The Mutant punches Veronica in her chest plate, a shockwave rippling through her body and knocking her away as it charges back at Afton. It throws a heavy punch at his helmet, and Afton is forced to allow it to connect due to the risk of dropping Dean.

*CLUNK!* ​​

The fist strikes him in the side of the head, but again, his [Stonewall] Perk allows him to hold his ground, even with the tremendous force that'd just stuck him... If he were anyone else wearing this armour, his neck would've immediately broken.

Afton's palm strikes the Mutant in the solar plexus with his other than while giving one final tug to bring Dean back up. The Ghoul managing to grab ahold of the edge and pull himself up, though, Afton's rescue of him had dislocated his shoulder.

With Dean saved, Afton turned his full attention towards the Mutant, dodging another punch and using his Plant arm to wrap a long wood-like rope around its neck, tightly pulling it so it couldn't attempt to tear it off.

Afton twisted behind it and pulled as tightly as possible, hoping to render it unconscious. It continues to struggle in his grip but he holds it still while Veronica comes over to assist...

And by assist, he meant pummeling the Mutant with as many shotgun-fist fueled punches as the Mutant's body allowed. She spent a minute straight wailing on the unfortunate creature, and by the time she was out of breath, it looked like a charred, bloody, pile of flesh.

Its regeneration was struggling to keep up with the amount of mass its body had lost. And with it not looking close to going unconscious, Afton determined that the creature didn't need air to breathe... So, he instead just twists its head like a looney toons cartoon, breaking its neck and allowing it to fall to the ground.

Veronica and Dean walk and stand either side of him, both looking down at the wriggling pile of flesh that was still trying to reconstitute itself...

Afton considered for a moment just tossing the 'corpse' into the horde of Ghosts and using his Sonic Emitter and [Meltdown] Perk to annihilate them. This thought was quickly squashed however when he realised that such an action would also destroy the wiring system needed for the Gala, as well as any other hidden subsystems.

Perhaps he should just toss the thing in the air and detonate it there? The other Ghosts weren't really a threat compared to this one, they weren't able to climb rooftops and certainly weren't anywhere near as strong. If he didn't kill it now he had no doubt it'd bite him in the ass later.

"Alright, you wait there for a minute." he says before getting out of his Power armour and pressing his hand against the floor... For this he'd need the full capabilities his arm granted him to make sure everything went off without a hitch.

His arm melded to the rooftop and grew towards the mutant, one it arrived roots immediately begin burrowing inside its flesh taking the place of the Mutants vital organs to make sure it wouldn't regenerate. After that, he exerted more power into it, causing a large wooden pole to form with the Mutant's body sitting atop it.

Afton pulls his arm back and wipes the sweat from his brow, he'd never done anything so 'grand' with his abilities before, it was surprisingly quite exhausting... Fortunately, his regeneration was also recovering the stamina he'd exerted.

"I thought you were weird before, but that's just freakish..." Dean mutters, holding his injured shoulder.

Veronica unconsciously nods, "When have you been able to that!?"

Afton shrugs, "Have most of your body devoured by mutative plant life and survive, maybe you will you get a chance to do this... Still unlikely though, I was a lucky case." he states while drawing his Sonic Emitter and pointing it at the Mutant. "You guys should back up slightly." he warns as he begins firing.

The explosive effect caused by the Sonic Emitter would only occur during critical hits, which is why he couldn't just toss it in the air and hope to get lucky. The shots cause bits and pieces of the Mutants body to explode into red paste, but his roots held it together so it couldn't escape its binding.

Soon enough, a crit occurs.

*BOOM!*

An explosion shakes the rooftop they were standing on as a fireball enveloped the Mutants body... This is quickly followed by another explosion which causes a large green plasma shockwave to ring out, literally incinerating anything that comes into contact with it... The pole the Mutants body was sitting atop is almost completely destroyed, leaving only a stump and the smell of burnt flesh in its wake.

"D-did you kil-" Dean starts but stops halfway as time freezes around them, Afton being the only person left aware of it.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 53!!]

Points : 1

[Stats]

[Perks]

[Mutations]

Afton doesn't even have to think about what he wants as he'd already decided long before this...

[Beauveria mordicana rasorium] : Enables user to form incredibly sharp blades on their arm.

This would essentially make him a living weapon... The whips he'd been using to grab things could now be used to attack... He could even change his fingers into claws, or form a Prototype blade if he wanted... There were so many options, yet, all he needed now was to extend these abilities to the rest of his body... Hmm, he'd need to search for something like that next level... For now, confirm!

Once time resumes, Afton grips his fist and rolls his shoulder, not noticing the duo looking at him strangely... "What?" he asks as Dean coughs into his fist. "Is it dead or not?" he asks, Afton having ignored his earlier question for some reason.

Afton nods, "Yeah, definitely." he states with confidence, it wasn't unfounded either, he'd just levelled up from killing it after all.

"You okay?" Veronica asks after a moment.

Afton nods, realising he must've looked odd ignoring Dean's earlier question. "Er, yeah... Just thinking about things."