Chapter 24: No one will be able to kill you when you're dead
Contrary to what Kayn and Natas were thinking about though, the ground underneath the plywood was actually reconstructed completely to make it hard enough to deal any damages towards it. Albeit it is still possible to dig through, it's just going to take a long time to do so compared to any ordinary floors, especially in the case of the souls as they are extremely weak.
"Good thing he has something like that prepared," Natas commended Rowan Starlight for his preparedness.
"It's still not going to hold on for long because of the number of souls digging through the floor," Kayn shook his head. If it was him, he would have thoroughly eliminated that weakness once and for all. But on the other hand, who is he to judge? Maybe Rowan Starlight doesn't have enough resources to do so considering that he barely receives any support from the Starlight Family that's why he could only force himself to feel satisfied with what he could achieve.
"Anyways, let's get close to Raul so that we can immediately eliminate him," Kayn quickly changed the topic and started proceeding to sneak around the path that allows him to move above Raul. In that way, he could simply drop down and launch a surprise attack.
Honestly, he had considered beforehand going down onto the ground floor since it's going to be a lot easier to deal with Raul in that location. However, because of how unpredictable the current situation is down below, he eventually decided not to do so in case he would accidentally get discovered.
Regardless, he could still achieve the same thing even if he is on the viewing platform as long as he thoroughly prepares himself.
Without Raul noticing, Kayn and Natas soon arrived above him. They were silently observing the former and thinking of how to effectively deal with him considering that they still have to drop down to the ground to launch an attack.
"There's nothing heavy around us that we could just use to drop onto Raul's head," Natas heave a sigh of helplessness. That would have been the easiest way to incapacitate Raul. Moreover, Kayn won't have to risk revealing his identity to anyone. Speaking about that, "By the way, make sure to cover your face,"
"With what?" Kayn rolled his eyes at Natas. He didn't even prepare himself to experience this kind of situation right after the day he reincarnated, so let alone having a mask to hide his identity. He also left his bag in the Faculty Building beforehand so that he can easily maneuver around, as such he has nothing on him that he can use to hide his face.
"How about your clothes?" Natas suggested.
"You want me to go down there topless?"
"If it's okay for you, then why not?"
"Forget about that idea. I don't want to hear rumors about a shirtless guy saving Rowan Starlight from danger spread around the Starlight Hero Academy," Just the thought of that was already enough to send shivers down Kayn's spine. "And besides, I actually want them to know who I am,"
"Why so?"
"Have you thought of the reason why I was forced to enter the 'Tower' ahead of time?"
"And what about it?" Natas doesn't get how that is related to this matter of not wearing a mask.
"At that time, what mainly influenced me to get inside the 'Tower' was that I cared way too much about my image. I wanted the entire world to see me as a Hero again by going inside the 'Tower' and doing something to redeem myself. In the end, where did that get me?"
"Back to the start,"
"Exactly! I returned back to the beginning. To the starting line once again. As far as I am concerned, I couldn't say for certain that this is actually good for me. After all, it would have also been better if I have indeed completely destroyed the 'Tower' back then. Not to mention, I could have finally taken a rest from all this Hero stuffs. Needless to say, this reincarnation is not useless as it ultimately gives me the chance to perform much better,"
"And that's the main reason why I don't want to wear a mask. I want them to know the unknown variable that caused their plan to be destroyed. I want them to know that I am not pure and work solely for the light. This time, I want myself dead! Because they will never be able to kill me once I am dead!"
"Are you telling me that you want to fake your death?" Natas immediately started shaking his head. "Just so you know, even if you fake your death, the 'Tower' will still know of that. As a matter of fact, you'd only become even more suspicious,"
"Of course, I am not planning to fake my death! I am more than aware of how pointless that is because the 'Tower' could just simply inform Nicholas of my true identity," Kayn wasn't stupid enough to fall for that obvious trap. "All I am trying to say is, I don't want to have a clean hand. This time, if it's necessary for me to have blood all over me, then I will do exactly that! If the people long already thought of me to be on the borderline between good and evil, then they won't have anything to say regardless of me doing whatever I believe is right,"
"In other words, you want to be immune from the public opinion of the entire world?" Natas quickly understood what Kayn meant with his words.
"Yes! And I will be using this moment as my stepping stone for that plan!" Kayn finally revealed his plans.
"That's a good idea!" Natas approved of Kayn's plan without any second thoughts. Anyways, this event isn't really going to be something that will get the entire world's attention. At most, it would only be treated as nothing more than a group of students fighting against each other if ever it was reported. So, even if Kayn reveals that he was the one that saved Rowan Starlight, it won't go as far as the 'Tower' thinking of him as a threat nor World President Nicholas would make a move to eliminate him. Well, it could still become a taint in Kayn's record.
"And besides, the more I try to hide it, the more people would want to investigate and find any faults about me. Rather than having that, it's much better for them to outright find out that it was me," Kayn added. The Starlight Family is a very powerful family in the Dragon Beast Republic. So, it's only going to be a matter of time before they discover that it was him that intervene to save Rowan Starlight. If he tries to hide, then they will find out that he investigated Rowan Starlight in the Faculty Building first before arriving at the Technological Building. By then, he can't use the excuse that he just happened to be at the right time and the right place, which is exactly what he intends to say. That's no doubt going to be an effective reason for him. After all, he has no past relationship with Rowan Starlight prior to this event.
"Once the shield is destroyed, Raul would be too busy celebrating his triumph. That's when we will drop down as he won't expect our sudden intrusion," Natas changed the topic to inform Kayn of the perfect opportunity to launch their attack.
"Alright," Kayn nodded his head as he turned his attention to the fight.
Immediately, Kayn and Natas noticed that a hole has already formed underneath the plywood. As of this moment, some souls have already gotten inside the shield and are currently destroying the gadget that manipulates the mana.
Luckily though, the souls weren't having it easy removing the gadgets as they were embedded seemingly perfectly onto the plywood. Plus, with the strength of the souls, they would have to rely on numbers once more to destroy the gadgets. Needless to say, Rowan Starlight didn't just watch while all of that happened.
The Pest Killing Machine has now redirected its barrel toward the souls that have gotten inside the shield. Those that are still outside can't post any sort of threat as long as the shield exists, so Rowan Starlight didn't bother them anymore and turned his focus towards those that have gotten inside.
"That will simply act as a band-aid to Rowan's current predicament," Natas sighed in pity. As more and more holes underneath the plywood are formed, the number of souls inside the shield will similarly increase. No matter how good the performance of the Pest Killing Machine is, it won't be able to defend the gadgets that create the shield for long. Not to mention, there would definitely be excess in souls, which Raul would no doubt use to distract Rowan Starlight. By that time, the gadgets would be left defenseless and it's only going to be a matter of time before they get destroyed. Once that happens, the shield will drop down and nothing will hold back the souls outside anymore.
With that in mind, Natas turned to Kayn and said, "Rowan won't be able to hold for long. Start making your preparation,"