Simon did not know this, but the Pallbearers and several other members of the clan who knew that he was tortured by Pellin were actually surprised that he still had his sanity.
To them, Simon was a fifteen year old kid who was tortured by a sick and mental demon.
What he went through was something that would break and had broken the minds of most men and warriors, and as a young boy, they believed Simon’s mind should have been broken.
Especially, after the soul-eating centipede was placed inside his ear.
Every pain he went received was a pain that would traumatize even the best of some warriors, but after he was released and brought to the Hall of the Pallbearers, he acted like he was okay.
He did not tremble in fear or pain. He did not beg for anybody to kill him. He did not rage or shed a single tear.
To them, it was like Simon had not just gone through an experience that would scar and traumatize even some elite warriors of the demon realm.
They were baffled, but they didn’t say anything and decided to focus on other matters.
If Simon was okay mentally after everything he went through, then that meant his mind was a lot stronger than they could even imagine.
And they were both right and wrong.
The main reason why Simon had been acting like he had not just been tortured and treated worse than a living being is because of Fearless.
His true mental age also helped him a lot, but it was not enough.
On Earth, he had never been tortured in such a manner. In fact, none had ever tortured him.
The worst he had received was to receive a beating after being tied up.
He was not used to torture, and he could not withstand the pain of it.
But Fearless allowed him to feel no fear, and what was trauma if not fear?
Fearless was the main reason why he could continue living his day like everything was alright, and why he was not reliving such an awful experience in his mind every single time.
However, the damage the soul-eating centipede did to his mind was now a weakness of Simon’s mind.
He had no idea of this, but the moment he heard the words- "Let’s play a game."
Memories of him in the cell and Pellin humming his annoying tune continuously echoed in his mind.
He tried to control himself, but he could not.
The pain. The feeling of helplessness. The despair.
All those things and more he felt back then rushed into his mind with full force, and something snapped inside of him.
His emotions were unstable.
He was unstable.
His mind was unstable.
Everything around him was unstable.
And to stabilize it all, his blood whispered to him.
Kill
Hunt
Kill
Hunt
Kill
Hunt
As the wolf laughed at Simon with his companions, the Shadow Panther girl noticed how Simon was just staring down with his white hair covering his eyes.
The wind around him became blew and slowly increased in intensity, blowing his hair behind him.
An indigo aura flickered in and out of existence around him, and for a fraction of a second, she saw the face of a massive white tiger flash into existence.
"What the?"
She took several steps in confusion and fear, and the wolf looked at her and approached her with concern.
"Mona. Are you alright?"
Mona, the shadow panther girl, held her head and shook it.
"I am. But I don’t think he is. There’s something wrong about him... and it terrfies me."
The wolf and the others frowned. They couldn’t believe Mona would go as far as say such words about Simon.
They know that she desires to bed Simon, but for her to stoop so low and make it seem like they should be wary of Simon?
How disgraceful.
The wolf’s eyes flashed with a mixture of annoyance and irritation.
"About who? The lowly mixed breed? Are you saying we should fear him?"
Mona immediately understood the thoughts of her companions, and she was tongue-tied. How could she explain what she had just seen.
"No. It’s not that, Jath. It’s just-"
She looked at where Simon was supposed to be, but the space was empty.
"Huh? Where is-"
Puchi!
Puchi!
Splat!
Blood fell on top of Mona’s face, and she was stunned.
Thud
She looked to the side, and she saw the face of Trog- the two-horned demon.
His eyes were missing, his face had claw marks on it, and a hole could be seen where his heart used to be.
He was dead, and what she was looking at was a corpse.
Her mind did not register what was happening at first, not until she heard the scream of Jath and her other companions.
"MONA! GET UP!"
Jath’s roar shook her, and she instantly regained focus.
She turned, then she saw a scene that would be engraved into her soul even after death.
Jath the Silver Wolf Demon, Orianna the Blood Spider Demon, Bria the Raven Demon, and Sog the Purple Orchid Demon.
Each and everyone of them who were Fiends were battling a Minor Lesser Demon, and they were losing.
Thud
Thud
Thud
An arm fell in front of her and rolled to her legs, and her pupils constricted into pinholes when she saw that it was Orianna’s right arm.
’I have to help or else we’ll all die.’
She tried to get up, but to her horror, she realized that she could not.
Her bloodline was trembling in fear, and her body was refusing to get up.
Her entire being was truly afraid, and she knew why.
’That white tiger. What was it? What was that being? I have never heard of a white tiger before.’
She knew that it was because of the massive white tiger she saw that was making her to be afraid, but she didn’t know why.
Simon should not have such a powerful bloodline that it could overpower hers.
She was of the feline lineage, and only those from the tiger and lion branch could suppress her bloodline this way.
But she had never heard of a white tiger before.
What was going on?
’Was that why I wanted to bed him from the beginning? My bloodline knew the benefits I’d gain if I did that?’
She had so many questions but nobody to answer them.
All she could do was watch as her friends were treated like toys by the hands of a maniacally smiling demon.