Simyon

Simyon is a Dark Faction warrior and one of Raze Cromwell's earliest companions in Pagna. A clanless temple orphan who wants the academy to give him a future, he unseals the Black Steel Earring and develops an evolvable body with the properties of metal. What begins as an accidental curse becomes the basis of a deliberate identity: Simyon repeatedly places that body between his friends and stronger enemies, ultimately dying to keep Safa alive.

Biography

Temple friendship and the sealed earring

Simyon meets Raze and Safa at Mr. Kron's temple, where his curly hair, goofy smile, and immediate friendliness make him the first child to welcome the newcomers without suspicion. He teaches Raze the kitchen routine and excitedly explains that the Dark Faction Academy is the only realistic route by which children without a clan can learn cultivation and become Pagna warriors. His ambition is therefore practical as well as youthful: the academy promises him a life beyond dependence on the temple. (Chapters 6–8)

The object that changes his prospects is not originally meant for him. Raze seals a cursed earring whose trial requires its wearer to remain awake for seventy-two hours without food or water, and Von discards it before Simyon finds it. Once the earring attaches itself and cannot be removed, Simyon has little control over the ordeal. He nevertheless chooses to endure after Raze explains that success can grant power, holding onto both Raze's warning and his own memory of a sister who told him to live. (Chapters 49–55)

At the end of the trial, Simyon sees Safa threatened by a Red Brigade warrior and moves to shield her, unwilling to repeat his failure to protect his sister. The newly unsealed item turns his arm metal-hard, lets him stop a sword, and helps the two children defeat their attacker. Its revealed effect is a Common Steel Body that can evolve and temporarily inherit magical attributes placed into the earring. Simyon does not understand the magical interface himself, but the result ties his survival, his protective impulse, and Raze's craft together from the beginning. (Chapters 66–67)

Learning to be the academy's shield

At the Dark Faction Academy, Simyon initially lacks the polished technique and resources of clan disciples. He trains beside Safa and Liam, studies under Raze and Dame Narfous, and learns to make his unusual durability useful in group combat. When Raze stores Dark magic in the earring, rubbing it activates Rebound for only two seconds: Simyon must accept the incoming blow before its damage is returned, and he collapses after demonstrating the effect against Lisa. (Chapters 108–144)

The group's battles turn that risky function into a role Simyon chooses. He steps into attacks so Liam and Safa can move, checks on Safa when her magic core fails, and agrees to serve as the “meat shield” when enemies block their progress. The phrase begins as Liam's rough tactical shorthand, but Simyon increasingly treats it as a specialization rather than an insult. His motive is not to be the best attacker; it is to give more versatile companions the time and space they need. (Chapters 219, 328, and 352)

That conviction produces a measurable change during the Lethal Bite Clan's assault. Already a fourth-stage warrior with a Rare Steel Body, Simyon reinforces his skin with Qi while a faster, higher-stage opponent repeatedly strikes him. The defense drains Qi and does not prevent internal damage, yet he refuses to yield because he defines his body as a shield for others. The earring responds by evolving him to an Elite Body, shattering the attacker's sword; he then holds her in place and applies ice and lightning through his gloves until Dame arrives. (Chapter 397)

Captivity, tournament, and Murkel's fall

After further training under Amir, Simyon, Safa, and Liam enter the inter-faction tournament as accomplished academy representatives but remain under Principal Murkel's control. Simyon's body has become extraordinarily refined even though his cultivation growth is slower than that of his companions. Against Brack, he absorbs punishment long past the point at which the crowd expects him to fall, driven by the same stubborn conviction that carried him through the earring's unsealing; Safa's healing is crucial to his survival afterward. (Chapters 610–663)

The tournament also broadens his combat function beyond passive endurance. His paired gloves carry ice and lightning supplied through Raze's enchantment, so grappling lets him keep a stronger enemy in contact with effects that do not depend entirely on ordinary Qi. When the trio faces a bald warrior resistant to Qi, Simyon holds the opponent while those magical attributes continue to freeze and shock him. The application is dangerous because it requires Simyon to enter reach and keep his grip, but it gives the group an answer to defenses that blunt conventional Pagna attacks. (Chapters 683 and 703–710)

When Murkel openly attacks, Simyon remains in the coalition rather than treating the academy's collapse as permission to escape alone. Dame places himself in Murkel's path to protect Simyon, and Simyon in turn continues supporting Safa and Liam while Raze, Amir, Alba, and the others create the opening that kills the principal. The episode confirms that his defensive role is reciprocal: stronger mentors protect him when necessary because his survival matters, not merely because they expect him to absorb their next enemy's attack. (Chapters 686–756)

The shield of Flendon

The campaign against Sha Mo gives Simyon his clearest public statement of purpose. When a giant image of Qi bears down on him, Safa, and Liam, he rises first and takes the entire blow. By then the earring has developed his body to Mythical level, giving it the construction of a weapon that can be reinforced with Qi, but Sha Mo's strike still injures his organs. Simyon answers with a joke about the clan leader's light fists, buying Safa time to heal him and the group time to reposition. (Chapter 875)

Amir's enhancement beads let Simyon extend the right glove's lightning across his whole body. This Lightning Body greatly increases his movement, strength, and ability to meet Sha Mo's attacks, while its magical component remains useful against opponents or circumstances in which ordinary Qi is insufficient. Simyon calls Raze the leader of the Dark Faction and himself the shield who will stand before him. The declaration turns a childhood impulse into a consciously accepted place within Raze's emerging faction. (Chapters 875–878)

Simyon continues that work after Flendon survives. He carries the wounded Safa away while concealing his own condition, then joins her and Liam in following Himmy's trail into the Rylon churches. An artifact there suppresses their Qi and magic, removing his lightning acceleration, yet it cannot undo the physical refinement already imposed on his body; a hostile fighter hurts his own hand by striking Simyon. The encounter also exposes the limit of passive hardness: without Qi and lightning, Simyon is slower and can be controlled even when ordinary blows have difficulty breaking him. (Chapters 897–970)

Protecting Safa at the Neverfall funeral

Before the Neverfall funeral, Raze equips his companions for the expected conflict and orders Simyon to protect Safa. When the Deleters' attack begins, Simyon does so instinctively rather than from obedience, wrapping himself around her head while an unseen force tears into his own. Safa responds with an immense Light-magic field that heals him and everyone inside it, but the spell also restores enemy golems and consumes her life. Simyon recognizes her body growing cold before she accepts that the rescue itself is killing her. (Chapters 1105 and 1144)

Forced to choose between accepting Safa's sacrifice and ending the field, Simyon thanks Raze for the good life he was given and admits that he could never save his sister. He strikes Safa unconscious, catches her, and freezes her body to his with the ice glove so she cannot be separated from his protection. Repeated attacks then destroy his head and overwhelm even the body shaped by the earring. His final act is therefore not an involuntary block but a considered exchange: he ends Safa's self-destructive healing knowing that the next attacks will fall on him alone. (Chapters 1144–1145)

Dame Narfous prevents Safa from exhausting herself over a death that her magic can no longer reverse. He explains that Simyon endured years of brutal training to become a shield and points to the smile still visible on his face, interpreting it as proof that he died without regret because Safa survived. Liam carries the body away, while Dame's cursed gauntlets later summon and absorb an image of Simyon, preserving his extraordinary durability and Lightning Body as powers Dame can channel. The exact interaction between the gauntlets, the earring, and Simyon's spirit is not fully explained in the corpus. (Chapters 1146, 1150–1151, 1237, and 1354)

The shield's legacy

Simyon's death changes the goals of those who outlive him. Raze sees the body and memories connected with his final stand, directs his anger toward Alter, and later acknowledges that the coalition's gains were purchased partly by Simyon's sacrifice. Safa carries the grief into the continuing war, while Dame finds his earlier ambitions hollow beside the loss. These consequences are not a posthumous promotion Simyon sought; they are the measure of how completely the temple boy had become part of the family he protected. (Chapters 1171–1181 and 1273)

Dame's gauntlets make the legacy physically visible in later battles. By switching to the traits absorbed from Simyon, Dame acquires a weapon-hard body and can reproduce the lightning-enhanced state that once let Simyon stand against Sha Mo. The narration attributes that state to the combined influence of the Mythical earring, refined Qi, and Raze's lightning enchantment, but it does not establish that Simyon himself remains conscious inside the gauntlets. His latest confirmed state is death; what persists is an item-mediated copy of the qualities he developed. (Chapters 1150–1151, 1237, and 1354)

Appearance and personality

Simyon is introduced as a dark-skinned boy with curly hair, an “incredibly goofy” smile, and an open delight at meeting new companions. By the faction tournament, the training imposed by the academy and Amir has visibly matured his face and hardened his build. His most consequential physical feature is not obvious anatomy but the item-driven composition of his body: it progresses from ordinary flesh to a metal-like, weapon-grade structure while retaining the capacity to bleed, suffer internal injury, and die. (Chapters 6, 610, 397, and 875)

His humor is broad, cheeky, and sometimes deliberately unserious. He trades crude remarks with Liam, grins at stronger enemies, and uses jokes after taking blows that could kill other warriors. That manner coexists with insecurity about being less technically gifted than his companions. Rather than disguising the gap with grand claims, he settles on one contribution he can make exceptionally well and turns the derisive “meat shield” label into a statement of worth. (Chapters 352, 397, 653, and 875)

Protection is Simyon's defining value, rooted in trauma rather than abstract heroism. The memory of failing to save his sister drives both the first activation of his Steel Body and the choice that kills him. Between those points, his loyalty is expressed through repeated physical decisions: standing first, holding an enemy in place, carrying Safa despite his own wounds, and refusing to release her at the funeral. His final gratitude toward Raze shows that he regards the dangerous years not as exploitation, but as the life and family he had wanted. (Chapters 66, 397, 897, and 1144)

Magic, cultivation, and abilities

Qi cultivation and defensive combat

Simyon cultivates Qi as a Pagna warrior and is explicitly at the fourth stage while trying to reach the fifth during the Lethal Bite conflict. Qi reinforces his body in the same way another warrior reinforces a weapon, improving the resistance supplied by his Steel Body and adding force to grapples and strikes. His exact later cultivation stage is not stated. His progress is repeatedly described as slow, and his relative lack of speed and refined offensive arts remains a limitation even after his durability becomes exceptional. (Chapter 397; Chapters 653 and 875)

His tactics are built around interception, endurance, and close control. He places himself in attack paths, turtles against rapid blows, catches limbs or bodies once enemies commit, and trusts partners to exploit the time he creates. This makes him unusually effective against direct physical pressure but vulnerable to internal damage, Qi exhaustion, suppression, and attacks too powerful for his current body. Even a Mythical Steel Body cannot make his organs invulnerable or protect his head indefinitely from the Deleters' repeated force. (Chapters 328, 397, 875, 970, and 1144)

Steel Body and the Black Steel Earring

The Black Steel Earring binds to Simyon when he survives its sealed trial of seventy-two hours awake without food or water. It initially grants a Common Steel Body, allows that body to evolve, and can temporarily alter its attributes when magic is placed into the earring. Simyon cannot read the magical system messages and depends on Raze to understand or recharge some functions, but the bodily effect itself becomes permanent enough to persist even when an external artifact suppresses active Qi and magic. (Chapters 49–66 and 970)

The body advances through item-like grades: it is Rare by the fight in which Simyon is a fourth-stage warrior, becomes Elite when his conviction stabilizes under repeated sword strikes, and is described as Mythical when he blocks Sha Mo. At higher grades, blades chip or shatter against him and his structure resembles a weapon more than ordinary flesh. The protection is neither absolute nor painless; impacts transmit internal harm, reinforcing it consumes Qi, and sufficiently powerful repeated attacks ultimately kill him. (Chapters 397, 653, 875, and 1144–1145)

Rebound

Raze stores Dark magic in the earring to create Rebound. Simyon activates it by rubbing the earring, after which damage received during a two-second window is returned to the attacker. The effect is best used as a precisely timed defense because Simyon still receives the initial attack and must be capable of surviving it. Once triggered, the stored Dark magic disappears and Raze must place more into the earring before the function can be used again. Its representative use knocks Lisa away with the force of her own committed strike but leaves Simyon injured and unconscious. (Chapter 144)

Enchanted gloves and Lightning Body

Simyon's gloves provide ice through one hand and lightning through the other. The elemental effects are Raze's enchantments, not affinities Simyon independently awakens. At close range he can freeze and shock an opponent while maintaining a grapple, a useful interaction against the Qi-resistant fighter encountered during the tournament. The need to touch or remain near a target exposes him to counterattacks, and the gloves' ordinary discharge is not presented as enough to defeat elite opponents without his body, Qi, and allies creating the opportunity. (Chapters 397, 683, and 703–710)

With beads supplied by Amir, Simyon can touch the right-hand Simyon's Lightning Glove to the necklace and spread blue lightning across his entire body. This Lightning Body boosts speed, strength, and defensive performance, letting him intercept Sha Mo and help slow the clan leader for coordinated attacks. Suppression later strips away the lightning aura and reveals how much it contributes to mobility. After Simyon's death, Dame reproduces the state through his own gauntlets, although the corpus does not fully define how that copied version retains all of the earring-and-glove interaction. (Chapters 875–878, 961–970, 1237, and 1354)

Power progression

Relationships

• Raze Cromwell: Simyon is Raze's first friendly peer at the temple and one of the earliest people to trust the dangerous results of his item craft. Raze supplies the earring's stored magic and later enchantments; Simyon repays that support by naming himself Raze's shield and thanking him for a good life before dying.
• Safa: Safa becomes the person Simyon most consistently protects. Their bond grows from temple companionship into a sibling-like battlefield partnership, shaped by mutual rescues and her healing. His last choice ends her lethal spell and trades his life for hers, explicitly answering his regret over his biological sister.
• Liam: Liam and Simyon begin with rivalry, crude jokes, and the “meat shield” nickname, but build a reliable tactical partnership. Liam depends on Simyon's blocks, worries over his injuries, confirms his condition through the system, and carries his body from the battlefield without his usual joking manner.
• Dame Narfous: Dame trains Simyon's body, rescues him during the Lethal Bite attack, and later interprets his death for Safa. Dame's cursed gauntlets preserve Simyon's defensive traits, making their teacher-student relationship the means by which his combat legacy continues.
• Amir: Amir trains Simyon with Safa and Liam and later supplies the beads that turn the lightning glove into a full-body enhancement. The training is punishing, but it helps convert Simyon's raw endurance into disciplined support for the group.

Items

• Black Steel Earring: A Mythical cursed item that binds to Simyon after a seventy-two-hour trial. It creates and evolves his Steel Body, can hold temporary magical attributes, and serves as the activation point for Rebound. The corpus does not establish the earring's custody after his death. (Chapters 49–66, 144, 397, and 875)
• Simyon's Lightning Glove: Raze's enchanted glove supplies lightning in Simyon's paired elemental setup. Contact with Amir's beads spreads the effect across his body as Lightning Body, greatly increasing his speed and defensive performance. Simyon also carries an ice glove, but the final item catalogue does not treat it as a separate approved article. (Chapters 397, 683, and 875–878)
• Dame's Cursed Gauntlets: These belong to Dame, not Simyon. After Simyon dies, they summon and absorb a spectral representation of him, allowing Dame to switch into his durability and later channel Lightning Body. The text does not resolve whether this stores a spirit, a copied trait, or some combination. (Chapters 1150–1151, 1237, and 1354)