Villain Retirement

[The Ahor Zai.

An infrastructure marvel that has existed for hundreds of millions of years. When civilizations rise and fall, Ahor Zai remains. Most of the civilizations that have built it have long become extinct, it is rumored to have been made during the Time of the Gods.

The Ahor Zai houses the Common Council, a council made of representatives from the most technologically advanced civilizations in the Known Universe.

It holds the entire history of the Known Universe. But alas, most of the accounts during the Time of the Gods have been erased—courtesy of the god of the evaniels and the war that happened during their time.

History was not the only thing that was erased during the war, civilizations were too. There used to be hundreds of Elders in the Common Council, but now there are only 7—none of them pioneers. Almost all of the civilizations during that time were erased, regressed, or just chose to close themselves off from the rest of the Universe.

It was a universal war that brought the Known Universe down to its knees. The evaniels were one of the civilizations that closed themselves off entirely; their civilization also regressed as a result of millions of years of unrest and civil war.

But of course, in time, they recovered their technology and surfaced back into the Known Universe. The leader of that time wanted to reclaim their past glory once again through war…

…unfortunately for them, they were completely unaware of a fairly new species that joined the Higher Races called Themarians. Suffice it to say, any thoughts of war that lingered in the evaniels completely disappeared after almost being annihilated by the new race, making them one of the most peaceful civilizations next to the Norinlads.

This is not even a fraction of a decimal's percent of the history that the Ahor Zai contains.]

"Interesting, thank you for the information, Gru."

[You are welcome, Aerith's Lover.]

"What the—why is the humiliating past of the evaniels the first thing that pops up!?"

"Wait, did my ship just call you my lover? And stop playing with the search engine, get ready to dock!"

Aerith's ship has been hovering and floating near the Ahor Zai for an entire hour now; their ship, being fully scanned by several drones to ensure that aside from Riley, the ship was not carrying any other weapons of mass destruction.

"This place… doesn't look the way I remember it."

"Oh, you've been here before?"

"Once, my mother brought me," Vera placed her hand on the window as she stared at the plateau inside the glass globe of Ahor Zai, "I don't really remember much."

"Well, I haven't been here even once," Aerith breathed out as their ship started being pulled closer to the Ahor Zai, "They tried contacting me many times during my travels before Earth, but I refused all of their summons—I have a feeling they don't like me too much. But then again, the Elders that called me are probably dead by now."

"..." And while Vera and Aerith were chatting casually, Riley just stared at the outermost ring that rotated around the globe as they passed through it, wondering what the purpose of these rings was. If Riley were to guess… they probably just placed it there to make Ahor Zai look cooler.

"Ah! That's my mother's ship!"

And as they passed through all four rings and moved closer to the globe, Vera's voice lightened up for the very first time ever since the tragedy that had befallen before her; her eyes, quickly turning moist as she pointed at a ship parked on a tarmac.

There were several other ships parked there, but the ship Vera was pointing to stood out the most—after all, it just looked like a giant leaf from afar.

"I guess she arrived before us," a subtle smile crawled on Aerith's face as she saw the look in Vera's eyes. But as soon as Aerith's eyes strayed toward Riley, the smile quickly faded away. Their entire situation was just… insanity.

Aerith's ship continued to float closer and closer until a thud whispered in the ship as they lightly hit the glass globe that wrapped the entire plateau. And now that they were this close, Riley could not help but think of how it truly looked like a snow globe, except without the snow.

"..." Riley was expecting a part of the glass to open up… but their ship just passed through, as if the glass was nothing but water. But with the thud Riley heard earlier, the thing should be solid.

"...Norinlad," Riley whispered as he placed his hand on his chin. As a species capable of turning their bodies into intangible matter, as well as being the most technologically advanced race in the entire Known Universe, they were most likely the one to build this—but for some reason…

…Riley could not help but think what his father would be able to do if he has access to their resources, if he still woke up from his coma, that is.

Come to think of it, he was the one to give the Guardian Force to Bernard. If he ends up dying because of it, then wouldn't he be the one who killed his father?

"..." Riley squinted his eyes at the thought for a few seconds, before shrugging his shoulders and looking back at the window—his eyes, scanning the several other ships parked on the tarmac they were landing on.

All the ships looked different, there was even one that just looked like a large luxurious sofa. Riley has already known this fact before, but he was still underestimating just how large and diverse the Known Universe is.

Just how long would it take for him to kill everyone? How many clones did he need to scatter, and how many clones did his clones need to scatter? Fortunately…

…he was now in the only place that could answer his question.

"...Why are there so many ships?" And as her ship finally touched ground, Aerith's breaths whispered through the entire cockpit as she looked through the window,

"Don't the Elders have their own parking spaces?"

"Maybe the news that a themarian royalty, an evaniel royalty, as well as a serial mass murderer from the Unknown will arrive at Ahor Zai attracted the stragglers," Vera scoffed as she stood in front of the door hatch even before it started to open,

"Where else would you be able to witness this madness?"

"I told them to keep this meeting an absolute secret," Aerith could really only cover her face in frustration, "I forgot, the Common Council is where the Universe's most notorious gossipers are gathered."

"Hm," Vera smiled as the hatch in front of her finally fully opened; before stepping out, however, she turned to look at Riley,

"Riley Ross. It will be a long time since we will meet again, but at that time… I will make sure you will pay for your crimes."

And with that, Vera disappeared, not even waiting for Aerith and Riley to step out of the ship.

"Riley, I want you to know that everyone in this place wants you dead," Aerith whispered as soon as they took her first step on Ahor Zai.

"Everyone has been wanting me dead ever since I was born, Aerith," Riley responded as he made his way out of the ship; his feet, however, did not really touch the ground as he just chose to hover,

"Now…

…time to cause trouble."

"No! Get down from there this instant!"