Villain: Ultimate Mutation System in the Alternate World

Dust and debris billowed all over the place, obscuring the once-clear night sky with a thick haze of smoke and ashes.

This time, however, there were no bodies sent flying in the aftermath.

Instead, Jayden's body stood there, or what remained of it.

THUD!

His once-powerful body crumpled to the ground, now a charred and battered shell of its former glory. Smoke wisped from his destroyed clothing, the acrid scent of burnt flesh filling the air around him.

There was no wet blood to be seen, for the intense heat of the electricity running through his body had seared his flesh and vaporized any traces of bodily fluids.

All that remained was a twisted mass of burnt flesh and bone, a grim reminder of how much he had to sacrificed in order to temporary gain control of that borrowed power.

However, even with the fatal injury, the rune he had absorbed pulsated with a faint glow in his brain, preserving his life for a little while longer.

In that final moments, his life flashed before him: all the inspiration, motivation, and training he had endured just to achieved his goal of becoming a powerful hunter.

He had sacrificed everything—his childhood, his youth, and even his own family, just to pursue his career as a hunter.

A vision emerged in his memory—a man in his 50s, wielding a white katana with lightning pattern on it's blade, standing tall among the corpses of tens of thousands of corrupted and demons.

In his recollection, this was his aspiration, a towering figure revered and feared by many because of his commanding presence and overwhelming power.

"Father... I'm sorry… I failed you…." he murmured as he breathed his last.

***

"What's happening? Is it over?" Amanda asked anxiously, unable to figure out the current situation due to their distance.

All they saw was Jayden suddenly using Thunder Step, leading them to assume that the demon was still alive, and he was finishing the job.

Next moment, another, much larger explosion echoed, and the two hunters found themselves struggling to maintain their footing as the ground began to quake.

Whatever happened in that clash was beyond their wildest imagination.

This was no longer a battle that could be comprehended with their current knowledge.

"Let's check it out," Arnold suggested, his curiosity piqued by the outcome of the battle.

It was the first time he had witnessed a confrontation of such magnitude.

"Okay," Amanda nodded decisively.

They needed to check on their leader just in case he needed help.

While they might be useless in the battle of this proportion, Amanda was a certified medic, so she could at least do something if he was injured.

But before they could move further, they felt a sudden chill down their spines, and amidst the dust and smoke, a silver figure with blue glowing eyes dashed towards them.

Reign was not as fast as Jayden, but he was still way faster than these hunters.

"Shit, it's the demon!" Amanda exclaimed in shock. She couldn't believe that Jayden actually got defeated.

"Let's get out of here!" Arnold shouted, urgency filled his voice.

Without hesitation, they darted and retreated, their instincts overriding any thought of fighting head-on.

With Reign still at a distance, they knew they had the upper hand for now.

However—

The gap between them kept decreasing, and it didn't take Reign long to catch up.

Within a few hundred meters, the duo felt their speed slowing down, and a heavy air restricted their movements.

They immediately realized they were under the influence of an Area of Effect ability.

"We can't outrun it! Get ready," Arnold shouted .

He quickly spun around and drew his swords, even though his hands trembled from fear.

He knew all too well that they stood no chance against a demon who had managed to kill Jayden, someone dozens of times stronger than them.

'Forgive me, love,' Arnold force a wry smile, a bittersweet pang hitting his heart as he thought of his wife and daughter whom he would leave behind.

But even though he had accepted his fate, he still mustered all his remaining strength and activated his own last resort technique—the same one Dominic had used against Anna to temporarily boost his power at the cost of his own vitality.

Blood flowed into his eyes, veins bulging as he raised his sword for one last attack.

"DIE!!!!!!!" he roared, bringing down his sword with the intent to at least wound the demon in front of him.

But as it made contact with Reign's fist, Arnold felt as though he had been struck by a missile.

His sword shattered upon impact, and Reign's fist punched a gaping hole through his chest.

"NO!!!!!!!" Amanda screamed in terror, her voice echoing with desperation and anguish.

Instinctively, she turned and run away again, but it was a fatal mistake.

In that moment of vulnerability, Reign used his claw bullet to shoot her in the back.

The bullets struck her accurately, puncturing through her flesh with a sickening thud.

Pain seared through her body as she crumpled to the ground.

Her vision blurred with tears as she gazed on the pool of her own blood spreading across the dirty ground.

At first, she dared to hope that the damage wasn't severe, but as her adrenaline faded, the truth became painfully clear.

Dozens of small spikes protruded from her flesh, each one a cruel reminder of Reign's merciless attack.

Unable to move, she lay there pitifully, gasping for air, until she finally died.

'That was tiring,' Reign chuckled to himself, feeling the weight of the recent events.

His carefully laid plans for staying under the radar until he reached level 20 had been thoroughly disrupted.

But, amidst the frustration, there was a glimmer of satisfaction in his face.

This unexpected confrontation had provided him with a treasure trove of material, enough to make him grin from ear to ear.

Especially, Jayden's dead body.

Reign wagered that the experience points and benefits he would gain from Jayden's corpsed would far exceed the setback, with interest.

With a sly grin, he decided to absorb the remaining dead humans first before gathering the bodies of the six fallen hunters.

Before carrying the bodies, he thoroughly checked them to ensure there were no trackers attached.

After he was done, he created six spikes from his back and impaled the six hunters like a barbecue as he sprinted towards the dense forest to hide.

He might appear okay at the moment, but the sheer amount of negative energy he had expended against Jayden was huge.

Reign couldn't afford to face another wave of hunters, so he had no choice but to retreat strategically for the time being.

SWOOOOSH!

The trees blurred past him as he raced on all fours, carrying the weight of six dead bodies on his back. Each stride shook the forest floor a bit because of the added weight, branches swiping at him as he dashed through it.

Once he was confident he had put enough distance between himself and the mine, Reign meticulously rearranged the mangled corpses on the ground.

Aligning them in the order in which he had brutally killed them.