PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Despite the length of human history, a consensus had never been reached for these words, and at most, a vague standard of judging individual acts as good or bad was reached.

In other words, even today, good and evil are relative. So that begs the question, was Desmond Astryd a good or a bad person? The answer was that he was neither.

Was Desmond Astryd any good? All the blood on his hands would probably make a good enough case to disprove such a thing. Desmond had long since crossed a line from betrayal and deception to murder and torture that no intrinsically good person should cross.

Despite this, Desmond could not be considered an evil person either. Desmond had saved many lives since he gained the ability to do so, his actions put many people out of misery, and the Garden girls would probably be the first to say that Desmond should never be considered evil.

So what kind of a man was Desmond Astryd? That was a question Cecilia had been asking herself since the day they met, and now she had the answer.

Desmond was a man of indomitable will and unshakable convictions; for Desmond, it was not about good or evil, nor did moral questions matter; to Desmond, the only thing that mattered was his goals.

That kind of man could be highly terrifying once he set himself the wrong targets, but strangely, Desmond’s targets were about as common as it could get; keep his family safe.

Keeping his loved ones safe was a common desire of any individual, and it didn’t make Desmond’s goals seem unique at all, but things changed utterly when one took into account the scope of Desmond’s actions.

.....

Desmond was, after all, a monster; not only his combat prowess but also his talent and the speed at which he increased his strength, the actions of someone like him had impacts that were hard to measure.

As if that wasn’t enough, Desmond had little if any restraint when protecting his loved ones and ensuring their happiness, so it was hard to predict how far Desmond would go to achieve it.

Now and only now, Cecilia understood a little about the real Desmond, and although she still didn’t know the specific reasons he was here protecting her, she was now sure what motivated the man in front of her; his family.

A part of Cecilia could not accept it; she could not understand how so much darkness could be born from such a noble desire; it was simply against common sense for her. That part, however, did not overshadow another thought that passed deep in Cecilia’s subconscious: What would it feel like to be loved and protected by someone like him?

As a girl who never had the opportunity to meet her parents, a family had always been the deepest longing in Cecilia’s heart, a home where she could be loved, appreciated, and cared for.

That thought, although temporary, brought fear to Cecilia’s heart, fear that the idea was directed towards the maelstrom of darkness that was now looking into her eyes.

“Mr. Desmond, are you bullying Sister Cecilia?”

A clear voice, sweet but shy, interrupted the current silence between Desmond and Cecilia, who reacted quickly by separating before turning their attention to one of the orphanage children, who was looking at Desmond with suspicious eyes.

Cecilia wanted to correct the misunderstanding, but the following words left her speechless as a blush crept across her face.

“Don’t bully Sister Cecilia, or you will have to marry her.”

Don’t just talk about Cecilia; even Desmond nearly stumbled upon hearing the childish statement made by the boy who was now giving him an accusing look. Knowing that his sense of humor was rarely hilarious, Desmond resisted the urge to make a joke about it and instead did one of the many things he was particularly good at, dealing with a curious child.

“Don’t worry, I would never bully Miss Cecilia. I’m afraid my own wife would beat me up if I did.”

Of course, Desmond wasn’t being entirely honest, as Claire was strangely permissive regarding Desmond’s interactions with the opposite sex. Claire would only intervene or give her opinion when it came to something serious, Not that Desmond would explain that to a child just a few years old, either.

Desmond was about to send the boy to continue playing with his little friends inside the shelter when he saw Cecilia get up from her seat and look out the window with an ashen expression.

Cecilia’s face was pale to the extreme, cold sweat ran down her forehead, and her lips trembled as if she was trying to say something; Demond had never seen her so upset.

Then he too looked out the window and understood the problem; it was Cecilia’s tower... It was on fire. This was something Desmond hadn’t seen coming.

In the first place, the church was one of the best-protected places in the entire city, second only to the royal palace. Not even taking into account the holy knights, just the amount of knight-class warriors alone was enough to make anyone tremble.

Sure, those same knights wouldn’t have any absolute conviction to protect Cecilia, but even if it were just for appearances’ sake, they wouldn’t sit by while an invading kingdom walked in their faces destroying the place.

To begin with, Cecilia wasn’t even in the tower, and the church should know her location very well, so it wouldn’t make any sense for Cecilia’s building to be attacked now. These were things Desmond had thought about in the past, and considering that the people in the tower were at almost no risk, Desmond decided there was no rush to go back.

Things were different now; even if Desmond wanted to ignore Cecilia herself, someone incredibly important to him was in that tower; the accompanying fairy and self-proclaimed therapist, Kyuru, was still there.

The possibility that Kyuru was in danger was enough to make Desmond’s blood boil and bloodlust spill all around him. The cold intent to kill snapped Cecilia out of her state of panic; she needed to get back, no matter the cost, she had to get back.

It was lucky she didn’t even have to beg Desmond about it, not when Desmond looked like he might be running over there at any moment.

Forget any cordiality or gentlemanly expression; the way Desmond was looking at Cecilia right now was almost aggressive. Desmond extended his hand without saying a word, taking Cecilia with him and speeding out of the shelter.

Desmond carried Cecilia on his back to make the trip more accessible, while his legs kept him jumping over the rooftops on the way to the church, an act that would generally be stupid, drawing too much attention, but Desmond couldn’t care less.

Furthermore, it was evident that Desmond was already expecting someone to get in his way. When a random knight from the invading army tried to intercept Desmond, he was greeted by Desmond’s azurite gauntlet.

There was no casting time to speak of; Desmond was running at full speed with activated, while his arms were coated with . Things like saving mana weren’t a concern for Desmond right now; only Kyuru’s safety was a priority.

So when the first poor devil in his path tried to intervene, Desmond sent him to the other world right out of the box with a punch to his face. This time there was no show to put on, and there was also no group of individuals to protect; Desmond didn’t have time for games right now.

Desmond’s pace didn’t even slow down, his steps remained steady, and his speed only increased, but that seemed to draw the attention of several hostile units in the area.

Soon, Desmond fell victim to the constant attack and harassment of the invading army’s combat units. Although these were primarily weak, every time Desmond collided with a knight, some of his mana reserves were depleted, and his rhythm slowed down.

One unit after another, like moths drawn to the fire, all converging on the route Desmond intended to take to get back to the church grounds, Desmond was about to lose his mind.

“Get out of my fucking way. .”

Fed up with the constant harassment, Desmond unleashed the heavy artillery. He began bombarding his enemies from left to right, raining blood and human remains everywhere, almost literally forming a path of corpses towards his destination.

However, Desmond was far from happy; for him, every second of delay was a moment when he was unaware of Kyuru’s well-being, and that was unacceptable. Without knowing it, Desmond’s anxiety and anger worked as catalysts for a process that had been going on for a long time; Desmond’s advancement to the max-level one-star class.