Simon could almost imagine the dying Supreme Demon Lord lying beneath an enormous fortress while six circular formations rotated above him.
His enemies probably believed he was broken, and they were right to an extent.
His body was broken but his spirit was not.
Instead, he used the final days of his life to understand the reason for his defeat.
"The Sixfold Hell Bastion became my final teacher."
"They used six crowns to stop my tempest."
"So I created six crowns that would become the tempest."
"The first preserves movement."
"The second divides and tears."
"The third gathers and crushes."
"The fourth leaves the throne and hunts."
"The fifth makes the surrounding sky part of the user’s territory."
"And the sixth turns every Crown into one storm."
"Altogether, they are The Six Storm Crowns and they are the foundation of the Fury Tempest Art.]
The six unclear circles behind Vhaurak in the portrait suddenly made sense to Simon. They were the Six Storm Crowns.
’How fascinating.’
’Hopefully you don’t disappoint me after all your arrogance and talk.’
Simon turned the page.
The next section was titled:
[Requirements Before Practising the Fury Tempest Art.]
Several warnings had been written beneath it.
The first was written larger than the others.
"Do not practise this art unless you are an Archfiend."
"Before that rank, you may possess wind affinity, but you do not truly control your wind chaos. Attempting to create a Storm Crown without such control will turn the Crown against its creator."
The second warning followed.
"You must possess an A grade wind affinity at the very least."
"I possessed a low A grade affinity before my death, but I cannot promise that low A grade is enough."
Simon’s brows rose slightly in confusion.
The next sentence explained why.
"I created the Fury Tempest Art when my Demon Heart was nearly shattered. I possessed the understanding, but I no longer possessed a body capable of testing it."
"I never formed the First Crown."
"I never heard it rotate."
"I never discovered whether the six Crowns would truly accept a demon with a low A grade affinity."
"The image you see is as a result of my enlightenment and how the six crowns should look."
"If that makes you afraid, burn this book."
The corners of Simon’s lips could not help but curl slightly.
Vhaurak was honest, but his honesty did not reduce his arrogance.
"I received the enlightenment needed to create this art while possessing a low A grade affinity. Therefore, I believe a low A grade affinity should be sufficient."
"If you die despite meeting that requirement, that means your control was poor, your body was weak, or the demon gods simply disliked you."
"Do not blame me."
Simon released a soft chuckle.
His own wind affinity was High S grade. If affinity was the only concern, he surpassed the requirement by a wide margin.
However, the Fury Tempest Art demanded more than affinity.
"The Crowns must be formed from wind elemental energy."
"Your demonic energy is not your elemental energy. Do not confuse the two simply because both energies flow through your body."
"Demonic energy will reinforce your body, support the circulation method, and help you maintain control. Wind elemental energy will form the Crowns."
"Use demonic energy to replace the wind elemental energy, and the rotation will become impure. The Crown may collapse before it closes, and your demonic pathways will be the first things it tears apart."
Simon read that paragraph twice, and his expression became slightly more serious.
Vhaurak continued listing the requirements.
"The user must be capable of controlling three separate currents of wind elemental energy at the same time."
"One current must gather."
"One must compress."
"One must command."
"If the gathering current becomes faster than the compressing current, the Crown will swell until it ruptures."
"If the compressing current overwhelms the gathering current, the Crown will collapse inward."
"If the command current fails, both will happen to your body."
The following warning was shorter.
"Your mental energy must be strong."
"A single Crown is a circle."
"Six Crowns are a battlefield."
"They rotate at different angles, move at different speeds, and cross one another repeatedly. Every crossing requires a Silent Node where the currents pass without colliding."
"Miss one Silent Node, and you may lose a Crown."
"Miss several, and you may lose your life."
Simon’s fingers stopped on that line.
Although he had not read the technique yet, Simon was beginning to have high hopes for it.
The Crowns were not simple rings spinning behind the user. They would form an interconnected wind formation whose parts moved through different paths.
Maintaining one might not be difficult.
Maintaining all six while fighting, moving, attacking, and defending would require terrifying control.
Fortunately, control was something Simon did not lack. In fact, one could call it his true terrifying talent.
Vhaurak’s final warning concerned the body.
"Do not believe wind cannot harm you because you possess wind affinity."
"The Crowns will gather movement from your body and everything around you. Their force will pass through your spine, lungs, shoulders, and Demon Heart."
"If your body cannot endure the pressure, it will break before your enemies do."
"Strengthen your bones."
"Strengthen your organs."
"Strengthen your demonic pathways."
"Only then should you seek the Crown."
Simon leaned back slightly.
His body had been strengthened by Devour, his bloodlines, Unholy Regeneration, and everything he experienced since his rebirth.
He was only a Minor Archfiend, but his physical strength was comparable to a Minor Greater Demon when he was at full power.
The physical requirement would not stop him.
He turned to the final page of the introduction.
The handwriting there was more uneven than before. Several drops of dark, dried blood stained the bottom of the parchment.
Vhaurak was probably approaching the end of his life when he wrote it.
Despite that, his final words carried the same arrogance as the beginning.
"I could not practise the Fury Tempest Art."
"That is my greatest regret."
"But do not mistake an untested art for a weak one."
"The demon who forms the First Crown will move like the beginning of a storm."
"The demon who forms the Third will crush fortresses and tear armies apart."
"The demon who forms the Fifth will no longer fight beneath the sky. The sky will fight for him."
"And when all Six Crowns rotate around the Storm Throne..."
The final sentence was written so deeply that the silver ink had cut into the stormhide parchment.
"...even the heavens will have to revolve around you."
Simon stared at those words for several seconds.
It was an absurd claim.
Even during his past life as a Demi-God, he would not have casually said that the heavens would revolve around him simply because of a technique.
However, Simon did not close the book.
Vhaurak was arrogant, but he did not seem to be an idiot.
The principle behind the Fury Tempest Art was strange, difficult, and filled with danger. Yet it was also far more interesting than the ordinary wind techniques Simon expected to find.
He turned the page.
A detailed diagram appeared.
At its centre was a dark point labelled:
[Storm Throne.]
Around it was the first circular current of the Fury Tempest Art.
[First Storm Crown.]
[Gale Crown.]
Simon’s eyes narrowed slightly.
It was time to see whether the dying Supreme Demon Lord’s arrogance had any foundation.
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