PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Just how the fifth key was perched on a prominent pedestal right in the center of the room was suspicious enough. A glance around revealed more than one type of relic or treasure. Still, Desmond lost interest as soon as he got that rotten feeling that corroded objects on this planet gave off.

The only thing in the place that caught the eye was the fifth key, an amulet of sorts with the symbol of the Licht clan on the front. Although the arrangement of the place looked as suspicious as possible, Desmond wore a somewhat thoughtful expression as he looked at it. Once again, the bursts of chaos in the distance drew Desmond’s attention, and an idea suddenly crossed his mind.

Only now had Desmond become aware of a particular problem, or rather the absence of a specific issue, something that should have been a hindrance during his time on this planet, but he never had been; Nicolai’s blood, or rather, those interested in that blood.

Having come to a rather disturbing conclusion, Desmond made a decision. At this point, it wasn’t like Desmond had many cards in his hand to play, so he might as well watch the show, as the winner would only be determined at the very end.

Somewhat confident that his suspicions might be true, Desmond did something that would have seemed reckless if this was a movie about exploring ancient ruins or looting a treasure vault; He simply walked up to the pedestal and took the fifth key.

As Desmond expected, nothing happened, there were no death traps, no alarms, and the room trembled until it fell apart. There was no mechanism to speak of, just a key conveniently placed on a pedestal, almost as if inviting someone to steal it.

“Might as well remove the almost from that sentence.” Desmond commented, confirming his thoughts about what was happening.

Having confirmed his thoughts, Desmond took a very different attitude. Although he was still being quite lethal in his way of treating anyone who got in his way, you could tell that Desmond was no longer in such a hurry to make his escape.

.....

Desmond’s hypothesis grew stronger with every second he delayed, as did his wariness towards that old monster from the Licht clan. Just as he was preparing to abandon the Licht clan mansion, a large squad of its experts surrounded the area.

Despite being surrounded, Desmond’s attention was not on his current adversaries but on the presence of that old bag of bones. As expected, that person was nowhere to be found. “To think that you’re being so obvious about it, well, you can’t blame me for what I’m about to do to your descendants.”

With some freedom to be more reckless with his use of his resources, Desmond smirked, unleashing his mana. Despite being in the low-level two-star class, the pressure emanating from Desmond was terrifying to the extreme. The purity of his mana, as well as his mastery over it, left his peers to shame. One could imagine how those who used corroded and deteriorated versions of any of the three energies felt.

“I missed doing this, <Wrath of Leviathan – Yamata No Orochi>.” With an almost maniacal grin, Desmond allowed his mana to flow like a river. Soon eight spheres of water orbited around him, exploding the next instant as eight immense water serpents lashed out at anything that stood between Desmond and his exit from the place.

Despite being outnumbered thirty to one, Desmond stormed out of Licht Manor, leaving behind a mound of misshapen corpses and a ruined mansion that was still burning.

Once the hunter could unleash all of his abilities, a bunch of French fries could not even delay his departure.

As he left the place and headed towards the Darkblood clan mansion, Desmond couldn’t help but think of the absence of that old monster from the Licht clan. In fact, looking back, the lack of any actual power in the five families.

Even if he was too much to ask for powerhouses like the ones in Lilith’s time to exist, it shouldn’t be impossible for others like the ancestor of the Licht clan to appear.

“I should have seen it before.” Desmond commented with annoyance. Even a fool would realize something was wrong with the whole thing. Yet, he had been too busy considering other factors to notice this anomaly. However, Desmond wasn’t completely clueless about what was going on and why it was all going back to Lilith and Nicolai at the end of the day.

Unlike the Licht manor, Desmond was welcomed with open arms at the Darkblood clan residence, perhaps too warm a reception for someone who had just killed their former heir, but Desmond knew that there was no such thing as family love or any kind of love for that matter.

With that last thought in mind, as he made his way to the Darkblood clan’s catacombs, Desmond couldn’t help but think of that angel with an excessive taste for the color pink and the symbols of hearts on her wardrobe. “Maybe that’s why she didn’t come in person; I imagine the angel of love would have problems in a place devoid of such emotion.”

Although it was a random comment, Desmond had hit the mark on Myrilla’s reasons for not coming in person to deal with this task; it was too bad he didn’t know that.

A minute later, Desmond and his random thoughts arrived at his destination, the ancestral dueling arena of the Darkblood clan, or as he should have been called, the entrance to the tomb of Lilith, the progenitor of the race.

The millennia filled the place with layers and layers of dust and cobwebs, but Desmond could still make out part of the mural that spanned the entire back of the cave.

The vague image of a beautiful woman with hair so long it created a trail behind her trailing to the ground, holding some sort of orb in her hands as if it were the most valuable thing in the universe.

“Those bastards have a bizarre sense of humor.” Desmond commented, seeing the image of Lilith being portrayed almost as a divine lady of some kind. One might think that the mural was there to honor Lilith, the progenitor of the Darkblood and former ruler of this world, but the opposite was true. The mural was there to mock Lilith, implying that those who betrayed and imprisoned her could even steal the divine from someone like her.

As for what was the divine thing they stole from her? “It was her blood, what we took” A hoarse voice answered the implicit question in the way Desmond was looking at the orb in Lilith’s hands on the mural.

Oddly enough, Desmond was not surprised by the sudden appearance of another person in this catacomb, nor was he surprised by the answer to his question. Somehow, Desmond had already assumed that this was the case.

Even now, thousands of years later, in this decadent world on the brink of collapse and rot, blood was the only thing that was still considered sacred. Hence the five clans retained their power and prestige even in a place that was one step away from complete madness and anarchy.

Of all the lineages, the one most intrinsically connected to blood was that of the Darkblood clan. Among all its members, those with the most precious blood were only Lilith, the progenitor of their race and the rare phenomenon of Nicolai.

When one thought of possible reasons for betraying Lilith, the only reason that would come to mind was her blood. Desmond understood why better than anyone. There was simply limitless potential within Lilith’s blood, transcending any other life form in this world. In certain respects, Lilith’s lineage was in no way inferior to that of a dragon or a Celestial.

Even now, thousands of years later, there were still those who coveted Lilith’s blood, foolish descendants of the original traitors. These selfish old monsters needed someone to open the tomb for them. “I’m surprised to see only you, Emerard Licht. Won’t your other four friends join the party?”

Facing Desmond, a hooded figure with only a pair of green fireballs for eyes stared at him silently. Through his tattered tunic, sections of grayish bone could be seen that glowed a sickly green. As Desmond had predicted, the ancestor of the Licht clan appeared as soon as the five keys were gathered in front of Lilith’s grave.

“Maybe six keys.” Desmond thought as he realized why no one had ever bothered to steal all the keys before. There was simply no point in doing so as long as someone like him didn’t show up since, without Nicolai’s heir, there was no way to open the tomb.