Villain Retirement

"...I got bored."

And almost instantly, King raised his fist — gesturing for all of the people on his side to stop advancing. As for Diana's side, no one really needed to gesture anything to anyone as all of them just instinctively stopped flying.

"Why… is he holding someone's head?" Gracy quickly commented.

"Ssh!" Her mouth, however, was quickly covered by Chihiro as she very slowly floated back. And as she did so, Diana and the others did the same without even saying a word.

"...I thought you would not involve yourself in this war, Riley Ross?" King's helmet unfolded and revealed his face. And although his eyes did not have irises, it was obvious that he was looking Riley in the eyes even from afar, "Is something this mundane worth your time?"

"Hm…?" Riley turned Bernard's decayed head toward King; its mouth, opening as Riley spoke.

"You killed me, you… deserve… death!" And there, everyone watched as Riley did the worst impression of Bernard they had ever seen. Perhaps what was even more sinister was that Hannah, and the others who knew Riley knew that he could actually replicate Bernard's voice if he truly wanted, but no — it was as if he was just controlling the head of a puppet, and not his adoptive father who he had spent most of his life with.

"...Revenge?" King's eyebrows lowered, "Are you telling me that you, a New God, are here for revenge?"

"I was not the one talking with you, King," Riley let out a small and deep sigh as he shook his head, seemingly disappointed that King did not play along with him. And so, he just went ahead and shrunk Bernard's decayed head and hid it in one of his many pockets, making King focus on the other thing he was holding in his other hand.

"..." It was some sort of device with a big red button on it, "Are you joining the war, or not?"

"No, I am just here to watch," Riley then just casually shrugged as he floated back.

"What are you—" King slightly flinched as another portal emerged from behind Riley. Diana also did the same; her face, slightly excited. This excitement did not escape King's gaze, as he quickly put up his guard and also ordered his people to do the same.

And soon, a throne emerged from the portal… and then the portal just disappeared without anything else coming out of it.

"..." King could not help but squint his eyes as he saw this. He quickly turned to look at Diana, only to see a look of confusion on her face that was even greater than his.

"What is happening here?" King's eyebrows began to lower as he started feeling like he was being played, "Are you truly just going to watch?"

"Yes," Riley shrugged as he sat on the throne, "You can continue, everyone. I apologize for interrupting, but I did not want to miss the start of the battle."

"..." King could not help but just glance at Diana once more, only to see them now rushing toward him again. And so, with a confused breath escaping his lips, he once again let out a roar that signaled the start of the battle… again.

This time, however, it wasn't only him; Diana also let out a roar that caused the dead universe itself to almost revive there and then.

"Are you mad at me for killing your husband!?" King let out a loud cackle as his helmet was again covering his head, "I only killed your husband, your son is making a mockery of him by carrying his head everywhere!"

"Riley will get his turn. But right now, my only problem is you!" Diana's eyes glowed red as she showed her fangs to King.

"That is where you are wrong, woman…" King stretched his hands to the side; his gloves, separating from his hands and turning into some sort of cannons that attached themselves to his arms. King then stopped flying toward the army rushing to kill him and placed his hands together; the muzzles of the cannons, seemingly collecting the darkness around them,

"...I am the solution!"

"Oh, I forgot something."

And before the two sides could finally make contact with each other, they all abruptly stopped as Riley suddenly leaned forward from his throne and raised the button he was holding… before just casually pressing it without any warning.

"!!!"

The two armies instantly backed away, flying as fast as they could as far away from Riley as possible… only to watch as a robotic arm came out of the throne he was sitting on and started preparing what seemed like milk for him.

Another robotic arm emerged, placing a plate of freshly baked cookies on the armrest, before feeding Riley a piece.

"Hm…" Riley nodded to himself before pushing down the cookie with a nice sip of milk. And then, as he looked in front of him, a look of surprise started to grow on his face,

"Where… is everyone?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he started looking around, only stopping as he saw King and his army back to their original positions, "Why are all of you back there? Mother and the others too? Are you not going to start killing each other?"

"...Stop playing games, Riley Ross," King could no longer help himself as he raised his hand to garner his army's attention, "Since you are bored, then perhaps I need to help in that situation."

King then pointed at Riley. And as he did so, the three colossal Norinlads on his side all quickly flew toward Riley and surrounded him.

"I do not know how long those corpses could entertain you, but I know it will be long enough for me to kill your mother and everyone she is with," King smirked as the rest of his army once again rushed toward Diana and the others,

"...And I will start with the sister you seem to be so fond of."

And with those words, King followed his army; the two cannons attached to his arms, directly pointed at the army and locked onto Hannah's position. And with a smile on his face, the darkness once again gathered around him… before being shot out by his cannons like an invisible force that distorted everything around it.

The distortion, traveling at an insane speed straight toward Hannah.

"...You really think I'm so weak?" Hannah's eye twitched as she looked at this invisible force heading at her. And almost instantly, the darkness around her also started to distort; her skin and flesh, turning translucent. And her heart that was now exposed, now glowing with the color of the sun,

"You guys aren't the only ones fucking getting stronger." And with those words, Hannah just allowed the invisible force to hit her; her hair that seemed like fire, just flowing back as the invisible force melted away, being vaporized instantly.

"Heh…" King did not seem fazed by this, as soon, his army and Diana's finally made contact. With Diana finding him through the crowd and immediately striking him as hard as she could with her fist. King, however, tanked the hit completely with the smirk on his face unwavering,

"You and the themarian princess could not even beat me together, do you think you can beat me by yourself!?"

"No," Diana scoffed before just suddenly disappearing, only to be replaced by Queen Adel who already had both his hands swaying down straight onto King's head.

"!!!" King was able to dodge this attack, but another one followed from his left as he saw Aerith's leg threatening to cut off his head. And of course, King was once again able to dodge. This time, however, he flew further back to examine the battlefield.

"Why are you only attacking me!? Are you not worried about the rest of your—" And before King could finish his words, he saw half his army just floating in space; completely still. He then squinted his eyes, only to see a woman floating right in the middle of his army; the smile on her face even as her nose bled profusely, incredibly arrogant as her hands were seemingly holding his entire army.

"Esme! Her!" And as soon as King said that, a silhouette flew from afar — quickly shooting straight toward Alice Prime.

"!!!" Alice quickly stopped holding half of the army as she put up several telekinetic barriers around her. All those barriers, however, proved to be completely useless as King's Esme just pierced through all of them…

…straight through Alice's heart.

"Hm," Riley squinted, "I liked her."

"Alice!" Dee quickly rushed toward Alice, but as she did so, her short-haired variant from King's side suddenly grabbed her head… before forcefully turning it a hundred and eighty degrees, before completely pulling her head from her shoulders.

Diana's short-haired variant was going to fly and join another fight, but Princess Esme suddenly appeared behind her and ripped her in half.

"E…everyone, fall back!" Bard quickly raised his fist as he raised his voice as he flew close to Hannah and Nannah "Tell your mother we need to regroup!"

"That—"

"No!" Diana, however, continued to pursue King with Aerith and Queen Adel — their relentless attack, seemingly just hitting air.

"Don't you see…? I've already won this battle," King smiled as he stretched his arms to the side, "Your recklessness endangered everyone, your anger — it clouds your mind."

"You think?"

"Wh—" And before King could finish his words, he saw an arm suddenly come out of his chest. He turned to look back, only to see another variant of Diana behind him — Dr. Caitlain. Even then, however, the smile on King's face did not waver… but instead, melted… literally melted.

"I do," King let out his final whispers as his face melted along with other parts of his body, "You've… already lost."

"This… it's a clone! Where is—"

"...Mom?"