Villain Retirement

"I am sorry, everyone. I failed to claim us the prize that could very well resurrect our race."

"It is fine, Ylim. It is unnatural to ask for an extension of our stay in this world — all things have to end, we just happen to be the witness to the last of our people."

One might say that the way Riley defeated Ylim was a mockery to their species, but the Xanix did not even think of anything else as they just huddled together; the buzz they created by hugging their bodies together, enough to resound throughout the entire plateau of the flat planet.

Ylim tried his best, and that was the only thing important for his people. Riley was just… not an opponent that they could defeat in the first place. Speaking of, Riley was now standing on top of a stage that he created; standing tall in front of all the people that were either avoiding his gaze, or returning it with a glare.

The people from Gracy's universe were still slightly confused as to what was happening, but with Bard, the Bernard of their world, explaining to them everything; they were slowly starting to understand the situation in which they found themselves. They were already given information about Riley Ross; about what he could do, and about what he wanted to do.

He was not only a threat to their universe, but to everyone's — they thought they were here to fight a war that would decide the fate of everything that existed. But now, the only thing they could really do was watch and wait.

"That guy… didn't he just destroy more than a thousand planets? Why is everyone just pretending like nothing happened?"

"More than a thousand planets? That's trillions of people, why are people playing his games? Do the people of this universe lack empathy?"

The people of Gracy's universe still could not get over the fact that no one seemed to be trying to fight. Even Gracy, the one who made some grand speech to bring them all here, was now just casually talking to some people.

"We do."

"Hm?"

And as they were talking to each other, Princess Vera approached them, "We lack empathy, but not because we're callous. We're just forced to swallow our losses, by him."

Vera pointed at Riley, but none of the otherworlders turned their eyes at him and just focused on her.

"All of you are lucky you do not live in the same universe as Riley Ross," Vera sighed, "My first introduction to him was him killing my brother and hundreds of my men. Pray you do not get introduced to him at all."

"There are lots of us here, we can take him."

"No," Vera forced out a small chuckle before shaking her head, "I used to think so too — but how exactly do you stop an unstoppable force?"

"By killing it," one of the otherworlders stepped closer to Vera — a human. A familiar face for Riley and the others, a variant of Daniel Espinoza.

"Well, this one is undying," Vera only shook her head before walking away, "My advice to all of you is just watch and then go home to your worlds… then pray Riley doesn't go back there."

"We will see about that." And while everyone was either discussing a plan on how to win against Riley, or just casually having a fruitful conversation with people from another world, Daniel's variant raised his hand.

"I am challenging you, Overlord," he then said as he looked at Riley. And without even any warning, he was sent to the center of the flat planet along with Riley.

[State your name, Champion!]

"Daniel Espinoza, aka, Balloon Man," Daniel let out a small scoff as his fists suddenly bloated to the size of a yoga ball. He then bumped his fists with each other, creating a thunderous and almost deafening drum that rippled across the white field.

"Balloon Man?" Riley looked to the side as he heard Daniel's words, "The version of you in this world has a different superhero name."

[Balloon Man vs. Riley Ross…]

"...Superhero?" Daniel raised an eyebrow as a small scoff escaped his lips.

[...Fight!]

"I'm a supervillain!" And with those words, Daniel's legs instantly shifted into springs — and with the ground shattering into millions of pieces, another thunderous crack snapped in the air as Daniel disappeared from his spot and shot straight toward Riley; skirts of wind, exploding around his bouncy silhouette.

Riley, on the other hand, only grabbed something from his pockets—a spoon. And with a small tap on his palm, the spoon almost instantly grew into the size of a street sign, and without even a smile crawling on his face, Riley swung the spoon like a baseball bat… hitting Daniel so hard to the point that he flew back from where he was originally standing before they were warped away by Ahor Zai.

"..." Vera, who was the closest one to him, could really only look down at Daniel and sigh. His rubber-like body seemed to have dissipated most of the damage, but the foam forming from his mouth was enough for everyone to see that the fight was over.

"Hm," Riley was using his hand as a visor as he looked at where Daniel landed, "He seems to be stronger than our Daniel. Ahor Zai, take me—"

"You need to stop fucking acting up."

And before Riley could finish his words, Hannah suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Champion, state your name!]

"Hannah fucking Ross…" Hannah let out a small scoff as she looked Riley straight in the eyes, "...aka, this stupid fucking genocidal idiot's sister."

"..." Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at his sister, before returning the spoon back to its original size and hiding it back in his pockets, "I did not realize you also want the pocket universe, Sister."

"I could care a rat's tits for that fucking pocket shit," Hannah almost growled as her entire suit instantly withered away — replaced by a one-piece full suit that almost glowed from how… peach it was.

"That surprised me, Sister. I thought you were going to fight me naked," Riley, who quickly covered his eyes with his hands, tilted his head to the side as a small smile crawled on his face, "You are supposed to be Elevator Hannah, not Shirtless Hannah."

"The fuck are you even going on about!?" And without even waiting for Ahor Zai to announce the start of the fight, Hannah flew toward Riley; the ground beneath her feet melting away instantly—no, the ground vaporized completely.

"Why fight, Sister?" Riley sighed as he just gently grabbed Hannah's hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, "I have your abilities — that makes me immune to it."

"Do I look like I fucking care if you're immune to it!?" Hannah quickly retracted her head back, before slamming her forehead straight on Riley's nose… which only made her head bounce back, "Fuck! Take off your telekinetic barrier and just let me hit you, you pussy!"

"...I do not have my telekinetic barrier on, Sister," Riley wanted to touch Hannah's forehead, but Hannah slapped his hand away, "My durability may only be a percent of a themarian's, but that percent is already stronger than 99% of everyone else's."

"Fuck! Why do you have to be so fucking strong and so fucking evil at the same time!?" The color of Hannah's eyes disappeared as everything around them started to melt away, "Why couldn't you just be one or the other!?"

The other champions were more than a thousand kilometers away, and yet those of them who could sweat were already starting to. If it wasn't for Bulwark… as well as Elder Apo creating a golden barrier to block the heat that was coming off of Hannah, some of them would have probably already fainted there and then.

"..." Bulwark and Elder Apo could not help but look at each other, however. Bulwark has been teased for half a decade now for looking like Elder Apo and his race… and now they even had the same abilities. Was it actually possible… for him to actually be an alien?

"I apologize for being both, Sister." Back on the battlefield, Riley was still grabbing his sister's hand, "But what would you have done differently if I was only evil?"

"Then I will fucking kick your ass!"

"Hm, then I am glad I am both, Sister," Riley nodded, "My posterior is quite sensitive, the same as you."

"Shut the fuck up and just let me beat you!" Hannah was able to pull away; the field they were fighting on, now completely non-existent.

"I can not do that, Sister," Riley shook his head, "It would not be fair to the others."

And as he said those words, Riley suddenly disappeared. Hannah tried looking around to find him, but she didn't need to do so for long… as Riley was directly behind her.

"I have always been fascinated with your fascination with kicking people's posterior, Sister."

"No… don't you fucking dare!"

"I apologize, Sister. But I feel this is necessary so I could understand you even further."

"N—"

Luckily for Hannah; before Riley could actually kick her straight on the butt, she was warped away by Ahor Zai back to the gathering area.

"What the fuck…!?" Hannah covered her butt; her eyes were fully closed, so she did not really realize she was back with the others. And as she opened her eyes in shame, she found that no one was really heeding her any mind.

"..." Hannah was relieved, but even more so, she was confused. She was going to ask Diana what was going on, but her eyes soon landed on the hologram floating in front of her.

[Esme vs. Riley Ross…]

"Wait, wait…"

[...Fight!]

"...You're allowing this!?"