Chapter 21: Sitan's Ring
Although Natas was fuming in anger at Kayn insulting him, he still decided to put that aside for now and turn his attention back to the problem on hand with Rowan Starlight.
Surprisingly, the unknown person they were talking about just now finally decided to make his move.
The unknown person waved his right hand and the ominous black miasma of the Sitan's Ring spread out in front of him. The black smoke eventually touched the ground, and upon contact, a shadowy figure of a human was soon slowly formed.
"The unique ability of the Sitan's Ring, summoning the soul of anyone the user has killed and making them into his most loyal soldiers," Kayn murmured.
As Kayn was talking, more and more shadowy figures were being formed in front of the unknown person, evidently showing just how many people he had killed to have that many soldiers in his command.
"This is absurd! How can we even defeat someone who can possibly summon hundreds of souls?" Kayn felt hopeless at their current situation. Even without needing to confirm it, he could already summarize that the unknown person had probably killed hundreds of people, or probably thousands already. After all, anyone who possesses the Sitan's Ring would take advantage of its unlimited potential.
"You should calm down. Our situation right now is not actually as bad as you expect it to be," Natas rest assured Kayn.
"Of course, I know that. Even with this hopeless scenario and without our help, Rowan Starlight would still be able to escape from this place alive. The only problem is, I don't know where we should put ourselves in between to achieve our goal," Kayn explained to Natas what he was truly thinking about.
"That's exactly the reason why you should calm down!" Natas exclaimed, expressing that he understands. "You seriously should change your trait of constantly interrupting people,"
"What do you mean?"
"I was about to explain to you more about the Sitan's Ring that its user would definitely not let anyone else know otherwise they would be in real danger every time if it wasn't for you suddenly interrupting me,"
"Tell me more," Kayn said as he took deep breaths to pull himself together.
"As you know already, the ability of the Sitan's Ring is it will allow its holder to summon the soul of the people they have killed as their soldiers, seemingly like necromancers, except they mainly summon souls. This was the main reason why Rowan received the title Harbinger of Hell, as he could bring the dead back to life and fight for him,"
"The souls summoned by the Sitan's Ring could grow in numbers as long as its user keeps on killing anyone, including both Humans and inhabitants of the 'Tower', but they could only grow more powerful if they consume similar souls that were consumed by the Sitan's Ring with the permission of the user. This is the main reason why its potential is labeled as unlimited. I take it that you knew about this information already,"
"However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the Sitan's Ring doesn't have any weakness. Yes, its potential is unlimited, but it also has a striking flaw that a lot of people… No, probably everyone that encounters it would fail to notice, including you as well. That's because this weakness will not appear during combat, rather it will only become apparent after combat with all the dead bodies the holder has killed lying on the ground, specifically when the Sitan's Ring consumes souls,"
"What everyone knows is that the Sitan's Ring can turn anyone its user has killed into a soul and make them their loyal soldier. But what they don't know is the fact that there is actually a condition to be met before it can consume a soul. That condition is those souls should only be weaker than them, otherwise, they will break free from the bind of the Sitan's Ring and attack its summoner who had taken away its life instead,"
"In other words, every soul that can be summoned by the holder of the Sitan's Ring can only be weaker than them," Natas paused as he turned his attention to the unknown person, "In our case right now, that unknown person is already inferior compared to anyone else in this room. As a matter of fact, he is the weakest if it wasn't for that Sitan's Ring. This means to say that even if he could indeed summon hundreds of souls, or let's assume it to be in thousands, it will not change the fact that they'd just be pigs to be slaughtered,"
"Under good circumstances, you might even be able to completely disregard the souls summoned by the Sitan's Ring and alternatively aim for the summoner,"
"I guess we could eventually make use of that information depending on how the situation will transpire," Kayn said as he finally saw a bit of hope. "All that's left now is to wait,"
That's right! They have to wait. Because at this very moment, Rowan Starlight has a plan in mind. If they will just jump in randomly, then that will definitely affect what he is planning on doing. Of course, there is no way to tell for certain whether it affects the overall situation negatively or positively for Rowan Starlight and them. And that's the main problem.
Also, just like what Natas said just now, under good circumstances they will be able to make use of the weakness of the Sitan's Ring to their advantage. But the only best way to have a good circumstance presented in front of them is to create it. However, since they are going to follow whatever Rowan Starlight is planning on doing, thus they have to wait and when the right time comes, they will adapt to it and try their best to achieve their follow-up plan.
Anyways, they don't have to wait that long…
The number of shadowy figures that were being summoned by the unknown person only stopped when it reached a staggering number of exactly a hundred. Although it seems like he could still continue summoning more souls, because of the size of the underground warehouse, he has to restrict it to some extent. Otherwise, they'd have to forget about defeating Rowan Starlight, since they will have trouble moving.
"This is the reason why you should not use the Sitan's Ring in small and tight places like this," Natas clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"Stop talking and listen," Kayn immediately interrupted Natas from continuing to speak as he had noticed that the unknown person was about to have a conversation with Rowan Starlight.
With that being said, both Kayn and Natas listen to the conversation between the unknown person and Rowan Starlight.
"How about you just make this thing quicker and get out of the vault, my dear brother Rowan," The unknown person suggested provocatively.
"Only a fool would do that, Raul," Rowan Starlight sneered.
"Do you see what's happening right now? It will only be a matter of time before that turtle shell of yours gets destroyed. Whatever you do inside that turtle shell, your fate will remain exactly the same. I am only suggesting this to make it a lot quicker so that we will save each other's time," The unknown person, whose name was Raul, continued provoking Rowan Starlight.
"Hmmm…" Rowan Starlight pretended to think before suddenly raising his middle finger towards Raul and saying, "How about you just fuck off? In that way, you'll not be wasting your time trying to break me out of this place. I believe that will save both of us more time, right?"
"Show respect, you damn imbecile!" Carlos exclaimed at Rowan Starlight.
"Holy shit! I think I heard a dog barking just now. Did you hear that as well, Raul?" Rowan Starlight immediately redirected his middle finger towards Carlos, thus instantly making the latter fume in anger.
"You never change younger brother," Raul simply sneered at Rowan Starlight's useless rebuttal. "You still stayed the same as how you were back when you were just a kid, relentless and adamant. It was exactly because of these traits of yours that all of your brothers and sisters hated you. I must say, your actions back then were nothing short of recklessness,"
"I take that as a compliment,"
"Why do you constantly refuse to bend down, even just for once in your life? If only you did that, then some of our brothers and sisters might have had a change of hearts and decided to side with you. Unfortunately, despite all odds being against you, you still continue ignoring your family,"
"I did that simply because I refuse to join in any of my brothers and sisters' struggle for supremacy in the family… No, to be more precise, I can't be bothered with such a ridiculous tradition. Is there seriously a need for all of us to kill or be killed just so that one of us will become the head of the Starlight Family?" Rowan Starlight shook his head in dismay and sorrow.
"You don't understand, do you? As long as you have the Starlight in your name, you don't have any other choice but to join in the struggle,"
"Why?"
"Why? Because you post a threat to all of us! As long as you don't pick a side and continue doing whatever you want, you become an unknown variable to all of us! No faction in our family likes to have an unknown variable constantly hanging over their heads with no telling for certain when it will fall and whether it will cause them pain or benefits. They'd rather have a decisive opponent, so they can guard against them or accept them with open arms,"
"Just pick a side, Rowan! That's all everyone is asking for! As long as you pick a side to support, all of this will disappear. Heck, even I will start hesitating to do something to you depending on who you choose to support. Better, we might become allies as long as you pick our faction,"
"I'll give you one last chance to choose, Rowan. If you still don't pick a side, then I will have no choice but to eliminate you for the good of our Starlight Family," Raul stood firm on his spot, silently and patiently waiting for Rowan Starlight to make a decision.