PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

“”

Ripples of soft destruction emerged from Desmond’s hands, entering the body of the kneeling knight before him unhindered. Blood gushed from the five orifices on the man’s face, his eyeballs burst into a disgusting mess, his brain turned to mush, while the rest of his internal organs liquefied with each passing wave of mana; It was a grotesque death but instantaneous.

Even Desmond found it more disturbing than expected, but the show had to go on; he had already gone the extra mile to increase the sadistic and creepy factor, and he couldn’t afford to back down anymore.

Desmond pushed aside the knight’s still-kneeling corpse, turning around, going back to where he left Cecilia, but halfway there, Desmond’s footsteps stopped.

“How long do you plan to watch?”

It seemed that Desmond was speaking to the void itself, and even Cecilia was confused. Had it been in other circumstances, Cecilia’s perception would never have allowed her to be taken off guard in this way. Still, her attention was on the children around her and on the barrier; it was expected she didn’t notice.

Desmond was different precisely because his main task had always been the protection of Cecilia; he never lowered his guard against any threat, always dedicating a part of his attention to his surroundings. Possessing instincts as keen as those of a wild beast, Desmond long ago noticed the presence of a third party watching from afar.

Noticing his presence, Desmond had gone on high alert and even considered using the sword on him; this changed when he saw that the third party seemed to want to act only as a bystander.

.....

Desmond had not let this matter slide even when he was in combat, and he still devoted a part of his mind to it, always alert. It didn’t take the world’s greatest detective to know that these people belonged to the church and were probably there to ensure the job was done.

In more extreme cases, there was the possibility that these people from the church were here to finish the job, later pushing the responsibility for Cecilia’s death onto the invading army, thus making Cecilia a martyr and a political tool even in her own death.

The presence of this third party was the main reason Desmond went so far in finishing off his enemies, not only spending a tremendous amount of mana to appear strong to the point of being overwhelming but also cruel to the point of being daunting to be scary.

After all, Desmond wasn’t really in any shape to have another fight against an entire squad of well-trained soldiers, who would possibly be accompanied by one or more holy knights.

It couldn’t be helped, no matter how strong Desmond seemed or how easily he seemed to take out his opponents a second ago. The fact is that Desmond’s mana reserves were bottoming out, and his body wasn’t in his best condition either.

On the other hand, Cecilia could muster the resolve to protect the children from invading soldiers. However, Desmond was still skeptical about how firm Cecilia’s resolution would be once she faced other church members. Luckily, it looked like Desmond wouldn’t have to find out, at least not today.

A single holy knight emerged from the shadows accompanied by half a dozen well-armed soldiers; Desmond could feel that the knight did not carry a hostile attitude and that the morale of his men was not adequate for a battle.

The soldiers’ legs trembled, their faces pale and sweaty, and their eyes kept wandering over the field of corpses and human parts scattered around Desmond.

You could almost smell the fear in the men around the holy knight, but Desmond’s attention focused on them briefly before quickly moving on to the handsome-looking man in shining armor.

Desmond had nothing personal against beautiful people; unlike many, Desmond didn’t envy those with good looks. Mainly because he was devilishly handsome, to begin with. But even Desmond, as narcissistic as he could be at times, had to accept that the holy knight in front of him was probably the most handsome man he had ever seen.

It was like seeing the incarnation of Adonis wear the most luxurious and elegant armor that money could buy; he was handsome to the point of being annoying; Desmond, however, was upset about something else.

“What are you waiting for? Can’t you see that the holy priestess needs protection? Or do they expect holy knight Desmond to do all the work for us by repelling those filthy heathens?”

There were many things in the world that Desmond hated, he just didn’t care enough about other people to generate a feeling of hatred towards them, but there were still things that successfully provoked the young hunter’s fury.

Among these things that were taboo for Desmond, there was, of course, anyone who dared to lust after Claire or Sasha; Desmond was too jealous and possessive to let this go quickly. Likewise, anyone who threatened his family’s safety was no different from a corpse awaiting burial for him in Desmond’s books.

To be honest, the list wasn’t particularly long, but there were two things in particular on that list that the newly arrived gentleman epitomized; hypocrisy and supremacism. Desmond had a long list of reasons to hate hypocrites despite being one himself, but these could be summed up as not liking these people at all.

Desmond’s history with the supremacists was a bit more complex, as part of his father’s work in the military when he was young was fighting all sorts of dangerous criminal groups with very dangerous ideologies. On the other hand, humanity’s history books had entire chapters bathed in the blood spilled by people who pursued ideals of supremacism.

From the attitude previously displayed by other church members, Desmond should have already expected this kind of supremacist attitude from a high-level member like a holy knight. However, the haughty look he was receiving from the man in shining armor still irritated Desmond to the infinity.

There was an unspoken silence between the two parties, Desmond trying to keep his forehead solid while the holy knight attempted to find any weakness or pretext to go on the offensive as ordered.

The silence threatened to be prolonged, but a composed feminine voice, accompanied by a feeling of oppression, interrupted the little mental duel. “Holy Knight Xolei, how is the situation in the rest of the city?”

The strange state Cecilia found herself in was disconcerting and oppressive, which kept Xolei on his guard, but the mention of the city made the golden-haired knight’s expression changed for the worse.

Desmond didn’t need to hear the man’s response, Cecilia might be too ignorant to have an idea, but Desmond had an evident notion of how quickly things could get bloody once the city’s defenses were breached by a foreign force.

Sure, the mutated beasts on earth weren’t the same as a well-trained army of humans, but perhaps the latter wasn’t much better since the mutated beasts at least stopped once their hunger was sated or stopped to savor their food.

The goals of a human army, on the other hand, could be much more complex, or at worst, it could be the simplest of goals; annihilation. One had only to see the burning buildings in the distance and hear the echoes of pain accompanied by cries for help. The main objective of the invading army did not matter; this had already reached the scale of genocide.

Until now, Desmond hadn’t had a chance to think about it too much, but this seemed highly familiar, a scene very similar to what happened five years ago. In other circumstances, maybe just a couple of hours in the past, Desmond might have had a hard time getting those memories out of his mind; that was no longer the case, much had changed inside him.

Unable to keep his control over his field ability anymore, Desmond let the mana in it disperse into the atmosphere, but not before taking the opportunity to show off a bit.

Xolei was too focused on Cecilia, so he neglected the dangerous element known as Desmond. Cold sweat ran down Xolei’s spine as a blade of water passed right in front of his face, barely a couple of inches away; Xolei was slightly preparing to attack back when a gasp reached his ears.

“Sorry, I missed one.”

The smile on Desmond’s face didn’t make it seem like he was sorry at all, but it was also confirmed that his attack was aimed at an invading soldier who remained alive in the distance, though none of this did much to calm the irritated Xolei.

Completely ignoring Knight Xolei’s somber expression, Desmond reached Cecilia and the children’s side, giving the latter a beaming smile, causing a complex expression on Cecilia’s face.

This was not undeserved; Cecilia had seen what Desmond was capable of, his cruelty and brutality. It was normal that she found the now warm Desmond who comforted the children disconcerting.

“You shouldn’t get too distracted, Cecilia; we’re not safe yet.”