The Broken Halo

"Why don’t you both question me together?"

Korran and Tarvak turned toward Simon.

The pressure filling the office did not disappear immediately, but both demons stopped focusing on one another.

Simon remained seated between them, his injured leg stretched slightly forward and his bloodstained hand resting against one knee.

"Question me together," he repeated calmly. "It solves the problem for both of you."

Tarvak’s eyes narrowed.

"And why would it benefit me to let Black Horn interfere with my questioning?"

"Because Korran will question me afterward whether you approve or not."

Tarvak’s expression darkened, but Simon continued before he could respond.

"You are concerned about the guards who died and how I returned alive through your gate. Korran is concerned about the stolen cargo, Black Banner, and whatever occurred after the Furnaceback Centipede swallowed me."

Simon looked from Tarvak to Korran.

"Those subjects overlap. If you question me separately, I will be forced to repeat the same story twice. If either of you later receives a report containing something the other did not hear, you will start arguing over whether I changed my answer or whether one of you altered the record."

Neither demon immediately replied.

Simon leaned back slightly.

"If you both remain here, you hear the same answers, ask whatever questions you believe the other overlooked, and neither side can accuse the other of hiding information."

Korran studied him with an unreadable expression.

Tarvak’s fingers loosened slightly against the desk.

The proposal was reasonable.

More importantly, accepting it would prevent either official from gaining complete control of Simon’s statement.

Simon looked at their faces and added with a faint sigh.

"Besides, I do not have all day to answer the same questions from two grumpy old demons."

The atmosphere changed immediately at Simon’s words.

Korran’s raised a brow, and Tarvak stared at Simon as though he had misheard him.

"Old?" they asked almost at the same time.

Simon raised one brow.

"In case you don’t know, I am sixteen."

A seemingly long silence followed.

Tarvak’s anger disappeared beneath disbelief, and even Korran’s calm expression changed slightly.

"Sixteen?" Tarvak repeated.

Simon nodded.

Tarvak looked him over from his dirty white hair to the burns covering his neck and arms.

"You are sixteen, and you are already a Minor Arch-?"

His voice slowed near the end, then his eyes widened.

"Wait."

Tarvak’s aura stopped pressing toward Korran.

Instead, his perception moved toward Simon.

Korran reacted a heartbeat later.

Until that moment, both demons had been too occupied with Simon’s impossible return and their hostility toward one another to examine him properly.

Simon’s control made the oversight easier.

His aura was not concealed behind a formation or actively erased. It simply remained gathered close to his body. His Chaos did not leak wildly into the room, and his Infernal Heart did not announce every beat with the pressure expected from a demon who had only recently advanced.

To a casual sense, he was merely an injured Archfiend sitting quietly. But once Tarvak and Korran focused on him, the truth became impossible to miss.

The density of his Infernal Heart was far beyond that of a Minor Archfiend.

The Chaos moving through his pathways possessed a depth and purity that should not have existed at his previous rank.

Tarvak’s pupils contracted, and Korran became completely still.

The small amount of aura remaining around the office vanished as both demons concentrated on Simon alone.

Tarvak’s mouth opened slightly. His disbelief changed into something heavier.

"What is going on?"

Korran’s gaze became solemn.

"When did you become a Supreme Archfiend?"

The question left his mouth, but he immediately shook his head.

"No. How did you become a Supreme Archfiend?"

Simon had entered the convoy as a Minor Archfiend.

Less than three days had passed.

During that time, he had supposedly been swallowed by a Half-Step Abyssal Beast, carried underground, gravely injured, and left wandering through the cracked lands.

Yet the demon sitting before them had somehow crossed the Prime and Superior stages before becoming a Supreme Archfiend.

It was not merely surprising.

It was ridiculous.

Tarvak stared at Simon as though the one-horned demon had returned from death twice instead of once.

Simon had expected this reaction, and he served both demons his lie.

"The artifact suppressing my true strength deactivated inside the Furnaceback Centipede," Simon said.

Tarvak blinked.

"What?"

"It concealed my real heart rank and restricted part of the energy my body could release."

Simon spoke without hesitation.

"When the centipede swallowed me and the danger became severe enough, the artifact’s emergency mechanism activated. It removed the suppression so I could use my full strength."

He looked down at his burned hand.

"That is another reason I survived."

Tarvak’s disbelief gradually turned into a frown.

"You never mentioned any of this when I questioned you."

Simon looked at him.

"You asked how I survived the centipede. You did not ask how I became a Supreme Archfiend in less than three days."

Tarvak’s face became dark.

Simon continued calmly.

"It’s not my fault you did not notice the change in my aura."

The words struck more effectively than an insult.

Tarvak’s expression shifted between anger and embarrassment. He had been sitting directly across from Simon and questioning him, yet he had completely overlooked something as significant as two missing minor ranks.

Simon ignored him and turned toward Korran.

The Vice Commander had not taken his eyes away from Simon.

"Where did you obtain an artifact capable of doing that?" Korran asked.

Simon’s lips parted, but Korran spoke again before he could answer.

"Artifacts that can conceal heart rank are rare. Artifacts capable of concealing a Supreme Archfiend aura from my perception are even rarer."

His eyes became colder.

"You entered Black Horn, trained beneath our formations, underwent examinations, and stood near several Greater Demons. None detected your true strength."

Korran took a slow step closer.

"Do not lie to me."

Simon calmly tilted his head, then a faint smile appeared on his face.

"And here I thought you would be more curious about how I survived and escaped from the Furnaceback Centipede."

"Both questions matter."

"The artifact is not responsible for the stolen cases, the deaths during the convoy, or Black Banner’s ambush."

"It is responsible for proving that almost everything recorded about you may be false."

Simon’s smile did not disappear.

"I will answer the question about the artifact later."

Korran’s gaze hardened.

"For now, ask the questions that actually matter to the failed operation. Unless you intend to spend the entire day discussing every secret possession I have collected during my life."

Tarvak watched Korran carefully, perhaps expecting another release of aura.

To Tarvak’s slight surprise, it did not come.

Korran remained silent for several seconds, then he reached for one of the two empty chairs.

Its legs scraped against the stone floor as he dragged it away from the wall and placed it beside the desk.

Korran sat.

Tarvak slowly returned to his own chair, though his eyes remained fixed on Simon with a new and far more cautious and focused expression.

Korran placed both hands on the desk.

"Now," he said, his voice quiet and cold, "tell me exactly what happened from the moment the Furnaceback Centipede swallowed you."

His eyes narrowed.

"And do not leave out a single detail."

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