Villain Retirement

"Multiple portals are opening soon."

"...I don't even know what to do with that information. The brains of the relationship are kinda being pinned down by her doppleganger."

"If she promises to stay calm, I will let her g—did you just say relationship?"

"Well—"

"How am I supposed to be calm upon hearing what I just heard? More of you people would come!?"

"No, not our people, but others."

The group continued to talk amongst themselves despite the situation they found themselves in. Chaos, perhaps that was truly the only way one could describe this scenario. None of them are unfamiliar with chaos, but this probably tops their list.

And while the older people were having their multiversal breakdown, Riley was completely out of it—his ears, just hearing a constant whistle that rang deep through his mind.

He was stable, he was supposed to be stable—even the scan of his brain that Earth-1 did told him that his mind was stable, that whatever dementia he had was gone upon arriving to this universe… at least that is how it was supposed to be.

So why…

…why was there someone standing in front of him again? It was a man that Riley doesn't really recognize, he would remember if he did. After all, the man has eyes even more lifeless than his.

He looked at the others to see if they were also seeing the man, but considering they were just discussing with themselves and raising their voices, it was obvious that none of them were aware.

"..." Riley's eyes then once again landed on the Aerith of this world, only to see almost a complete stranger.

Riley thought, he really thought that the Aerith of this world would be exactly the Aerith he knew—after all, someone as pure as her would always persevere through the light—no matter what.

Riley truly thought it would be the same Aerith with the way she pleaded for the life of others, but no. She was completely different, and it wasn't just because she looked like Queen Adel, but with the way she acts; her mannerisms, the way she purses her lips… they were all different.

Aerith was supposed to be the only semblance of reality he had in this strange universe, and she didn't even really exist.

And now, he was once again truly lost. The anchor that kept his mind afloat was once again pulled away, causing his deteriorating mind to continue corrupting the rest of him.

"Aerith…" He whispered to himself again as he covered his face, "Why… why did you abandon me?"

And soon, as the whistle in Riley's mind grew louder and louder, the darkness that hid deep within him started to once again show itself—scattering outward and filling everything in front of him in nothing but a void.

But this void did not last, as soon, the darkness gave birth to a place that Riley will always consider as paradise—the horizon of a vast green field and mountains filled with trees. It was his sacred place.

A place that represented the little peace between him and Aerith—perhaps one could even say a place of innocence, if Riley could ever be considered as such.

The place was so important for Riley, that he didn't realize that it wasn't only him that was seeing it.

"What… the heck?" Alice was the first to react as she stepped back as blades of grass started to sprout from the silver floor beneath her feet—and soon, she also saw the horizon that Riley was seeing.

"O…kay?" Alice then subtly glanced at Bernard without moving her head, "Just how many powers does my son have? Is… he like my mom or something?"

"You don't know?" Bernard furrowed his eyebrows, "And why are you even trying to protect him?"

"I don't know," Alice shrugged, "I just felt like it."

"The boy doesn't really need your protection—he has more than a hundred abilities under his sleeves," Bernard shook his head as he finally started removing the net wrapping Diana and the others, "He mostly uses your ability, telekinesis. But the most dangerous one, he got from my daughter."

"...And this?" Alice crouched and touched the blades of grass.

"Illusions."

"But I can feel it."

"He has more than a hundred abilities," Bernard repeated his words as if insinuating something, "But it doesn't matter—what we should be focusing on are the portals Earth-1 Bernard is summoning."

And finally, after a few more tugs and pulls, Diana and the others were set free; their gasping breaths, whispering through everyone's ears.

"The question is where and when," Bernard grabbed Diana's hand and gently pulled her closer to him, "We should probably start working together to—"

"This doesn't concern me," and before Bernard could finish his words, Earth-1 Aerith pushed him away as she made her way to Riley, "Son or not, mistake or not, he needs to pay for what he has done."

"Feel free to do whatever you want to do," Bernard sighed as he shook his head, "But I assure you, fighting with Riley Ross in an endless pit you will never truly escape—you will be the only one that suffers."

"You don't know me."

"Perhaps," Bernard shrugged, "But I do know that a stronger-willed version of you committed suicide because she could no longer handle Riley. You can never win against Riley Ross."

"Then we both just—"

"No," Bernard did not let Aerith finish her words, "You will be the only one that loses every time. Riley Ross isn't like you and I, he's different."

"..."

"Huh…" Alice joined in on the conversation, "I guess our son is kinda like an unstable god?"

"..." Diana, who has been quietly having a staring contest with Earth-1 Diana, could not help but look away as she heard Alice's words.

An unstable god. It was hard to admit, but that is exactly what Riley Ross is now… and she was one of the people responsible for making him that way.

"Alice," Earth-1 Diana also finally spoke up, very lightly pushing Diana to the side as she stepped forward, "The portal that our Bernard summoned, can you find if there are any traces of it anywhere?"

"..." Alice did not really answer Diana and instead just turned to look at the Manus Dei, which was completely destroyed by Riley. She was about to say something, but before she could do so, Bernard quickly noticed her looking at the spherical room.

"What does this do?" Bernard's eyes moved endlessly as he walked toward the hole that Riley made between their room and the Manus Dei, scanning every inch of it before ultimately floating in the air and entering the spherical room.

"It… amplifies my powers."

"Huh," Bernard hummed, nodding his head as he started flying around the spherical room, before landing on the trillions of dead nanites that seemed like a pool of charred sand.

Bernard then stretched his left arm to the side, and as he did so, several tendrils emerged from his armor and started examining and tinkering with the scraps inside the spherical hall.

"Is… he going to fix it?"

"Maybe, even if he's fatter, he's still Bernard."

"Love handles, those are called love handles."

"Why are you even with him even though he cheated on you?" Earth-1 Diana could not help but ask, "It's immoral."

"You'll understand when you have a daughter of your own."

"I told you we should have adopted that dog, Dee."

"Stop it."

"..." Aerith, who had been wanting some sort of justice for her people, could not help but just look back and forth between the women in the room. The situation they were in was nothing but weird… and yet they were chatting casually.

She was going to take this chance to try and attack Riley—but alas. As she stepped forward, the net that Bernard neglectfully threw on the ground flew toward her, once again causing her to instantly become exhausted.

"This is interesting."

And after a few more banters and bickering by the women, Bernard floated out of the Manus Dei. Alice quickly rushed to look at her toy, but to her disappointment, it was still completely tattered and broken.

"...I thought you were going to fix it?" Alice heavily breathed out.

"I did."

"Huh?" Alice then blinked a couple of times as Bernard stretched his hand, revealing some sort of crystal circlet, "Try it. It's not going to be as strong as the original, but it should work as long as you can power it—I'm sure you could figure out how."

"You made a wearable Manus Dei?" Alice immediately grabbed the circlet from Bernard's hand, "...Nerd."

"Wait, Alice! Don't just wear—"

"Too late!" Alice did not even let Earth-1 Diana finish her words as she wore the circlet on her head, and as soon as she did so, the color of her eyes completely disappeared—and with a pulse, the beautiful horizon and the blades of grass beneath their feet was blown away like a cloud.

Earth-1 Diana was about to rush toward Alice to remove the circlet, but Diana stopped her.

"Bernard is not going to hurt her," Diana shook his head, "He's scared of her since she's the only woman he wasn't able to seduce in the Hope Guild."

"...What?"

"Ah! I sense something!" And before anyone else could say something, Alice let out a tiny scream which made all of them look, "Another crack in the air like what we have here."

"Where is it?" Earth-1 Diana waved her hand, summoning a hologram of the map of the universe.

"I don't know yet, but Bernard 2 here is wrong," Alice's eyebrows began to lower, "There aren't multiple portals…

…there's only one."