The Broken Halo

(Sonya’s POV)

Shortly after separating from Simon, Sonya wandered through Velmora without any particular destination.

She had told him that she wanted to find something entertaining, but she had no idea what that something would be. She simply followed whichever street sounded the most interesting.

To Sonya, the city was not dark.

She could hear the wheels of carriages grinding against stone, the heavy steps of demon beasts, and the arguments of merchants trying to squeeze more hell stones out of their customers. Every movement sent faint vibrations through the road and into her feet.

Some demons walked lightly.

Some dragged their feet.

Some carried weapons that struck against their armour with every step, while others breathed like they had spent their entire lives drinking and avoiding exercise.

The scents also changed from street to street.

Food.

Blood.

Medicine.

Sweat.

Cheap perfume.

And something foul coming from a narrow alley that Sonya had no desire to investigate.

She moved with her hands behind her head, listening to everything around her. Despite the number of powerful demons in Velmora, nothing had happened to catch her interest yet.

There were arguments, minor fights, and demons threatening one another, but none of them felt worth her time.

’How boring.’

Sonya was considering whether to find a training hall when she sensed someone approaching her from behind.

His footsteps were good.

Very good.

He did not move like an ordinary pedestrian. His weight shifted smoothly, his breathing remained controlled, and his steps matched the movement of the crowd around him.

Whenever a carriage passed, he moved.

Whenever a beast stomped the ground, his foot landed at the same moment.

To most demons, his presence would have disappeared among the hundreds of others on the street.

Sonya’s lips curled slightly.

’Interesting.’

The demon brushed against her shoulder as he walked past.

”Watch where you’re going, mutt,” he muttered.

Sonya did not respond.

The demon continued walking without turning back. His heartbeat remained calm, but his pace increased slightly once he placed several demons between himself and Sonya.

He believed he had succeeded.

During the brief contact, he had removed her spatial ring from her finger.

The ring contained her city identity token, hell stones, clothes, medicine, and several other things she had gathered over the years.

Sonya had felt the moment his fingers touched it.

She could have broken his wrist before he removed the ring.

Instead, she allowed him to take it.

Judging from the way he spoke and the hesitation he had before approaching her, the thief had most likely believed she was a weak demon child wandering around Velmora alone.

That thought made her smile widen.

The thief turned into another street.

Sonya waited for a few seconds before following him.

She did not walk directly behind him. Her steps changed completely, becoming lighter and less predictable. She adjusted her movement to the carriages, beasts, and demons around her, just as the thief had done.

The Shadowgrave Clan had not only taught its Initiates how to kill.

They were also taught how to disappear.

Sonya suppressed her aura until she seemed like an ordinary demoness. She changed the rhythm of her footsteps several times and occasionally allowed walls, carts, and groups of demons to separate her from the thief.

Whenever he slowed down to check if he was being followed, Sonya stopped moving.

Once, she stood beside a merchant shouting about fresh beast meat and listened while the thief remained at the other end of the street.

After confirming that nobody was following him, he continued.

Sonya followed again.

The thief left the busier streets and moved into an older part of Velmora. The buildings there were shorter, the roads were narrower, and several shops had been abandoned.

He eventually stopped before an old bathhouse.

Its entrance had been sealed with wooden boards, while cracks covered its walls. The faded image of a demon sitting inside steaming water could barely be seen on the sign above it.

The thief checked the street before squeezing through a gap between the boards.

Sonya waited.

She listened to his footsteps move through the building, then heard the sound of stone scraping against stone.

A hidden entrance.

Sonya approached the bathhouse after he disappeared underground.

She slipped through the same gap and entered a wide room filled with broken stone pools and the stale scent of old water. Dust covered most of the floor, but several areas had been disturbed recently.

The thief had moved one of the cracked bathing platforms aside.

Beneath it was a narrow stairway.

Sonya crouched and placed one hand against the ground. She could feel the presence of several demons beneath the building.

More than twenty.

Some were Fiends, while most were Archfiends. There was also one presence that felt heavier than the others.

A Half-Step Greater Demon.

Sonya’s grin returned and excited glint flashed in her eyes.

’This is much better.’

She descended without making a sound.

The stairway led into a tunnel reinforced with old stone and metal supports. Several smaller passages branched away from it, but Sonya followed the thief’s vibrations.

Voices soon reached her.

She stopped near a corner and listened.

”You took this from a child?”

”She was alone and looked helpless. There was no reason to ignore an easy target.”

The thief’s voice contained pride.

Another demon laughed.

Sonya leaned slightly against the wall.

The thief had no idea that the helpless child was standing only a short distance away.

”You should check the ring quickly,” someone said. ”We leave tomorrow night.”

”Has the convoy route been confirmed?”

”Yes. It will leave the eastern storage depot and use the lower road. Two squads of city guards will escort it.”

Sonya’s expression changed slightly.

She remained still and continued listening.

”The spatial materials are the priority. Destroy the stabilization cores and take as many hell stones as possible. Without that shipment, the rift workers will lose at least several weeks.”

”What about the guards?”

”Kill them. Leave no survivors.”

Sonya slowly tilted her head.

To her surprise, these were not ordinary thieves.

She moved closer to the corner and extended her senses through the stone.

The chamber beyond was large. Several tables had been placed inside it, and demons moved between them. Sonya could sense small objects scattered across one table and folded materials covering another.

Identity tokens.

Guard uniforms.

Weapons.

Maps.

Even without seeing them, the conversation made their purpose obvious.

They wanted to disrupt cause a huge setback for the City of Velmora. But the question was why?

When this question appeared in Sonya’s head, she immediately thought of a particular demon they saw outside the city gates.

And the words Mira told Simon about the demon.

Darkness Kingdom rebels.