The Broken Halo

The Murmur Bone remained silent after the connection ended.

Simon leaned against his chair and stared at the curved piece of black bone for several seconds. The red lines beneath its surface had completely faded, making it look no different from an ordinary piece of a demon’s remains.

However, the short conversation had given him several things to consider.

The first was the identity of the demoness.

The protected letter instructed the Third Eastern Warden to preserve the Murmur Bone and wait for the Second Claw to speak first if his cell was exposed.

That made it likely that the demoness was the Second Claw.

But it was only likely.

Not certain.

The Second Claw could have ordered a trusted subordinate to make contact. The demoness might have also distorted her voice just like he did, which meant the speaker might not even be a demoness.

Simon had altered his own voice with wind.

There was no reason to believe Black Banner lacked a similar precaution.

Still, whoever spoke possessed a great deal of authority.

She knew the Third Warden’s ’verification code’. She knew about the command seal and protected black hide, and she could offer Simon a task without first seeking permission from someone else.

At the very least, she stood close to the Second Claw if she was not the Second Claw.

Simon shifted his gaze toward the sealed letter.

The speed at which the eastern faction obtained information was a tad more concerning.

The Third Warden’s cell had only been destroyed the previous evening, yet the demoness already knew that the dead bodies of the rebels had been counted and that one talon, one of the vice-leaders, was missing.

Either a Black Banner member had remained close to the ruined district, or their informants had access to the reports of Velmora’s guards.

Perhaps both.

However, the demoness did not know whether the missing vice-leader was alive.

If she possessed someone high enough inside the Black Horn Office, Velmora’s guards, or another high ranking organization in Velmora, she might already know where the surviving Supreme Archfiend had been taken and whether he had spoken.

Unless the entire task was merely a test.

Simon’s fingers tapped once against the arm of his chair.

There were two possibilities.

The eastern faction genuinely lacked the information and wanted him to obtain it.

Or they already knew the answer and wanted to see what method he would use, what access he possessed, and whether his report could be trusted.

The second possibility could not be ignored.

Simon had to treat every part of the mission as both a task and a trap.

He needed to confirm whether the vice-leader was alive, discover where Velmora kept him, learn whether he had revealed anything, and kill him afterward.

The last part was the most difficult.

A surviving Supreme Archfiend connected to Black Banner would not be left inside an ordinary prison. His demonic pathways would most likely be sealed, and there was a high possibility that he was gravely injured after recalling everything Sonya told him and the rumors of the destrouction she caused.

It also meant that healers were most likely trying to keep him alive before the guards, Black Horn office, or any other interrogator could properly question him.

There would be guards.

Formations.

Suppression artifacts.

Perhaps even a Greater Demon on the level of Korran watching the interrogation.

Trying to force his way inside would be very difficult.

Fortunately, Simon had no intention of doing that.

His gaze moved toward the door.

Korran had ordered Sonya to appear at the Black Horn Office the following day and give a complete statement about everything that happened beneath the bathhouse.

The commander of Velmora’s guards might also be present. There was a chance, he was the demon overseeing the investigation, and the surviving vice-leader had most likely remained under his authority after being removed from the rubble.

That meeting offered Simon a natural way to obtain some information.

Sonya had fought the rebels.

She knew which one she left unconscious.

If the guards required her to identify the surviving demons or compare her account with their injuries and stories of the rebels, they might reveal whether the vice-leader had awakened.

Even if they did not, Sonya could ask about him without appearing suspicious.

It would be normal for her to wonder whether the demon she struck into a pillar survived.

The problem was Sonya herself.

Simon could already imagine her asking Korran whether the "ordinary demon" had woken up so she could finish beating him.

That might still work.

But it would draw more attention than necessary.

Simon considered telling her about the mission, then dismissed the idea for now.

Sonya did not need to know about his arrangement with the unknown demoness yet. She would ask why the eastern faction wanted the vice-leader dead, what Simon intended to gain, and whether she could kill him herself.

Worse, she might give something away when they were in the Black Horn Office. Sonya was not exactly the patient type or the type to care about such tiny little details.

’I’ll follow her to the Black Horn Office. Nobody would be suspicious about that.’

Korran already knew that Simon acted as the leader of the trio and handled the earlier negotiations. His presence would not appear strange, especially since the three of them had taken the same war oath.

He would listen.

Observe.

And allow the discussion to reveal what it could.

If Korran refused to mention the prisoner’s location, Simon would find another route.

He was Simon with quite a bit of strange abilities and resources in his repertoire.

One of these abilities and resources was Shadow Eye which would definitely be useful in this situation.

If he obtained access to the surroundings of the building the vice-leader was located, he could leave an Eye inside the shadow of a moving object or demon. Powerful formations might block the connection after the Eye entered, but that did not necessarily mean the Eye would disappear.

Once it left the protected area, the connection could return.

However, placing a Shadow Eye carelessly inside the Black Horn Office carried its own risk. Black Banner was not the only organisation with demons skilled in detecting hidden surveillance.

Simon would decide whether to use it after seeing the formations for himself.

As for the captive, killing him immediately would be a waste.

The Supreme Archfiend might know how the Third Warden normally communicated with the Second Claw, which cells answered to the command seal, what the coded words inside the letter meant, and more.

Simon needed information from him before fulfilling the demoness’s final order.

The eastern faction wanted a corpse that could no longer speak.

Simon wanted the words that would come before that corpse.

How he would obtain them depended on the captive’s condition.

Hollow Sky Eye could create an illusion and make the demon believe he was speaking to an ally. Eternal Mind Maze could trap his mind, but it was too dangerous to maintain inside a guarded location.

Pain was simpler, but a trained rebel on the level of a vice-leader might withstand torture, kill himself, or he might have something to use as a last resort.

There was no need to choose yet.

First, Simon needed to find him.

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