"No— No," Bernard stammered while carrying Cynthia, his hands trembling as he faced the one thing he feared most: Reign.
He had clung to the belief that they still had a chance at survival, but as he stood face to face with the more terrifying demon before him, any semblance of hope evaporated, leaving him with a sense of utter despair.
He ended up gently placing Cynthia on the ground, his movements careful and tender as he ensured she was comfortable.
"Look at you, running with your little girlfriend while all your friends fought until the bitter end," Reign chuckled mockingly.
He here arrived after noticing that Arc was taking too long to finish his mission.
Recognizing Arc as his most important puppet, he decided to check on him.
It was then that he saw Arc struggling to cope with the coordinated attacks of the hunters due to its monotonous fighting style.
But with Reign's control, he instructed Arc to unleash a more powerful skill, one that annihilated all the hunters in one fell swoop.
After wrapping things up, Reign wasted no time and gave chase to the two figures in the distance.
With his speed, catching up to a hunter that was carrying dead-weight was effortless.
Back to the Present .
Bernard glanced at Cynthia, still unconscious on the ground, before returning his focus to the demon in front of him.
The demon's menacing appearance became even noticeable as it stood there, his skull-like face and eerie smile sending a chill down Bernard's spine.
Not just him, but any person in his position right now would cower after witnessing the carnage and power that Reign unleashed.
It was simultaneously awe-inspiring and utterly terrifying.
"P— Please, you can kill me, but please don't hurt her," Bernard pleaded, his voice trembling with desperation as he swallowed his pride and begged for mercy.
Clinging to the slim hope that Reign might spare her life, he awaited the demon's response with anxious breath.
"Why should I spare her?" Reign asked, genuinely puzzled by Bernard's request.
Was this guy out of his mind?
Did he really believe that a demon who tore through everyone like they were mere butchered meat at the market would spare a woman just because he begged for it?
"Kill me, please, just spare her. She's pregnant, and I..." Bernard trailed off, his voice heavy with despair as he struggled to articulate his words.
"Oh, so you got her pregnant, and now you're trying to save them both?"
"She's not my wife, she's my best friend's wife, and I promised him that I will protect her," Bernard replied, his smile forced but resolute.
He had reached a point where his fear was replaced by acceptance, bringing a sense of calm over him.
Reign, on the other hand, felt a sense of disappointment.
Despite not experiencing a conventional puberty, he was intelligent enough to perceive Bernard's actions as dumb and idiotic.
It was evident that Bernard harbored feelings for Cynthia, and yet, even after it was clear that he was not the one chosen by her, he still insisted on sacrificing himself for someone who had friendzoned him.
"Alright, I'll spare her," Reign sighed.
If Bernard was telling the truth, then Reign felt he had no choice but to spare her.
Even though the child might not be fully developed yet, Reign had his limits.
"Thank you…" Bernard began, his voice breaking as he heard Reign's assurance.
His knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground, kneeling in gratitude and relief.
'Why are the people in this world like this,' Reign thought to himself, feeling a bit annoyed.
It was like everyone had their own tragic tale to tell, as if the world itself was testing his morals and constantly reminding him that he was the antagonist of this world.
He remembered watching an anime before, where most side characters were one-dimensional and ended up feeling not important .
Even if they died, neither the main character nor the viewers would feel anything. He had always thought it was lazy storytelling on the part of the writers .
But now, in real life, he hoped that all the people he had killed were just like those one-dimensional characters, and not people like Bernard.
Reign slowly walked towards Bernard, who had lost all hope of resistance.
"Do you know why I will kill you now?" Reign asked, his voice low and chilling, as he pressed both of his hands against Bernard's face with his cold grip.
"Because you're a demon that eats humans?" Bernard chuckled weakly, a bitter taste to his voice.
"That's one thing, the other is because I pity you," Reign replied, shaking his head solemnly.
"P— Pity me?" Bernard asked, confusion evident in his voice.
Though he had thought he had already accepted his death, a strange feeling crept over him as Reign spoke mysteriously.
"I pity you for being an idiot," Reign sighed .
"You think she will remember you? After I kill and eat you, she will just wake up thinking that she survived miraculously. Then she would mourn, not for you who saved her, but for that best friend of yours. How pitiful. You're so pitiful that I feel bad killing you," Reign chuckled, his voice dripping with disdain.
"FUCK YOU!!!!!!" Bernard roared in anger, his frustration reaching its peak as Reign's words triggered him in his final moments.
But before he could even stand up and vent his anger, Reign slowly ripped his head from his neck, the spinal cord dangling from his severed head.
"You should have just remained quite and died. Really uncool, " Reign sighed, a hint of disappointment in his voice.
He was just testing him, finding his personality too much of a goody two-shoes.
He despised people who thought self-sacrifice was some noble act.
Maybe he would find it honorable if he had died as a normal student, getting hit by truck-kun before reincarnating.
But he was a lab rat for God's sake; sacrifice meant nothing to him.
After he was done, Reign decided to absorb Bernard's body first.
Unfortunately, it was too ordinary even as a source of material.
Reign ended up selling all the organs for skill points instead.
When he reached the group that Arc killed, he decided to absorb everyone except for Rudy.
He could sense that there was something more special about him than the rest.
As the Skill Points accumulated, Reign decided to max out Bone Eater to XX, further increasing his absorption rate.
Already fast enough to absorb multiple people simultaneously as long as he was touching them, he sought to accelerate the process even faster.
To achieve this, he created additional hand-like extensions, allowing his absorption to more efficient.
Unfortunately, not even more than a dozen hunters were enough to push his level, showing just how much the EXP cap had increased.
However, he was not bothered by it because he still had a lot of resources to feed on.
He placed Rudy's body on his back and then ran back to the area where he had instructed his puppets to segregate the dead bodies.
The speed at which he ran ended up heating up the air around him, but he paid it no mind, because he was made of hard bones.
Likewise, Rudy's body was already burned to a crisp, so a little increase in temperature wouldn't matter anyway.
Well, not like he could complain being dead and all.