PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

It was rare for me to wake up so late, I was always used to getting up early either for work or training, but today I wanted to just stay in bed enjoying the sweet situation I was in.

Her wavy brown hair gave off a faint but comforting scent, her eyelashes fluttered occasionally in response to whatever dreams she had, and her small but juicy lips moved occasionally as if asking to be kissed; Claire was indeed a beautiful woman.

Claire was never shy with me and expressed her desire to be loved and pampered without any hesitation, that was, even more, the case after our relationship became what it is now, so even though we didn’t have sex yesterday because she was feeling bad; she was still sleeping naked in my embrace which I couldn’t be more grateful for.

She was without a doubt a work of art made by God and I felt lucky to have her in my life, perhaps my only regret at this moment is that I was dying to make love to her at this moment enjoying every last corner of her body as I lost myself in her love.

But just from the expression on her face while she slept, it was obvious that she still wasn’t feeling quite well, plus I didn’t like imposing my desires on her, she was someone I loved deeply not just something to satisfy my desires with.

Whatever the case, I still had things to do, getting out of bed carefully so as not to wake my sleeping beauty, I left the room after putting on some clothes.

Normally one of the many reasons I used to get up early was because part of my duties around the house was cooking since Claire had zero skills at it, but since Estela’s arrival that has changed.

I enjoy a cup of hot coffee while watching as the little maiden made of white jade and black titanium skillfully cooked, displaying the dexterity of her polished little jade hands while her black skirt swayed from side to side demonstrating uncharacteristic flexibility for a metal compound.

.....

Even now I had to admit that little Estela made my life much easier and more comfortable, if only she would stop looking at me with those adoring eyes, perhaps sensing my gaze, little Estela turned around to give me a smile while a small melodious shriek issued from her lips.

“Yes, yes, Estela is the best” Without much other option I stroked Estela’s little head who narrowed her eyes with joy.

“Stupid Desmond now you like the silly Estela instead of the adorable and supremely beautiful Kyuru” Kyuru’s melodious and sensual voice reached my ears telling me how jealous the little fairy felt for my gesture towards Estela.

I looked back at the fairy and sighed inside at her attitude, she had really changed since that day and I still didn’t know how to deal with her, it was a fortune that Kyuru was still Kyuru at the end of the day, I only give her a little honey of tyrannical wasp and a couple of strawberries so that she would completely forget about ever being upset.

Sighing inside at my misfortune, I finished my breakfast in a hurry, but not before thanking little Estela again, who was now cleaning the kitchen.

Back in the room, my eyes were again delighted with Claire’s naked body who was only partially covered by the sheets, maybe it was because last night I couldn’t vent my desires but Claire now seemed infinitely tempting.

Ignoring that feeling of warmth that seemed to creep up my spine, I ditched my casual clothes to replace them with my military uniform, pristine black fabric with deep red sleeves and collar, the uniform quite well blended the feelings of dominance and elegance; Especially for the gold details.

I stopped to look at myself in the mirror for a moment, for some reason every time I looked at myself in the mirror in the past I had a quite intense feeling of incongruity, it was because as a child my father had educated me to become a soldier like him; after his death at the hands of other soldiers, all those memories and desires of wanting to become a soldier had become an abomination to the old me.

But just as time can erode all things, I too had changed over time, no longer marked by the shadows of the past and much more comfortable in my current role.

“They didn’t have to cut that short either,” I mentioned wryly when I saw that my slightly wavy black hair was now considerably shorter than usual, this allowed my blue eyes to stand out more and hid less of my features but it was still new to me.

After my return from the martial sovereign world, my hair had become considerably long and unkempt, quite reasonable considering that I hadn’t given it any care in almost two months, but both Claire and Sasha argued that I should pay more attention to my image by forcing myself to cut my hair.

Likewise, due to the changes that consuming the twilight soul caused to my body, I had to have my military uniform modified and buy new clothes, I had not even realized that I had grown a couple of centimeters.

In any case, all of that was secondary, for the time being, I should concentrate on fulfilling my duties in the army while still trying to gather as much information as possible.

I was sure that the current peace would not last so I needed to strengthen myself as much as possible but I also needed to be aware of the changes around me; again and again, I was forced to test the limitations of an individual.

Putting those thoughts out of my head, I left the house after saying goodbye to Kyuru and Estela, since Claire was still asleep and Sasha was still locked in her lab.

The same route as always, the same landscape, it was hard not to form a routine when you were part of the army but that didn’t bother me at all, my squad was full of interesting people so at least I could have a slightly boring work environment and I would certainly never complain about the conditions in which I live at home; I had two beauties who loved and accepted me as I was...I already had more than I could ask for.

The only thing on my mind was the impending war, but even then I had the confidence to survive, grow stronger, and protect what I loved.

Lost in my thoughts I was slow in realizing something... the street was empty, this was not normal, no, it was worse than that; this was completely unnatural.

The eerie silence around me didn’t calm me down at all but made me raise my guard, then a feeling of crisis overwhelmed my mind, I tried to react by backing up at high speed to avoid whatever was the cause of the danger but to no avail.

The sound of flesh being pierced was accompanied by agonizing pain as my chest burst into bloody shards, had I not experienced something like the soul of twilight I would have fainted from the pain alone.

I mustered as much strength as I could to step back, immediately seeing the ground I was standing on explode into concrete shards as it was hit by a high-velocity projectile.

Only then did my senses, dulled by pain and blood loss, pick up the sound of gunfire, and I recognized it almost instantly... a sniper.

But why? The question was still on my mind as I had to keep moving to avoid the sniper shots, every step I took, every breath I took was pure agony, I was losing blood at an alarming rate and my left lung had completely collapsed.

I was dying, I didn’t want to accept reality but I had to if I wanted to survive my current situation, I knew that even with Sasha’s best potions it would be difficult to recover from my injuries but I believed that with her help and with Kyuru’s help I could survive and recover by using association resources so I couldn’t fall now; I needed to get out of here.

My wound was too heavy and it’s hard for me to use but my physical prowess was enough to keep evading until I got out of the sniper’s line of sight, then I felt another object pierce my left leg accompanied by the sound of a small-caliber gunshot.

Then I saw it, the source of this ambush, the reason I was in such dire straits, I saw it but I didn’t understand it.

“why?” I had to ask, I had to know.

But instead of responding the commander and his squad brought out machine guns releasing a torrential rain of lead in my direction. Without even thinking about it, I used the only defensive ability I knew creating a dome of water around me.

The ever-changing flow of strong water currents in the dome not only blocked the bullets raining down on me but also deflected the shots by absorbing the impact force.

It was a great defensive ability to block projectiles but right now I had two flaws, the first was my weakened state where I could barely hold on to mana control and the second was the attacks with great penetrating power.

It wasn’t long before the sniper bullets began to pierce the shield making it harder for me to control it, blood kept pouring from my chest and mouth, my vision was blurring, and finally, my control over mana collapsed.

Almost immediately I was received by what was left in the magazine of my enemies turning my wounded body into a honeycomb, it was lucky that no bullet hit me in the head or maybe it was intentional; I didn’t know and I didn’t care I just wanted to see her one more time.

“Claire” was the last word that came out of my lips before the world went dark, my life was escaping from my body every second but there was nothing I could do; I felt despair.

“Your mistake was not accepting the deal we offered you back then, thinking you had the nerve to enlist after killing an entire squad of ours.” The commander’s voice reached my ears as my consciousness was swallowed by emptiness.

so that was it, I made a mistake, I was arrogant and I believed myself infallible, now I was paying the price... but did that matter now? To think that I lost everything because of arrogance... Claire... Sasha... would you forgive me?

Then everything was swallowed by darkness... or at least it should have been, so why are there two suns shining in the dark?

“It seems that you had a nightmare” Expressed the owner of said suns with a beautiful but strange voice as if hundreds of female voices spoke in unison with a harmony.

“Katya?” I could hardly believe my eyes, Katya the archangel of justice, a celestial of immense power, that invincible existence that I witnessed in the serefia forest at the end of my first journey was in front of me.