PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Knowing that time was not on their side, Claire and Silvia only rested for a couple of minutes before getting up and retaking action. Poor Morales was about to open his mouth when a wall of ice emerged from the ground separating him from Claire and Silvia. Since she did know in advance that Morales would panic, Silvia’s calm but cold voice came from the other side of the wall.

“Stay there and wait a minute.”

Unable to defy Silvia’s orders, Morales sat back down to wait. A minute later, the ice wall collapsed into a puddle of water, thus revealing the figure of Claire and Silvia, who had changed outfits. Only then did Morales realize what had happened.

Morales believed that, in a way, the group had been lucky when they arrived at the patio where they were resting since, on a clothesline, there were women’s clothes drying in the sun, clothes that Claire and Silvia were now wearing. Claire and Silvia had chosen to rest on this patio precisely because they saw the clothes; they knew that the best way to get out of the city was to avoid attracting attention, so they decided to change their wardrobe.

A small part of Morales wished that Silvia hadn’t created that ice wall since, that way, he could see the exquisite and provocative figure of both beauties, but that small part of him died instantly when he thought of the consequences of such a thing.

To be clear, despite their age, Claire and Silvia had figures that every man would wish for in their deepest dreams, but in Morales’ mind, it wasn’t worth dying a horrible death to take a look. It was no secret that Desmond was very jealous of Claire, and the truth was that Morales wasn’t interested in being the target of his boss’s hatred. God knew that couldn’t have a good ending.

Details aside, now that Claire and Silvia had changed outfits, it was Morales’ turn to do the same; the young Latino just wished the clothes he found weren’t so childish.

Unfortunately, there was no way to conceal all of the trio’s gear completely, so they simply stuffed as much as they could into their backpacks, the best option being to try not to run into hostile forces up close.

.....

The disguise helped the trio get through an entire district undetected, but things turned hostile as soon as they attempted to cross into the next neighborhood. As expected, the control of the military forces over the city had been greatly strengthened at great speed during the last few minutes, and the main transit routes were already under military control. Showing she might be spending too much time with Desmond, Claire devised an Astryd-style plan.

The sound of an explosion a block away caught the attention of the military force in control of the transit route, prompting them to mobilize part of their forces. It was during that brief period of time that the trio managed to slip away.

When the soldiers arrived at the site of the explosion, all they found was a burning car with a piece of cloth stuck in the fuel tank. It was too late when they realized the explosion was a distraction.

On the other side of the military checkpoint, the trio continued to advance towards the north exit of the city, trying to keep a low profile. Eventually, the military presence became so dense that it was impossible to move any further, so Claire came up with another Astryd-style plan.

Three unlucky soldiers suffered from a classic chokehold before being stripped of their uniforms. Now dressed in enemy uniform, the trio advanced to an armored military vehicle, and before the driver had a chance to say another word, they assaulted him. That’s how the trio drove an armored car brazenly like they owned the damned street.

Silvia and Morales were speechless at the ease with which Claire executed plans that seemed to be taken from a movie; as if that were not enough, the plans seemed to work perfectly. Morales might not understand it, but Silvia was different; she knew how peculiar the Astryd family was, so she didn’t let herself be too surprised.

Following Desmond’s number one tip for a successful infiltration, Claire acted as if she was genuinely part of the Verimar city army, even going so far as to yell at some corporal soldiers when she saw them loitering around. Because of the lieutenant uniform, Clarie was wearing and her attitude, no one dared to question her.

In this way, the trio managed to reach the city’s northern district without encountering any additional inconvenience. On the way, Silvia couldn’t help but think about how incredibly bold and brazen Claire could be when she played her role. If she didn’t know the truth, Silvia would have believed that Claire was a soldier of this city.

Claire, Silvia, and Morales were only a couple blocks from the north exit when a radio transmission reached the communicators from the uniforms they stole.

“Attention, the fugitives are suspected of heading to the north gate in a stolen military vehicle, license plate XXXX, wearing our uniforms. The order is to shoot to kill.”

As the broadcast ended, the trio shared a sour look; it seemed that tricks and ruses wouldn’t get them any further. Claire stepped on the accelerator without even blinking, driving wildly toward the north gate. Since they couldn’t get out peacefully, Claire would use brute force.

Having a vague idea of ??what would happen next, Silvia created plates of ice and placed them around the vehicle as a defensive measure. As soon as Silvia finished reinforcing the armored car, the bullets began to fall in her direction. Using a driving technique almost as savage as Desmond’s, Claire did what she could to mitigate the damage, running over a few soldiers on the way.

In true Astryd fashion, unrestrained violence and destruction were the following options on the list when stealth failed and niceties no longer worked. With one hand on the wheel and one out the window, Claire rained down her telekinetic energy in purple daggers on anyone who got in her way.

Silvia wasn’t necessarily aware of the Astryd family’s way of doing things, but since there didn’t seem to be any other options, she let her ice spears rain down with deadly cruelty on her enemies.

Like someone who could no longer get off the pirate ship they had brought him to, Morales followed the trail with an expression worse than tears, his revolver no less destructive or deadly than Claire’s daggers or Silvia’s spears. This way, the trio escaped the city as outlaws that were out of control.

It wasn’t until they were half a kilometer out of town that the trio could finally relax and stop shooting. Unknown to the lethal and slightly chaotic trio, standing on the north wall surrounded by corpses was Revna, who had been waiting for them only to end up watching them drive like crazy out of control.

In the heat and stress of the moment, the trio didn’t notice one rather odd detail as they exited through the north wall, and that was that there didn’t seem to be any guards on the walls or the north exit. Knowing that Desmond was worried about Clarie’s safety, Revna had gone out of her way to clear the north exit so that Claire and her group could more easily escape.

However, since she had strayed so far, Revna expected to escape with the trio when she met them; she didn’t expect to see them in a mad dash for the exit. Sighing to herself, Revna cast one last indifferent glance at the several dozen corpses around her before turning into a shadow and fleeing.

The truth was that even Revna was exhausted; one had to know that during the time when the rest were doing her own things, she had been busy traveling around the city at top speed, taking out one target after another. When Desmond gave the order to retreat, Revna swerved out of her way and spent the entire time accompanying Claire’s team, slaughtering whole squads of soldiers before they even ran into Claire.

In their last encounter alone, Revna had had to use her full speed and nearly all of her mana reserves to kill every guard on the north wall without them sending any warning. Had they arrived a minute or two earlier, Claire, Silvia, and Morales would have seen a terrifying scene where three dozen soldiers were impaled by black spears from their shadows.

Whatever the case, Revna was the one who made the quietest exit despite his weary state; one could only envy his ability to move through shadows. With all its twists and turns, that was the end of the military operation in the city of Verimar. This operation would give Desmond much achievement and credit, even though the report he delivered was heavily redacted and altered.