PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

It was at times like this that one could only hate people like Desmond who could do things that others would take weeks or even months to accomplish, just on a whim, wanting to take the cocky face off the person who threw the second ball of fire at him, Desmond used the reverse mana spiral ability, only this time he channeled a large amount of mana into the atmosphere and redirected it by focusing the ability only on his right palm.

An incredibly dense vortex of mana formed in his right palm to the point where the phenomenon was clearly visible, using this vortex and based only on his instincts Desmond brandished it crashing into the fireball that had been thrown at him.

Strangely, the fireball did not explode as it should but stopped as if it were against a rubber wall, sinking slightly into it, the fireball not only stuck to the vortex in Desmond’s hand but began to rotate in spiraling too, little by little accelerating until it generated his own vortex of hot air around him, Desmond soon made a turn on his own axis and threw the fireball back like a baseball player.

Barely dodging the fireball that returned twice as fast as it left, the leader of the Esper squad Travice was dumbfounded, his surprise only getting bigger when he saw the twins, users of a strange defensive ability, being sent flying like rag dolls when they tried to resist the fireball, it was not only faster than before, but it also had greater destructive power. Because in Travice’s memory his fireball could only defeat the twins when they acted separately, when they used his ability together they could resist several of his fireballs in a row.

Little did Travice know that Desmond himself was as surprised as he was, after all, his intention was only to surprise them by returning the fireball and making that arrogant face of Travice vanish into emptiness, he never thought that the returned fireball would be so powerful and he hoped even less that there would be people so stupid to take it with their heads on only to be blown up later. And so Desmond defeated two of his enemies by accident while trying to look as tough as possible, Desmond was not only talented as hell, but he was so lucky that one only wanted to smash his face with a shovel.

Unfortunately even Desmond had his limits, that last fireball trick had cost Desmond almost all of his remaining mana, that’s why he originally tried to buy time by chatting with his opponents, to gather as much mana as possible from the atmosphere and infuse it into his body; But now he only had enough mana to make a couple of mana bursts at most.

But Desmond was aware of the logic “who does not risk does not win”, so his next move was precisely to use a burst of mana to rush to attack the leader of the group in front of him, he seemed to be caught off guard by a moment until a smirk filled with arrogance suddenly spread across his face.

′′ You have never heard that you should not get too close to a pyromancer. ′′

.....

Following his arrogant statement, an explosion of blazing flames emerged with it as the epicenter, but soon his expression changed for the worse when he did not feel his ability to strike his enemy as he expected.

Little did he know that Desmond had kept his guard up against his fiery ability from the start, so when he saw his arrogant smile, he without hesitation used half his remaining mana to use another burst of mana to change direction and objective. This time he chose as his target who he considered the most vulnerable based on his reaction to the changes in combat so far.

Because he didn’t have much mana left, Desmond had to take a slightly different approach than before if he wanted to get out of here alive, this time he managed to successfully take his enemy off guard, and with a dagger to his neck, he took it as a hostage.

′′ And you have never heard the expression, the art of war is based on deception? ′′

Not wanting his enemy to realize his current weakness and also wanting to remove that disgusting arrogant smile from the pyromancer’s face, Desmond returned the insult he received recently while bringing the dagger a little closer to the neck of the person he was holding as a hostage.

′′ Bastard, how dare you target the only woman on my team, aren’t you a man? ′′

In response, Desmond shrugged and voiced his opinion.

′′ First, only an idiot would care about those details in the current situation, second, I find your comment sexist, women and men should have the same opportunities to be taken hostage regardless of their gender, third, I not took her hostage because she is a woman, only a misogynistic macho like you would think that, I took her hostage because she was the most vulnerable target because her Esper ability is of the support type and last but not least, I took her hostage for I’d rather have a pretty girl with a sensual body in my arms than you smelly men. ′′

Desmond did everything he could, to waste time while trying to recover his mana, of course, he did not miss the opportunity to insult his enemy in various ways, incidentally, he even hung the macho sign on him just for fun, Desmond was so shameless that He even dared to call his enemy a misogynist for believing that he chose his hostage based on just being a girl; only to later reveal that it was indeed true and he chose her basically because he thought she was a woman with a sensual body.

The girl in Desmond’s arms did not know how to respond to the current situation, Desmond was not wrong when he said that her ability was of the support type, also she had never been good at close combat, now she could only hope that they would save her, although strangely she was not as afraid as a girl in her current situation was supposed to be, for some reason she did not feel that the man who held her hostage was going to hurt her and then when she heard how he called her cute and sensual, she blushed like a tomato.

The place seemed to be quiet for a few moments, while everyone tried to devise various plans and strategies to be victorious in their respective missions. As much as Desmond enjoyed the feel of the girl’s butt against his legs, he knew he was running out of time, as much as he wanted to regain more mana if he didn’t hurry up the rest of the military would catch up with him and he would soon have no way to escape.

After a minute or two, Desmond had gathered enough mana to put up one last fight and escape from the place, but as he prepared to formulate his plan, he noticed something that deeply disturbed him.

′′ Where the hell is the gloomy boy from before? ′′

A sense of crisis overwhelmed him as he looked at that arrogant gaze cast back on the leader of the Espers and he thought “shit.”