PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

The darkness had grown with each sin he committed, further fueled by his desire to protect those he loved. But there was an occasion, a moment in Desmond’s memories, where he was wholly plunged into darkness... the day he died.

Experiencing death was quite a traumatic experience for anyone; no matter how strong his resolve and character, Desmond was no exception. Desmond’s psyche was never one of the most stable things in the first place, so that memory stayed fresh inside his mind.

Now, Desmond felt that same darkness consuming his world and his mind, that nauseating cold feeling that wouldn’t disappear. Then the memories and emotions poured over him like a waterfall.

Somewhat familiar scenes but foreign at the same time, of an entity that was and was not him. That emotion filled his soul when he was part of that existence, a deep harmony with himself and the world around him.

Unable to tolerate this warmth, the darkness inside Desmond had no choice but to flee in terror. In the presence of such intense light, only shadows remained, always present but always repressed, not quite correct, but this was always the state of things within Desmond.

With the warmth came a feeling of comfort that washed over Desmond’s body and spirit in an instant. Despite all the tension, aggression, and stress, Desmond could finally get his deserved break.

Desmond didn’t know how long it had been, but he was sure it had been the best break he’d had in months. As the drowsiness faded and Desmond regained sensation in his body, a pair of excited voices began to reach him.

“Looks like he’s waking up. Stupid Desmond had me worried.”

.....

“You can’t blame him; Desmond fought very hard. Since I met him, he has been working to keep me safe, and the number of fights he had was not few. That last battle must have been extremely hard for him. You should know better than anyone; you saw how his body was.”

“That’s why I call him silly. This time he overdid it; if it hadn’t been for us getting out there at that time, forget about another fight, he might have succumbed to his injuries.”

“Speaking of which. You still don’t tell me what happened to you. How did you do that?

“Cecilia, I already told you not to ask about it... you pervert.”

Resisting the urge to laugh, Desmond got up without any sleep or exhaustion on his face. Although he looked pretty relaxed on the surface, only Desmond knew that he had to endure a bit of pain; it seemed that some of his more severe fractures were just beginning to heal.

“Fool woke up.” “Desmond woke up.”

Looking at the pair of concerned beauties in front of him, Desmond ignored the impolite way one of them referred to him. Kyuru had reason to be angry; the truth was that he had overdone it during the previous events. Desmond had prioritized not to get in trouble for using the hunter’s book without going through certain clearances first. That was why Desmond risked escaping the city the traditional way.

Of course, Desmond didn’t expect the intervention of the royal knights either, even though; Xavier’s survival was a surprise to Desmond. The real reason everything got worse was the appearance of that first royal knight, William.

However, there was no point in blaming himself too much for his mistakes. Desmond pushed those unnecessary thoughts aside and instead enjoyed the view a bit.

Although the lighting was dim, Desmond didn’t need much to realize that he was in some kind of cave. Given the sounds coming from outside and the great mana of certain elements, Desmond was almost sure he was in the Serefia forest.

In addition to Desmond, two other people accompanied him into the cave. The first was the ever-lovable yet playful Kyuru, who was still slightly blushing from Cecilia’s earlier question. It was unnecessary to mention who the second person was. Who would she be if not the priestess with the exuberant curves and blonde hair?

Each of them was a beauty in their own right, with their unique features, and Desmond enjoyed the picture a bit. There were no lust or other unnecessary thoughts on his mind; Desmond genuinely enjoyed having such a beautiful landscape in front of him.

Though friendly, Desmond’s intense gaze still made Kyuru shy and blush. At the same time, Cecilia didn’t know how to react to the sudden not-so-unwelcome awkwardness.

“How long have I been asleep?”

Desmond had many things he wanted to say to the pair in front of him. Still, depending on the answer to his question, there was a chance he might not have the luxury of having a calm conversation.

The one who answered was Cecilia, who used a gentle tone that Desmond wasn’t entirely used to, given their always tense relationship. “It’s been almost seven days.”

Even if Desmond’s empathic abilities turned to stone, it would still be hard to ignore the apparent change in Cecilia’s attitude towards him. Kindness, warmth, consideration, and maybe even a hint of respect. Cecilia was kind-hearted, but due to their disagreements, she never showed such emotions towards him.

Desmond didn’t question the amount of time he was unconscious. He knew how bad his body was and had an instinctive notion that harnessing Harmony’s power had another kind of weight on him. “I see. If they were going to catch us, they would have done it already. Maybe we can rest a little more.”

Seeing that Desmond seemed so calm with the current situation, Kyuru couldn’t help but butt into the conversation a bit. “You remember?”

Desmond had no need to ask what Kyuru was referring to. At first, Desmond remembered it very clearly. Given his previous experience with this phenomenon, Desmond had some understanding of the fairy’s attitude towards this act.

“I remember; sorry if I did it again without your permission.”

Kyuru’s peach-smooth face flushed all over. The fairy’s energetic demeanor was nowhere to be seen; there was nothing but a naive maiden in love. “Silly Desmond, the fact that it happened means you had my permission. It’s just that it was sudden, and so many people were watching.”

As thick as Desmond’s skin was, even he coughed slightly in discomfort at the faery’s suggestive words. To the hunter’s relief, Cecilia seemed pretty clueless about the whole thing.

Cecilia might have zero experience in love and even less experience in sex. Still, even she noticed a strange tension in the atmosphere, so she broke the awkward silence that had been given.

“The important thing is that now you are better. Still, I must say that I was shocked; you two together were super powerful. At the time, you called yourselves Harmony, and you looked great. Your appearance alone was enough to shake an army; I had never seen anything like it.”

Cecilia had unknowingly touched Desmond and Kyuru’s sore spot again. Still, seeing her enthusiastic attitude, something very unconventional about her, Desmond and Kyuru decided to let it go. Cecilia had been through a lot in the last few weeks; seeing her smile was pretty good.

Cecilia smiled and excitedly described everything Harmony had done since his appearance. She also occasionally praised Camila, who was as strong as a monster. At some point, Cecilia even started to describe the parts of the battle where Desmond was present, but Desmond didn’t interrupt her. Cecilia might look much more cheerful and excited now. However, Desmond saw that she was still wearing that red lipstick that she had started wearing since Nana’s death.

When Cecilia finished describing the battle, she recounted how they all ended up in this cave, one of the few parts Desmond didn’t remember. It could be because Harmony’s existence was already becoming unstable at that point. But it wasn’t just Desmond who had no memories about it; Kyuru was the same.

It turned out that after disappearing from the city, Harmony appeared almost a kilometer from the city before disappearing again. This was repeated a couple of times until the trio reached the forest. By then, the wind mana that Harmony used to create hyper-acceleration tunnels had run out.

At that point, the fourth and final prism that Harmony possessed began to become unstable. With Cecilia being the only one present. Harmony explained to Cecilia that his state became less durable and more erratic as he used more prisms ??as Harmony used them to sustain his existence.

Actually, Cecilia had already noticed that Harmony seemed to “Breathe” large amounts of mana to exist. It appears this wasn’t enough, and those crystallized mana prisms were used as the primary power source.

Whatever the case, Harmony told Cecilia that his time was running out and that both Desmond and Kyuru would be in a state of extreme weakness once he left. So they both hurried to find a safe place.

Amusingly, it took the duo less than sixty seconds to accomplish that. The reason? A small family of unreasonably aggressive aqua rabbits. The stupid rabbits came out of their home, the cave, literally to seek their death a few meters away.

After getting rid of the stupid rabbits, Harmony dragged Cecilia inside and asked her to take care of Desmond and Kyuru. Then the golden prism behind Harmony began to crumble. In his last moments, Harmony seemed to sense something in the distance, and with a beautiful smile, she said to Cecilia. “It’s a shame; I would like it to play a little more. When those two wake up, tell them to head east. It seems someone is waiting for us.”