The spells were prepared and Vanta was ready to take vengeance for his noname friend. There was no pity in his existence for the likes of arrogant nobles. Even though his heart was filled with hatred and his intentions were clear, his hands would not descend to unleash the hell of vengeance upon Timothy and Julian.
'I want to kill those two... but I can't move. What's happening?' Vanta wondered as he struggled to move a muscle while the two bullies were sweating buckets and begging with tears for their lives.
It was then that Vanta heard a voice he had only heard just once before in his life.
[I will not allow you to kill, Boy. You are not a monster.]
Thornash had stopped Vanta from ending their lives. The spells dissipated from Vanta's hands and he screamed out in rage.
"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU STOP ME, THORNASH?!"
He spat on the ground and looked directly at the two miserable nobles, "They don't deserve to live... For the hell they've made this world for people like us."
As Vanta was struggling against his own body and convincing Thornash to get out of his way, a group of royal guards in shining silver armor appeared to rescue of the violated nobles covered in tears and snout.
"HALT!! How dare you raise a hand against the prestige of Frost and Infernia clans... Are you not aware of the consequences?" One of the guards screamed at Vanta while the rest raised the beaten pair from the ground.
Another guard recognized Vanta from the Coliseum and held the first one from the shoulder, "Don't bother... He carries the legacy of the Fifth Cardinal. We can't do anything to him anymore..."
"It's no wonder a noname like him got the blessing of a failure like Thornash..." Another one sighed.
"Still it's too good for him, wait till my father hears about this." Julian returned back to his arrogant ways, even though he was begging for his life just minutes ago.
"Tell your father to change your diapers too." Vanta mocked him one last time before walking through the guards and dusting off his trench coat, wearing a disappointed frown on his face. Vanta already knew that sparing them would do nothing to their ego and cursed Thornash under his tongue for stopping him,
"Thornash, You remind me of someone called Joseph Rivera... Not a wise choice to be.
[Killing some two boys would bring you no good. It would only weigh heavy on your conscience.]
Thornash spoke to him once again with words seemingly of wisdom. However, those words pricked like barbed spikes in Vanta's ears and he punched the ground and dug his fist elbow-deep into it, referencing his irritation from those words. They were the same words he used to pacify his rage when he called himself Joseph, every time he had the urge to murder his wrong-doers.
"Those words; Conscience, fear, murder, prison, don't work anymore. I'm no longer the coward called Joseph." Vanta pulled out his dusty arm from the ground and began walking to his hut, tearing the crowd in his stride as usual. The memories of Joseph started playing in his mind.
He reminisced the memory of a bruised and beaten Joseph Rivera lying at the side of a crowded path, using a piece of cardboard for a blanket. People stepped on him and glared eyes full of dismay toward the innocent child.
"Do you see this, Thornash?
Another one played of the same boy getting his hair set on fire by some punks nobles in the streets.
"Answer me, Do you see this?"
In the third memory, he showed young Vanta hung upside down in front of the whole village and branded with red-hot steel all over his body.
"Where is my Joseph's justice, Thornash? Where is Vanta's Justice?" Vanta asked Thornash over and over, pushing him to give him an answer so he could rub it in his face with more proof. But he heard no response.
"I thought so... Even a Cardinal Hero can be so naive."
He found some satisfaction by making his point clear to Thornash, hoping it would make their way of thinking more cooperative because he was dead set on avenging his friend. He shook off the irritation and cleared his throat when he entered his ruined hut.
"I guess it is time to do some cleaning... There's one thing me and Vanta didn't have in common." He took off his trench coat and began tidying up the place, starting with throwing away the broken furniture out in the open streets, followed by broken bottles and loads of dust.
An hour or two later when the appearance of the hut was bearable, Vanta released a deep sigh. Just then, someone knocked at his door. Thinking it would be some passer-by complaining about his garbage disposal, he decided to shake it off.
"Go away... I'm not in the mood to crack your spine right now." He waved his hand in the air nonchalantly.
A royal guard spoke from behind the door, "The King has invited the Fifth Hero's Chosen one to a Feast. Appear at the Palace in the next two hours."
The royal guard hit the door, making a thud to grab his attention, and then said confidently, "And please refrain from breaking spines. It is against the law."
Vanta was intrigued by the guard's unusually daring and confident tone. He opened the door to see but there was no one around. Only an envelope with the Royal stamp on it.
"Didn't seem like an ordinary guard... I wonder if I'll see him at the feast." Vanta wondered about the guard and went inside.
Vanta looked at himself in the hazy old mirror and then smelled his armpits and wondered if he should wash up. "I'm invited to the King's palace... Can't smell like this in between all those petty nobles now, can I? I'll spare their nose buds today."
He took off his shirt and revealed his scars, wounds, and brand marks that left no place vacant from his collarbone to his tailbone, his past was evident.
"Hmph... Not so different from what I had when I was Joseph... Except for the brand marks. We didn't have that." He spoke to himself in pity for his noname friend.
He showered and dried up, then selected a fine black suit from his closet which only had a big hole in the back.
"The black trench coat looks like it's becoming a thing for me..." He spun his long coat over his shoulders and walked out of his hut toward the palace, wearing a smirk that showed that he was of course up to no good.
The night was still young but the streets were already vacant. The only thing on par with the bright moonlit sky was the King's Palace. Even a blind man could've found his way to it by hearing the music and the chattering nobles... For Vanta, it was the stench of nobility if not the sight of the towering castle.
Even though nobody was watching him, Vanta continued to walk like a gangster boss through the empty streets and made his way to the Palace where the guards crossed spears to block him. Even so, Vanta being the epitome of badassery, waved his invitation envelope right in front of the guards' faces like a shy maiden's handkerchief and swept through the spears, not stopping for a second.
His eloquent stride took a pause when he reached the entrance to the main hall, a tall wooden gate with designer patterns made of Gold, and giant handles on each side as if it was meant to be used by Giants... or it was only a representation of their oversized pride.
"From sleeping under a piece of Cardboard on the streets... to being invited by the King himself. Not bad, eh Vanta? We've come far." He savored the moment and released a deep sigh, reminiscing about his past and Noname friend.
"Well, I guess it's time to show my face to his majesty and the other nobles..." He kicked the towering gates and slammed them open, revealing to himself a hall filled with extravagantly dressed nobles, and even members of the royal family were present.
The loud thud from the slamming door grabbed everyone's attention and the hall became as silent as a barren desert. Gazes of disgust, anger, irritation, and fear bombarded Vanta from every corner of the hall.
'Look at all those faces... they never change, do they?' Vanta dragged his eyes around as he walked on the red carpet gracefully with his hands tied behind his back.
'In the past, I would've died just by the intensity of glares on me right now and at such a high and mighty place... Too bad this isn't the past.' Vanta smirked crookedly and faced the petrifying crowd by looking them in the eye. He said loudly and clearly,
"Lords and Mistresses, Please do not flatter me with your gazes... Your King isn't here yet."