PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

646 Chapter 646 Love And Hate In The Blood.

Reduce an entire world to ashes; such a feat was something Desmond was unable to imagine; however, the confidence with which Lilith spoke prevented him from ignoring her statement.

Ignoring Desmond’s reaction, Lilith turned her attention to the chains that had bound her for thousands of years. With a dangerous smile, she extended her right hand to them. “It’s time you gave me back what you’ve been taking from me all this time.”

At that very moment, an extremely complex blood-red magic circle manifested in Lilith’s hand, filled with patterns and runes so dense that it was hard to even stare at for long.

At the same time, like an ordinary piece of steel exposed to thousands of years of erosion, the pile of chains on the ground crumbled into dust, quickly agglomerating into the magic circle and then absorbed by Lilith.

Then Desmond felt a not-so-subtle change in Lilith. If before, Lilith had emitted a graceful, dignified, and temperate presence; now, she was nothing more than the embodiment of absolute power. Thousands of years of arcana and blood power contained in those chains had been reabsorbed within Lilith, returning her to the peak of her strength in an instant and even well beyond it.

Unknown to Desmond, though imprisoned and basically crippled, Lilith had never stopped refining her mastery and understanding of the arcana. Thousands of years of introspection allowed Lilith to devoutly study her own blood and all the mysteries contained within it, leading her to advance by leaps and bounds in her study of the law of blood.

As an apex predator and a race that could feed and evolve from blood, Lilith was certainly quite a box of treasures and secrets to those who studied the law of blood or life, though she had never met another blood mage.

Whatever the case, as of her isolation, Lilith fulfilled all the necessary requirements to make great strides in the path of the arcana; the only thing she lacked was to gather the energy required to make such strides.

Just now, Lilith had absorbed thousands of years of her own arcana reserves, more than enough energy to make multiple breakthroughs. However, all the blood energy she absorbed strengthened her body enough to keep up with the strengthening of the arcana.

.....

Lilith went from feeling like a lion ready to demonstrate her dominance in a matter of seconds to something on a whole other scale. For Desmond, who watched as a bloody glow covered Lilith, being in front of the girl felt like an insignificant ant in front of the sun.

At a simply terrifying speed, Lilith grew in strength, breaking through the eight-star barrier in the blink of an eye and the ninth-star barrier two seconds later; just fifteen seconds later, she moved on to the tenth star.

Lilith was by far the most powerful being Desmond had ever seen, to the point where her power was already beyond his comprehension. The hunter simply had no idea how monstrous the beings he had dealt with in the past were since the current Katya or Myrilla herself would not lose to Lilith even by carelessness.

As for Titania? Many considered that fairy a deity, or at least a being very close to true divinity; she was a power that could annihilate entire worlds by carelessness. Although she was currently quite peaceful, the queen of the fairies had brought absolute terror to all the enemies of the fairies, and not even the Oscuras dared to come within light years of her world; one could imagine how absurdly powerful that woman was.

In Lilith’s case, she was currently going through a significant and delicate breakthrough. Unlike the previous nine stars, which could be divided into three stages of development, the tenth star was more like an enduring state that one survived or not.

In other words, achieving a breakthrough to the tenth star was a life and death gamble, as stagnation was not an option; either one managed to ascend to a higher status or not.

Lilith did not have the slightest bit of nervousness; she was the absolute blood empress, and her existence and very essence were too related to the blood law to receive an adverse reaction in this state.

Just as Lilith expected, the laws of blood that she had studied so much for the past thousands of years came to life, flooding her body and mind, baptizing her with their power, increasing her dominance and affinity, and causing her to ascend as a life form to a higher state.

The compatibility was just perfect, but that was to be expected; Lilith had long theorized that she was somehow extremely similar to a Natura in the sense that she was born from a fundamental aspect of the universe, in this case, from the law of blood.

As previously mentioned, although Lilith was theoretically an Oscuras, such a statement could also be untrue, as she lacked the fundamental traits of such beings. In such a way, it could be said that Lilith was simply something new, that she shared certain similarities in her signature as a life form that made one mistake her for an Oscuras. Still, she was, in any case, more similar to a Natura than to anything else.

Whatever the case, Lilith’s affinity with the law of the blood was not even up for discussion. It was like trying to compare a drop of water to the ocean. Lilith was the equivalent of a tiny fragment of the law of the blood with a physical body and consciousness.1

In this way, Lilith ascended to a level that was unknowable from Desmond’s point of view, a stage that would still take many years, challenges, and efforts for him to reach; the lunar class, specifically the new moon phase.

Lilith opened her ruby-red eyes, and tiny blood runes could be seen flickering in the back of her pupils. Then, Lilith descended and faced Desmond with the same warm and loving smile she had had a few moments before.

“Do you know what blood is, Desmond?” Lilith asked out of nowhere, and Desmond could only shake his head, knowing that his scant understanding wouldn’t answer Lilith’s question.

Not being disappointed, Lilith expressed her thoughts. “Blood is life, so much so that with a few exceptions, life forms often have blood, no matter how different it may appear. However, blood is also death, flooding the battlefields when lives are lost in droves. Sometimes blood is love; those who share blood ties are attracted to each other, prone to care for and love each other, and blood makes them family. Some are willing to sacrifice their blood and shed the blood of others to protect what they love; that’s why I believe that blood is love.”

Lilith paused momentarily, clasping her hands on her chest, creating a tiny blood-red magic circle as she gave Desmond one last fond look. And so, Lilith continued. “However, blood is also hate. Blood debts, curses, and blood-born aversions plague the world with violence and cruelty. In some cases, blood is also corruption and depravity; its crimson color stains the soul of people, letting them fall into the lust of the flesh and violence.

From one moment to the next, Lilith joined her hands, making the magic circle disappear between her hands. A second later, Desmond saw how the entire catacomb was razed and sent to oblivion, leaving nothing more than an immense crater where it had once been the residence of the Darkblood clan.

Suddenly exposed back to the outside world, Desmond instinctively looked around him, finding an enlarged version of the magic circle in Lilith’s hands, now covering the sky.

Out of nowhere, a bestial and furious roar interrupted the solemn atmosphere between Lilith and Desmond. Without even looking toward the source, Desmond knew it must be that necrotic beast again.

From the rubble emerged what now looked like a titan of colossal proportions covered in teeth and hundreds of red eyes. Hundreds of bone tentacles waved at exorbitant speeds, making Desmond swallow hard as he realized he couldn’t keep up with any of them.

“That thing would kill me in the blink of an eye.” Desmond thought for a second before hearing Lilith say something flatly. “Even your master wouldn’t dare roar in front of me now, be silent.”

Lilith just waved her hand as if she was trying to brush away an annoying fly; the next thing that happened was that the necrotic beast turned to dust. “As I said, blood is many things, more than you can imagine, but when facing a blood mage, you should be most concerned with the aspect of life. As you can see, someone with the ability to erase all the blood in your body is very dangerous.”

Instead of paying attention to the pile of dust, Desmond looked Lilith square in the eye and asked the question he almost didn’t dare ask. “Lilith, do you really plan to destroy this world?”

Lilith looked at Desmond listlessly and answered. “I saw a small part of your memories from the moment you entered my tomb through our connection, and I saw much more as I drank your blood. You and I know this world has no salvation; I refuse to allow this putrid and decadent show to continue.”

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Lilith.” A voice that Desmond could never forget or confuse suddenly interrupted Lilith’s speech.

Like hundreds of female voices, all different, unique, and beautiful, resounding in a perfect harmony that generated not aversion but adoration came from the lips of a woman with white hair, silver armor, and eyes that seemed to contain thousands of suns.

To his surprise, the girl’s name escaped Desmond’s lips. “Katya.”