PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

520 Chapter 520 Pieces Falling Into Place

Ignoring how ridiculous and short the nameless idiot incident was, just as Desmond thought, that was just the beginning. Like a disease, violence, and chaos spread across Europe with breathtaking speed.

Powerful espers using their powers without consideration, military officers and national heroes being challenged, that was just the beginning. Soon Espers refused to obey the law; kidnapping, raping, and murdering at their whim, they began to appear everywhere.

The very foundations of society cracked under the pressure of those who had the power to resist the law. It was as if one day, out of the blue, humanity suddenly realized that neither any country’s government nor military could hold them back as long as you are strong enough.

The powers that once gave some the upper hand in growing up in society had now become something that allowed them to escape the very notions of society. Even the less radical now believed that, at the very least, with enough power, they could become someone like Desmond Astryd, a war hero with wealth and women galore.

That’s where the problem started. It all started with the Verimar incident. Beyond showing the world how fearsome Country F was at keeping potential hostile forces in line, what that incident showed was something else. That incident showed that the era of firearms and armies was ending, and the era of espers had begun.

In fact, Desmond had predicted that such a thing would happen eventually; it wasn’t entirely surprising if one just thought about it carefully. What Desmond never imagined was that the Verimar incident would act as a trigger. Desmond initially thought it would be years before humanity reached that point, but that was no longer the case.

In a matter of weeks, humanity faced a crisis that threatened not to destroy its species but its society. Law and order worldwide went through an unprecedented situation where any madman with dreams of grandeur had the power to kill dozens of innocent civilians. In the worst case, casualties reached hundreds.

Then, a blunt and bloody reminder came to those who had gotten out of control. While it was right that the era of Espers had finally arrived, such Espers also worked for the government and military of every country on earth.

Rumors say that most countries around the world came to a secret agreement or something, but nobody can confirm it, the only thing that remains is the facts, and those facts were carved in blood in the collective mind of humanity.

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Almost coordinatedly, all countries around the world took action on the matter and responded with an iron fist to the incidents. And so it was that the rulers of the various countries bared their fangs, unhesitatingly deploying every available esper in their ranks.

The modesty and morality of the old regimes were no longer anywhere to be seen, and soon, the massacres and punishments of the rebels began to be broadcast live by many of the governments of these countries. Using blood and fear, these governments reminded their people who were in charge.

Back in Green Seed, during the weeks that these incidents lasted, the town remained relatively quiet. One part of this was due to the heavy military presence in the city, and the other part was because the entire town knew that the army had bloodthirsty lunatics like Desmond.

Barely a day after the global chaos began, after dealing with the nameless idiot, Desmond ran into an incident that caused him to completely lose his temper. Desmond didn’t know where anyone had gotten the courage to try to molest an elementary school girl on the street in broad daylight, but he did know that those kinds of people deserved no mercy.

The chaos had yet to officially spread around the world, but Desmond was already reminding the city of how important it was to uphold the law. For those with enough stomach to stick around, seeing a person with all their limbs broken into four sections would haunt them for weeks.

To top it off, Desmond’s victim was from the military, which made it very clear that the uniform was not something that would deter the black wolf of the south. While Desmond got into a lot of trouble over the brutal incident, the higher-ups were forced to turn a blind eye when they saw what was happening nationwide, especially when they saw how effective Desmond’s presence was as a deterrent.

Desmond didn’t care about the stain on his file or his lousy reputation either; the way things were going, such details wouldn’t matter in the future. Determined to at least keep Green Seed quiet, Desmond played the role of a mad dog biting whoever it wanted to outsmart. Meanwhile, Garden took advantage of the situation to train their new recruits while Kira and Yulei were busy wreaking havoc in C Country.

The general situation in country F was better than in other countries; this was because, in preparation for war, the military presence and control had been strengthened in recent months.

In the city of Kars, the altercations lasted a couple of days, with some isolated incidents occurring afterward; but even that died down with time. Although the city of Kars did not have a rabid dog like Desmond, they still had a hunting dog expert in tracking criminals; they had Sofia.

Although things settled down a couple of weeks later, a certain vibe in the air told everyone this was just the beginning. Desmond could feel it too, and having experienced various societies on other worlds, Desmond could tell that the game board was shifting, and the pieces were slowly falling into place.

But Desmond was not naive enough to believe that things would be easy; his previous experience with Valentine did not allow it. Since becoming strong was the only option, Desmond was planning to embark on a new journey, one to take the second step on the path of mana.

Desmond saw the world around him and the different players making their moves. Without knowing it, Desmond was just another piece waiting to fall into place in the sight of other entities.

The foundations of the age of lies could no longer stand, the false balance would no longer deceive its guardians, and the harbinger of a new era was about to begin. Desmond was too insignificant to be within the radar of most of the existences that would collide at the start of this new age. Still, his friendship with Titania and Katya and his affiliation with the association prevented him from escaping the chaos.

Contrary to what Desmond learned from the association, the multiverse was far from as divided as he had been told. Although it was true that there were dimensions of different categories capable of housing entities of various scales of power, the number of dimensions that existed, although vast, did not come close to the numbers described by the association.

The association had its own motives for distributing such misinformation; in all likelihood, these were related to its need to control and keep its hunters dependent on it.

But all these were secrets of minor importance compared to other things the association hid. For example, The association never spoke to its hunters about the great war, the eternal conflict between the greatest and most powerful forces in the multiverse. The reason was simple: the association could not afford to be drawn into such a conflict, so they kept their hunters out of it.

For millennia, the association had watched the conflict from the sidelines, under the guise of maintaining balance and benefiting the weakest and most defenseless. As Celestials, Demons, Nature, and Dragons fought a bitter war, the association profited from the conflict by acting as mercenaries for entities associated with these larger forces, always avoiding direct involvement in the conflict.

Due to the protection of the Celestials, the Naturas, and even some Dragons members, the association was able to exist relatively peacefully to this day. All because the association advocated peace and balance, values ??that these forces wanted to support.

Perhaps, in the beginning, the association really fulfilled its intended role, but that was no longer the case. The highest officials of the association, not belonging to the Celestials, knew what would happen if the truth came out. If their neutrality shield fell, they would be torn to pieces. In an attempt to gain some favor, the association began to get involved on behalf of the Celestials in the war.

Though weak compared to the four great forces, the association had accumulated resources and knowledge over the millennia, which they used to keep up appearances, thus hiding their ugliness from the Celestials, but the farce could not go on forever.

In an attempt to block further possible leaks, a top executive of the association put into execution a small plan to get rid of a hunter linked to the Celestials, all without knowing that this was precisely what a certain Celestial expected.