Chapter 20: Rowan Starlight's Future Identity
The moment Kayn arrived on the viewing platform, he hid behind a box in an inconspicuous location, and as soon as he looked out to see what was happening, he immediately understood the situation at hand.
Currently, the group of six rookie Heroes is close to destroying the door of the vault where Rowan Starlight is hiding. So close that a tiny portion of the door was actually already destroyed enough for everyone to see Rowan Starlight inside.
Strangely enough though, if one would observe closely, there is actually no tinge of fear nor weakness shown on Rowan Starlight's face right now. Instead, it's as if he is a patient predator waiting for the right time to pounce on his prey. Of course, this was only Kayn's thoughts, while evidently, the people down below don't see it the same way.
"There is something wrong with Rowan Starlight," Kayn informed Natas.
"I know," Even without needing Kayn to mention it, Natas already noticed it as well, even more to boot. "He is already a Hero,"
That's right. At this very moment, Rowan Starlight seems to be no longer a mere Superhuman, rather he has become an official bonafide Hero. On top of that, his strength is even more powerful than those rookie Heroes down below.
"You're not kidding me, right?" Kayn felt really surprised at Natas' discovery. He somewhat expected just now that Rowan Starlight was powerful as he could sense it, but he didn't expect that it would really be to the point of him already being a Hero.
"What do you think I would get from lying to you?" Natas rolled his eyes.
"Nothing, of course. But… this is just too ridiculous," Kayn expressed his disbelief. Imagine, those people down there still think that Rowan Starlight is a helpless sheep ready to be slaughtered by them. But unbeknownst to all of them, he is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing, just patiently waiting until the actual sheep open up his cage.
"I also didn't expect this kind of development as well," Natas felt the same as Kayn.
They seriously thought a while ago that Rowan Starlight is currently being pushed into a corner and is unable to escape from his enemies. Indeed, he would definitely be able to pull some kind of miracle, since it's still a fact that he caused one of the dark secrets of the Starlight Family and he was also able to become an influential Villain in the future. But without their help, they believe that Rowan Starlight would barely be able to escape from this place in one piece.
That was supposed to be where they would ultimately come to the rescue of Rowan Starlight. They will appear seemingly out of nowhere and lend him a hand, make the latter remember them, or at least Kayn, before making an escape, which would then hasten the process of Rowan Starlight recognizing them as his ally and vice versa.
Contrary to what they were expecting though, Rowan Starlight actually doesn't need any sort of help from them. As a matter of fact, with how things are currently developing, they might as well be on the side of these people who are hoping to do something bad to the latter. In such a way, they would have some chance to really win like what they are expecting to achieve.
"What do you think he is doing right now?" Natas can't help but ask Kayn about what Rowan Starlight is possibly planning to do.
"If my guess is correct, I believe he is trying to tire them out. He should be aware that even if he is stronger than them, it would be impossible for him to beat all of them alone. So, he is trying to make them expend as much of their stamina as possible, and when that finally happens, even if they have the numerical advantage against him, he would still not have any trouble defeating them," Kayn explained.
Hearing Kayn's assumption, Natas quickly turned his attention back to the situation in front to confirm if that was indeed the case or not.
"I guess you are right," Natas finally understood.
As how things seemed to look like, although the door of the vault is nearing its inevitable destruction, it would still take a bit more time before that will happen. Probably ten minutes or so. Not because the vault is thick enough to withstand the continuous onslaught of six rookie Heroes, but rather it's simply because the six rookie Heroes themselves are too weak.
The moment those six rookie Heroes become exhausted, there might be no need for Rowan Starlight to continue staying inside the vault anymore. He might as well just open the vault's door since the only thing that would come on his way would be those dozens of Superhuman bodyguards, who have only little to no chance of defeating Heroes, especially in the case of these Superhuman bodyguards present in this underground warehouse, even if they include their comrades guarding upstairs.
This leads to Kayn asking Natas the question, "Are we really needed here?"
"About that… I am currently having second thoughts," Natas started feeling doubt in his heart.
"I thought your brother said that this was supposed to be something bad,"
"Maybe it was only bad in the part where it's a betrayal of his incarnation's family,"
"So, is there by any chance something else we could perhaps do to help Rowan Starlight in hopes of earning his allegiance in this kind of situation we are in?" Kayn wanted to know.
"I guess… no," Natas shook his head. But then in the next moment, he suddenly noticed something strange. "I think we missed another thing. Look,"
As Kayn followed where Natas was pointing, he soon saw the unknown person that the latter had mentioned about before. The unknown person was just standing beside Carlos and his goons while crossing his arms together as he watches the current situation slowly unfold.
The unknown person has the same hair color as Rowan Starlight, which instantly made both Kayn and Natas assume that they are related and belong in the same Starlight Family.
Though that wasn't what Natas was pointing at, rather it was the ring that the unknown person was wearing on his right ring finger.
The ring was silver in color and had a skull shape on top with the skull's eyes being imbued with some kind of red gemstone. The mouth of the skull was open wide as it releases ominous black miasma.
Because the skull ring looks so tiny from their location, and in addition to that, the posture of the unknown person somewhat hides it with the sleeve of his left arm, that's why Kayn and Natas were only able to notice it just now.
"I think Rowan Starlight is not just simply trying to expend those six rookie Heroes' stamina, but he is being cautious about that skull ring as well," Natas explained as he rubs his chin, thinking about where exactly he saw that skull ring before since it looks extremely familiar to him.
Contrary to Natas, however, Kayn was immediately able to recognize the skull ring that the unknown person was wearing as soon as he laid his eyes on it.
"That's the infamous Sitan's Ring that was used by…"
"Harbinger of Hell,"
"Harbinger of Hell,"
Both Kayn and Natas said at the same time as they looked at each other.
"I seriously did not expect that Harbinger of Hell and the person who we are about to recruit is actually the same person!" Kayn felt amazed and dumbfounded at the same time by their discovery. He could already guess that this is how Rowan Starlight would steal the Sitan's Ring from that unknown person after defeating him. The latter would then escape from this unfortunate life and make use of the Sitan's Ring to its fullest potential in order for him to grow and become more powerful in the future.
Harbinger of Hell was an infamous title bestowed to a Villain whose name was also coincidentally Rowan by Admiral Robert of the Kraken Beast Republic himself. Of course, both Kayn and Natas didn't know beforehand that Rowan and this Rowan are the same people. After all, there are just far too many people with the name Rowan in this world.
The meaning behind the title Harbinger of Hell was due to this Villain possessing one of the most powerful items ever found inside the 'Tower', the Sitan's Ring. According to the mythology of one of the territories under the Kraken Beast Republic, where the man Harbinger of Hell first showed his might and prestige, Sitan is actually known to be their God of Hell.
The Sitan's Ring also stays true to that description in the said mythology as it could literally bring Hell itself onto Earth. It was said that wherever the Harbinger of Hell goes, Hell itself will follow after. That's why its user received the title Harbinger of Hell.
"But isn't that kind of overpowered for such a powerful item to exist at the early stage of the 'Tower'?" Kayn can't help himself but ask Natas.
"Technically, yes. But the truth is, the Sitan's Ring wasn't discovered from one of the floors inside the 'Tower'. Instead, it was my brother himself that gave it to Rowan Starlight, and it was I that gave it to that brother of mine," Natas explained. "Probably that unknown person stole it from Rowan Starlight after he received it from my brother. And because he is powerless, that's why he was unable to get it back, until now,"
"Eh…? Care to clarify more about the Sitan's Ring?" Kayn instantly became curious about the story behind the Sitan's Ring.
"Sitan is also called Satan in another story. And if you spell that backward, it would become Natas, yours truly," Natas finally remembered why the ring in the possession of that unknown person was extremely familiar to him.
"Ah…" Kayn instantly understood.
"Why does it seem like you aren't impressed about it, at all? You do know just how powerful that item is, right?" Natas felt insulted at Kayn's nonchalant reaction.
"I know how powerful the Sitan's Ring is. And honestly, I admire its greatness and practicality. It's just that it's a real pity that its original owner is such a narcissistic man,"
"What do you mean narcissistic, ha?! It's a common practice to put your name in an item that you made!" Natas started fuming with rage.
"First it was you deliberately sneaking your portrait into a dungeon so that people would be able to find it, and now this? What else do you call a man like that other than narcissistic?" Kayn rolled his eyes, slightly depressed by the fact that he returned back in time with a man like Natas. He could somewhat expect already that what they would do in the future will or might have the name of Natas himself.
"Tch! If only we weren't in such an important situation right now, then I would have beat you up!" Natas was disgruntled by not being able to do any harm to Kayn right now since that might compromise what they are doing.
"Please kindly shut your mouth. It's about to happen," Kayn suddenly interrupted.
"Why, you…!"