The Broken Halo

Simon’s corpse lay beside the eastern grate.

Black veins covered his neck and disappeared beneath the Hazard garment. His limbs were still, his chest no longer rose, and the light within his sky-blue eyes had faded until nothing remained.

A promising life had ended without ceremony.

At least, that was what the Fifth Needle saw.

The vice-leader stared at the corpse with slightly wide eyes. Confusion and fear passed through his expression.

He did not understand why Blackmoon had entered the chamber.

He also did not understand how a Minor Archfiend had infiltrated Black Horn.

He had so many questions, but everything was happening way too fast for him to comprehend. Ever since Sonya destroyed their cell, the world just seemed to be moving at super sonic speed in his eyes.

The Fifth Needle rose from beside Simon and looked down at him with open disdain.

"What a waste."

His tone contained no pity.

"A Minor Archfiend capable of entering this place, fighting above his rank, and with a frightening wind affinity."

He shook his head slowly.

"With patience, you might have become someone worth fearing."

Another heavy impact struck the main door.

BANG!

Fragments of stone fell from its frame.

The Fifth Needle glanced toward it before returning his attention to Simon’s body.

"But you mistook courage for strength. You found a game far larger than yourself and thought your arrogance would keep you alive."

A faint smile appeared beneath his mask.

"I wonder what the Iron Examiner will think when he finds your corpse here... Especially when you’re wearing a hazard officer’s uniform."

He shifted his gaze toward the treatment frame.

The vice-leader trembled.

The Fifth Needle approached him and pressed a thumb against the black needle already resting beside his neck.

"You did well."

The prisoner’s swollen eye moved toward him.

"You kept your mouth shut even after they recovered you. The Second Claw will remember that."

A trace of hope entered the vice-leader’s face.

The Fifth Needle noticed and chuckled softly.

"That does not mean you can live."

The hope immediately vanished.

"If Black Horn found you once, they can find you again. And if the Sleeping Commander’s demons are able to reach your mind, death will no longer be enough to protect what you know."

The vice-leader tried to speak, but the Fifth Needle didn’t give him the time nor the opportunity to do so.

The Fifth Needle pushed the black needle into his neck.

Puchi!

The prisoner’s body stiffened against the restraints.

Black-green veins spread from the wound and crawled across his swollen face. His fingers curled until his nails cut into his palms, while a weak rattle escaped his throat.

His eyes remained fixed on the Fifth Needle and one could see the fear and plea in his eyes.

He wanted to scream, but the voice acted fast and did not give one the opportunity to scream.

For several seconds, life continued fighting within it.

Then the trembling stopped.

The vice-leader’s fingers slowly loosened. The last breath left his body, and the fear in his eye faded into emptiness.

The Fifth Needle removed the needle.

Both targets were dead.

Another impact struck the main door.

BOOM!

The crack crossing its centre widened.

The Fifth Needle reached beneath his robe and removed a thin black scale. It was slightly longer than his palm, almost transparent, with a single silver line running through its centre.

A matching half had been placed inside one of the eastern faction’s hidden shelters before the mission began. Once activated, the two halves would briefly connect and form a road between their locations.

Both scales were powerful spatial artifacts, Semi-Calamity rank Artifacts to be precise.

They were artifacts meant for Half-Step Demon Lords.

The Scale did not force its way through surrounding space. It followed a path carved into it beforehand, allowing it to bypass most spatial restrictions and locking formations.

However, it possessed two severe limitations.

It could only carry one living being.

And after a single use, both halves would be destroyed.

That was why the Fifth Needle could not take Simon alive even if the main door had remained standing. Carrying another living aura into the passage would have caused the spatial road to collapse around them.

He channelled demonic energy into the Scale.

Crack!

The silver line split open.

A narrow tear appeared in the air before him. Darkness filled its centre, while thin silver lights moved along its edges like countless tiny teeth.

The Fifth Needle looked once at Simon’s corpse, then stepped into the tear.

Coldness swallowed him.

For a brief moment, the treatment chamber disappeared. He felt his body pulled through a narrow road where distance possessed no meaning.

Then his foot touched solid ground.

The darkness parted.

The Fifth Needle stepped out... then he froze.

He was still inside the treatment chamber.

The reinforced door remained before him. Poisonous mist continued drifting through the air, and the main entrance shook beneath another distant impact.

"What?"

He spun around in shock and confusion.

The spatial tear had vanished, and the Scale was still in his hands, but there were no cracks on it, showing that it had never been used.

The Fifth Needle stared at it in disbelief.

"That’s impossible."

A faint movement entered the edge of his vision, causing him to raise his head.

The vice-leader stood several steps away, and there were no restraints around him.

He was alive and healthy. Still somewhat injured but alive.

Aside from the fact that the vice-leader was still alive, what disturbed the Fifth Needle the more was the way he stared at the Fifth Needle.

Like he was looking at a madman.

The Fifth Needle’s thoughts became chaotic.

He had killed him.

He was sure he had.

He had watched the poison spread.

He had felt his body stop trembling.

So why was he still standing?

"What the fuck is going on?!"

Just as the Fifth Needle cursed out loud, the vice-leader’s expression suddenly changed.

His eyes moved past the Fifth Needle’s shoulder and widened with terror.

The Nethri Demon noticed this, but before he could turn, a hand covered in black wraps closed around the top of his head.

His body stiffened and he tried to move. However... he was too slow.

A black blade flashed across his vision.

Shiiing!

The Chaos Blade passed through his neck without resistance.

For half a heartbeat, the Fifth Needle remained standing.

Then a thin red line appeared beneath his jaw.

Dark blood gathered along it before spilling down the front of his robe. His head slowly separated from his neck, but the wrapped hand held it firmly and prevented it from falling.

His headless body swayed.

Blood surged from the open neck, staining the floor and disappearing into the black-green mist. His knees folded, and the body collapsed with a heavy thud beside the Scale.

The Fifth Needle’s eyes remained open, and the shock of his death and everything that just happened lingered within them as the final traces of life faded away.

The black wrapped hand turned his head slightly, and the last thing reflected in his dark-green pupils was Simon.

Alive, well, and standing without a single injury.

He held his severed head with a single hand covered in the Chaos Wraps while the Chaos Blade rested in the other.

There was no pain, anger, or satisfaction in Simon’s sky-blue eyes.

Only a cold and utter indifference.

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