The Broken Halo

The swords howled.

The winds howled.

Melted stones crashed into one another.

The sounds of the rising and falling waves of magma filled the Death Arena.

And the roars of excitement and madness of the demons filled the Death Arena as they watched this spectacle.

As for Simon, he did not share any sort of excitement at all.

He looked around, his eyes scanning and taking note of everything around.

The tornado of flaming swords behind him, and the waves of magma in the air.

The air was now difficult to breathe in, and he had to increase the quantity of demonic energy coating his body to prevent his robes and even hair from catching on fire.

This was the power of a Sovereign Artifact. An artifact that was meant to be wielded by Greater Demons.

And what some of the audience don’t realize is that even with Blackblade pouring so much of his demonic energy into the Sovereign ranked blade, he was still not bringing out the full potential of the blade.

Despite the situation Simon was in, he was not fearful in the slightest.

His mind was taking note of everything and was also running several calculations and simulations.

He looked down and he saw that his shoes were beginning to burn because of the magma that was slowly flowing underneath his feet.

’I guess I can only do one thing to survive this.’

He inhaled deeply and looked at Blackblade who was on his knees with flames covering his entire body.

He could see the burning fury in Blackblade’s eyes as he stared at him, and he could even hear the beating heart of Blackblade as he channeled so much demonic energy from his chaos flame.

Simon’s lips could not help but curl up slightly as he released a very soft scoff.

“This… might hurt a bit.”

Just as he said this, his body swayed, and in the next second…

Bang!

The ground shattered as he ran with everything he had.

Behind him was the tornado of flaming swords, and around him were walls and waves of flowing magma.

As he ran, the magma close to him began to fall.

There was nowhere for him to dodge, no sky for him to jump to, and no slight opening for him to use.

So, he decided to make one.

He faced his palm at the incoming waves of magma, and his spatial ring glowed.

In the next moment, a large boulder appeared in front of him.

He moved his right hand back behind him, coated his palm with a lot of demonic energy, then he slapped the boulder.

Bang!

Cracks appeared on the boulder, but it didn’t break. It flew into the falling waves of magma in front of Simon, then it crashed and pierced through the magma.

A large opening was created, and Simon dashed through it just as the magma was about to fall on him.

The opening closed very quickly, and part of his clothes and even his hair caught on fire when this happened, but Simon ignored this.

As for Blackblade, his expression changed when he saw the boulder flying toward him, and with a thought, the tornado of flaming swords dispersed and dozens flew toward him and cut the boulder into pieces before it could reach him.

After destroying the boulder, he didn’t hesitate to shield himself through the tornado of flaming swords.

’No matter what, he can’t get to me. He’s finished.’

He looked at Simon, and he focused on controlling the magma.

Meanwhile, Simon narrowed his eyes when he saw this, but that didn’t stop the coldness in his eyes from becoming even more colder.

Hot air blew into his face from the right hand side, and the wind spoke to him.

He stopped, and in that moment, magma passed a few inches in front of him, nearly burning him into pieces.

However, more of his clothes caught on fire, and Simon ignored all of that.

His eyes flashed with a black light, then he sent out another Mind Spear.

The Mind Spear moved through the walls and waves of magma like they didn’t exist.

Neither physical objects, demonic energy nor aether could stop an attack made from mental energy.

Blackblade’s expression changed when he saw the Mind Spear coming after him, but he could not dodge.

If he moved or let go of the sword, the waves of magma and the tornado of flaming swords would become unstable.

And if that happens, he would die because he had very little demonic energy left.

All he could do was trust in the artifact around his neck.

Shatter

He heaved a sigh of relief as the Mind Spear shattered after colliding into the barrier protecting him.

Crack

He heard another crack from the artifact, and he was relieved the more when he didn’t feel it shatter into pieces.

’But how much mental energy does he have? His Mind Spears are condensed and more powerful than normal. Shouldn’t he be consuming a lot of mental energy with all the Mind Spears he has conjured?’

’Why is his mind still working like he has not consumed any mental energy?’

Just as Blackblade had this thought, he was shocked when he saw another mental barrier form around his face.

“What is-”

Clang

His eyes widened when he saw a tiny black rope with a sharp tip a few inches in front of the barrier.

The sharp tip suddenly became a hole, then it latched onto the barrier and Blackblade was even more confused.

“What is this?”

Just as he said these words, the barrier began to tremble violently, and to Blackblade’s disbelief, the barrier shattered and so did the necklace on his neck.

“Fu-!”

Before he could complete his words, the tiny black rope extended and latch onto his forehead, and in the next moment, he screamed.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

He had no choice but to let go of the sword and hold his head in pain, and the moment he did this, everything became completely unstable.

However, Blackblade could not care about this because he was going through so much pain and he could feel himself dying.