Villain Retirement

All of a sudden, the hall that was near empty was suddenly filled with more people. The noise that scattered in the air, almost drowning everyone as the voices just mixed; some were of excitement, some worried, and most were confused.

"Why are everyone just talking to each other!?"

Gracy, who was the one responsible for bringing more than 50 people to another universe, could not even believe what she was witnessing in front of her. The effort she had to put into making this possible was something that probably shortened her lifespan for years — and yet no one was even listening to her at all.

"Guys…!?" Gracy placed her hand on Nannah's shoulder, "What the hell!? We should be trying to subdue Riley Ross!"

"And risk fucking dying in vain?" The Hannah of the other universe, Nannah, shook her head; her eyes, completely fixated on Riley.

"But all of you were ready to die!" Gracy wanted to pull her hair in frustration as she backed away, "I even gave a speech!"

"It was a very good speech, kid," Bard patted Gracy's shoulder, "You should be proud of the fact that all these people responded to your call — even divulging the fact that you are Megawoman's daughter. But Hannah is right…

…we were here to prevent more deaths, but seeing as that living disaster has already calmed down, we would just be poking a sleeping lion and inviting unwanted deaths."

"Damn it!" Gracy stomped away, approaching Riley and violently pointing her finger at him, "Trust me, Riley — as long as I, the savior of justice and all that is good, remain alive — you will meet your fate!"

"What sort of fate… Gracy?" Riley could not help but blink a couple of times as Gracy suddenly sat beside him on the armrest of his throne, "What are you doing?"

"What do you think?" Gracy scoffed, "I am trying to establish dominance in my universe — if I am sitting beside the top dog of this universe, then that means I am also the top dog of my universe. And what do you mean 'what sort of fate'!? Death! It's death!"

"Hm," Riley glanced at Gracy, before letting out a small breath and leaning his back on his throne. He then looked at the crowd that was now before him, before shaking his head and gesturing to Ahor Zai to come near.

[Yes, Riley?]

"The number of people in the hall; is it an odd number, Ahor Zai?"

[Yes. A team battle will be complicated,] Ahor Zai nodded her head as she started scanning all the people, [There is also the fact that the number of humans has increased. Ms. Gracy may have also brought people not from Earth, but the number is also not ideal.]

"Well, sorry about that," Gracy rolled her eyes, "It's not like I had the luxury to call upon the freaking Primordials or watchumacallthem. Where are they anyway, they gone?"

[I am currently searching for them, if it truly was them. But considering they just disappeared into nowhere and I could not find even a single trace of them existing — Riley is right, they truly might be the primordials.]

"Weird… What do you think they're doing here?"

[I do not—]

"Individual battles." And before the two could continue their conversation, Riley suddenly raised his hand, "Only those that wish to fight will fight, and it will no longer be a team battle. Ahor Zai, send all of us to the battlefield."

And without even any warning for the other people in the room, all of them were warped to the battlefield, causing most of the people who were seated to lose their balance. Fortunately for them, Riley did not allow their butts to hit the ground as he waved his hand.

"Everyone," Riley then clapped his hands, causing a gentle wave to ripple through the entire flat planet, "The prize for the Tournament remains the same, a pocket universe of your own — the size of a star system. The way to get it, however, has changed completely. There are no more teams. It is any of you…

…against me."

"Who is this guy, really?" One of the people from Gracy's universe whispered. For some reason, however, everyone could hear everyone's voices.

"Shh! Are you stupid? Megawoman's daughter already said he was some sort of god of destruction."

"Speaking of, you seen her large tits? Are we sure she's Megawoman's daughter?"

"What the—I heard that!" Gracy quickly pointed at the man as she heard his words. She then glanced at Aerith, before very slowly and not-so-subtly looking at her breasts, "Oh… it's true."

"..." Aerith, who was already completely confused as to what to feel, could really only look away and look down, "Just kill me."

"That… it's alright," Diana stuttered as she tried her best to comfort Aerith."

[Anyone who wins against me…] Riley's voice started to reverberate throughout the entire flat planet as he stepped closer toward the crowd, [...will win the prize. It doesn't matter if you go first, or if you wait for me to get tired—because I do not get tired, I can only exert myself.]

"Is it to the death?"

And almost immediately as Riley said that, one of the Xanix people raised his hand and floated closer to him; garnering everyone's attention due to the loud buzzing noise his body was creating.

[It is not, Xanix.]

"Then I will go first."

"And we already have our first contender," a small smile crawled on Riley's face as he looked at the Xanix, "Ahor Zai."

[Of course,] Ahor Zai snapped her fingers, and as she did so, the rest of the crowd disappeared — only to reappear from the distance.

"What the—we can't see from here!"

Ahor Zai only glanced at the one who complained, before letting out a small sigh and clapping her hands. And as she did so, a hologram of the flat planet appeared in front of each and every one of the people.

[There, now each of you have an individual view of what is happening,] Ahor Zai once again glanced at the one who complained, before letting out a small scoff and looking into the distance toward Riley and the Xanix.

[Champion!] Ahor Zai then raised her arms in the air as her clothes suddenly changed into something more frilly, much more frilly; wearing an oversized headset even though she did not need it, [Introduce yourself!]

"...My name is Ylim," Ylim stretched his arms to the side. And as he did so, his body that was made of millions of insect-like creatures separated from each other and seemingly expanding his silhouette, "I am one of the only 100 remaining Xanix in the entire Known Universe — and I am considered to be the strongest out of all of us."

"Interesting," Riley tilted his head to the side, "I am Riley Ross, Hannah's brother, and Aerith's venomous lover."

"I am still unaware of what you are truly capable of, Riley Ross — so I will fight with all my might." With his body separating into millions of pieces and stretching; his voice was also starting to resonate — coming from all the little insects that made up his body,

"I am desperate to win the pocket universe for my people."

[Riley Ross vs. Ylim of the Higher Races…

…Fight!]

And not even a millisecond after Ahor Zai announced the start of their fight, Ylim's form shifted into that of a drill and shot straight toward Riley.

"Hm…" Riley quickly flew to the side; but as he did so, several insects separated from the drill and shot like a bullet that moved at an insane speed toward him. Riley was able to dodge most of it, but one managed to latch itself on his arm.

"Oh…?" And with only a slight resistance, it was able to dig through his flesh and crawl all the way through his shoulder. Before it could reach its neck, however, Riley pulled it out with his bare hand and flicked it back to the… hive,

"I could see why your race belongs to the Higher Races, Ylim," the smile on Riley's face now reached from ear to ear, "Very well, let us both have fun."

And as Riley said those words, a clone suddenly appeared in front of him. There was something different about this clone, however, but those who were watching could not figure out what.

"Please, face me yourself, Riley Ross!" Ylim immediately pierced through the clone, "I wish to win, but I wish to win with digni—!!!"

And before Ylim could finish his words, the clone he thought he pierced suddenly separated into thousands and thousands of pieces. And finally, everyone realized what was different—the clone… it was made up of tiny little Rileys.

"Everyone…!" The largest one of the miniature Rileys, the one who was the size of a thumb, ordered the smaller ones to fly; his voice, barely even audible, "Defeat the enemy in front of you…

…Advance!"

"!!!"

And all of a sudden, almost half of Ylim's bodies were now busy trying to fend off the miniature Rileys. As for Riley, well… he summoned another batch of micro Rileys and ordered all of them to attack Ylim.

Suffice it to say, Gracy and the others who were not fully familiar with how Riley fights now had their eyes wide open.

"Everyone!" The thumb-size Riley once again roared, "Pavoo—"

Before it could say its next word, however, Riley suddenly appeared behind it and trapped it within his fist, "We are not here to kill, Thumbly."

"Fuah!" Thumbly moved through the gaps of Riley's fingers, "Do not listen to the Boss! Charge! Kill! Kill the inse—"

And with a sigh, Riley canceled all of the micro Rileys; all of them, turning into dust that almost created a cloud.

"I apologize for that, Ylim," Riley once again sighed, "The smaller they are…

…the more vicious they get."