Villain Retirement

"Tempo? Did he just say Tempo…?"

"Wasn't there a rumor that Riley Ross will be the last member?"

"Riley Ross…? Isn't that Darkday?"

[Hello, everyone. As one of the champions of Earth, I…]

"What? No. Where did you even hear that? That's just propaganda by the Reuben family."

"No, you idiot. There was…"

Tempo made the grandest entrance by circling the entire auditorium before grabbing the mic from Benjaya. But sadly for him, even now as he was reciting the heartfelt speech that he painstakingly wrote the entire night before, no one was listening, or even looking at him.

He and Whiteking even designed a new purple suit that would be tailored to the new generation. Not only that, but with the materials from New Theran now readily available for Earth to use, they were able to make his new suit safer for him. In his previous suits, Tempo could really only run as much as his suit would allow him to—if he tries to run on Earth, multiple scenarios would happen.

His old suit would disintegrate, and in turn, he too would disintegrate. At first, Tempo tried making contact with the Evaniels and asking for their help so he could reach his full potential—they let him borrow one of their combat suits. But sadly for Tempo, the way the Evaniels' speed works is completely different from his abilities; even almost killing him when the suit compressed when he reached a certain speed.

But now, with Bernard's help, he was able to create a suit that was leaps and bounds better than anything he had ever worn.

And his speed?

Well, even he himself has not tried to reach his limit—but once the Tournament starts, he would stop holding back. Tempo was so excited, incredibly so that he wasn't even noticing that no one was listening to his grand speech.

"Where… the fuck is Riley?" Hannah looked around with one eyebrow raised, "Why is your husband here?"

"Ex-husband," Hera quickly shook her head, "And I am as confused as you—I was also told that Riley will be here, now it's just going to get awkward."

"Where—wait. You two split up? When?" Hannah looked at Hera.

"I prefer not to talk about it here," Hera sighed before placing her attention on Bernard, "You know something about this? Where's your son?"

"I… don't know," Bernard seemed calm. But in truth, he was already accessing all of his satellites and contacting both Diana and Aerith to try and find out Riley's whereabouts; the two, already searching the entire globe for him.

But of course, Bernard was already ready—Riley Ross, after all, is the literal embodiment of Murphy's law, except if Murphy was on trenbolone steroids. If Riley is there, then all the things that could go wrong might go wrong in the worst way possible. Except for the somewhat oblivious Tempo, all the other champions could not help but be slightly nervous about the looming calamity.

Bulwark was also ready for this. None of the students realized it, but there was actually a 10-meter thick themarian glass separating them from the stage. Of course, that thick themarian glass is actually useless, and Bulwark knows this. But it was better than nothing.

"I have the same question, Whiteking. Where is your son?" Bulwark could not help but share the others' worries. He seemed to want to say something else, but Tempo finally joined them as he finished his speech.

"Yo, this is like the Hope Guild again," Tempo pointed at Hannah and the others. And although the tone of his voice was extremely jolly, it was obvious that his eyes were avoiding Hera, "I heard someone is going to pick us up here soon? What's with that?"

"Can't you, just once, actually realize what's happening?" Hera rolled her eyes; even letting out a small scoff as she looked at Tempo, "I swear, you might as well be the slowest man on Earth at this point."

"...What am I even doing?" Tempo looked at his palms, almost as if trying to check something, "How can I know what it is you think is happening when you never tell me?"

"Excuse me? It's not my problem you're dumb."

"What—"

"Jesus, guys," Hannah stood between the two, "Can you fucking focus? We have—"

[Champions of Earth.]

And before the situation between Hera and Tempo could get worse, a voice suddenly vibrated throughout the entire auditorium. At first, everyone turned quiet as they looked at Benjaya, only to see the mic was not anywhere near his mouth. And in the first place, the voice that resounded through their ears was too deep to be coming from someone like Benjaya.

Everyone once again looked everywhere, with Hannah and the others becoming more and more vigilant with every passing second. After all, this could may very well be one of Riley's antics.

The entire auditorium soon began to tremble ever so slightly. At first, Bernard and Hannah looked at each other, sure that this truly was Riley's doing. And as the roof began to open, they became even more sure as they waited for Riley to just do his thing and descend from the sky.

But no.

What awaited them was not Riley descending from the sky—there was no sky in the first place. All there is is a head, a head beyond the clouds, beyond the atmosphere with a face large enough that one could not even see the expanse of space behind it.

"Is… that Elder Tedi?" Tempo, who was not that familiar with how Elder Tedi looks, shared the same expression as everyone else. Hera, Hannah, and Bernard, however, looked at each other with an even more confused look on their faces.

"That's not Elder Tedi," Hannah took in a small gulp as her eyes reflected the azure-skinned colossal alien literally looking down on them, "I… don't know who the fuck that is."

"It's a Messenger," Hera confidently said, "One of the friends I met during my space vacation mentioned them once."

"A… what?"

[I am Sukka, and I have come here to escort the Champions of Earth.]

"!!!"

And as soon as the Messenger, Sukka, uttered those words, a platform seemingly made of light appeared beneath their feet. There were runes and indistinguishable letters emerging from them, but only Bernard was trying to discern what they said before they were literally yanked away from the auditorium.

"Ah! They're leaving!" Karina could not help but raise her voice as she watched the 5 disappear into the sky and toward the giant face, "Let's join them, Mommy!"

"No," Karina was about to fly away, but Katherine pulled her down, "Finish all of your homework first, then you're allowed to watch the tournament."

"But Aunt Anna is going!" Karina pointed at Anna, who was already stepping out of the auditorium to follow them using Bernard's spaceship, "I'll do the homework on the ship, please!? Please!?"

"..." Katherine stared at Karina's almost glistening eyes for a few seconds, before just shaking her head and sighing, "Fine—but after, promise you'll focus on your studies and make friends with people your age, oka—"

And before Katherine could even finish her words, Karina was already gone. It has only been a few months since Katherine felt herself returning to at least a semblance of a normal life, even being hired back to the Academy by Bulwark.

But now, the entire month was being declared as a holiday so that everyone could watch the tournament happening and offer their support. Sadly for Earth, however, Katherine was not really supporting its champions…

…but another group.