Villain Retirement

"Well, well—look who the broken leg dragged in, the Humans."

The floor that the Evaniels were standing on was seemingly made of metal. Their table was also made with a single slab of silver metal, completely reminiscent of the Evaniel's culture and architecture.

And of course, Earth's section also reflected their culture.

"...Isn't this the table from Charlotte's desert store?" Hannah quickly recognized their table, "Wh—"

"I said, Well, well… look who the broken leg dragged in!"

And as Hannah and the others still tried to figure out where they were, one of the champions from the Evaniels once again raised her voice—even approaching Earth's table.

"Princess Vera," Bernard was the first to acknowledge Vera's presence, bowing to her before doing the Evaniel's salute, "It is an honor to once again meet you, and you too, Your Majesty."

Bernard also turned to look at Queen Vania, who bowed her head back before she gestured to the other evaniels to just sit down at their designated table.

"Hm," Princess Vera crossed her arms, before just letting out a sigh and shaking her head, "Where is Riley Ross? Where's your brother?"

"Believe me, I also want to know," Hannah also bowed her head to Vera, although a little reluctantly.

"Do not tell me he will not be participating in this match?" Vera's green hair, as well as the tattoos on her body, started to flicker as her voice went deep, "My mother may have pardoned him for his crimes, but our grudge—my grudge still remains. I will avenge the death of my brother and my men… but where is he?"

"Vera, please calm down."

"Hm?" Hera could not help but raise an eyebrow as she saw Tempo suddenly moving in front of Vera.

"We really don't know where Riley is," Tempo grabbed one of Vera's hands, "We are as confused as you here."

"..." Hera's eyes started to squint as she looked back and forth between Vera and Tempo.

"..." Vera also squinted her eyes as she looked at Tempo's hand, before just letting out a sigh and pulling away, "If Riley is not here, then perhaps we could join our tables. What do you say, Mother?"

"That is fine with me," Queen Vania nodded, "Only if it is fine with the humans?"

"It is," Bernard also nodded—and as soon as he did so, the light that shone upon both the evaniels and humans connected; their floors, also mysteriously moving closer to each other until their tables connected and merged,

"I heard you and Empress got into another argument?" Bernard once again bowed to Queen Vania.

"Yes," Queen Vania sighed, "I invited her to a birthday and she did not—"

"Wait."

But before the two groups could start greeting each other with smiles on their faces, Hannah raised her hand. The others looked at her, expecting her to disagree with this arrangement, but no—her eyes weren't even on them, but on the other group that had just been quietly minding their own business.

"..."

Hannah has actually been looking at them from the start—and not even once have they moved a single inch or even uttered a word to each other. They just stood there quietly with their heads down. And with the robes they were wearing, no one could really see what they looked like.

"I was expecting Megawoman's group to be the other one," Hannah started walking toward the mysterious group, "But the themarians won't hide themselves in robes."

"Hm…" Bernard, Queen Vania, and the others all quietly agreed with Hannah as they too, all focused their attention on the mysterious group.

"You know who likes to quietly sit on the side and not move even a single inch?" Hannah then let out a small smile as she stood in front of the mysterious group, who did not even have a table whatsoever for some reason,

"My brother!"

And with her voice raised, Hannah then walked toward one of the robed figures, the one whose white hair was slightly flowing out from their robes, and pulled on their hood revealing…

…someone else and not Riley.

"Wh…" Hannah could really only take a step back as the white-haired man looked at her. And as he did so, his other comrades also pulled down their hoods, revealing faces that Hannah did not recognize. They all looked like they were from Earth, if Earth had people with different hair colors that seemed like they were drawn on by colorful crayons, that is.

"Did you want something from us, child?" The oldest one from the group, a lady with purple hair that looked almost like it did not reflect light, was the first to speak to Hannah. Oldest, yes—but she seemed to just be the same age as Hera, while the others literally almost looked younger than Hannah. Besides their colorful hair, none of them really stood out; their faces, all seemingly average.

"N…no," Hannah let out an awkward smile, "Sorry. I thought you were someone I knew, he… hehe."

And with an even awkward chuckle, Hannah awkwardly stepped back and returned to Bernard and the others. She did not even say anything anymore and just sat down, burying her face on the table in shame.

As for the robed group, they just looked at each other, before once again just turning their heads down and not saying anything.

"Are… they possibly communicating telepathically? Interesting," Bulwark was slightly amused by the mysterious group.

"Who knows," Hera just shrugged before looking at Hannah, "What I do know is that I don't need to be a telepath to feel what Hannah's feeling right now. That was… totally embarrassing."

"Shut the fuck up," Hannah's muffled words transferred throughout the entire table as her head remained planted on it, "Just talk to me when it's time to fight and just leave me—"

And before Hannah could wallow and drown herself further, another spotlight flashed and lit up another part of the lavish hall.

"Ah, Mom!" And almost as if there to rescue her from the awkwardness of it all, Diana and the other themarians appeared. And almost immediately, the themarians' table crawled toward the merged table of the evaniels and humans, but before it could fully merge, Queen Adel grabbed the table and stopped it from moving any further.

"This is not a friendly competition," Queen Adel then turned to look at Hannah and the other earthlings, and when she realized Riley was not there, she placed her attention to Queen Vania,

"But a reminder of who it is that is truly on top of the universe's food chain."

"The food chain?" Queen Vera stood up to meet Queen Adel's eyes, "I know that the themarians are barbaric and think themselves to be superior to everyone else, but to think you eat other intelligent species is a surprise to me."

"You speak so casually for a race that was almost wiped out by my ancestors," Queen Adel smiled, "I would lower my head if I were you."

"That was a million years ago. Evaniels have grown stronger since… while you themarians have remained… stale," Queen Vania also smiled.

And while the two Queens were sizing themselves up, Hannah's eyes were once again focused on a robed individual.

Diana was already talking with Bernard, Aerith was speaking with Silvie, and there was a male themarian that Hannah did not recognize… and then finally, someone who was covered in robes.

Could it be…?

"Riley!?" And so, once again, Hannah brazenly approached the themarians' table. Once again pulling down the hood of another robed individual, "What are you doing on the themarian's si—Oh."

And once again, her luck was overshadowed by her rudeness as the robed individual was not in fact Riley…

…but the other princess of Theran, Princess Esme.