PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

A six-winged figure stood in the middle of an artificial clearing painted blood red. The figure lay calmly in a meditative pose, with its six wings fully spread, spanning dozens of meters of space. In the entity’s hands rested two resplendent-looking objects.

As if sensing something or becoming aware of something beyond its surroundings, the figure opened its eyes, revealing that ever-existing intense sunlight in them. The entity left its meditative pose and stretched its perfect figure with almost hypnotic grace.

With a snap, the objects in her hands disappeared as if they had never been there in the first place. The figure, a woman with white hair and six wings, placed a hand on the center of her chest and spoke to herself.

“Just in time. I can finally get rid of this horrible thing and return to where I belong.”

As soon as those words left her peach lips, the six wings on her back emitted a golden glow, and the woman disappeared from her place. The next instant, the winged woman, reappeared in front of the stone door that connects to Avalis.

The woman appeared just in time to see Desmond coming out of the stone door. It’s not like the woman cares about Desmond right now. For her, the only thing that mattered now was that spark of divinity burning within Cecilia.

“Katya?”

Desmond found the presence of the figure that turned out to be none other than the person who sent him into this world; the archangel of balance, Katya. Desmond’s first reaction was to find out the archangel’s intentions for showing up at this moment, but Katya ignored him completely.

.....

Desmond started to feel bad about it, especially remembering Titania’s strange reminder. Katya continued to ignore him; she only looked at Cecilia, who was looking back at her.

Desmond didn’t get to say even a single additional word before Katya’s actions took his voice away. Using that instant movement ability that Desmond had already seen a couple of times, Katya appeared right in front of Cecilia. The mere inches between them might as well not be there, considering how quickly Katya’s hand moved.

Katya pierced Cecilia’s chest without saying a single word or giving a reason. Cecilia looked at herself, Katya’s right arm piercing her heart; she didn’t feel pain at that moment, but a huge confusion.

Cecilia looked up only to meet Katya’s emotionless eyes. Like two suns devouring everything that comes into their immediate space, to Cecilia, at that moment, Katya’s eyes felt hungry.

Everything happened too fast; saying it was instantaneous was not far from the truth. For Desmond, it was his instincts that kicked in first. Like a wounded beast, Desmond lunged at Katya with overflowing murderous intent building within him.

It was one of those moments where anger overcomes reason. Otherwise, Desmond would never have done something as stupid as attacking Katya. He would have known that attacking Katya was no different than putting a gun to his mouth and pulling the trigger himself. Katya was a damn archangel; for God’s sake, the word SUICIDE didn’t quite cover the matter.

Desmond moved a couple of inches, barely before his body froze in place. Just a day ago, Desmond had felt tiny before the gigantic storm in the sky. In his eyes, that storm had been the definition of power; only now did he understand how wrong he had been.

This was true power. Katya didn’t have to move a single hand or finger, and her hair didn’t even look disturbed; however, Desmond had already been defeated. Unable to move even a muscle, the pressure on Desmond gave him barely any breathing room.

To Desmond, Camila was the most powerful person he had ever met. It was the first time he saw someone in the three-star class wielding their power. This, what Katya was doing, was in a different league.

Since breathing was a struggle, Desmond had to watch helplessly as Katya snapped her arm buried in Cecilia’s chest before she ripped something out of the priestess.

The sound was grotesque, though different from what Desmond was used to; strangely, it didn’t sound like meat being torn apart. In fact, there was no blood anywhere to be seen on Cecilia’s body as she collapsed to the ground.

The blood was gone, but that didn’t relax Desmond after seeing how Cecilia fell to the ground. Of course, under the current circumstances, Desmond’s feelings wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Ignoring the girl on the ground, the immobilized hunter, and the faerie watching from the sidelines, Katya gazed longingly at what she now held in her hand. A tiny silver flame burned brightly in the center of Katya’s right palm.

It was just a silver flame, nothing special besides the color, but Desmond knew it had to be much more. Given the feeling of reverence and majesty that flame gave him, Desmond assumed that little silver spark was anything but ordinary.

“I guess you can add two plus two. Your assumptions are correct. This that I hold in my hand is the divine grace that existed within Cecilia. This spark is full of purity, faith, and potential. The potential to become a Celestial.”

Watching Katya accept her actions without guilt; filled Desmond with unprecedented hatred. This woman had deceived him; she never wanted to protect Cecilia. All this time, she was after Cecilia’s divine spark. Desmond didn’t understand why Katya hadn’t taken it directly in the past, but he didn’t care anymore.

Fueled by rage, Desmond found the strength to speak under pressure from Katya; it was hard to tell either that or Katya allowed it.

“Your intention was never to protect Cecilia. You were just waiting for the right time to reap what you came for. That’s why you altered the records of the hunter’s book; you were trying to hide the birth of a new Celestial because you wouldn’t let this one be born.”

Katya treated Desmond’s words like the wind. In its place, she placed the silver flame in front of her chest. Then Desmond got another surprise. Katya’s white armor reacted as if it were alive, splitting wide open in the center of her chest, revealing a gruesome wound.

The wound was gigantic, wide enough for Desmond to fit both arms into and deep enough to see the landscape behind Katya through it. It was as if someone had plunged a gigantic sword into Katya’s chest.

Like the light of a candle blown out by the wind, the silver flame was swept away in a breath, drawn into the wound. It was like a dose of fresh rain in the middle of the desert. That small silver flame began to form thousands, if not tens of thousands of tiny threads that sewed the wound nonstop. The regeneration rate could be seen with the naked eye.

As the healing process continued, small amounts of purple steam occasionally escaped from the wound, accompanied by dozens of hellish screams. Even someone as ignorant as Desmond realized Katya’s injury was very special. Special enough that she stole the divine spark from Cecilia to heal herself.

It took a few seconds, but the wound on Katya’s chest eventually healed. That wound that had persisted on Katya for nearly a hundred years was finally gone. One could imagine how much an injury like that weighed on Katya.

The white armor closed again once the wound had healed. The next instant, it was as if Katya’s wings had caught fire; silver flames. The phenomenon was brief, almost instantaneous, but by the time it was over, the changes were visible to the naked eye.

Katya’s six beautiful wings now had silver flame patterns along her enormous wingspan, giving the wings an even more beautiful and magnificent appearance. Katya looked at her wings with a loving gleam and smile, and only then did she look back at Desmond.

“You are correct in almost everything you have said. My intention was never to let Cecilia become a Celestial. From the beginning, I always aimed for the divine spark within her. I altered the hunter’s book records because I didn’t want the association meddling in my business. It’s also true that I was waiting for the right time to get the divine spark from Cecilia, but that wasn’t the only reason I sent you here. That is where you went wrong.”

Desmond laughed, filled with derision and anger. Desmond replied. “Hahahaha, really? Would it bother you, mighty archangel, to explain why I am wrong?”

It didn’t take long for Katya to understand that at this very moment, Desmond wouldn’t listen to reason. Desmond was too angry to notice that Cecilia was still breathing and wasn’t listening to what the archangel was saying.

“Forget it. I’d better show you.”

Katya couldn’t be bothered with Desmond’s state of mind at the moment, so she just repeated what she did with Cecilia and pierced Desmond’s heart with her right hand.