PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

However, even that came at a cost; Desmond’s wounds weren’t healing and were only stable at best. Meanwhile, Desmond was essentially burning off the medicinal efficacy of the potions as fuel to keep fighting.

Desmond was fighting on borrowed time, and he knew it, so his number one priority was getting out of this place safely with Cecilia. To do this, Desmond had to get past the three knights in front of him, but more importantly, he had to get past Camila.

Due to instant mana depletion, Xavier was knocked out, at least for a couple of seconds. Frederick lost a lot of blood and found himself enduring physical pain while William supported him. Though temporary, these conditions allowed Desmond to glimpse a path to Cecilia; the problem was the immovable sentinel in front of her.

Desmond didn’t believe in absolutes, so he gritted his teeth and steadied his resolve before lunging at Cecilia. The pain of his chest crashing into a stone wall reminded Desmond of how difficult his current task was. The condition of some of his ribs worsened, but Desmond ignored the pain as he mounted a counterattack.

With a move that would make any capoeira master proud, Desmond managed to knock Camila down; but the excitement did not last long. Desmond only had a moment to watch as Camila held her entire body up in the air, only using the strength of her wrist as she gripped the hilt of her sword stuck in the ground.

Desmond must have seen it coming, this woman was a bloody monster, and he couldn’t have expected less. Cecilia was only a couple of meters in front of him, a distance that seemed to stretch to infinity due to Camila’s presence.

Due to his kick, Desmond now only had one of his hands pinned to the ground, and he had to use it to get some traction and get out of the way just in time to avoid being snapped in two by Camila’s sword. Showing herculean strength, Camila used the same hand she was holding herself in the air to grab her sword and swing it at Desmond. The sword’s blade cut through the stone floor like a pair of scissors through a strip of paper.

Retiring, Desmond had to accept that unless the life of one of Camila’s companions was in grave danger. Thus forcing the female knight to move from her place, he would never reach Cecilia.

.....

This was by far the most frustrating situation Desmond had ever faced. Showing how adaptable his way of thinking was, Desmond gave up his efforts to step over Camila. She was now standing in front of Cecilia.

The bloody battle between Desmond, Xavier, and the royal knight duo followed.

Using punches and kicks, tricks, and feints, Desmond managed to stand on equal footing against all three of his opponents. Such a thing was absurd, but a trained eye could instantly catch the matter’s point.

Desmond was fighting like a maddened beast, using every last elemental grain that makes up his existence to take the lives of his enemies. This was an all-or-nothing fight for him, and he had long ago put his life on the table.

Neither William, Frederick, nor Xavier had such conviction. They went on the defensive every time Desmond’s move posed too great a danger. Desmond used a “Dare to die with me” attitude to overwhelm the trio.

Occasional flashes of a golden shield appeared, saving Desmond in his most desperate moments. Much to the headache of the trio battling the maddened blue-eyed beast, Desmond even began strategically using the shield against them.

Out of nowhere, the four parted briefly as if some kind of implicit agreement had been reached. Frederick was now pale from blood loss, his left arm having lost almost all mobility at this point. William’s arms were shaking from hitting Cecilia’s shield directly with full force when Desmond cleverly dodged his attack. Although physically unharmed, Xavier was the most visibly exhausted, likely due to his continued use of his bloodline ability.

Desmond was the worst looking of all. His body now looked like an old broken rag doll, wearing armor full of dents and cuts, blood dripping from his body steadily. It seemed as if Desmond could barely stand up. Cecilia’s light shields had stopped appearing a few seconds ago when Priestess collapsed to the ground behind Camila.

Though Cecilia’s role in the battle mainly seemed passive, Desmond knew that each time that star shield appeared, she was snatching his life from the death god’s clutches. Still, Cecilia’s energy reserves had their limits.

Even though Desmond looked like a flame about to go out at the slightest breeze, the fear in the eyes of the trio around him belied how much he had made them suffer so far and how much they still feared him.

They were all at the end of their rope; they knew there was barely any fuel left in their mana reserves, and the following exchange would define it all. William was the first to step forward with the resolution to buy time for his companions.

Like a spear poised for the arrival of the cavalry, Desmond’s right hand shot out in a stab that nearly pierced William in the neck. Despite his rushed speed, William managed to evade at the last moment.

With a twist of his arm and wrist, Desmond’s right hand changed from a spear to a claw that jerked at William’s shoulder. William had already had trouble dodging the first attack, so he couldn’t help but lose his balance when Desmond pulled him towards him.

What followed was a brutal beating from which William could not defend himself. Losing balance, William was kneed in the stomach and elbowed in the back of the head, knocking the air out of him and numbing his senses. Desmond mustered some of his remaining mana to strengthen the armor around his left boot. With a kick to the temple, William fell unconscious.

William could consider himself lucky that his brain didn’t turn to jam or his skull didn’t burst into pieces. It wasn’t luck, Desmond knew he couldn’t kill him, or Camila would never let him leave this place alive. Desmond still hadn’t lost sight of his primary goal.

As soon as William’s body hit the ground, Desmond began gathering mana from the wind between his hands. Desmond kept dodging Frederick’s barrage of fire bolts, who was forced to attack as he didn’t expect William to fall so quickly.

Having managed to gather a significant amount of wind between his hands. Desmond compressed it as much as possible before dropping the small spherical storm and kicking it like a soccer ball at Frederick.

Frederick’s wounded body had no way to dodge, so bolts of fire soon rained down on Desmond’s attack in an attempt to parry it. To Frederick’s dismay, the wind sphere simply devoured all the fire he threw at it. Unable to move out of the way, Frederick was crushed and flown by the now burning sphere of wind.

Xavier took the opportunity to attempt to slice Desmond in two with the blade of light he forged with what was left of his mana. Watching as his last prey fell into his trap, Desmond smirked.

Showing terrifying precision and reflexes bordering on precognition, Desmond responded by striking Xavier’s fingers with which he was holding his sword. Desmond’s metallic mana-coated elbow smashed into Xavier’s fingers, causing them to explode in a bloody mess.

In its current state, Xavier’s ridiculous defense had dropped to its lowest. Desmond took advantage of it by attacking a place full of less resistant joints and bones.

How could a bastard with a god complex and absolute defense endure that pain? The answer is that he couldn’t. Xavier screamed like a pig in the slaughterhouse, but his screams were soon drowned out.

Riding the momentum, Desmond unleashed an endless barrage of blows on Xavier’s torso. Like bullets shooting from a machine gun, Desmond’s fists kept hammering relentlessly into Xavier. He was unable to mount any resistance.

The last drops of mana inside Desmond weren’t enough to carry out anything that could kill the bastard Xavier, as his defenses were still too high. That’s why Desmond aimed to just take him out of action.

Having used up all the fuel in him, Desmond stopped his barrage of punches and looked at the semi-conscious Xavier in front of him. Desmond spat blood on the ground, and with not a shred of mana left to bolster his attack, he scrambled up from below and knocked Xavier out with an uppercut to the chin.

Desmond’s right fist continued to point skyward after he had knocked out Xavier, and after a brief pause... Desmond collapsed to the ground.