The Hunter walked through the desolate streets, thinking about his defeat and how far he had come since then.
He slowly drew his katana and tested a new slash. When he hurled it at a mountain, the mountain was destroyed.
*I've improved, though it's nothing compared to when I received that power,* he thought.
He let out a sigh and turned around, his mind already weighing whether to come up with a plan to defeat the heroes or simply ambush them.
Suddenly a silhouette appeared behind him, and his body tensed at once.
"Hello, citizen. You seem resentful toward the 'Heroes,' don't you?" the silhouette said.
"Not exactly, and it's none of your business," the Hunter replied.
"I can help you. Just be my pawn, and you'll defeat them easily," the silhouette offered, now identified as Helio.
The Hunter clenched his fists, leapt, and flipped through the air. He landed in front of Helio and drove a kick into his face.
Helio shot backward, shielding himself with his arms, while the Hunter chased after him.
The Hunter unleashed a hundred consecutive slashes, tearing apart everything behind Helio and trying to wound him.
But Helio simply took the cuts and absorbed them, staring at him. He spread his arms and drew two small pistols, firing at once. The bullets had the same destructive power as the Hunter's slashes.
The Hunter dodged the shots quickly, but explosions went off behind him.
*This bastard is going to kill people. He isn't careful like me, with my cuts aimed only at him. He doesn't care where his shots land,* the Hunter thought.
"You bastard, take my life if you want, but not anyone else's, and work on your damn aim," the Hunter said, his voice low and grave.
He backed away a few steps and planted his feet firmly, his arms tensing.
"Oh, the antagonist, huh? Hahaha," Helio said mockingly.
"What the hell are you talking about? As if this were a book or a manga," the Hunter said.
The Hunter lunged and shoved him. Helio went flying, but he hit a small rock that stopped him. He hopped sideways to recover and brushed the dust off his clothes.
His eyes met the Hunter's. Battle!
Helio charged at the speed of light and drove a punch into the Hunter's abdomen.
The Hunter spat and quickly wiped the corner of his lip. He drew a deep breath, then unleashed a thousand slashes in two seconds.
Helio absorbed the attacks, but his body was slowly pushed backward.
*I see. I have to overload his body so he destroys himself,* the Hunter thought, noticing the shift in Helio's stance.
The Hunter paused for a moment, watching Helio still standing.
"Let me ask you something. Why me, for your pawn?" the Hunter asked.
"For the simple reason that you're like an antagonist, or an antihero. You have your priorities, but your personality was different when you faced the heroes," Helio explained, his voice firm and a half smile on his face. "The heroes would be the protagonists, with their motivations and ideals. You have a hero's ideals, but with a different purpose."
The Hunter was silent for a moment. He understood perfectly, but oddly, his expression darkened. He hadn't thought his actions would be seen that way.
Helio smiled. He had hit the mark. Without hesitation, he shot the Hunter in the chest, and the Hunter froze, as if the bullets carried some paralyzing effect.
"Excellent. Now you're my pawn, and don't you dare fight back, or I'll have to use other weapons from my foundation," Helio said.
Only one thought ran through the Hunter's mind: *Foundation?* So there were more of them, and weapons capable of this.
The Hunter clenched his teeth, his jaw so tight it seemed ready to burst.
With inhuman effort, the air around him thinned, and he lost his breath. The result was that he broke free of the paralysis, and when he did, he drew a deep breath. His breathing was ragged. Helio simply watched him like a rebellious specimen.
Before Helio could say anything, the Hunter hurled a thousand slashes that Helio absorbed, though they pushed him back.
The Hunter immediately began to run in the opposite direction, fleeing from Helio.
Helio watched him go, his expression unchanged, but he extended a hand. He fired another bullet at the Hunter's back, and it hit him before he could react.
The Hunter collapsed, his katana driving deep into the concrete.
Helio's expression darkened, and he slowly walked over.
"You won't escape," Helio said, his voice unsettling and grave.
The Hunter raised his eyes, sensing a darker energy around him, and knew it came from that man.
Helio sighed and placed a hand on the Hunter's back. A dark aura began to wrap around them both, but then something happened.
A white flash fell behind them, a white aura radiating power. It was a white knight, in white armor, with a sword of the same color.
"Let him go," the knight ordered.
Helio sighed, thinking only that this man was a nuisance. Without much thought, he shot the white knight in the abdomen, but the shot had no effect and seemed to vanish from existence on contact.
The knight swung his sword, and the slash struck Helio's body. It was extraordinarily powerful.
Helio's body absorbed the cut, but then it instantly burst into a thousand pieces, blood spraying everywhere. Helio was dead.
The Hunter shook off the paralysis and stared at the knight. His own slashes had barely moved Helio, but the knight had killed him with just one.
*How could a single slash have been enough to kill him?* the Hunter thought.
"That man was extremely resilient. They would have captured you very easily. I'm also far more powerful than the 'heroes,' but that's beside the point," the white knight said.
The knight slowly opened a portal and stepped through, vanishing inside.
The Hunter watched him go, and a doubt about his own power took root in his mind. *How strong could that white knight be? Could he be many times stronger than that Sebastián I saw on the news, the one who almost killed the 'heroes,' and he was their ally?*