. Simon lowered his body and allowed the wind to gather around his limbs.

A wide smile appeared on Sonya’s face.

”It has been far too long since we last sparred, little kitty.”

She shifted one foot forward.

”I hope you have not become rusty and weak.”