Villain Retirement

"Hannah!"

"You think I'm so hopeless!?"

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, King was not really the first to attack, but Hannah.

"You think I'm like my idiot brother!?"

Unlike Riley, she did not even allow King to finish his words as she rushed toward him; the air surrounding her, completely distorted as the floor made of themarian materials started to melt beneath her feet.

"I have had enough of you running your mouth, you self-pitying fuck!"

"Amazing."

And as Hannah's words were filled with rage, King just calmly stood there and blocked her fist; his armor, quickly melting from the arms as he looked Hannah in the eyes, "You do not exist in my world so I don't have your abilities, but this… perhaps I should dissect the next Hannah Ross I see."

"Dissect yourself, you fuck!" Hannah retracted her fist, before crouching down and spinning; violently waving her leg toward King's ankles.

"I do find this weird, however," King just lifted his foot and stepped back, "You have such powerful abilities, enough to melt infrastructure built from themarian materials…

…and yet you fight with your fists?"

"Shut up and fight!" Hannah changed to a Muay Thai stance as she flew in the air with her knee directly targeting King's face.

"A fight…" King once again just stepped back, "...That is your mistake. You have been trained to fight by your father, instead of focusing on your true talents — raw destruction. I do get that you are holding back since there are other people here, but you are capable of so much more…

…I sense the power of a supernova in you, my daughter."

"I am not your fucking daughter, you're just a literal man-child!"

"Of that, I agree," King finally stopped dodging as he once again caught Hannah's fist, "And I accept my immaturity in handling all of my affairs — but would you have done differently if it were you? Would you have just accepted the tragedy the universe is forcing upon you?"

"T—"

"No!" King threw Hannah away as he roared, "I know I could speak for my variants that they would have done the same, maybe even worse since they have children they need to protect."

"All you do is fucking complain!" Hannah was about to rush toward King again, but Bernard stood in front of her before she could even take a single step, "What are you—"

"Stop, Hannah…" Bernard shook his head.

"Wise," King smiled, "But this was harder than I thought it would be. You should have already died, Hannah Ross."

King slightly lifted up his hand, showing multiple tendrils squirming on it; their ends, seemingly all injured and fractured.

"And here I thought why you just hover there," King then fixed his slightly messy silver hair as he turned his head at Riley, "I was under the impression that you have not received Xra's abilities yet — so how could you damage something ethereal? Wait, oh… Brilliant. You are combining multiple abilities to emulate Xra's power."

"I suppose," Riley shrugged.

"Are all of you sure that Riley Ross is not our biological child instead?" King glanced at Bernard and Bard, "I do feel like if I would have a child, it would be him that would come out. Cunning, ruthless, obsessed."

"Autistic," Riley breathed out.

"Funny too, I like that," King then covered his face, before fully brushing his silver hair that reached his shoulders back, "Since you are protecting her, then I will start with the other people precious to you."

King's eye quickly glowed red as he looked at Diana, who was safely placed to the side by Bernard away from the battle as she recovered. And without even any hesitation, he flew toward her with his eyes releasing a raging beam.

"Mom!" Hannah was going to rush again, but found herself blocked by an invisible wall. Hannah just glanced at Riley for a brief moment, before looking at Bernard — she did not even need to say anything, however, as Bernard flew to Diana…

…but it was too late.

"Oh…?"

Someone was already there, shielding Diana from the raging beam coming from King's eyes. King's feet immediately returned to the floor as he stopped attacking; his once red eyes, now staring at a burnt hand that was already healing.

"Tickles."

"Pirate Queen Xra."

"Retired," a small smirk crawled on Xra's face as she rubbed the ashes of her palm with her fingers, "Quite an interesting story you have."

"I am glad there is another one that likes it," King closed his eyes which were devoid of any color, and smiled.

"I said it was interesting, not that I liked it," Xra scoffed as she looked at King from head to toe.

"Oh?" King raised an eyebrow, "Did you not like the fact that I tricked your variant? I apologize, but a woman obsessed with the idea of lost love was just so… easy to manipulate. I had to do everything I thought was right, you are familiar with that."

"Hm," the smile on Xra's face did not disappear as her entire body was slowly being wrapped in an armor of blood, "I am familiar with a weak man standing in front of me."

And with those words, wings of blood could be seen protruding from Xra's back before she just disappeared from her spot. A streak of red could be seen blasting its way through King, pushing him back and violently slamming him straight into the walls of the Council which created a small crater.

"So, this is how strong you actually are…." King slightly gritted his teeth as his head was being pushed to the wall by Xra's hand, "...But it is useless."

King quickly stopped struggling and instead also just grabbed Xra's face. And immediately, the blood helmet she was wearing dissipated away, revealing her face which was still as confident as before.

"I have the strength of a themarian, the body of a norinlad."

"Both I have defeated before," Xra scoffed as several spikes of blood emerged from her belly, piercing through King's armor; even penetrating the wall made of themarian materials by an inch.

"But more importantly…" King's face did not even wince as he just smiled at Xra, "...I also have your abilities."

And with those words, King's entire body melted into blood; turning almost into a wisp as he flew away.

"Exactly."

Before he could completely get away from Xra, however, she quickly grabbed the flying puddle of blood, "You have my abilities."

Xra then grabbed the puddle of blood with both her hands, seemingly compressing it to the point that it was almost turning solid. First, it was the size of an entire bucket, then an entire large watermelon… and soon, the size of a soccer ball.

"You've only had this ability for two decades, I have had it for 4 mille—"

And before Xra could finish her words, an arm suddenly emerged from the ball of blood and once again grabbed her in the face. And without even any warning, Xra's armor of blood turned dark as cracks could be heard snapping in the air as the temperature around her instantly and exponentially lowered.

"W—"

"This won't kill you," the ball of blood exploded, revealing King completely naked and unscathed, "But it will stop you for a while."

And with a smile on his face, Xra's frozen silhouette was suddenly cut into more than a thousand pieces; all just falling to the floor with a series of quiet but ominous thuds.

"That got me a little nervous," King once again brushed his hair back as his white armor materialized again, "Now, who is ne—!!!"

King's entire face distorted as a pair of fists slammed through the temple of his head and chin; his entire body, spinning several times in the air; even releasing thunder as it did so before he found his back once again latched on the wall.

"..." The smile on King's face very slowly faded away as his eyes looked at the people who attacked him. He then lightly blew air to fix the hair that was covering his eyes, only to see both Diana and Aerith's fists once again threatening to blow off his head.

King, however, did not dodge and even flew toward the fists, only for him to just pass through Diana and Aerith as if he didn't exist. Diana and Aerith did not seem to mind this, however, as they just quickly turned around and swung their legs toward his torso.

"Tch…" And this time, King gritted his teeth as he caught both strikes; his flesh and bones, once again shattering as he did so. He then quickly turned his head toward Riley, whose eyes were actually looking at where Diana and Aerith would hit,

"...I really am starting to like you more and more, Riley Ross," King just started flying away across the auditorium while being chased by Aerith and Diana; their speed, causing a violent gust of wind to blast through the air,

"Since you are just emulating Xra's abilities, you are only targeting certain parts of my body instead of all of it, and signaling the two themarians to attack there."

"Thank you for explaining what I am doing, King."

"Hm," King smiled. Soon, however, he glanced at Hannah, "But in turn, you're losing focus, Riley Ross."

King then stopped moving, letting Diana and Aerith's attack hit him—or so everyone thought as once again, their strikes just passed through him.

"Riley, why did you fucking stop restraining him!?" Hannah quickly looked back and forth between Riley and King, as he soon grabbed both Diana and Aerith by the neck. The two tried kicking him, but their legs just went through him.

"Do you not get it, my daughter?" King let out a small chuckle as he dove down; violently slamming both Diana and Aerith on the hard themarian floor,

"All this time, the reason why Riley Ross has just been hovering there and not moving…

…Your brother has been protecting you from the start."