The Broken Halo

The Furnaceback Centipede did not stop after striking the ground.

Its long body continued sliding through the cracked lands, breaking stone and throwing burning dust into the air. Inside its throat, Simon was dragged across hot flesh while the creature’s muscles tightened around him.

He pressed one foot against the wall and pulled the unconscious thief closer with the wind.

The demon’s arm had twisted badly during the throw, but the dull grey spatial ring was still on his finger.

That was what Simon mainly cared about.

As for why he was still keeping the rebel alive, it was because he wanted to question him.

Through the ShadowEye beneath the centipede, he watched the enormous beast force its hooked legs into the ground and bring its sliding body to a stop.

Far behind it, the Biggest Kev stepped out of the trench he had created.

Simon’s expression became thoughtful.

’He did not overpower the centipede with strength alone. His armour, gauntlet, chain, and something else that increased his weight all worked together.’

Kev had changed weapons without hesitation, anchored himself against a creature larger than a building, and used its own body as leverage. None of his movements possessed the skill of a true weapon master, but every weapon had served its purpose.

That made him more dangerous than an ordinary brute.

Worse, Kev had not appeared desperate yet.

He had not used anything Simon could confidently call his strongest attack.

’If he continues pressing the beast like this, it will either die in front of the observation eagle or be torn open while everyone is watching.’

Neither result helped Simon.

The Furnaceback Centipede needed to escape.

It needed to burrow deep enough that the Glass-Eyed Demonic Eagle, the recording crystals, and the demons on the battlefield could no longer see it. Only then could Simon take the thief’s ring, copy his face, and continue the mission as the Outsider.

The beast pushed itself upright.

Stone flowed over the cracked plates along its body, sealing some of the damage the Biggest Kev had caused. Its hundreds of legs dug into the earth, and a low metallic growl travelled through its throat.

Simon felt the vibration through his entire body.

Then the Biggest Kev moved.

Bang

The ground beneath one of his steps burst apart.

He crossed the distance far faster than a demon his size should have been capable of moving. A section of his armour along his back opened, and a long black spear slid into his waiting hand.

Kev caught it near the centre.

There was nothing refined about the way he used it.

He lowered the point, charged through the dust, and thrust it at the centipede’s wounded eye like a soldier trying to pin a beast to the ground.

The Furnaceback Centipede twisted its head.

One outer jaw struck the shaft and knocked the spear aside, while its front segments curled around Kev. Dozens of hooked legs stabbed toward him from different angles.

Kev released the spear with one hand and covered his face.

Several legs scraped across his armour. Others struck his shoulders and chest hard enough to create deep dents in the road beneath his boots.

He did not fall though.

Dark-orange fire suddenly covered his free gauntlet.

The flames compressed around the black metal instead of spreading wildly, and Kev drove that burning fist into a gap between two of the centipede’s head plates.

BOOOOM!

Thick flames entered the opening.

The Furnaceback Centipede screamed and pulled away. The fire did not overwhelm its natural resistance, but the sudden heat inside an already damaged wound caused the plate around it to expand and crack.

Kev seized the spear again and struck the weakened edge with its butt.

A large piece of armour broke free.

Inside the beast, Simon and the thief were thrown against the opposite wall due to the force of the Armor King’s attacks.

The thief woke with a broken cry.

"Where..."

A wave of burning liquid struck his legs before he could finish, and he screamed louder than he had ever screamed in his life.

Simon wrapped more wind around him, not to protect the demon from further injuries, but to stop him from dying before Simon obtained what he wanted.

Outside, the centipede’s body curved sharply.

Its rear half disappeared beneath the ground, then erupted beside Kev like a massive whip. Earth and black glass rose with it.

Kev crossed both arms.

And the centipede’s body struck him a fraction of a second later.

BANG!

The impact sent him through three jagged stone pillars. The last one collapsed over him, filling the area with smoke and broken rock.

The Furnaceback Centipede did not pursue.

Every segment of its body began twisting slightly in alternating directions.

One turned left.

The next turned right.

Then the next followed the first.

It looked like the parts of a gigantic drill winding together.

Dark-red light spread from the centipede’s rear segments and travelled forward. The openings along its sides pulled in air, and the red cracks between its plates became almost white.

Through his ShadowEye, Simon saw the Biggest Kev throw the broken stones off his body and look up.

The Blood Jaguar helmet tilted slightly.

He understood what was coming.

Inside the centipede, the temperature rose so quickly that the burning liquid around Simon began to boil.

The walls of the throat glowed.

The thief’s skin blistered, and the demon screamed until his voice became hoarse. Simon’s compressed wind started breaking apart, while the spatial layer around them twisted beneath the heat.

Simon’s skin was also being roasted, but his high pain tolerance and Unholy Regeneration made his situation a lot more better than that of the rebel.

The Furnaceback Centipede was gathering fire from its entire body and forcing it toward its mouth.

If it released the attack, Kev would face the blast from outside. However, Simon and the thief would be roasted, no, burnt meat before it even fired.

’If I allow this attack to form completely, there will be nothing left of him, the ring, or perhaps even me.’

Simon could draw the Chaos Blade and cut through the creature from within.

But a physical wound might make it spit him out onto the open battlefield. His aura and demonic energy could also be noticed by the Biggest Kev, Sonya, Akaza, or the observers above.

A mental attack was cleaner.

Simon closed his eyes.

His mental energy gathered around him and compressed into six dark spears.

The mind of a Half-Step Abyssal Beast was powerful, but it did not possess the layered defences, discipline, or careful structure of an experienced demon. It was a vast, violent thing filled with hunger, territorial fury, pain, and the instinct to survive.

Simon did not need to destroy it.

He only needed to drive enough pain into that mind for survival to overcome its rage.

The light inside the throat became blinding.

Outside, the Furnaceback Centipede opened all four jaws. A sphere of white-red fire formed between them, and the air ahead of it began to burn.

The Biggest Kev planted his feet, and Simon opened his eyes at the same time.

"It’s not time for you to die just yet. So... run."

The six Mind Spears vanished into the beast’s mind the moment Simon said these words.

The first struck its rage.

The second tore through its concentration.

The remaining four pierced deeper at the same time.

A second later, the fire inside the centipede’s mouth collapsed and flames burst wildly from the vents along its body.

Its head snapped toward the sky, then the Furnaceback Centipede released a scream filled with such sudden agony that the cracked lands shook beneath it.

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