The Broken Halo

As usual, the first thing Simon devoured was Elder Mulon’s physical attributes.

That was the easiest thing he could devour from any corpse or living thing.

However, to Simon’s slight surprise, he felt his body becoming... full.

His physical attributes stopped increasing, and Simon knew why this was happening.

He had reached the limit of what his body could take.

From the moment he became a Fiend, his physical capabilities could rival that of Supreme Archfiends.

And when one thought about it, one would realize just how wide the gap was between a Greater Demon and an Archfiend.

Despite advancing from Minor Fiend to Superior Fiend, his physical strength was not comparable to that of a Greater Demon.

In fact, his physical strength was barely, just barely comparable to that of a Half-Step Greater Demon without the help of the enhancement of his demonic energy.

Even right now that Simon’s body had reached the limit, he was still not close to attaining the physical strength of a Greater Demon.

However, his physical strength was now comparable to that of Half-Step Greater Demons.

If many demons knew that a Fiend possessed the physical capabilities of a Half-Step Greater Demon, no one knows how they would react.

As for Simon, he had a completely different thought.

’If I was a Daemon, I would not be at my limit. I might even have the physical capabilities of a Greater Demon.’

’But...’

A flicker of madness appeared in Simon’s eyes for a moment.

’... I can force my body to become stronger and break this limit.’

’No. I HAVE to force my body to break the limit. I’m in danger, and I could lose my life any moment from now.’

’If not for Unholy Regeneration, I would never do this.’

Simon’s eyes flashed with a cold light, then he proceeded with his simple but insane plan.

After reaching his bodily limit, he should have stopped devouring the physical attributes of Elder Mulon, but he didn’t stop.

He kept on devouring, and devouring, and devouring, and devouring, and devouring.

As he did this, different parts of his body began to swell.

His muscles became bigger like he was on steroids.

Veins bulged across his skin like writhing black worms, swelling until they looked ready to burst. Every fiber of muscle in his body trembled violently as more and more physical attributes flooded into him.

Simon could feel it.

His body was screaming.

The sensation was unlike pain from battle or torture. It was the feeling of a vessel being stuffed beyond capacity.

Crack!

A sharp sound echoed from within his body.

One of the bones in his forearm fractured.

Then another.

And another.

Tiny cracks spread through his skeleton like a spiderweb.

Blood seeped from the corners of Simon’s mouth.

Yet he continued devouring.

As he devoured, three things were happening.

UnholyRegeneration was healing his body even without his order.

He was devouring Elder Mulon’s ice affinity.

And he was also refining Elder Mulon’s demonic energy into his after devouring Elder Mulon’s ice affinity.

What Simon was doing was completely and utterly reckless, but he didn’t have time.

The elder of the Soul Mirror Demon Clan could come at any point in time, and Simon had this strong feeling that no amount of trickery, manipulation, or deception would work this time around.

His tongue would not save him.

And the only thing that could save him were his fists... Power.

So he didn’t stop.

His body was not the only thing that was going through so much stress, his mind and chaos flame were also going through a lot of stress because of his actions.

His mind was going through a lot of stress because he was focusing on so many things at the same time, and because of UnholyRegeneration.

UnholyRegeneration was a skill that Simon had to control and direct or his body would develop mutations.

If he was not careful, Unholy Regeneration could heal Simon’s body and end up giving him an incomplete finger or an extra bone in any random part of his body.

Simon had to guide UnholyRegeneration on what path it should take when healing his body, and that was not an easy thing to do when he was thinking about so many things.

His chaos flame was also working extra hard in order to produce enough demonic energy for UnholyRegeneration to use and it was also increasing in size as Simon refined Elder Mulon’s demonic energy.

The muscles on Simon’s arms expanded further, stretching his skin to its absolute limit. Thin crimson lines appeared across his flesh before splitting open entirely.

Rip!

Blood sprayed out from dozens of ruptured blood vessels.

The skin around his shoulders tore apart, exposing raw flesh beneath.

His body had already reached its limit.

Everything beyond this point was damage.

Pure damage.

His heart thundered within his chest like a war drum as the pressure he was putting on it was immense.

But Simon didn’t stop.

He continued.

At some point, Elder Mulon’s corpse was beyond dessicated.

It was so dry to the point that barely any flesh was left on it.

Simon could still think, so he sent the corpse into his spatial ring.

Then he sat on the floor with his legs crossed in a lotus position.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Each beat of his heart sent unbearable pressure through his arteries and veins.

Then they began to burst.

A network of crimson cracks spread beneath his skin as countless capillaries ruptured.

Blood leaked from his eyes.

From his nose.

From his ears.

His vision blurred red.

Still, Simon did not stop.

His muscles continued growing unnaturally larger, crushing nerves and placing tremendous strain on his bones.

Crunch!

The bones in his fingers shattered.

Crunch!

Several ribs cracked simultaneously.

The flesh around his joints swelled grotesquely, twisting and deforming as his body desperately attempted to contain the overwhelming power flooding into it.

At this point, Simon no longer resembled a normal demon.

He looked like a monster stitched together from swollen muscle, torn flesh, and rivers of blood.

Every second felt like his body was being ripped apart from the inside.

Unholy Regeneration struggled desperately to keep up.

Fresh flesh would grow.

Then tear apart again.

Heal.

Rupture.

Restore.

Destroy.

An endless cycle of destruction and regeneration played out throughout his entire body.

The floor beneath him became stained with blood.

Chunks of flesh fell from his body before new flesh rapidly replaced them.

His bones broke and reformed countless times.

His muscles exploded apart before knitting themselves back together.

Then Simon, finally broke through and became a Supreme Archfiend.

BOOM!

His heart thundered in his own mind, but he did not stop there.

76%

80%

83%

88%

92%

Simon’s heart rank rose like an eagle flying to the sky.

And as his heart rank increased, his body began to stabilize.

His body which had previously reached the limit, shattered that limit.

And the moment Simon’s refined his heart to 100%, he felt it.

His body completely stabilized.

Unholy Regeneration healed every injury Simon had.

And Simon’s physical strength was now comparable to that of a Minor Greater Demon.

Simon inhaled and exhaled deeply, then he made the decision to advance and become an Archfiend.