I Enslaved The Goddess Who Summoned Me

Chapter 651: The Heroes of Kastoria Face the Hero of Darkness after Two Years

The Heroes of Kastoria stood frozen in collective shock as they truly took in Nathan’s appearance for the first time, their minds struggling to reconcile what they were seeing with their memories.

His snow-white hair seemed to shimmer with its own ethereal luminescence, catching the light filtering through the throne hall’s high windows in ways that made it appear almost alive. His golden demonic eyes glowed with inner fire, vertical slits cutting through the irises with predatory precision. His pale skin looked nearly translucent, as though light passed through rather than reflecting off it, giving him an otherworldly, almost ghostly quality.

He was tall and lean, his frame somehow managing to appear both elegant and powerfully built simultaneously. Every aspect of his presence radiated something fundamentally inhuman, something that transcended ordinary mortality.

He looked absolutely nothing like the Hero of Darkness they had encountered two years ago.

That man—the one who had haunted their nightmares and fueled their training for twenty-four months—had worn an eye patch, giving him an asymmetrical, unsettling appearance. He’d been clothed entirely in pitch-black attire that seemed to absorb light. Most memorably, his expression had been twisted into something barely sane, a rictus of barely controlled madness that made him look perpetually bloodthirsty and consumed by hatred.

That version of Nathan had seemed like a wounded, rabid animal—dangerous precisely because he was unstable, unpredictable, driven by rage and pain rather than reason.

But this man standing before them now...

The only recognizable feature connecting him to that terrifying figure from their past were those distinctive dark golden demonic eyes. The color was identical—that unique shade of molten gold shot through with darkness, glowing with supernatural power that marked him as something far beyond human.

Since the battle three years ago and the subsequent truce, none of them except Ayaka and Akane had seen Nathan again in person. Obviously when Nathan had occasionally visited Kastoria during those intervening years, he’d come specifically to see his stepsisters and sometimes Kaguya.

He’d had absolutely nothing to do with the other Heroes, no reason to seek them out or make his presence known to them. So none of them were aware of the dramatic physical and spiritual changes Nathan had undergone.

After that devastating battle where he’d crushed them so effortlessly, Nathan had participated in what became known as the Trojan War—a massive conflict involving multiple kingdoms and divine powers. That war had been a monumental turning point in his development. His body had been literally destroyed and reconstructed through processes involving divine intervention and dark magic, fundamentally transforming him at a cellular level.

So he was genuinely unrecognizable to them now, bearing almost no resemblance to the half-mad warrior they remembered except for those unmistakable eyes that burned with the same terrifying power.

”You are...” Ryuuki trailed off uncertainly, his voice breaking the heavy silence as he stared at Nathan with an expression mixing fear, confusion, and reluctant awe.

Nathan fully turned to face them, completing his rotation so they could see him in complete frontal view rather than profile.

His gaze swept across the assembled Heroes methodically, assessing each one with calculated precision. Then his eyes settled first on Ayaka and Akane—his stepsisters, standing near the front of the group—and his expression visibly, unmistakably softened.

The predatory coldness melted away, replaced by genuine warmth and affection that transformed his entire demeanor. It was subtle—just a slight relaxation of his features, a barely perceptible softening around his eyes—but the change was profound for anyone observant enough to notice.

The twin sisters both had deeply moved and emotional expressions on their faces, their eyes shining with unshed tears and overwhelming relief at finally seeing him again after such a long separation. Their hands trembled slightly with the desperate urge to rush forward, to close the distance and embrace their brother.