Villain Retirement

Hannah and the others have still not moved on from what just happened to Silvie. But seeing as her body was already regenerating and the Queen seemed to have absolutely disregarded her presence already, they could not help but feel slightly relieved. Of course, they all still sympathized with Silvie—but as a themarian, this wouldn't be the first time her head would be smashed and her body will be cleaved in half.

"W… what the fuck!?" Hannah, who had already calmed herself down, could not help but once again hesitate with her breaths,

"Why… why the fuck are you even threatening and trying to hurt a girl that's not even 10 years old!? Have you gone fucking insane in the head!? Even though she looks like that, she's just a baby!"

"Insane…?" Queen Adel kneeled on the floor, caressing the face of Karina before just carelessly grabbing her face and lifting her in the air, "I may not be native with the language you speak, but I know enough that you and I have a very different definition of the word. But then again, what should I expect from the sister of a madman and a daughter of an even madder woman."

"Just let the fucking girl go, okay? She… she wasn't even there when your people died. She's a literal baby, what the fuck are you—"

And before Hannah could finish her words, the glass box they were in was suddenly ripped apart by the themarian guarding her and Chihiro. She was getting ready to fight and resist at any moment; but even as she and Chihiro gasped for breath, the themarian did nothing and just ordered them to kneel, stay… and watch.

And so, Hannah just took this chance to finally assess the situation—only to almost be drowned by the sight of an ocean of themarians. She didn't notice before since she was immediately put in the glass box with Chihiro as soon as her cage was thrown from the other universe, but now that she had a clear view of their number, any thoughts of fighting slightly disappeared from her. She then took a quick glance at Silvie, and aside from her flesh still visible, her body could be considered to already be fully regenerated.

She then looked at her mother, and she only had her eyes closed while still carrying a calm expression on her face despite everything happening around them. Bernard… was still completely out of the loop as his entire head was covered, not even allowed to speak. She then glanced at Riley for a few seconds, before focusing her attention back to Adel.

"Let her go, please," Hannah then took a small step forward; her arms raised to show the themarians she wasn't going to do anything, "You… you already have all of us hostage, you don't need to hurt anyone else."

Hannah was very careful with her steps; her eyes, watching the unconscious Karina as her arms sway as Queen Adel very lightly moved her hand to the side to return Hannah's glare.

"Professor Riley is right," Queen Adel smiled as a small chuckle escaped her unparted lips, "Hannah Ross, Riley Ross's sister is crass, foulmouthed, dimwitted, and extremely dumb."

"What…?" Hannah's left eyebrow instantly raised as she heard Adel's words. But after a few seconds, her eyebrow turned to face Riley, "What the fuck?"

"I did not say that, my clone did," Riley quickly pointed at Professor Riley, who was now hiding in the crowd of themarians, "But it is true, sister."

"What…!? You fuck—"

"But despite all of this…" And before Hannah could finish her words, Queen Adel continued to talk as she also very slowly started to approach Hannah while still carrying Karina by her head,

"...Out of all the people that Riley knows, you will be the first to jump into danger to rescue someone. But you won't be the first, because my foolish daughter is faster than you."

"Look, lady. I know you're mad and you have every fucking right to be. Fuck, no one's even going to blame you if you really croak all of us here and now," Hannah breathed out, "But leave the child out of this."

"Have all of you truly forgotten that your brother subtly manipulated all the events that led to the death of themarian children?"

"Wait, wait, wait…!" Hannah showed both her palms to the Queen, gesturing to her to stop as she heard a slight squeeze coming from Karina's face, "You… you said it so yourself, he only subtly manipulated the events—it wasn't him that actually pulled the trigger. In fact, if…if you fucking think about it, why even blame my brother? Do you really think that the other Elders wouldn't have done the same if his female clone did not sway them?"

"..."

"Based on what I saw, the rest of the universe are so fucking afraid of themarians. Do you truly believe that they would just let all of you go?" This time, Hannah was not looking at Queen Adel, but rather Aerith, "I'm sorry, Megawoman—but the plan was flawed from the start. Even if my brother's clone wasn't in the picture. If they—or she, I don't really know what she is—but even if she doesn't exist, your people would have still been killed…

…because you gave the key, Megawoman. You trusted the Elders too much and you told them how to weaken you and they used that."

"What…?" Queen Adel's grip on Karina's face slightly loosened as she turned to glance at her daughter. Before Karina could slip from her grasp, however, she once again held onto it tight,

"Is this true, Aerith? Did you… really tell those people how to kill us?"

"No…" Aerith reluctantly breathed out as she looked back and forth between Hannah and Adel, "...It wasn't… It wasn't… that wasn't—It was the only… it was the only way I could get them to let our people leave and live freely."

"Oh, child…" Queen Adel closed her eyes as an exhausted sigh escaped her lips. But after a few seconds, she shook her head, "...I am not here to put blame on anyone anymore. My daughter's kindness and trust in other people has always been her undoing. And as I said, I am only here to make Riley Ross suffer—he is still the main perpetrator in all of this."

"If that is true, then let the child go, please…" Hannah glanced at Aerith, extremely remorseful about what she just said to her. After all, Megawoman is her hero, she has always been, and she always will be. And the only reason she said what she said was to try and confuse Queen Adel, and put her attention anywhere else, "...And if you really, really want to hurt Riley, hurting his daughter is not the way to do it, Queen Adel. My brother doesn't even care for the poor girl. It's me…

…Just me."

"Oh…?" Queen Adel let out an amused smile. She glanced at Riley as soon as she heard Hannah's words, only to see his eyes slightly squinted as he stared at his sister.

"Hurt me, and you hurt my brother," Hannah breathed in, "At least I think so. But he better be. Because if not, then fuck—I will fucking kill him myself again."

"Jeezus," Alice leaned closer to Riley and whispered into his ear, "What's up with your sister? She's a little loco, no?"

"Alice, you're not one to talk—you and her are almost the same which almost makes me doubt if my variant really gave birth to her," Diana-1 rolled her eyes as she heard Alice's words.

"Well… maybe she's actually our child and not Bernie's?"

"...I did not think of that," Diana-1 squinted her eyes as she stared at Diana.

"..."

"You really are one brave individual." And while everyone else was busy watching the scene unfold, Queen Adel's loud and almost chuckling sigh once again whispered in the air, "But you don't have to worry, Starforged."

"Star what…?" Hannah raised an eyebrow as Queen Adel looked her in the eye. And if she just looked at the others' expressions, she would have probably seen Diana finally opening her eyes and actually looking at Queen Adel, "The fuck are you—"

"You don't have to worry," Queen Adel repeated her words, "After I am done with Riley's child, you will follow her to eternal dea—"

And before Queen Adel could finish her words, a loud rumble suddenly drummed and thundered throughout the entire gray dome. It was then followed by a tremble, a tremble that caused the entirety of Ahor Zai and the dark expanse of space around it to distort.

"You were right, Hannah Ross," a smirk crawled on Queen Adel's face as she once again looked at Riley, only to see him also glaring at her; his eyes, filled with absolutely nothing at all. Almost as if he was looking at someone that shouldn't exist at all,

"Your brother cares for you very deeply. You… and my daughter."

And as Queen Adel uttered those words, the tremor resounding across Ahor Zai became even stronger—almost deafening, in fact.

"I do not really care about the others, I do not even care about this child. She is just an accessory I—" Queen Adel turned to look at the unconscious Karina…

…only to see her eyes open from the gaps between her fingers, also looking back at her.

"W…what's happening?" Karina's trembling and muffled words seeped from the edges of Queen Adel's palm, "Where… where am I? Mom…? Mom…!? Aunt Silvie!?"

Karina's eyes then pointed down as she saw Silvie lying on the floor surrounded by her own blood, "Aunt… Aunt Silvie…?"

Karina's eyes then started moving everywhere, looking at everyone before they settled on Diana, who was kneeling on the floor with her head down.

"Grandma…? What…

…What's happening? What…" Karina's eyes returned to Queen Adel, "Did…

…you do this?"

And if everyone wasn't so busy listening to Karina's words, they would have probably noticed the subtle smile of relief on Diana's face.

Themarians have always been on the top of the food chain in the universe—they were the apex, the master race. They were the highest species...

…were.