Villain Retirement

Whatever the punching machine was made of, it was probably the strongest material ever known to man — no, even known to gods. Hundreds have already struck it, and yet it hasn't even caved in once and just continued to tank in everything.

Riley had been observing everyone hitting the machine from the start, and he had deduced that most of the themarians he had met would pass the 15th floor with no problem at all. But of course, it doesn't mean that they had the power to become gods — almost all the gods who have hit the machine had other abilities other than just being extremely strong; like Miss Pepondosovich, who was just pulling anything and everything from a hat that disappears and appears as she willed. And even him, who now even had the ability to somewhat stop time.

But Esme, her energy projection was subpar compared to other themarians, and flight is not really special since everyone can do it nowadays.

That means she was allowed to stay in the Domain of the Gods purely for her raw strength.

And now, it was her turn to punch the machine. The audience on the 15th floor did not really have that much of a reaction, and there were fewer of them too — most probably because no one really wanted to watch gods practically just punching something. If they were punching each other, then Riley was sure they would all be howling and cheering like monkeys again.

The audience was quiet, but a few of the participants might as well be roaring and screaming from how intense they were looking at Esme. How could they not look at her like that, when they were the ones lucky enough not to have been stomped by Esme from the previous floors?

"Do I just hit it like how they did, Master?" Esme glanced back at Riley as soon as she was in front of the machine.

"No," Riley shook his head as he subtly moved behind one of the people, "Hit it with all you have, Esme."

"But there is a high chance I might die, Master," Esme blinked a couple of times as she looked Riley in the eyes.

"No," Riley once again shook his head, "You have already been sent to Eternal Death once, Esme. I have hit you with the entire force of a galaxy and you survived."

"Because I was a zombie back then."

"I am sure your body has already evolved and adapted your resilience and durability from when you were an undead, Esme."

"Really?"

"Yes." No, Riley was not sure at all. But since themarians grow stronger each time they supposedly die, then Esme who has come back from her Eternal Death should have gotten even stronger, way stronger. If not, then Riley would see something fun at the very least — there are gods like Randall who could resurrect the dead anyway as long as most of the body is intact.

"Then, very well…" And as soon as Esme turned her attention back to the machine; the very air—no, the very space itself started to distort around her legs, her back, and her arms as she lightly contracted them and moved into a stance. She then breathed in, and what followed as she breathed out was…

"!!!"

…Nothing.

The punching machine just disappeared out of nowhere — gone completely, without even a trace it was ever there. Everyone could not help but just look at each other as it happened, but perhaps the most confused out of all of them was Esme, who was looking at her fist.

It was weird — she felt her fist hit the machine, but it only lasted for a single millisecond. But for her, she was actually lost in darkness for that millisecond… like everything in front of him disappeared and just appeared again, except for the machine.

"Mas—" And before she could even say a word, she was teleported away and sent to the next floor. The other participants before her were instantly teleported away if they passed, but it took quite a while for her — perhaps whoever was deciding in Grandarena City and the Domain of the Gods was also confused as to what happened.

As for the other participants, they were now wondering how they could continue the match. But as they were about to voice out their concern… the punching machine suddenly reappeared out of nowhere; completely blown to bits and separated into parts.

Something was weird, however, it looked… aged. But that was not the only weird thing about it — it was floating in the air for some reason. And before anyone else could even wonder what that reason is, the entire thing imploded…

…before letting out a blast that completely blew away everything.

The participants, platform, the audience — everyone watched themselves collapse into absolutely nothing. But then, all of a sudden, they were all intact like nothing happened.

And while everyone else was confused, the smile crawling on Riley's face could not be hidden at all — he was probably the only one who understood what just happened, or at the very least, formed a guess. And if his guess was anywhere near the truth… then his life was about to turn even more exciting.

Soon, another punching machine emerged from beneath the platform, replacing the previous one and the test just continued as if nothing happened. And as soon as it was Riley's turn, everyone forgot what just happened and just chalked it up to some random godly event; they were gods, after all. Things like that are bound to happen from time to time.

For now, the only thing they wanted to happen was for Riley to fail. But alas, even though the impact was not as impressive as some of the people that had advanced to the 16th floor, he was still teleported away — and he was not even using all of his strength just yet since he wanted to try something at the risk of failing.

Esme and Miss Pepondosovich were in the tower anyway, it would not matter if he failed since the two would surely have a chance of winning and gaining the book. What he wanted to see was whether or not the punching machine was actually testing the strength of their punch, or their overall strength.

And it was the latter. Riley wanted to test it because he saw someone just pressing the punching machine casually, and he was teleported away even though it was obviously weaker than most of the previous punches.

As someone with themarian strength, plus whatever he gained from Gracy's so-called cultivation, he was sure he was going to pass. But this also means one thing — the Grandarena City knew how strong everyone was individually. Most of the lower floors were probably just there solely for entertainment.

The 16th floor is another proof of that — as Riley was now directly facing another god; a single small table separating the two of them.

[You and your opponent will take turns punching each other until one of you is knocked out.]

"Do you want to go first, or shall I?"

"Hm?" Riley looked at his opponent, only to see him with a smile on his face. He was completely bald, hairless even — it was hard to know if this was his human form or not because he looked completely… unnatural, even for a bald man,

"You may go ahead."

"Very well." And with that word as his only indication, he punched Riley right on his lower right chest.

"Hm…" Riley's right eye twitched as blood instantly trailed from his lips. Even though he had contracted his muscles as soon as he realized the bald man was targeting his liver, he still felt his consciousness almost flying away from him — finally, he thought.

One single punch to prove he was actually amongst gods who are capable of turning their own universes upside down. Riley's insides were probably a complete mess right now, scrambled even — but that was no problem at all, of course; as everything inside him just healed almost instantly thanks to the themarians… as well as all the other abilities that gave him a monstrous healing ability.

"Your turn," the smile on the bald man's face did not disappear as he gestured to Riley to hit him.

"Of course," Riley nodded — but he did not actually punch the man, no — he just tapped the man right on the throat, causing him to wheeze as his neck caved in; his blood, also profusely trailing from his lips.

The bald man's face, however, did not disappear at all and even grew wider to the point he was showing his bloody teeth.

"My turn."

The bald man punched Riley right on the temple of his head, causing his eye to just instantly pop out from its socket. Of course, aside from slightly being shaken, the smile on Riley's face also started to reach from ear to ear as he attached his eye back.

"Well..." Riley breathed out, "...It would seem you are enjoying this as well."

"Is that a question or supposed to be a statement?"