Villain Retirement

"Hahaha!"

1 Hour.

All the other combatants on the other platforms have either already moved to the next floor, or out of the tower altogether. And yet the audience could not stop howling and cheering like they never have before — some of them were even hitting each other lightly as they laughed like maniacs. How could they not, when the remaining two combatants have practically been brutalizing each other for hours?

And it did not help that this floor was already popular because of its violent simplicity; none of them needed to focus, all the violence was just sticking in one place. The only thing they needed to do was hype everything up, and hype they did.

The entire platform was already littered with Riley's and the weird bald god's blood, to the point it was already dripping from the edges like some sort of blood fondue — no. Their blood was even reaching the platform of the other combatants, and it would not be so absurd to say that some of the audience might have tasted or gotten a taste of either of their blood.

And the two were not done; they were just punching each other in the face like madmen. It wasn't even a contest of strength anymore, but who had the fastest regenerative ability — the both of them were holding back, but it was clear to Riley that the bald man was stronger than him, a lot.

And Riley knew the reason for that, the audience was howling it, after all. The bald man's name was Yanchuen… and he was previously a champion of the tower like Miss Pepondosovich. But it would seem that each time he moves on to the 17th floor, he forfeits and then climbs the tower again only to return to the 16th floor so he could have the most intense guttural slugfest he could have.

"This is exciting for you, no?" Yanchuen let out a cackle as his jaw reconstructed itself; his mangled flesh, almost like threads that were pulling each other together, "This is the only fun thing in this horrid prison — taking raw hits and giving it makes me momentarily forget that we are trapped here for eternity. And the worst part is…

…we actually get to live the entirety of that eternity."

"The cruelest place is life, Yanchuen," Riley breathed out and nodded, before Yanchuen slammed his fist down his shoulder and completely cleaving his entire torso in half.

"That it is, young god. That. It. Is," Yanchuen could really only let out a long and very deep sigh as the audience around them continued to cheer and scream while watching Riley's torso heal. The way Riley's wounds heal is completely different from everything they have seen, however. His flesh was still pulling each other together, but the missing chunks and pieces did not regenerate, they materialized out of nowhere, "But I have a feeling that place is about to turn into something fun."

"Hm? How so?" Riley tilted his head to the side. He then punched Yanchuen in the stomach, blowing all of his guts but making sure there would not be a hindrance in his ability to talk.

"I saw you outside with a god of luck, Miss Pepondosovich. The others might not recognize what she is, but I do," Yanchuen smiled as he wiped the blood trailing from his lips, "They are rare, very much so. Probably the rarest kind there is — and once they resurface actively, that usually means that something catastrophic will happen very soon."

"Catastrophic? Is she not supposed to be lucky, Yanchuen?"

"Yes, but that depends on who she latches onto," Yanchuen smiled as he looked Riley in the eyes, "And he latched onto you, a god so sinister that I only see nothing but darkness in your wake — and you are also with a god from the same race as one of the Higher Gods."

"Are you familiar with Aerith'Ross?" Riley returned Yanchuen's gaze.

"Familiar? No," Yanchuen let out a small chuckle, "I have only ever truly seen her once just a few thousand years ago when she brought another one of her species here. But I am absolutely aware of what she is capable of with just a single glance."

"Then—"

"This is going to be fun," and before Riley could finish his words, Yanchuen suddenly started melting away, literally, "For the first time in a very long time, I will be climbing the tower again. So, I will see you on the top floor…

…Riley Ross."

And with those words, Riley suddenly found himself advancing to the 18th floor. Riley, however, did not seem to care as he just looked to nowhere in particular.

"...Hm," Riley blinked a couple of times as he did not recall his name ever being said by anyone on the 16th floor. Yanchuen's name was roared a lot of times, but Riley was relatively unknown since every floor also had a different audiences,

"I suppose it does not matter." Riley did not really heed it any mind for long, as he started scanning the 17th floor — there was not a single familiar face, not even one. As expected already, as Riley had spent a couple of hours on the 16th floor, it was worth it, however.

It is just too bad that Esme was probably already on the upper floors, he could have still used her to piss off the other combatants—no. All of his hard work in pissing the others off have gone with the wind, as all of them were also on the upper floors.

No one on this floor knew Riley at all. He could really only sigh, hoping that he would face another one like Yanchuen…

…but sadly for him, it did not happen at all. All the tests of strengths were random, but Riley was able to just easily force his way through with little to no effort at all — a testament to how abnormally strong themarians are, perhaps that is why their species is always destined to die sooner or later.

If one could actually gather all the themarians in the multiverse and make them take arms under your command, then perhaps there was a chance to even topple the primordials… or maybe not. The primordials' strength is still quite unknown to Riley. He had already faced Machina, but she was probably not even using a percent of all of her abilities.

They were the true gods — the gods in the Domain of the Gods are just beings too strong to be in their universes.

And so, Riley just found himself jumping from one level to the next; this time, making sure to make as much carnage as possible, causing a completely opposite effect — it was time for them to fear him.

And fear they did, as Riley did not even have to do anything anymore and the gods just avoided him. But of course, just waiting for the other victors would be boring… so Riley made sure to stay active, and the situation stayed like this until the 50th floor.

And as soon as he was on the 50th floor…

"Riley! Riley! Riley Ross!"

…the audience began screaming and roaring his name.

"Hm…?" Riley spun in place as he scanned the audience. Seeing as they were chanting his name, it would seem the crowd on the 50th floor had some sort of access to whatever was going on in the lower levels. Riley then turned his eyes toward the other combatants, only to see all of them eyeing each other out.

The rules of the 50th floor were the same as the 1st floor, but the ambiance was completely different, not even close, no one was even talking to each other; there were no teams, no friends — everyone was an enemy. And even though Riley was clearly the most famous out of all of them, they were only giving him short glances; perhaps already formulating strategies in their minds.

And even as the signal of the start of the battle passed, none of them moved; only their eyes. Even the audience suddenly turned quiet, not even letting out a breath of cheer as they just waited for someone, anyone to move first.

A second.

A minute.

Another minute. And when another minute had passed, a combatant finally started to move; causing everyone to subtly turn their eyes toward him, toward Riley.

"Why bother being careful?" Riley breathed out as he stretched his arms to the side, "Let's just start killing each other, everyone."

And with those words, Riley suddenly rushed toward the god nearest to him — stabbing his fingers through one of their eyes, grinding the insides of his skull as he lifted him up to the point his entire hand was almost inside the god's head. He then slammed the god down, completely shattering the god's head.

And before Riley could pull his hand out of the puddle of brain matter, someone suddenly rammed him; completely throwing him across the platform, only stopping as another god slammed their arm right on his head.

And although he was no longer moving, Riley was still not eliminated even as he lay on the floor with his body contorted gruesomely — no.

The smile on his face was still very much alive.