PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

614 Chapter 614 Claire Using Flow Interruption

Nott, the Norse goddess of the night, a deity not mentioned too often in the fables Desmond had read to her when she was little. However, Claire was still familiar with the mythological figure.

From what little Claire remembered about the deity, Nott was not only a representation of the night, but she was the one who covered the world with a cloak of darkness when the day ended.

Beautiful, graceful, sublime, and filled with darkness, that description fits both the goddess of the night and Revna right now, or at least Claire thought it did. Even the erotic and seductive allure that Revna exuded was full of dark undertones.

Dancing elegant and proud as her shadows devoured her enemies, that was how Revna fought. She was beautiful, deadly, and confident, exuding a silent and oppressive dominance as night.

However, Claire knew how hard Revna had worked, how hard she always tried, all for Desmond. Knowing how much Desmond loved music and art, Revna had incorporated an artistic, elegant, seductive element into her new fighting style.

The effort seemed excessive, and the result too dramatic and impractical, but Revna gave her all to prove her worth. With her exceptional performance, Revna appeared to tell the world: beauty, seduction, elegance, lethality, efficiency, all I give to this man.

A few beads of sweat could trickle down Revna’s forehead and cleavage as she walked back to the group, but she stood tall and proud. It was hard for Claire not to feel the pressure even if this wasn’t a competition.

Although no one ever said it, loving the same man was quite a complicated subject and not a fairy tale that was easy to carry out. For Claire, Desmond deserved everything the world had to offer, including the most delicious delicacies, inspiring landscapes, precious treasures, and, ultimately, beautiful women.

However, strange as it was coming from someone with that belief, Claire was still somewhat insecure and intimidated at times by how magnificent and devastatingly beautiful the women who joined her family were.

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However, Claire understood that her insecurities shouldn’t influence her. Sasha, Revna, and Cecilia all loved Desmond, but they also loved being part of the family.

To varying degrees and in different ways, Claire had become close friends with all of them, and her mutual love for Desmond was a big part of the reason.

Despite understanding that, Claire still felt the need to prove herself. Not to compete and belittle Revna’s magnificent performance but to show that her insecurities were unfounded. On the other hand, Claire also needed to prove that all of Desmond’s women, including her, were precious jewels.

As such, it was only natural that Claire wanted to be the next to fight. Fei Long was about to say something, but seeing Claire take the lead, she changed her mind. All Fei Long did was return a heavy spear to one of the bandits and insincerely wish him luck.

Knowing exactly what would happen to him, the bandit didn’t mince words and went straight for a barrage of spear thrusts. With each thrust, the spear’s blade seemed to go up in flames, filled with a fiery, aggressive Aura that couldn’t wait to tear Claire apart.

With her body to her side, Claire had one open palm extended towards the bandit and the other behind her back for when the flurry of attacks came. The spear-wielding bandit looked taken aback for a brief moment, then smiled cruelly, waiting for the moment when his spear ripped through Claire’s right arm.

Contrary to all expectations, however, the spearhead seemed to hit an impassable wall as it met Claire’s palm. Stupefied, the bandit increased Aura’s output and put all his effort into the subsequent thrusts, but the same phenomenon was repeated.

Alarmed, the bandit decisively withdrew, unwilling to expend any more strength and energy in vain effort. As he withdrew, the bandit noticed something strange: some purple glow covering the palm of Claire’s hand, presumably the source of her absurd defensive ability.

Given a better view and the time to pay attention, the bandit would notice a thin film of hexagonal patterns covering not just the palm but all of Claire’s hand, though only the front part glowed. A second phenomenon could also be noticed in the part that lighted, a high-frequency vibration of the illuminated hexagonal patterns. It was a pity that the bandit overlooked that detail since that would cause his defeat.

Frustrated but still eager to live, the bandit ignited his Aura, raising the temperature around him to abnormal levels, causing the spear in his hand to glow red hot.

Withstanding the pressure of the amplification martial art he had just used, the bandit lashed out again, with a barrage of attacks even faster and more ferocious.

The strange thing was that the spear’s advance slowed once it passed through an area about a meter around Claire. It was like watching a projectile advance underwater, with no visible substance stopping the spear.

With the speed of the spear reduced to a tolerable level, Claire used the palm of her hand to parry each thrust. This time the bandit started to get really scared; he just didn’t understand what the hell was going on. He felt as if he was using his spear to traverse an upward waterfall; there was resistance and a silent pressure that simply repulsed the advance of his weapon.

The bandit had begun to notice how Claire’s palm was glowing more and more brightly as she parried more attacks, and the bandit was getting an ominous feeling about it.

Claire, on the other hand, was the opposite of the bandit. She was the picture of utter calm as if everything was within his control. Impassive and inexorable, only the Arcana burning like a supernova deep within her eyes remained as a sign of how deceptive her stoic appearance was.

Unable to find any other way to deal with Claire’s impervious defense, the bandit used brute force, concentrating all of her remaining Aura into a single devastating blow.

Claire knew her barrier, <Mirror of spite>, couldn’t stop that attack. Even after being weakened and slowed down by her one-way telekinetic repulsion field, <Absolute Territory>.

However, Claire still didn’t back down. If Claire had learned anything from Desmond, it was how to take advantage of these situations, turning possible defeat into absolute victory.

With a smooth, fluid, and calculated movement, Claire used the back of her hand to strike the flat side of the spear blade accurately. Claire deflected the attack away from its target and redirected the force.

As incredibly brief the contact between Claire and the spear was, the Mirror of spite came close to giving way. However, that was precisely what Claire was looking for. Only in this way could she get so close, coming into range to use the second function of the Mirror of spite.

Seeing Claire’s move, Fei Long and Xiauyue looked slightly surprised. They didn’t expect Claire to use the flow interruption technique that Fei Long had taught Desmond five years ago.

Despite the unexpectedness, Fei Long was sure that this back-of-hand deflection move was one of the many moves she had taught Desmond. Moves that eventually became part of the hunter’s defensive fighting style.

Part of the reason why it was so surprising to see Claire pull off that move was because of its difficulty. The technique required enormous precision, control, and the ability to anticipate the opponent’s moves, and not everyone could deliver those requirements.

In fact, based on Fei Long’s assessment, Claire did not meet the requirements to use flow disruption in a high-level battle. She lacked the almost bestial instincts and physical prowess necessary to perform such a technique.

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Claire knew about this but decided to use it for many reasons. It all started when she designed the ability <Mirror of Spite>. A barrier made up of compressed telekinetic energy panels that absorb incoming shock waves, store them, and redirect them for offensive purposes.

Quickly, after developing the ability, Claire realized its two huge flaws. The first flaw was the low absorption threshold. The barrier couldn’t block overly powerful attacks, as it was less resistant than normal purely defensive abilities.

The second flaw was the mental power required to control such a complex ability. Currently, the best Claire could do was cover a small area of her body with this ability before it became too difficult to control.

The problem was how to use such a small shield to defend himself. Almost by accident, Claire developed a skill that was the perfect match for the Mirror of spite, and that was the skill, <Absolute Territory>.

Although it was complex to describe, the ability, <Absolute Territory>, consisted exclusively of emanating a constant burst of telekinetic energy with a fixed vector that repelled everything away from Claire.

Initially, the cost of Arcana was too high. Nonetheless, Claire fixed it by greatly limiting the area of effect, which eventually allowed her to increase the intensity of the blast and find a balance.

Unconsciously, Claire had designed two abilities that allowed her to bypass the requirements needed to use flow interruption. The Spite Mirror replaces the physical strength needed for interrupting and redirecting attacks. At the same time, the Absolute Territory creates a field around Claire where she doesn’t need to have the sharpest reflexes, as everything moves slower.

Ultimately, when it came to finding a combat style. One that would properly pair with her absolute territory and her Mirror of spite, Claire naturally thought of the man she looked up to and adored. A man she had watched train tirelessly flow disruption.

Mimicking Desmond’s image, Claire lowered her stance and passed through her opponent’s guard after deflecting his attack. Panicking the bandit, he gave up his spear and tried to use his fists. Claire easily deflected those attacks, barely making an effort. Then, she placed her palm covered in a purple glow on the bandit’s chest and spoke for the first time since the fight began. “<Mirror of Spite – Shattered Reflection>.”