PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

661 Chapter 661 Disappointment And Surprise.

To say that Desmond was disappointed by the outcome of the fight was an understatement. Desmond was literally starting to have fun when Claire knocked him out of the arena with a technique he didn’t see coming. To top it off, Desmond wasn’t knocked out or anything like that, but he had lost by the rules by leaving the arena.

Rising off the ground, Desmond shook off his clothes and cracked his neck, a part of him somewhat frustrated at how unsatisfactory his fight had turned out to be, while another part was quite proud of Claire.

Feeling a gaze pierce his back, Desmond turned to find Revna looking in his direction with intensity. To Desmond’s surprise, although Claire, the person closest to him was not able to recognize him from the mask and the slight change in his appearance, it seemed that Revna was suspicious of him.

After a second thought, Desmond realized that while Claire had known him the longest, and had an intense love for him, she had always been a rather energetic and lively girl, not dependent enough on him to be all the time staring at him closely. In fact, Claire was quite a sociable girl, so her circle of friends was wide, and her attention was not always on Desmond.

On the other hand, Revna had only known Desmond for a little less than a year, but she was different from Claire. Revna was completely obsessed with Desmond, and she loved him beyond the limit of madness. While she wasn’t sane, there wasn’t much Desmond could do about it; even now, as Revna seemed more and more stable, her personality was growing around her obsession with him.

Even Desmond wasn’t skilled enough in the art of disguise and deception to mask even the smallest detail of himself, like the way he walked, moved, or his body language. Desmond was talented, yes, but he wasn’t omnipotent and invulnerable in every way, and he had no interest in testing his poor disguise before Revna’s keen eyes.

Though disappointed, Desmond had to leave the arena, vowing to find the opportunity to face Claire again. As expected, Desmond’s interest in the girls’ development hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

Remembering what he had seen just a moment ago, Desmond muttered. “I could swear I saw a translucent magic circle in the palm of her hand. It seems that Claire has already reached the point where her abilities require magic circles. I guess it was a good idea to buy her the study material to develop her own spells; although the credit should go to someone else.”

Thinking about it, Desmond took a look at the fairy hiding inside his clothes; as expected, Kyuru seemed untouched. In addition to having expected it, Desmond thought about how helpful the fairy’s advice had been so far.

.....

Although she always used to do it selflessly and casually, Kyuru always gave Desmond advice or information, which to date, had benefited him greatly. Among those many tips came not to buy already designed skills from the association, but theoretical or technical knowledge to develop their own skills.

Thanks to that, Desmond had learned to crystallize intentions within his mental sea, the core of his abilities as a mana user. Desmond had to admit that even a genius like him wouldn’t have made it this far without a little help, as the knowledge of his predecessors made it much easier for him to advance on the path of mana.

Pushing away all unnecessary thoughts, Desmond lost himself in the audience, trying to shake Revna’s gaze. As he left, Kyuru offered some words of comfort for his defeat. “You’ll have time to have fun later. By now, you should be proud, as Claire applied your famous family motto. As soon as she saw that you were holding back and probably had more cards up your sleeve, she decided to take the initiative and immediately pull you out of the arena without giving you the chance to fight. Aren’t you going to tell me that you, Desmond Astryd, of all people, disapprove of a cunning move like that?”

What else could Desmond say when Kyuru embarrassed him like that? Not even Desmond was hypocritical enough to pretend that he despised cunning moves. God only knew how many were cursing him from hell because he brought them down with some unorthodox ruse or method.

To give an example, the holy knights that he buried under the rubble of Cecilia’s tower by demolishing it with a ton of explosives, would be the first to spit in Desmond’s face for his hypocrisy.

When all was said and done, Desmond had a motto that he always used: Victory loves the prepared. But he also had one that he never mentioned out loud: The dead tell no tales. To survive, anything counted, things like honor or rules were ridiculous at a time of life and death, once you had prevailed over others, no matter what kind of trick or scheme you used, your enemies would be too dead to say a single word about it.

With those thoughts, Desmond left the arena area entirely, it wasn’t until he got almost a kilometer away that he stopped feeling Revna’s gaze. The reason why Revna had followed him for so long but now he no longer felt her seeing him? Well, it probably had something to do with the fact that she was standing right in front of Desmond right now, with the most beautiful and dangerous smile the hunter had ever seen.

Desmond might be an antisocial jerk with little more than zero common sense, and few non-battle hobbies, but even a true culture ignorant like him recognise a Yandere smile when he saw one.

For a moment, Desmond even wanted to face that mutant necrotic beast that nearly killed him last time instead of being under those dangerous eyes that regarded him with an obsessive love that frankly made his hair stand on end. Of course, Desmond was broken and damaged enough in the head to find that smile unbelievably beautiful despite how thick the madness spilled out of it.

With some thought, Desmond also understood why Revna looked like this; this was the first time they had been apart for so long. Not to mention how the last meeting they had was where Desmond came back almost a corpse, only to miraculously recover. Revna had also seen how hard Desmond had it during his assimilation of Nicolai’s bloodline and consciousness, only to see him rush off shortly after.

From every angle, Revna had reason to stand dangerously on a fine line that kept her from falling into complete madness. After all, she had never been the most mentally stable of the group, quite the contrary, her love and obsession with him had always bordered on depravity, only narrowly avoiding it.

Snapping Desmond out of his musings, Revna took the initiative to speak. “Master, is that you?”

Well, that was a bit of a dilemma, since Desmond had promised to keep his presence a secret until the girl’s training finished. Then again, Revna looked really pitiful right now, the slightest breeze seemed capable of causing her to fall apart.

In an act that would make the angel of love proud, Desmond sent his promise to her to hell, prioritizing his ever-loyal and unstable Revna over anything else. Removing his mask, Desmond allowed his bloodline to return to its dormant state, which returned his appearance to its original state and said. “I’m back.”

Before any other words passed his lips, Desmond felt a familiar weight and warmth as Revna lunged into his arms. As Revna repeated the word “Master” like a broken record, Desmond wrapped his arms around her and relished the pleasant aroma that reached his nose.

Desmond could feel Revna clinging to him as if her life depended on it, and that was probably how she felt, which brought bittersweet feelings to Desmond’s heart. On one hand, he enjoyed being loved and needed so intensely. On the other hand, he didn’t feel good seeing Revna sobbing while she kept repeating the same word over and over again.

“You are an idiot for not thinking about those who await your return.” These were the words of the angel of love, or at least, their general meaning; now Desmond knew what she meant.

Using his hands to wipe the tears from Revna’s face, Desmond cuddled the girl in his arms as she purred like a contented kitten. “I saw your last fight.” Desmond commented.

Immediately, Revna’s eyes lit up like a starry sky. “What do you think about it?”

Unable to resist Revna’s strong desire for approval, Desmond tried to be honest, much as he didn’t enjoy being corny. “It was like seeing a goddess of darkness, dancing gracefully, hiding with her beauty and elegance the lethality that dwells in her shadows. It was quite a sight to behold, it makes me want to lock you in a room and make you dance for me for all eternity.”

A sincere compliment accompanied by a loving and slightly possessive comment, even the goddess Artemis could not have fired an arrow that hit Revna’s heart with such precision. In a completely different way than before, Revna basically slipped into madness, one that people commonly call love, with dreamy eyes and the most satisfied smile in the world.

Now with a delirious and almost passed-out Revna in his arms, Desmond couldn’t help but smile with mixed irony and happiness. “Now what am I supposed to do with her?”