Chapter 1059: 1058: A Little Inconvenience
Enigma led them toward a tall, narrow building overlooking one of the main avenues.
Silver bands encircled its black exterior, and figures moved through the broad entrance beneath a row of glowing symbols.
"The Gatewatch Tower," Enigma said.
Simon looked up as they entered.
The interior opened through several floors. Circular balconies overlooked a busy hall, where attendants checked identity tokens and directed people toward different stairways. Light occasionally flashed behind the doors above.
Outer, Inner, and Core Members used this place to leave The Abyss. Demons and slaves with permission to travel had to pass through it as well.
The Lords, Wardens, Chosen, and Elders had access to separate routes.
The volcano through which Enigma had brought them was one of those restricted entrances. It wasn’t available to ordinary members.
Several conversations quietened as their group crossed the hall.
"Fourth Lord."
An attendant bowed and stepped aside.
Someone nearby recognised Simon.
"Blackmoon?"
Simon heard the whisper but kept walking.
Other gazes settled on Sonya and Akaza. A Daemon approaching the stairs slowed down as he sensed their bloodlines, then moved aside to let them pass.
Sonya looked around with interest.
Akaza paid more attention to the people watching them.
Enigma took them up several floors before stopping at a closed door. He pressed his palm against it, and the inscriptions along its frame brightened.
Inside, a wide teleportation circle occupied the centre of a round chamber.
An attendant stood behind a waist-high pillar covered in small, glowing characters. The Daemon straightened when Enigma entered.
"Fourth Lord."
"Prepare the passage for Blackmoon."
The attendant nodded and held out his hand for Simon’s identity token.
While his departure was recorded, Simon examined the circle. Several rings of inscriptions overlapped across the floor, their lines joining beneath four upright metal frames.
"This is our nearest exit to Vhal-Sar," Enigma said.
"Where exactly does it open?"
Enigma smiled.
"That’s the surprise."
Simon looked at him.
"You’re enjoying this too much."
Enigma chuckled softly.
"Who knows. Maybe I am."
That wasn’t reassuring.
Still, Simon doubted Enigma would deliberately send him somewhere that would kill him. Whatever he was hiding was probably meant to amuse him at Simon’s expense.
He accepted his token from the attendant.
"Fine. Send me through."
Enigma gestured toward the circle.
"Activate it."
The attendant touched several characters on the pillar. Light travelled along the floor, passing through the rings one after another.
Simon turned to the others.
"Sonya. Don’t cause trouble."
Sonya folded her arms and shook her head.
"This Honourable doesn’t cause trouble. Trouble finds me."
His lips twitched.
"At least try to avoid trouble if it eventually finds you."
Sonya gave him an innocent look and did not respond.
Simon knew she would definitely welcome trouble.
He turned toward Akaza.
"Train hard. You have plenty to learn about that bloodline."
"I will."
Akaza’s answer was quiet, but there was no hesitation in it.
Simon looked at Virella and Ammor.
"You two as well. Make good use of your time here. Impress me, and I might help you become Daemons."
Ammor nodded.
"We won’t waste the opportunity."
Virella gave a small smile.
"Stay safe, Blackmoon."
Before Simon could answer, Sonya folded her arms.
"And come back in one piece. This Honourable still wants to fight you."
"Then keep practising."
He glanced at Virella.
"I’ll be careful."
The space above the circle rippled.
Its centre drew apart, forming a dark opening wide enough for several people to pass through. Simon could feel the connection stretching beyond The Abyss.
"The passage is ready," the attendant said.
Simon stepped onto the circle, raised a hand toward his companions, and walked through.
The opening closed behind him.
Enigma pressed his lips together and his shoulders moved once as he stifled his laughter.
Sonya turned toward him.
"What’s so funny?"
"I’m imagining his arrival."
She studied his smile.
"You haven’t sent him somewhere that will kill him, have you?"
Her tone had lost its amusement.
"Of course not. The elders would skin me alive."
"Then where?"
Enigma coughed, though it did little to hide his grin.
"It’ll just be a little inconvenient."
Sonya looked at Akaza.
He glanced toward the empty formation, while Virella and Ammor exchanged uncertain looks.
———
A dark opening appeared above a vast sea.
Simon stepped out.
His foot met nothing.
He dropped a short distance before demonic energy gathered beneath him, holding his body in the air.
The portal closed at his back.
Simon looked down, then slowly turned his head.
"Where the fuck-"
A wave struck him from the side.
BOOM!
Demonic energy spread around his body before the water reached his skin. The impact shoved him through a curtain of white foam, briefly hiding everything beyond it.
Simon steadied himself as the wave passed.
Water streamed off his protection and fell back into the sea.
He looked down at his dry robe, then toward the place where the portal had vanished.
"You fucking snake."
He shook his head and rose above the next swell.
So this was Enigma’s interesting entrance.
Dark water stretched in every direction. Long waves rolled beneath him, their crests breaking into pale foam. Farther away, mist hung over the surface, hiding stretches of the horizon.
The air smelled strongly of salt.
Simon looked toward the distant shapes beyond the mist.
Sky Eye
His vision sharpened.
An island’s outline emerged, with uneven heights that gradually resolved into buildings. He could distinguish the broad shape of a city, but it was still too far away to examine properly.
"Vhal-Sar?"
A vast shadow suddenly spread beneath him.
Simon glanced down.
The sea burst open.
An enormous mouth rose through the spray before he could move clear, its hooked teeth passing on either side of him.
Then the jaws closed with a snap.
SNAP!
A massive beast hung above the waves with its upper body exposed. Four broad fins spread from its thick torso, and jagged plates ran from its blunt head down its back. Water poured between the teeth of a jaw large enough to swallow four carriages.
Its throat contracted.
SHUUUU!!!
SHIIIIIII!!!!
Then thin lines of fire appeared across its neck.
More crossed its head and chest.
The beast began falling.
Its upper body separated before it reached the water.
BOOOOM!
Heavy chunks crashed into the sea, throwing spray high into the air. Flames clung to the cut edges, mixed with faint strands of crimson lightning.
Simon remained above the wreckage.
The last of the burning wind dispersed around his lowered hand.
He looked down with slightly raised brows.
"Isn’t that an Ironjaw Leviathan?"
Its remaining aura was still clear.
A Minor Abyssal Beast.
Comparable to a Minor Demon Lord.
And it had tried to swallow him before he had even decided which direction to travel.
Blood spread between the waves.
Simon was about to move when his perception caught several approaching presences.
Then more.
He looked farther beneath the surface.
Dark shapes were converging on the corpse from every direction.
His expression changed.
"Oh."
A long body shot out of the water to his right.
Two more followed from below, their mouths opening as they rose toward him.
Simon snapped his fingers.
Three arrows of flame appeared.
They shot forward before the beasts reached him.
One entered an open mouth and burst through the back of its head. The other two pierced their targets between the eyes, leaving burning trails through flesh.
All three bodies fell.
They were all Calamity Beasts. Their strength was comparable to Greater Demons.
They had even less chance than the first one.
Unfortunately, their deaths did nothing to discourage the others.
Something enormous rolled beneath the Ironjaw’s severed head. A mouth opened, swallowed half of it, and disappeared again.
Another beast tore a strip from a floating fin.
The water churned.
Simon rose higher.
A narrow jaw snapped shut beneath his boots.
He cut through its owner with a sweep of burning wind, then turned as a second creature lunged at his back.
Its head fell before its body finished leaving the water.
More shadows gathered below.
Some attacked him. Others ignored him entirely, fighting over the corpses and swallowing the remains of anything he killed.
Each splash seemed to bring another mouth to the surface.
Simon clicked his tongue.
He sent a flaming blade through a beast leaping toward him, then looked across the widening patch of blood beneath his feet.
"Enigma, you bastard. You couldn’t have put me on a fucking beach?"