Villain Retirement

"Hello, aliens."

Larcus and his band of con artists could really only stare at the palm-sized humanoid floating in front of them. With the crystal alleyway reflecting all the light, the humanoid's white hair seemed like it lit up.

Of course, from the perspective of a civilization that was infinitely more diverse than those of Earth, they were not really weirded out by how the little humanoid looked like, no. There were dozens of races that were the size of an average human palm, one species even belonging to the Higher Races. And so, they weren't weirded out whatsoever.

What they were weirded about, however, was the small humanoid's sudden appearance.

"We did not really have the chance to talk earlier, aliens. So, my creator asked me to trail and follow all of you. And of course, as I, Little Riley, am now the most useful clone out of every clone—I followed his orders to the fullest."

"...What's it saying?"

Larcus could really only hear slight squeaks and whispers coming from Little Riley as it didn't really speak in Alltoh or any other language he understood.

"I don't know who you are, but you better leave us be," Larcus slightly raised his oversized head as he slightly approached the floating Little Riley, "We're not in the mood, gnome. Go bother and beg somewhere else."

"This is really sad, aliens," Little Riley was also oblivious to whatever the group was saying, "I am usually the one making the verbal threats out of all the clones, but it is obvious now that you can not understand me. Sad, since I find myself lately gaining upgrades with my vernacular—I need to change tactics."

"Why is it talking on its own? Are you guys just going to watch!? Throw the damn thing!" Larcus then gestured to his crew, "Throw him—"

And before Larcus could finish his words, one of his men, a… cephalopoid, suddenly leaped into the air and violently wrapped Little Riley in some sort of sack. His tentacles, making sure to seal the sack tight.

"What are you doing!? Why are you adding more to our crimes!?" Larcus immediately gasped as he looked at his crew; his already large head almost seemed like it was on the verge of exploding from how stressed he is, "Why are you kidnapping a—"

"I saw it in the bounty list earlier!" The cephalopoid hummed, "We can earn money from this gnome!"

"What!? Secure it!" Larcus quickly grabbed a ball from his waist and threw it on the ground. And as soon as it touched the crystal floor, it unfolded into a cage where the cephalopoid quickly placed Little Riley in.

"I knew it looked somewhat familiar," Balak, the many-eyed humanoid patted the cephalopoid a couple of times, "How much are we getting from this thing?"

Balak's eyes blinked a couple of times as he kneeled to look at Little Riley; all of his eyes, reflecting Little Riley's white hair as if they were cold-hard credits.

"I… I don't remember, we need to double-check."

"..."

And while Larcus and his crew all huddled together to search the bounty list, Little Riley just casually removed himself from the sack and stood inside the small cage, watching them with his head slightly tilted. Although he knows of Riley's memories and basically also experienced them, this was his first experience with the aliens in their territory. Suffice it to say, he was curious.

The alien with the tentacles—although he had already seen a much bigger, and not to mention, a more towering and terrifying version back in Hawaii; it was still a complete mystery to him as to how they evolved like that.

Curious, truly curious.

Very soon, however, his peaceful observation was cut abruptly as Larcus very slowly turned his head towards him; his eyes, as wide as they could be.

"You… you idiot," a quiet and stuttering whisper escaped Larcus as he stared at Little Riley, "He… he's in the Top 100, he's a Ranker."

"What? Let me see that!" Balak grabbed the tablet Larcus was holding; his many eyes, panning from left to write as he read Riley's file. And soon, his eyes too, seemed like they would pop out of their sockets anytime soon, "It… it says here that he's a Galactic-level Threat?"

"What!? What did you do, X'ualk!?"

"I—I didn't know!"

"Are we sure!? It is listed here that he is a medium-sized humanoid!"

"We… we should run," Balak whispered, "We don't need to—"

"Oh, that's me."

And before Balak could finish his words, another small voice whispered into his ear; he quickly turned his many eyes, only to see Little Riley no longer inside the small cage… but was instead sitting on his shoulders.

"W— Ack!"

And before he could say anything else, Little Riley inserted his arm into one of his eyes.

"..."

"..."

"!!!"

It took a few seconds for what happened to register in his mind since his eyes did not have any pain receptors—but as soon as he closed them, the uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong caused him to take a step back and cover his wide face.

Little Riley, on the other hand, just followed the tablet to the ground and continued to look at his profile; ignoring the visceral screams being let out by Balak.

"...Anyone can access this?" Little Riley asked—but alas, no one can understand him, "Interesting, interest—"

This time, he was the one that was interrupted as Larcus suddenly tried to step on him… only for his body to pierce and penetrate straight through Larcus's boots and foot.

"Gah!"

"Larcus!"

And just like that, with very minimal effort, the number 1 and number 2 of their group were now groveling on the ground and writhing in pain.

"I am not really allowed to kill any of you, aliens."

"Ack!"

And once again, Larcus screamed in pain as Little Riley took a couple of steps forward… shattering his bones as whatever remained of his foot was torn open.

"Oh, you only have 3 toes," Little Riley casually muttered as he pulled one of Larcus's toes off, "For once, I am no longer the weirdest creature in the alley. Wait, perhaps… I still am because I am the most normal-looking one out of all of you? But then—in regards to the vastness and diversity of the Universe, what is considered normal?"

"Kill it! We need to kill it!"

"I really need to learn Alltoh," Little Riley sighed as he still failed to understand what the aliens were saying. Still, he had enough experience to know what they were actually saying to him.

"As I said, I am not really allowed to kill any of you," Little Riley repeated his words, "But Madam Hera did not really specify anything else so—please say farewell to all of your limbs and eyes."

And with those words, Little Riley suddenly flew from his spot, stopping short of hitting Larcus in the face. Of course, this sudden action slightly caused Larcus to pause from screaming in pain as he fell backward… sadly for him, one of his eyes did not follow as Little Riley was holding it.

"Gah!" And so, once again, Larcus groveled on the ground; his blood, finely scattering on the crystal ground.

"The design of your eye is very human," Little Riley whispered as he looked at the eye for a few seconds, before just nonchalantly letting it plop onto Larcus's blood. And with a small sigh, he looked at the humanoid with only a large single eye.

"..." And as soon as the one-eyed humanoid saw the growing smile on Little Riley's face, he no longer cared about anything and just ran. And almost like dominos, the others also started running away while they were still capable of doing so.

But alas, before they could escape the bright alleyway… several slashes of light suddenly appeared and pierced through their bodies. And very slowly, parts of their bodies started to slide away and plop to the ground.

"...Curious," Little Riley tilted his head as he watched the silhouette of the crew crumble and fall to the ground,

"I should have just plucked all of your eyes and limbs at the same time, now I won't have the chance anymore," he then sighed— he wasn't the one who killed them, after all. Of course, he wouldn't break his creator's promise to Hera.

"I followed these impostors here, but to think someone was already taking care of them."

"..." To Little Riley's surprise, he could understand the words of the one who did the deed as she unveiled herself from the other side of the corpses, stepping over them as she approached Little Riley.

"So… you from Innovia too?" The blue-skinned humanoid tilted her steel-made hat up as she looked down at Little Riley,

"...Or are you here because you thought you were actually hunting us?"