Villain Retirement

"Whatever you do, Riley — do not take off our telekinetic barriers."

Those were the last words Riley heard from Diana's lips before he saw another silhouette ram toward her, creating another crater that instantly decimated the entire city—no. The destruction was still going, spreading like a tidal wave as it rippled across the surface of the Earth.

"I suppose this planet has reached its end," Riley whispered as the world below him slowly crumbled. He did not stare at it for long, as it was already a common sight for someone like him — instead, he focused his attention on the 10 undead themarians staring down at him like he was some sort of food, literally.

Whatever this zombie virus is, it seemed strong enough that Diana had to specifically make a suit that would make her completely invulnerable and safe to it — even to the point that it was masking her own life energy from Chihiro.

And it even affected the themarians — if the norinlads exist in this universe, could they have been infected too?

And for them to suddenly be here, is it possible they heard him and Chihiro talking when they arrived in this universe?

"...Interesting," Riley placed his hand on his chin as he looked at the themarian undead floating above. He had been waiting for them to do something, but all they did was just stare at him.

"Are the ten of you perhaps confused?" And so, instead, it was Riley who floated up toward them, carrying a small smile on his face as he did so, "Unintelligent beasts and predators are also confused whenever they look at me. It is quite weird, no?"

"Grr…" Then undead themarians all just grumbled as they moved their heads randomly, almost as if trying to understand what Riley was saying. He was even talking to them in the most common tongue of the themarian people, but it would seem they had truly lost all of their minds.

"I wonder what will happen if I get infected by this virus? Will I just resurrect again?" Riley squinted his eyes, "I wonder if I should test it — but if I become a zombie, that would be disgusting. Have your minds truly succumbed to the—"

And before Riley could finish his words, the undead themarians finally started to move; instantly appearing in front of Riley with their teeth threatening to mow down his flesh.

A few layers of Riley's telekinetic barrier crumbled, but none of their teeth really reached his skin. This still seemed to surprise Riley, however, as he blinked a couple of times as he stared at undead themarians' purple faces.

"No themarian have really tried biting me, but even then, I feel as if the ten of you are stronger than the average themarians," he whispered as he raised his hand, looking closer to the themarian biting on it, "Could it be the virus have also increased your strength? Or is it only allowing all of you to reach your full strength, as the consequences that come with life no longer bar you?"

The themarians continued to bite down, making Riley just rebuild his telekinetic barrier again and again — all of his abilities were already amplified when Gracy taught him how to circulate his energy within himself, and yet once again, he was reminded of how truly monstrous themarians are when they truly try.

"Hm…" And with a small hum, Riley released a telekinetic barrier that instantly blasted the themarians away. He then turned to look at Diana, only to see her grappling the undead themarian that lunged onto her; either trying to choke it with her arms, or pull its head from its neck.

As for Chihiro… Riley couldn't really understand what she was doing to the zombie, as it seemed to be crucified in some sort of gigantic cross. And before Riley could figure out what it was, the 10 undead themarians once again flew toward him.

Fortunately, these themarians did not really have a brain as all of their plan seemed to just involve rushing toward him — if they had a plan at all, that is.

This time, however, Riley started dodging them. Barely, by a hair's breadth. This time, they were using their hands to try and grab his limbs. They were brainless and moved only on instinct, but they were still themarians — each movement of their hands capable of fully destroying an entire planet.

In space, however, it might almost looked anticlimactic as there was nothing else to destroy there but the empty darkness — but of course, Riley won't settle just for this as he stretched his arm to the side to make himself look more… delectable as he headed his way toward the sun. Not before, of course, doing a detour to the nearby planets.

"Is this fun?" The smile on Riley's face, however, very slowly faded as he landed on the magmas of Venus, "It feels weird, I do not feel the same way as I have felt before."

And as the themarians all lunged toward him like piranhas with their teeth fully showing, pushing him deeper through the planet. As they reached the core, however, Riley let out a small sigh and pointed his palm at the undead themarians, causing them to slow down as he continued to dig through to the other side of the planet and out into the expanse of space.

And with another sigh, he turned his palm into a fist, instantly compressing Venus; before snapping his fingers and splitting several of the atoms in it — causing a wave of explosion that completely decimated whatever was left of the planet.

The undead themarians in it, however, were still completely intact aside from their missing flesh… which were already recovering.

"You are regenerating even as zombies?" Riley tilted his head to the side, "That is very impressive."

The undead themarians did not even have the capacity to be confused anymore as they just rushed toward Riley again. Riley, however, just sighed as he pointed a finger at them,

"Pavo—"

Before he could erase their entire existence, however, they all suddenly stopped; once again grunting and growling as they randomly moved their heads. And without even any hint or warning, Riley watched as they flew away and quickly disappeared into the dark expanse of space.

"Hm," it didn't matter, however, as Riley was still going to erase them as his finger was still pointed in the direction they disappeared into and released his 'Pavoom' attack; causing a white beam to completely decimate everything within it, even the darkness of space.

And now, knowing what he knew from the other Primordials, he watched as the universe started fixing itself.

Zombie themarians — this should have truly amused him, but it doesn't. It was… boring. It would seem being trapped for eternity has truly changed him more than he had even expected.

"Time to go back," Riley once again sighed. But before he could fly away, he saw his hands fade away into the darkness.

"..." He quickly turned around toward the sun… only to see it was no longer there. The undead themarians flew away for a reason, could it be… that a zombie cherbi was also roaming around here somewhere?

Riley started scanning for a pink zombie fluff, but there was not a single sign of the cute colossus anywhere.

"..." Riley then raised his palm into the air, summoning a light bright enough to illuminate a part of the dead solar system,

"...Oh."

And there, floating right in front of him just a few feet away…

…was Princess Esme, not breathing, not moving at all.

Just staring at him with her eyes completely white and empty.

"W—"

And before Riley could even say a word, the undead princess suddenly grabbed his face and left shoulder, before pulling him closer to her teeth and just ripping off a good chunk of flesh from his neck; his telekinetic barrier not even stopping anything.

"..." Even with his flesh being chewed by Esme, he just looked through the gaps between Esme's fingers. And as Esme swallowed his flesh and was about to bite on him again, Riley blasted her away — but aside from just being pushed back by a meter, Esme just once again grabbed him; this time by his arm.

And with little resistance, Esme ripped his arm off his shoulder and started tearing away in it with her teeth.

Riley just watched as Esme enjoyed his flesh. He waited for him to start changing as he was bitten by Esme, but aside from his flesh regenerating, he did not turn into a zombie at all.

"Hm, I suppose not," Riley shrugged as he turned his focus back to Esme, who was now tearing through his bones like chips.

And as soon as she was done, her white and lifeless eyes once again looked at him — clearly still not satisfied with just taking his arm.

"Well," Riley whispered as he started flying away and letting Esme chase him. Esme, however, just disappeared from her spot and instantly blocked his path; her teeth which were already covered with his blood, seemingly trembling with excitement.

Princess Esme is considered to be, indisputably, the strongest themarian — and the only reason why she doesn't fight is because her own body could not handle her own strength.

But an undead Princess Esme, who did not care for her life because she was already dead in the first place?

And as the undead princess started grunting and growling at him, the smile that faded away from Riley's face very slowly crawled back.

"...I guess this will be fun."