Villain Retirement

"Something is not right."

"Everything's going to shit, that's fucking what!"

With Riley showing himself, the others no longer needed to be hidden away as they all rushed back to the control room. Hannah was going to follow Riley outside, but Aerith prevented her from doing so.

Hera wanted to say something as she felt something amiss, but her words were overpowered by Hannah's screams.

"You! Why did you let my brother do that!? What are you, some kind of fucking yes-man!?"

"I… He can interact with my powers. It was out of my control!"

"Hannah, have some respect for one of your future sisters-in-law! How many times do I have to remind you to watch your language!?"

"Why are you even scolding me!? Riley's out there fucking things up again! Just this once, why don't you try stopping him!?"

"I… can't really risk them finding out about me."

"W—"

"Stop arguing, I'll go out."

With Diana and Hannah going back and forth with their heated words, Aerith's sighs were almost a welcome sound as she stood between the two,

"Just let me get dressed."

"...Why are all of you so calm!?"

"Guys… something really is not right."

And once again, with everyone busy trying to figure out what to do, Hera felt a certain chill crawl down her spine. Unlike most of the supers, Hera's abilities did not have a clear or set trait. One would think that her power was simply just enhancing her body and making it bigger, but no.

Her power was to survive and adapt, making her abilities completely unpredictable and ever-changing, even for her. And there were also times when her own body would move on its own, or her memories would be altered to ensure her survival.

One account of this was when she lost her memories after knowing that Riley was Darkday. For some odd reason, calculation, or perhaps foresight, her abilities deemed it safer for her to forget. How it knew Riley would lose interest in her, she knows not.

And right now, her body was telling her that something was wrong… or something wrong was about to happen.

But what?

Her eyes trailed across the room, checking and observing if there was anything that was sorely out of place. Of course, if you would ask her, the only thing out of place here was her. The only reason she was here was because she thought Tempo would be coming, and since she was already here, she opted to just treat it as a vacation.

After all, what better way to spend her free time than to travel, right?

Well, that's what she thought. But right now, the uncomfortable feeling was crawling across her entire body, telling her to move and stay away; her senses, almost at their highest to the point that she could even hear everyone's heartbeat.

She once again looked at the room, now looking at each of the people there.

There's Aerith, who was preparing to go outside. The beating of her heart… there wasn't any.

Diana, who was still trying her best to calm her daughter down. The beating of her heart, the same as Aerith's— almost non-existent.

Hannah, who was seemingly angry and mad at everyone. The beating of her heart, obviously fast.

The evaniel princess, Vera, who was standing behind Hannah and looking at the hologram map. The beating of her heart, also unusually fast— but of course, it might just be because she was an evaniel.

Paige, who was busy looking back and forth between Hannah and Diana. Her heartbeat, slightly fast.

Tomoe, who was seemingly also preparing to go outside, and Silvie, who was trying to stop her; both their heartbeats, also accelerated.

Katherine, who was doing her best to distract and cover Karina's ears so that she wouldn't hear any of the foul language. Their heartbeats were probably the most normal ones in the group.

There should also be Whiteking and Gary, who were in some sort of suspended animation. But besides them, no one was missing or doing anything out of the ordinary. A lot of things were happening, but there wasn't anything that Hera could think of that would make her body this uncomfortable to the point her light-brown skin would open all of her pores.

And according to her instincts, the danger wasn't outside… it was near her.

…So what exactly is it?

***

"Do not approach the target! I repeat, do not approach the target!"

The ships of the Lahestia were now circling Riley Ross. Even without seeing the faces of their pilots, the panic that orbited their formation was clear for everyone to see. As for the ships that were just minding their own business and waiting for their permission to pass the checkpoint, well… Most of them took this chance to drive away.

Those who recognized Riley Ross, however, stayed— wanting to see what this new outlaw was capable of.

As for the bounty hunter that went ahead and wanted to try his luck and capture Riley, now completely lifeless in his hand.

"...I still don't know which race could breathe in space." Riley, on the other hand, just casually let him go, gently pushing him away back to his ship, which was still separated into hundreds of pieces. As soon as the bounty hunter was right in the center of the debris, however, the bits and parts of the ship compressed together in a ball, completely crushing the bounty hunter's corpse.

And as soon as he did that, the ships that were still watching what he would do all flew away— some even activating their hyperdrive and not caring if they would hit anything in their path; how could they not, when Riley's eyes were on their way towards them?

"Hm…" Riley really didn't mind, as he just shrugged before turning his focus to the warships that were surrounding him. He tried moving close to one of them, but all they really did was maintain their distance.

[Riley Ross, we are the space military, Lahestia. We have strict orders to apprehend and keep you in place, do not attempt to escape!]

"You—"

[We will not attack you!]

And before Riley could even do anything, another sound directly vibrated through his ears.

[We are non-combatants! If you attack us, it would be seen as a direct attack to—]

"Hm," and before the voice could continue to echo through his ears, Riley stretched his hand towards the ship he crumpled, pulling it closer to him. Once again, the lahestia could do nothing but make way as Riley started moving in space.

Of course, all of them were still on high alert and would respond accordingly— they were trained to do so. But why?

Why did it feel like they weren't actually surrounding a living being… but rather a black hole that was going to suck them in without any warning? They have faced many threats before, but nothing like this.

Everything seemed calm, but that added to the tension they were already feeling. Some of them are even starting to feel relieved that they were not ordered to engage the target… as they were sure the only thing that awaited them on that path was a brutal death.

The only thing that was ordered of them was to keep him in place and observe… and observe they did as Riley made his way near the already dying Hotis 4J.

"..." They then watched as the crumpled ship floated in front of Riley, and without even any warning, the ship disappeared— no, it shot straight towards the dying planet at an almost blinding speed.

"...Fun," Riley whispered. He had already experienced this before during his past battles in space, but without any air resistance or gravity, it was almost as if his telekinetic powers were amplified; to what extent? Even he does not know yet.

As for the Lahestia, the only thing they could really do was watch as the crumpled ship pierced through Hotis 4J. And as soon as it did so, the already dying and desolate planet started to show signs of cracking; and soon… it started caving in on itself.

[Evacuate!]

And without even waiting for anything to happen, the fleet all started to disappear one by one at the order of their commander. But as the last ship, the commander's ship, was about to go on hyperdrive, he ordered his crew to cancel.

After all, the planet that they thought was about to scatter into pieces and cause a torrential storm of its debris unexpectedly retained its shape— no…

…the sphere was even starting to become smaller and smaller.