The Broken Halo

The Furnaceback Centipede continued tearing through the earth.

Stone scraped across its armour in a constant roar, while the tunnel behind it collapsed almost as quickly as its enormous body passed through. It had descended deep beneath the cracked lands and travelled several kilometres from the convoy.

And Simon knew exactly how far.

The ShadowEye beneath Wagon Eighteen remained connected to him, but its view was no longer as clear as before. The Eye itself had not disappeared. Distance alone would not destroy it, but maintaining a clear connection beyond roughly six kilometres required far more mental and shadow energy.

The edges of the battlefield seen through the Eye had begun to blur.

Simon narrowed his eyes.

’The connection is approaching the limit I can maintain comfortably. If I let this beast travel much farther, I will either have to abandon the Eye or waste energy keeping it active.’

Neither option appealed to him.

The Shadow Eye still allowed him to watch Sonya, Akaza, the Biggest Kev, and the remaining battle. It could also warn him if Black Horn searched in his direction.

More importantly, the Furnaceback Centipede was deep enough underground.

Several kilometres of earth separated it from the convoy. Its tunnel was collapsing behind it, and the chaotic energy of the cracked lands covered the traces of its movement. Even if the Biggest Kev noticed the beast’s aura vanish, he would have no simple way to reach it or know what truly killed it.

Simon looked toward the darkness above him and his eyes flashed with killing intent.

’This is far enough.’

The Furnaceback Centipede seemed to sense the change in his intent.

Its throat tightened violently.

Hard ridges pushed out from the burning flesh and scraped across the spatial shell surrounding Simon and the rebel. At the same time, digestive liquid poured down in a thick wave.

Simon strengthened the wind sphere.

The liquid split around them, but several drops slipped through before the current became stable. One landed on the rebel’s shoulder and burned through flesh until bone appeared.

The demon twitched and gritted his teeth in pain.

Simon ignored him.

He only moved the next stream away from the demon’s head and chest.

A ruined shoulder would not stop an interrogation.

A dissolved brain would.

Simon shifted his attention toward the centipede’s body.

He could search for its Demon Heart, but a creature this long would not keep such an important organ close to its throat. It was likely buried several segments down below, protected by armour, muscle, and burning organs.

The brain was closer, directly above the throat and behind the thick plates covering its skull.

’The brain is the better target. I do not need to travel through half of its body when the organ controlling everything is only a short distance away.’

Wind gathered beneath Simon’s feet.

He pushed himself forward through the throat while the spatial shell carried the rebel beside him.

The centipede reacted immediately.

Its front segments twisted, and Simon felt the entire passage rotate around him. The walls compressed from opposite directions, trying to trap the spatial shell between folds of muscle.

Then the beast slammed its head into the underground stone.

BOOOOM!

The impact travelled through its skull.

Simon and the rebel were thrown against the throat wall. The rebel’s ribs cracked, his head hit the wall loudly and his neck bent at a dangerous angle.

A current of wind caught his head before it snapped.

Simon pulled him back into the centre of the sphere and continued moving.

The Furnaceback Centipede slammed its head again.

And again.

BANG!

BANG!

Each impact collapsed more of the tunnel and filled the passage around its body with broken rock. The beast no longer cared about worsening its injuries. Its instincts understood that the threat inside it was moving toward something vital.

The vents near its head opened.

Fire rushed backward through the throat.

The dark-red wave swallowed Simon’s wind sphere. The outer currents scattered while the spatial shell bent inward beneath the heat.

Simon’s skin blackened.

Unholy Regeneration began repairing it immediately.

The rebel was less fortunate. The skin across one side of his face burned away before Simon folded another layer of wind sphere around him.

He still breathed... barely though.

Simon stretched out his right hand and the Chaos Blade appeared within it.

The black weapon drank in the red light surrounding them and its edge glinted with a crimson light, then Simon drove it into the roof of the centipede’s throat.

Shiiing!

Flesh, hardened cartilage, and the thin layer of stone the beast formed inside itself separated before the blade.

Dark blood poured over Simon’s spatial shell.

The centipede convulsed.

Its body turned so sharply that the underground tunnel split in two directions. Hundreds of legs clawed at the surrounding earth, and another metallic scream travelled through its body.

Simon ignored it.

He cut upward again.

The Chaos Blade opened a narrow path through burning flesh and thick nerve bundles. Simon used the wind to force the wound apart, then carried himself and the rebel into it.

The space was tight.

Hot blood flowed around his legs, while pale cords as thick as his wrist shook along the walls. Each one carried the centipede’s pain and commands through its massive body.

The beast knew where he was now.

The cords suddenly tightened and struck at Simon like living whips.

He cut through them.

Every severed bundle caused another part of the Furnaceback Centipede to lose control. Legs on one side stopped moving. Several segments crashed into the tunnel wall, and its burrowing speed dropped sharply.

Simon reached a black wall of bone above him.

The inside of the skull.

The centipede gathered everything it had left.

Earth elemental energy hardened around the bone. Fire elemental energy flooded the narrow wound behind Simon. The creature’s muscles contracted, trying to seal him inside its head and crush the rebel against the closing flesh.

Simon placed the thief beneath him and strengthened the spatial shell one final time.

Then he raised the Chaos Blade.

’You have carried me far enough.’

He thrust upward.

CRACK!

The blade pierced the inner skull.

Simon twisted it and tore the opening wider.

Beyond the broken bone was a vast mass of dark-red tissue covered in glowing veins. The centipede’s brain pulsed violently, every beat sending pain and rage across its body.

Simon entered the small chamber and pressed one hand against the flat of the Chaos Blade.

Black fire appeared along its edge.

The Chaos Flame did not spread toward Simon or the rebel.

It flowed into the wound.

The centipede’s natural fire resistance did nothing. This was no ordinary flame. The black fire crawled across the glowing veins, entered the brain, and began consuming everything it touched.

The Furnaceback Centipede stopped burrowing.

For one moment, its entire body became rigid beneath the earth.

Then it released one final scream.

"SKRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The sound travelled through kilometres of stone. Its hundreds of legs tore at the tunnel without direction, and its segmented body struck the surrounding earth hard enough to create tremors across the cracked lands.

The scream weakened.

Its legs slowed.

The dark-red light between its armour plates faded one section at a time.

Then the Furnaceback Centipede collapsed inside the tunnel, and the Half-Step Abyssal Beast died.

Simon had slain a Half-Step Abyssal Beast.

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