PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Enraged by Desmond’s cheerful and carefree attitude, Archibald, the middle-aged gentleman, ignored any possible repercussions and began to amass a tremendous amount of mana.

Following their leader’s footsteps, the other two holy knights began casting their abilities, but not before ordering their men to keep Desmond occupied.

This order was no different from profiles dying to buy time. Everyone knew that, but they still had to bite the bullet, moving forward with resolve and a spirit of sacrifice. A thing which only lasted until Desmond laid eyes on them; they didn’t dare to make a single step.

Faith was a rather curious thing; in many cases, it could be as fragile as glass, while in others, not even diamonds could compare with its strength. Some were willing to fight and die for their faith, those who lived for it; Cecilia used to be one of these people.

Her faith, however, was rewarded only with pain and betrayal; she had lost everything, just as Katya had predicted. It wasn’t until Nana was taken from her that Cecilia’s faith crumbled. With her faith falling, Cecilia had lost all reason to live.

Her world had lost its light, and she didn’t have a single thing to believe in, to cling to; Cecilia was a girl lost in the dark. Then, she found a spark of light, a faint hope, something to adhere to, something to put her faith in.

As Desmond turned to face his opponents, not before leaving behind a smile, Cecilia saw something. She saw a source of light in her world of darkness. It would be ridiculous to think that Cecilia had instantly fallen in love with Desmond or anything like that. There was no basis for that kind of emotion in the first instance. And Cecilia was still in mourning for Nana’s death; however, Cecilia felt that she could put her trust...her faith in him.

Unaware of the changes within Cecilia’s heart, Desmond turned to face three holy knights. This would be no easy task, even for a monster like Desmond, but the smile never left his lips.

.....

Desmond extended the sword that he now held in his left hand in front of him. On his right hand rested six tiny orbs of extremely condensed spinning water. A sphere of water on the tip of each finger and a globe in the palm.

Desmond placed his right hand in a claw fashion on the flat side of his sword, and as if he were slowly ripping something, Desmond dragged his right hand over the blade.

Six rivers gradually took shape along Desmond’s blade, entangling, twisting, shifting, and engulfing the edge completely. As Desmond’s right hand neared the end of its sweep of the sword, the rivers grew more chaotic and powerful.

Like six serpents, violent and unrelenting, constantly fighting each other. The rivers in Desmond’s sword fluctuated and changed unpredictably; still, with every change and clash, powerful mana fluctuations filled the room.

Everyone could see that Desmond’s ability was terrifying, with a destructive power far from anything he had displayed so far. No one could do anything about it. Instead, the holy knights couldn’t do anything about it because they were focused on casting their own abilities. While their men did not dare to step forward and possibly receive that ability head-on.

Thus, a peculiar scenario occurred, which would not typically occur in a fight between mana users. All parties would drop all worries and focus on casting their skills to prepare to clash head-on.

It was like in the animated series, where the protagonists and their enemies would wait for their opponents to prepare, transform and say the full name of their unique abilities. Desmond even wondered if anyone had childhood flashbacks.

Although Desmond’s mind had a micro fraction of a second to think such an idle thought, his concentration on his ability never wavered. Even now, after much training, Desmond still hadn’t mastered this move, so he was being cautious.

For Desmond, the damned unreasonable monster, whose talent would make many a self-proclaimed genius vomit blood. After weeks of training, not having mastered a skill was extremely rare, especially when it was a sword skill.

The great irony is that this was not due to Desmond’s incompetence or lack of understanding and talent; actually, it was just the opposite. The problem was that Desmond had created an ability that was too powerful.

As stupid as it sounded, Desmond’s insight and intent, combined with his mastery of the sword, resulted in an array of abilities that far exceeded any other power in his possession.

That was the problem with being self-taught. Desmond didn’t have a well-structured system to build on to develop his strength and fighting style. So his abilities are entirely based on his own understanding and talent. This had its own advantages and disadvantages to it.

One advantage was that Desmond could make the most of his abilities; there would never be a compatibility problem. Another benefit would be that due to the way these abilities were developed by Desmond. He would have no trouble adapting his fighting style, as he always had his own needs in mind when he developed said abilities.

On the other hand, the disadvantages were that Desmond needed the inspiration and understanding necessary to develop them, something that did not come easily even for a genius like him.

Another downside was that Desmond didn’t have absolute certainty of the results when developing his abilities. In some cases, his efforts might result in failure. In other cases, he might have something more challenging to use than expected.

Desmond had realized the four fundamental pillars of an Elementalist’s strength long ago. The first needed was a strong will, an intention that will force the mana to be shaped at will.

The second pillar would be the concept, ranging from things as simple as some fundamental aspects of an element to things as complex as the representation of a mystical beast. It was meant to give properties and form to mana.

The third and fourth pillars, going hand in hand, were a strong affinity for mana, something that could significantly influence how intent and concept shaped mana. While the last pillar was the mana reserves, the fuel that made everything possible.

These four pillars held the true prowess of a mana user. Only someone with four stable and formidable pillars could be considered powerful. As long as these foundations were deficient, it would affect a mana user’s overall dexterity.

And from there came Desmond’s confidence. Whether it was affinity, intent, concept, or mana reserves, he was in no way inferior to his opponents, either as a whole or separately. While the foundations of the holy knights were less stable, accustomed to luxuries and relying on artifacts, the sacred knights’ intentions and concepts were lacking.

Though young and inexperienced, it wasn’t that hard for Desmond to notice. It was a matter of momentum and mana fluctuations.

Although the holy knights began their cast before Desmond, their abilities took much longer to take shape and reach their full state. Furthermore, even in its complete form, the mana fluctuations from these abilities had been completely drowned out by those emitted from Desmond’s sword.

One had to know those holy knights should be stronger than Desmond. However, there was a gap between their actual ability and the power they should possess; in essence, their foundations were not strong enough.

The holy knights also noticed and were embarrassed. They were the most potent weapons in the church, but their momentum was overshadowed. Still, they had not lost confidence; they were holy knights and wielded not only the best skills the church had to offer but also powerful treasures.

Each of the holy knights held their swords aloft, giant blades of light that almost reached the room’s ceiling, even though it was nearly three meters high.

The various treasures on the holy knights shone with a fanciful glow worthy of a magical girl’s transformation, intensifying the mana fluctuations emanating from all of them in unison.

Watching his opponents grow almost twice as strong in one moment, Desmond smiled wryly. He already expected something like this; these damn walking treasure vaults wouldn’t sit around and die without using their treasures.

Of course, if Desmond had seen it coming, there was no way he wouldn’t have done something about it. Desmond looked at the girl behind him and smiled with boundless confidence, taking his eyes off momentarily from his enemies.

“Remember very well what I am about to tell you, Cecilia; As a member of the Astryd family, it is something you should always keep in mind. Victory does not belong to the lucky, nor to the righteous.”

Desmond paused and turned to face the three holy knights again. Due to how terrifying the mana fluctuations from the three lightsabers had become, the rest of the soldiers had to move aside and even leave the room; but Desmond’s countenance remained the same.

Holding the sword in both hands, arms crossed in front of him, Desmond lowered his center of gravity, taking a horseback stance. Desmond held the sword out in front of him in a defensive posture. The six rivers on the blade ran rampant, covering much of Desmond’s body behind.

Desmond’s voice reverberated throughout the room with his confident smile hidden behind the edge of his sword, and now, only his blue eyes were visible to his enemies.

“Remember Cecilia. Victory loves the prepared.”