Villain Retirement

"I need a volunteer, themarian students."

Katherine knew. Katherine knew that Riley Ross becoming some sort of teacher was bad, really bad. She never would have thought in a million years that he would actually be passing on knowledge to someone, but now here he is.

Out of all the things that could happen, out of all the possibilities, the universe was now bearing witness to the worse thing that could ever happen to it—the most unholy creature in the entire universe will be teaching the strongest species in the entire universe how to inflict as much pain to someone else as much as possible.

Katherine wanted to cover her face, and unbeknownst to her, she was actually already doing so. The air around the lecture hall became extremely thick with silence; no one was even looking at each other and were just blankly staring at Riley.

A second.

A minute.

And a couple more, but no one really responded. Perhaps for beings that could live for thousands and thousands of years, this silence meant nothing at all. But for humans, well—Riley seemed like a patient person, but Katherine knew that isn't truly the case.

"Hm…" Riley's eyes started to squint; his breaths, scattering through the entire hall, "It doesn't matter who volunteers first as all of you will, sooner or later, be forced to come here to the stage."

"...What?"

"For you to inflict pain…" Riley closed his eyes before touching his ear, "…then you must know pain."

"!!!"

And all of a sudden, Riley pulled and completely tore off his ear, causing some of the students to instinctively stand from their seats and get into their combat stances.

"Aerith knew pain," Riley whispered as he looked at Princess Esme, "She, to this day, is still the strongest themarian I have met besides my adoptive mother. I do not know why or how, but Aerith allowed herself to learn pain—now how do I know that?"

Riley started walking as his ear started to regenerate. But before it could fully heal, Riley ripped it off again; even with all the blood splattering on the floor, however, his white hair that flowed with the air remains immaculate along with his coat.

"Because never once did she scream when I tortured her. People have personality, and you have to prepare torture that is according to their nature. It doesn't matter if one claims to be immune to pain or torture, torture will always have an effect one way or another. But what if their nature prevents them from giving up?"

"..." Everyone then sat back in their seats and started listening to their new professor's words.

"Aerith did not only learn pain, but she also mastered it," and with those words, Riley's ear stopped growing back, "She spent an entire year completely broken, mangled, bodiless—Aerith made herself comfortable with pain because she knows how to control it…

…How do you beat someone like that?"

"..." Everyone started looking at each other, waiting for someone to answer Riley's question. And very soon, the person at the very front raised her hand.

"You try and try again until you find where it hurts," Princess Esme answered.

"Wrong," but alas, Riley quickly shook his head and shut her down, "Aerith represents hope that can never be broken. But that doesn't mean that you can not torture her—if pain does not work, then you target her mind…

…Torture is never about physical pain, it is always psychological."

"Themarians can recover their brains and mine, Professor Riley."

"It can recover, but it will not be the same," Riley shook his head, "My torture methods are separated into two major types—The Short One, and The Long One. The Short One is used to just play around, for those that are easily broken."

"...How would you know which one to use?" Princess Esme placed her hand on her chin as she held some sort of orb; and from the movements of her fingers, she seemed to be typing and taking notes on it.

"You study your victim. For example, Miss Katherine."

"...Huh?" Katherine could not help but blink a couple of times as Riley suddenly stepped to the side and gestured to her.

"I used a Short One on Miss Katherine during our early meeting," Riley then started circling around Katherine, "Katherine Read was a hopeful person whose entire goal in life is to be a superhero."

"...Riley?" Katherine's eyebrows started to furrow.

"She is not weak, not at all. Even now, she can probably kill one of you if she truly put the effort into it," Riley nodded, "But she is fragile. At an early age, her father left her and her mother alone to fend for themselves—placing her love that should have been reserved for both parents to only one, her mother."

"Riley," Katherine started shaking her head.

"That is all you really need to know to break her," Riley, however, did not stop, "When Katherine learned a secret of mine, I threatened to cut off her mother's tongue—it is quite effective because I have a prior reputation of being ruthless, that helps too. Like an egg, Katherine started cracking there and then."

"..." Katherine could really only bite her lip as Riley continued to reveal things about her.

"I started learning more and more about her; what she likes, what she wants, what she needs, what she craves. But these things are only mildly important because the cracks can also be used to mold them—what she likes, what she wants—soon these things you can dictate," Riley then placed her hand on Katherine's chin,

"Things that are broken can be reshaped into a more beautiful piece."

"...Riley," Katherine's face started to turn red as she felt the warmth of Riley's fingers. But before anything could happen, Riley let go of her and turned around.

"But of course, that is not the lesson I will be teaching you. This is Torture 101, after all. I am only telling you the things that are possible with torture," Riley said as he started to scan the students,

"Now, The Long One is the method that I am using for Aerith, and the thing that I used on her son. She brought his son here and you might see him soon since he is still considered Themarian royalty belonging to the other kingdom, but he is weak and insecure—and I used that," Riley then stretched his hands to the side, causing the entire lecture hall to tremble,

"Ever since he revealed that he is Aerith's son, I started a Long One. Sadly a lot of things happened that postponed it, but when I returned, I started it again. It was fun, inflicting pain is fun. Hearing people scream, looking people in their eyes as they take their last breaths, this—"

"..."

"I apologize, I lost track. Now, where were we… Right, right…

…Who wants to volunteer?"

And as Riley raised his hand to find a volunteer, everyone just turned their heads down. Who exactly in their right mind would want to volunteer after hearing everything that Riley just said?

Learning their vulnerabilities? Torturing them to the point they changed?

They already know that there is torture involved when they enrolled in the class since that is literally the name of the course, but they didn't sign up to actually be the subject of the torture.

"Let me."

Fortunately for them, they did not have to volunteer as someone raised their hand. And as expected, it was Princess Esme.

"No."

But before Princess Esme could even stand up from her seat, Riley ordered her to sit back down.

"Torture might not work on you, Princess Esme."

"You are assuming things about me again, Professor Riley. We are here to prove that I am equal or better than Princess Aerith, how would I do that if I do not participate in this?"

"Torture might not work on you as intended because we are the same, Princess Esme," Riley then let out a small… and slightly disappointed sigh,

"You are in the spectrum."

"What is that?" Princess Esme squinted her eyes, "We're in a lecture hall, Professor Riley."

"It doesn't matter. You will not be an effective volunteer," Riley shook his head, "You might get hurt, you might give up, and you might be molded. But since you are different, then you are not the subject we must learn."

"Does that matter? I am ready, Professor Riley."

"...Very well. Since you are eager to participate, I can't fail your efforts. Please, come here to the front, Princess Esm…e."

Esme appeared in front of Riley before he could even finish his words. He didn't heed it any mind, however, as he looked at the student that was nearest to the door,

"And you, please come here and introduce yourself."

"M… Me? Wh—" And before the student could do anything, she suddenly started floating toward the front of the class. She tried to resist by flying away—but Princess Esme's eyes suddenly turned red as a warning, causing her to just give up.

"Introduce yourself to the rest of the class, Miss Cam," Riley then said as he took a step back.

"You… You know my name, sir?" Cam could not help but glance at Riley, before bowing her head and introducing herself to the rest of the class, "My… my name is Cam. A Level 2 student."

"Very well, Cam," Riley nodded,

"I want you to try and torture Princess Esme."

"...Sorry?" Cam blinked a couple of times as she looked back and forth between Riley and the tall princess.

"You do not have to worry…

…I will guide you."