Simon and Thorgan stared at the corpses of the unfortunate candidates, and both demons had one thing in common.
Deep in their hearts, they truly did not care about these candidates.
Thorgan was silent because Simon was silent.
Meanwhile, Simon was silent and had a stoic expression not because he was sad or cared about these unlucky candidates.
No
He was silent because he was thinking about some other issues.
The first was the high possibility that he might not be able to use any other weapon aside from the Chaos Blades from now on.
He was still not certain because he had not performed enough tests to come to a conclusion.
Just a single normal sword was not enough for him to the conclusion he would only be able to wield the Chaos Blade.
’Maybe it’s because that sword was not an artifact. I might be able to wield artifacts, maybe not low level artifacts but powerful artifacts? Maybe?’
Although Simon tried to give himself hope, he had this sinking gut feeling that he would only be able to wield the Chaos Blade from now on.
’I just seriously hope it’s not that.’ Simon inwardly sighed.
The problems that could arise if he could not wield any other weapon aside from the Chaos Blade were numerous.
It would lead to suspicions, questions, and more scrutiny from the clan and even those around him.
’If it’s known that every weapon I hold turns to ash, I would be questioned and observed to an extremely uncomfortable degree. Questions would be asked, and some might begin to question the Chaos Wraps around my arms.’
’Until I know more about the Chaos Plane, the Chaos Wraps, the Chaos Blade, Daemons, Hell’s Sword Daemon, and the true history of demons, I should try and hide the Chaos Wraps, the Chaos Blade, and everything I obtained in that underground cave.’
’However... Why in the world would you create something that stands out so much. Wouldn’t it be strange if every weapon I hold turns to ash?’
’And wouldn’t questions be asked when demons, humans, and gods see that I’m wearing strange black wraps around my arm?’
Simon held the urge to facepalm, but he stopped himself.
He knew that he’d have to be careful from now on, but it was still rather annoying to him.
’And I can’t use the artifacts in the spatial rings of these kids.’
Simon knew that some of the candidates had spatial rings right from the beginning of the trial, but he never took a single spatial ring from them because of the potential consequences and dangers.
There’s the possibility of the family or backer of the candidate been able to track down the spatial ring, and if it was known that the candidate was dead, the family or backer would assume that the person with the ring was the child’s killer.
Simon could not deal with such a thing at the moment, so he ignored the spatial rings of every single candidate he killed or knocked out.
Besides, none of the candidates had any precious item stored in their spatial ring.
Their families, backers, and they themselves knew the dangers of the trials, and it would be quite foolish if they kept an extremely precious item on them.
’I was pleased that the clan prevented the use of artifacts in the past, but I can’t even use the artifacts of these kids to see if I can use other weapons or not.’
Simon decided to push this
Another issue that bothered Simon was the presence of Varreth in the trial.
Varreth was an Odrasil, and it was in their nature to lure anybody to become their slave and puppet.
The Shadowgrave Clan would definitely know about the Odrasils because they were an assassin clan, and an assassin clan thrived on information.
However, Simon was confused as to why the Shadowgrave Clan still allowed an Odrasil to participate in their trials despite the danger they posed to their organization.
It was extremely confusing to him, and he tried to think of several reasons why they would allow such a thing, but he came up with nothing.
’My general knowledge about the demon realm of this era is extremely shallow. I can’t keep on relying on my knowledge of the past.’
’Hopefully, I’m able to learn more in the Shadowgrave Clan.’
Simon shifted his gaze to Thorgan. "Let’s check if any of them still have their condensed shadow essence."
Thorgan nodded with a relieved expression. He had been tired of standing while having a solemn expression because of the death of those in front of him.
’Third brother is definitely a noble warrior. He’s paying respects to these guys who died an horrifying death.’
Thorgan thought as he approached the candidates he had slain.
Meanwhile, Simon approached Varreth’s corpse.
He searched his corpse for his condensed shadow essence, but he found nothing.
’Did he keep it somewhere else?’
Simon frowned, and he looked around, but he saw no sign of Varreth’s condensed shadow essence.
A thought suddenly came to his mind, and he looked at the ashes of one of Varreth’s trees.
’Did he keep it in one of his trees?’
Simon frowned, then his eyes flashed. He looked up, and he saw that the darkness was beginning to recede slightly.
’The night is coming to an end.’
Simon quickly stored the body and severed head of Varreth in his spatial ring. He could not leave behind Varreth’s corpse because once it was inspected, the clan would find out that it was an artifact, not a normal weapon that killed Varreth.
After storing Varreth’s corpse, he shifted his gaze to Thorgan who was running around and searching the corpses for their condensed shadow essence.
As somebody who had a deep affinity for the shadow element, he knew that the night was coming to an end.
He wanted to get as many condensed shadow essence as possible before the second trial ended.
As for Simon, he decided to wait while sitting with his legs crossed.
He decided to restore his demonic energy instead of searching the corpses for more condensed shadow essence.
He already had enough.
A few minutes later, Simon’s shadow suddenly moved and covered him in a dark sphere.
A few seconds later, the dark sphere sank into his shadow and he vanished.