PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Estela was a very peculiar lifeform; even now, having visited half a dozen worlds, Desmond had only seen two non-organic lifeforms, including Estela. Unlike the android that Desmond had known, Estela was literally a creature made of minerals that were given life under who knows what strange logic.

Even now, Desmond still didn’t know much about what Estela was and what she could do; perhaps he never bothered to investigate too much, given the nature of Estela’s position within the household.

It’s not like Desmond expected Estela to get into a fight or anything. When it came to Estela, she always took the initiative to support him with everything she had at her disposal, so Desmond never had to bother to find out more.

Unknown to the other house residents, the adorable little Estela, whose abilities no one bothered to investigate, had to deal with a small squad of anonymous nocturnal visitors. As a life form, Estela did not function like human beings; at least, she had more than five senses, which led to unexpected visitors being detected as soon as she felt the micro-vibrations in the ground.

Like the Kyuru sisters back in the fairy realm, Estela didn’t have a particularly complex mind. However, she was still smart enough to know that people walking in uninvited while people in the house were sleeping was not something good.

Estela’s childish mentality made her ponder for a moment, but after concluding that it was better not to wake up her Master, who seemed so tired, the little stone maiden decided to deal with the intruders on her own.

The six people who infiltrated the Astryd residence had an odd feeling as soon as they crossed the fence. In fact, the illusory magic that hid from outside views what was going on inside the Astryd residence displayed a perpetual loop of a calm facade for the house; hence intruders found the sight odd as it did not match the illusion.

However, the six intruders had a mission to accomplish, so they all put that disconcerting feeling behind them and focused on searching for their targets. Unfortunately, the Astryd house was full of eccentricities, owners included, and the intruders came across the second and last strangeness they would see in the place.

.....

The first strangeness was the illusory barrier, whether the intruders noticed it or not. The second strangeness was the little maiden in black and white.

Although Estela’s general appearance was that of a servant from ancient Europe, she had only the humanoid form, and no one would really mistake her for a real servant. One can imagine the expression on the face of the intruders when they saw the stranger creature.

When the intruders saw Estela, their first instinct was to think she was a statue or some kind of strange decoration, but Estela’s beautiful whistles changed their minds. Although it could not be considered a voice, since Estela did not speak as such, her whistle still conveyed part of her intention. If translated, it would say the following: Intruders want to disturb the Master, intruders die.

It was a pity that no one could understand what Estela was saying; otherwise, there might have been at least one survivor, but that was not the case. Before anyone even managed to raise the weapons in their hands and aim at Estela, the little stone maiden started a carnage.

At the end of the day, Estela was a creation of Krysha, the self-proclaimed mountain goddess, and she was made of absurdly precious minerals. Having been refined by the iridescent flames of Krysha and brought to life by Harmony, Estela’s existence was extraordinary, to say the least.

With an elemental affinity that only a true natura could have, all Estela needed to do was wave her delicate hands. Three spikes of white marble emerged, shattering the ground and eventually impaling three intruders.

As the white glow on Estela’s right hand faded, her skirt emanated a pulse of gravitational force, creating three micro fields of amplified gravity around the remaining intruders. Unlike the three impaled people who died instantly and bloodily, those under the gravitational pressure tried to resist.

The groans of pain and the sound of bones breaking resounded in the house courtyard, causing Estela to show a disgruntled expression. Utterly oblivious to the pain she was pushing over other life forms, the naive Estela thought these people were too noisy, and not wanting them to wake Desmond up, Estela decided to kill them quickly.

And so it was that six spikes of previously soft marble were erected, now dyed red, in the middle of the courtyard of the Astryd residence. It was a brutal sight, with internal organs and hard-to-identify human remains strewn across the lawn, but Estela didn’t seem perturbed at all. Strange enough, for once, Estela didn’t clean up anything, and she left the bloody remains on the patio before retiring to rest; perhaps she considered the corpses compost for the garden, it was hard to tell.

It was hard to tell whether one had to be frightened by Estela’s brutality or surprised by her efficiency, as she managed to murder six armed men without waking up any of the house’s residents.

As the no longer necessarily lovable Estela prepared to rest, at least half a dozen other similar events took place around the city. However, the result was not necessarily the same.

In a small but well-maintained house, there were four piles of shattered ice barely recognizable as human remains in front of a calm and refined-looking young beauty.

Near the ice princess’s house, in a more familiar-looking place, some of the walls had holes and remnants of explosions. Inside it, a young Latino-looking boy with his legs in bandages was still pointing his glass revolver toward the driveway of his house where he’d blown up a couple of people who tried to kill him while he slept. A certain nurse and Claire’s best friend wearing only a nightgown, peered from the door of the young man’s room.

Due to Silvia’s thermal sense and Morales’ ability to turn him into a sort of human sonar, the assassination attempts had very similar results to the assassination attempt on Desmond. However, not everyone was so lucky.

In at least three residences around the city, the body of a high-ranking military officer could be found, sometimes accompanied by the bodies of their families. While those responsible for their deaths were already amid their escape from the city.

As the highest-ranking officer within the city, the commander was indeed a target to be aimed at... The following day more than one person heard from the commander himself that killing so many soldiers from Country C was an almost cathartic activity for him.

Within that same timeline, as the commander bragged about his prowess, Desmond had to hold his breath to keep the foul smell of intestines, and human remains from affecting him.

Desmond might be used to shedding blood with his bare hands, but he didn’t really stick around to see how corpses might go in the sun, and sometimes experiencing new things wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

It took Desmond some time, but he finally understood what had happened in his sleep. The contrast between little Estela and the carnage in the courtyard was disconcerting, to say the least.

Desmond could only accept that his life was not always rosy. Yesterday, Desmond had the nerve to invite Revna into his bed while Sasha and Claire slept next to him, and to Desmond’s own surprise, when he woke up, neither of the girls said anything more than a good morning before leaving his room. It may be that the attempted murder and yard full of corpses were the world’s way of balancing Desmond’s luck.

While the theory of universal equilibrium was quite satisfying, Desmond knew better than any other human being that the universe didn’t give a shit about anything or anyone. Compared to Krysha, Katya, and even more so Titania, Desmond was nothing more than a speck of dust. They still had their own difficulties; what could Desmond expect? Desmond believed that the universe was cruel to everyone equally.

Putting aside how Desmond personally interpreted the flow of karma and destiny, the truth was much easier: Country C did not like the powerful officers in the ranks of Country F, so they had them killed.

When Desmond discovered the reality of things, instead of processing this new information, his first reaction was to feel like an idiot for spending almost half an hour thinking about the philosophy behind his misery. It turned out it was just another collateral damage in the middle of a war.