The Broken Halo

Simon had deeply furrowed brows after listening to Lucien’s summary of what he experienced in the Forest of the Black Witch.

He had never heard or read of the Black Witch, so he was extremely curious about who this demoness was.

’I’ll see if I can find books on the Black Witch in the academy’s library, but I have a very strong feeling that I won’t find any like when I tried looking for books on the Ghost Sword Emperor.’

’The Black Witch huh.’

Simon looked at Caesar who was looking down with the flames of anger and resentment in his eyes.

”If I ask you to take me to the Forest of the Black Witch, can you do that?”

Lucien looked at Simon with a taken aback expression.

”You want to go there?”

Simon nodded.

”Not now obviously, but yes.”

Lucien frowned, then his expression became thoughtful for a moment before he gave an answer.

”I can take you there. The Black Witch’s home had a book on how to enter her forest.”

Simon narrowed his eyes.

He never saw a book that was related the Black Witch in Lucien’s spatial ring.

”And where is the book?” He asked.

”With Caesar.” Lucien replied with a flat tone.

Simon closed his eyes and shook his head with a disappointed expression.

”I read it before he appeared, but I didn’t take it with me since all our attention was on that strange thing inside the cube.”

Lucien looked at the Fleshwood’s heart resin once again, then he looked back at Simon.

”Are you sure you don’t know what that thing is? If you do, at least tell me. I lost many aides and guards to Caesar and the forest.”

”I want to at least have an idea of why he wants that thing so badly.”

Simon shook his head.

”I also don’t know why he wants it.”

Lucien narrowed his eyes and looked at Simon suspiciously.

”But you know what that thing is, right?”

”Stop asking me so many questions, Lucien. Even if I know what this thing is, it wouldn’t do you any good because I’m not giving you.”

Lucien gritted his teeth in anger, then he released a soft sigh a few seconds.

”Maybe you’re right.”

Simon ignored the Frostborn prodigy. He looked at the moving Fleshwood’s heart resin, and a cold and calculating glint flashed in his eyes.

Without looking at Lucien, he asked another question.

”By the way, did Caesar fight you? Or did he fight any of your guards or aides?”

Lucien frowned.

”I don’t understand.”

Simon looked at him this time around.

”I’m asking if Caesar fought you or any of your people personally? Did he use his abilities? A weapon? Anything at all?”

Lucien’s eyes flickered with an understanding light, then he shook his head.

”No. He didn’t. His dogs did all the fighting.”

Simon raised a brow and he looked at Lucien suspiciously.

”Then how did you escape? I find it hard to believe that Caesar would be so arrogant and foolish to the point that he would not have at least tried to chase you himself after taking something he wanted.”

Lucien shook his head.

”I don’t think he could have stopped us because of the method I used to escape the forest.”

Lucien explained.

”There was a teleportation array on a particular branch of that strange tree. The teleportation array needed time to activate, and my people bought me that time.”

”Also, I had a powerful life saving artifact that could protect only me from Caesar’s dogs. It was an artifact my father gave me, and I think Caesar knew that it pointless to try and break the defenses of the artifact, so he didn’t bother attacking.”

”Hmm” Simon hummed softly with a thoughtful expression.

’Is that really the case? Or did Caesar allow him to escape for some reason?’

Simon’s brows creased for a few seconds, then he released a soft sigh.

”How annoying.”

Simon had a reason for asking Lucien if Caesar fought personally, and that’s because he had no knowledge of Caesar’s abilities.

Apparently, Caesar rarely fought in public.

All his fights were private, and it either ended in the death of his opponent or his opponents would never speak of the battle due to shame or fear of Caesar.

Simon had even tried buying information on Caesar’s known abilities and battles, but they were outrageously expensive.

He couldn’t afford them, and even if he could, he would not still buy them cause the information he could get would most likely not be worth the price.

He was hoping Lucien would be able to shed some light on Caesar’s abilities, but unfortunately, he could not.

A few moments later, Simon glanced at Ymir before looking back at Lucien.

”I’ll let you have Ymir for now.”

Lucien’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

He did not expect such a thing at all. Even Ymir was shocked.

”Really?”

Simon nodded.

”Yes.”

Although Simon would have loved to keep Ymir with him, he knew that it was better he didn’t.

First of all, he had no beast storage artifact to store Ymir which meant Ymir would have to walk beside him if he wanted to take Ymir back to the clan or anywhere for that matter.

Even if he had a beast storage artifact, he needed a good beast storage artifact that had an internal world of ice.

If not, it would be detrimental to Ymir’s growth.

He didn’t have that.

If he ever took Ymir back with him to the clan, many would be wary and suspicious, and they would definitely take Ymir from him by force.

Besides, according to Vexa, the Night Sovereign wanted Ymir... though he found that strange and he didn’t believe her words.

At the end of the day, keeping Ymir as his pet beast or beast companion could not work out with his current situation and with Ymir’s growth requirements.

He also thought of killing Ymir to obtain his ice affinity and quite possibly other abilities, but he had the corpse of Elder Mulon, a Greater Demon Frostborn.

Though he might not be as powerful, as talented, and he might not have an A grade ice affinity like Ymir, Simon was satisfied with devouring him.

Ymir would be better off alive, and since he had enslaved the beast, he was not worried.

’Getting a smart and talented beast like Ymir is not an easy thing to do.’