The Broken Halo

The movement near Wagon Seventeen belonged to a guard.

At least, that was what the demon appeared to be.

His armour carried Velmora’s insignia, and blood covered one side of his face. He crawled between two corpses with one hand pressed against his ribs, stopping whenever the ground shook or a Crag Hound passed nearby.

To everyone else, he looked like another wounded soldier trying to escape the battle. However, Simon’s senses told him something different.

The demon’s movements were too careful rather than weak. Every time he dragged himself forward, he used the smoke, screams, and fighting demons around him to hide the sound of his movement.

He was not moving toward the healers like how an injured demon should. Instead, he was moving toward Wagon Eighteen.

Simon’s eyes became colder.

The Prime Calamity Crag Hound pushed itself up with its remaining good foreleg and snapped at Akaza. Simon stepped in, struck the side of its jaw with his palm, and released enough wind to turn its head away.

"Left," he said.

Akaza moved immediately and drove a gravity-filled fist into the beast’s wounded shoulder.

The Crag Hound roared, but Simon’s attention never completely left the false guard.

The demon slipped beneath Wagon Seventeen, crossed the narrow space between both wagons, and reached the open rear compartment of Wagon Eighteen.

At the same time, Dessa swept one hand forward.

A wall of water struck two Crag Hounds rushing toward Core Twenty-Two. The water shattered against the hot road and became a thick cloud of steam that covered the rear of Wagon Eighteen.

It looked completely natural, but Simon knew that it was not.

Dessa had done that on purpose and given the impostor a smoke screen.

Through SkyEye, he watched the false guard rise inside the steam. The demon reached into the compartment, and a dull grey spatial ring flashed on his finger.

The round case disappeared first, then the two narrow black cases vanished one after another.

The road’s bones had been stolen.

Simon could have stopped him.

A blade of wind would have taken the demon’s hand before the third case entered the ring. A spatial pull could have dragged the cases away, while one warning would have brought every nearby guard down upon him.

However, Simon did none of those things.

Black Banner needed the materials to continue Crownless Dawn, and Simon needed Crownless Dawn to continue.

He turned his body toward the Prime Calamity Beast and drove his fist into another glowing crack, making it appear as though his entire attention remained on the battle.

The false guard dropped from the compartment and began moving back through the steam.

For several seconds, nobody noticed, then Pela’s sensory strands suddenly stiffened.

Her head snapped toward Wagon Eighteen.

"Wait."

The steam shifted, revealing the blood-covered guard climbing from beneath the wagon.

Pela stared at him, and her eyes widened.

"I saw you die."

A corpse lay near Wagon Seventeen with the same face, the same armour, and the same broken insignia across its chest.

Pela looked from the corpse to the living guard, then her gaze moved toward the open compartment.

"The cases are gone!"

Her scream cut through the noise around the central wagons.

Several Black Horn guards turned at once.

The impostor abandoned the act.

He rose to his full height and ran toward the left ridge. A dark light wrapped around his legs, causing every step to carry him farther than the last.

"STOP HIM!"

"THE CARGO!"

"BLOCK HIS PATH!"

Soldiers and recruits moved after him, but Crag Hounds still filled the road. Two beasts crashed into the pursuing guards, while several rebels descended from above to protect the thief’s escape.

The sudden alarm disturbed Core Nineteen’s rhythm.

Akaza looked toward Wagon Eighteen.

Sonya’s head turned toward Pela’s voice.

And the Prime Calamity Crag Hound felt the change.

Its pain-filled eyes shifted between the three demons surrounding it. The black runes around its neck flickered, and one of them broke beneath the damage spreading through its body.

For the first time since descending from the ridge, survival overcame its madness.

It slammed its wounded shoulder into Akaza.

BANG!

Akaza crossed his arms, but the force sent him skidding through the broken road.

Crack!

The sound of broken bones echoed in the surroundings, and Akaza gritted his teeth through the pain.

The beast swung its tail toward Sonya. She felt it through the ground and jumped, yet the rushing air still threw her sideways.

Simon moved to intercept its head.

The Crag Hound did not attack him.

It turned sharply, crushed two weaker crag hounds beneath its paws, and fled toward the same left ridge the impostor had chosen.

Its collapsed foreleg made its movements uneven, but terror and fury drove it forward. Each leap carried it over corpses, broken wagons, and fighting demons.

Simon watched it go, then his eyes flashed with a calculating light.

The thief carrying the cases was escaping toward the left ridge.

The wounded Calamity Beast was creating a path through everything between Simon and that ridge.

It was the excuse he needed.

Simon ran after it without hesitation.

"Little kitty!" Sonya shouted.

Akaza forced himself upright and immediately followed.

"Both of you stay behind," Simon ordered without turning around.

Sonya’s expression darkened.

"You want to chase a Calamity Beast alone?"

"Protect Wagon Eighteen and whatever cargo remains."

"The cases are already gone," Akaza said.

"That does not change our assignment!"

Simon glanced back at them as he ran, the wind effortless carrying his voice to them through his exceptional control.

"Black Horn ordered Core Nineteen to protect this wagon and the surrounding wagons. If all three of us abandon it now, we will be the first demons they investigate."

The words stopped Akaza.

Sonya remained visibly unwilling. Her fingers curled, and the ground beneath her feet cracked softly.

Simon’s voice became colder.

"Stay there! That is an order!"

Akaza looked toward the fleeing beast, then toward the damaged wagon. Finally, he stayed without showing any intention of moving forward.

Sonya clicked her tongue, but she also remained beside Wagon Eighteen.

Simon turned and slightly increased his speed. He had taken only a few steps when Sonya suddenly froze on the spot.

Her eyes flickered, then she crouched and pressed one palm against the fractured road.

The colour drained from her expression.

"Little kitty!"

He looked over his shoulder.

Sonya’s pale eyes faced the ground, and for the first time since the ambush began, there was no excitement in her voice.

"Something is wrong!"

Beneath her palm, the entire road under the central wagons began to move.

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