PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Erigard didn’t even look like a human being when Desmond was done with him. The bishops have a hard time resisting their nausea at the macabre sight in front of them. However, the worst was that everyone could see that Erigard was still breathing; Though unable to even utter a single moan, Erigard was still alive.

Although to say that he was still alive might be an understatement, Erigard should wish for death in his current state. He had just missed the opportunity to beg for it.

The visitors to the church weren’t insisting that this stop; at this point, it didn’t make sense anymore. Everyone was still very uncomfortable with the way things ended; They didn’t know it wasn’t over.

The smell of iron filled the room; blood had volatilized due to how fast Desmond’s sword cuts were, spreading the bloody stench through the air.

With an expression of utter disgust, Desmond exclaimed. “My apologies, gentlemen. I didn’t mean to contaminate the room like this; let me open a window to get the filth out.”

There was such deep contempt in his words. However, the real problem was that Desmond was walking to a large window at the side of the room, dragging the half-dead Erigard with him.

In the same way that two plus two equals four, Desmond plus window plus Erigard could only have one possible outcome. It was a pity that no one reacted in time to stop what would happen.

Opening the window with his free hand, Desmond tossed Erigard out the window as if he were nothing more than an old rag. There was no regard for life in his actions as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

.....

The silence lasted for five seconds until the awful sound of meat hitting the ground brought everyone out of their stupor, now seeing a smiling Desmond who was breathing exaggeratedly.

“The air feels much cleaner now, doesn’t it, gentlemen.”

With God as a witness, everyone present could swear that they had never seen something as terrifying as the man’s smile in front of them; angels and demons alike would cry if this man ever smiled at them like he does now.

“Mr. Desmond, that was unnecessary. Throwing his corpse away like this will cause questions.”

Desmond shrugged; he didn’t need to say anything more; these people were already worrying about the political implications of what happened instead of being resentful of the death of a colleague. Desmond almost felt sorry for Erigard...almost.

The only one to show any emotion was the other holy knight in the room. Still, Desmond didn’t need Kyuru’s empathic abilities to know that the man wasn’t mourning his mate’s death. Instead, he was just angry at the way he could not intervene.

The atmosphere of the meeting was ruined by everything that had happened. The church members moved on to leave, but not before reminding Desmond to keep his end of the bargain.

“I hope you are satisfied with your payment Mr. Desmond, don’t forget your part.”

Desmond just watched them leave the room with an indifferent look; already, the chaos could be heard in the tower courtyard due to Erigard’s corpse. Desmond waited until he could see through the window the tall church members retreating into the distance.

“How long do you plan to observe?”

Desmond seemingly spoke into the air without taking his gaze from the window. However, a reply came from behind him as the door on the other side of the room opened, revealing a beautiful woman with a solemn countenance.

“So you knew.” She spoke; her voice was slightly hoarse from crying.

“I think this is the first time I’ve heard you speak in days.” Desmond responded as he looked at her with concern written in his eyes, but Cecilia just looked back at him.

Sighing helplessly, Desmond shrugged. “Of course, I knew. You’re not the best at keeping secrets; it only took me a couple of weeks to figure it out. You know too many things you shouldn’t know, and you always talk about them as if you had seen them in person. Your connection to light mana is also as strong as it gets; I just had to put one and one together.”

Cecilia showed signs of understanding, nothing more and nothing less; she continued without answering. She wasn’t in the mood to talk, or she just didn’t want to talk to Desmond.

Desmond was quite helpless in the face of this; it had become almost impossible to deal with Cecilia these days. Seeing her outside her room was surprising enough.

“Erigard is dead.” Desmond commented, even knowing that Cecilia was already aware of this fact.

To Desmond’s surprise, Cecilia gave an answer to this. “Will that bring Nana back to me?”

Desmond understood better than anyone what Cecilia felt at that moment; he had experienced this himself. “Nothing can bring Nana back, but justice has been done now.”

For the first time since Nana’s death, Cecilia again showed other emotions besides sadness and pain. Still, Desmond would have preferred to see something other than the hatred in her eyes.

“Who cares about justice? What use is something so useless? I don’t want revenge, I don’t want justice, I don’t want explanations; I want her back.”

Pain, sorrow, and infinite sadness, Cecilia’s voice was full of those emotions. Her screams and claims came from the bottom of her heart; she did not understand how things ended this way. It was simply too unfair, too cruel.

As autumn rained, Cecilia’s tears fell non-stop, her eyes on Desmond, who looked back at her helplessly. Cecilia felt that she lacked the strength to stand up; she was exhausted. She hadn’t slept well in days, she was constantly tormented by nightmares, and her previous outburst had cost all the energy left in her.

Desmond watched as Cecilia stumbled and walked over to support her, taking the frail girl in his arms. Only to feel Cecilia pounding his chest repeatedly with her tiny hands. There was no force behind Cecilia’s fists, just boundless rancor, and longing.

“I want her back, Desmond; bring her back... bring her back, Desmond... why can’t anyone bring her back?”

The crying grew weaker, and the beatings stopped. Soon, Cecilia fell exhausted into Desmond’s arms, looking at the sleeping girl. Desmond and Cecilia could not be considered friends or anything like that. The fact is that there was not much affinity between the parties. Still, fate had brought them together, and Desmond felt great empathy for the girl and her circumstances.

In the past, when he lost his parents, Desmond was devastated. His world immediately lost its shine, and almost every color turned gray, but he had Claire. To Desmond, Claire was more than just a life partner; she was his emotional anchor during those dark times, the ultimate meaning and sustenance of his existence.

Cecilia had no such thing, or rather, she had just lost such a thing, and that was precisely the problem. Due to her circumstances, Cecilia was gradually alienated from society and her world, with no one trustworthy to rely on besides Nana. Though the masses seemed to love Cecilia as their holy priestess, there was nothing more volatile than the masses.

Over time, Cecilia was left alone, locked up in this tower, without the support of anyone besides Nana, her best friend, and her only family. Cecilia was also aware of Nana’s feelings for her. Still, she could never reciprocate, a fact that always made her feel guilty.

After Nana’s death, the pain of losing her, and the sudden realization of her complete loneliness, Cecilia was overwhelmed with her guilt. Nana’s last words were like a curse, tormenting Cecilia in her dreams with everything that could have been if she had reciprocated Nana’s feelings.

Although Cecilia was not attracted to women, the mere notion of having brought Nana happiness was enough for Cecilia to question herself. Desmond knew this, so to take care of Cecilia, he would sometimes check the girl’s room while she was sleeping to make sure she wouldn’t do something stupid. He would find Cecilia crying in her sleep on many occasions as she mumbled.

“Kyuru, can you help her sleep?”

Removing the light distortion from around her, Kyuru showed herself and answered with a tired voice. “I can try again, but it hasn’t been very effective. It is a different case with you since we are linked on a spiritual level, but she is too resistant to my intrusion; her emotions are too strong.”

“Just try, please. I’ll leave Cecilia in your care.”

“Where are you going?”

“I just bought some time. Hopefully, I’ll hit the thirty-day mark before the church tries anything, but if not, I need to use the time as much as possible. I’ll prepare a few things just in case and spend the rest of the time training; I feel things won’t end so easily.”