Villain Retirement

When was it? When was the last time that Riley felt truly helpless? The answer there would be before Alice killed him for the first time when he was still just a little tiny infant. Throughout his entire life, even when facing Megawoman, he never truly felt helpless.

Hopeless, a lot of times, but never truly helpless.

Helplessness. He never knew what it meant, what it felt like… but perhaps it was this.

A full hour had passed, and yet Riley had not touched even a single strand of Marleen's hair, while Marleen had been casually kicking him away without any sort of force whatsoever. She was just using Riley's own momentum against him.

She did not even look like she was dodging at all. She was moving milliseconds even before Riley could switch to his next attack—no, to his next attack pattern. The other gods from the previous floor could also dodge his strikes, but not completely as the shockwave of each of his hits was still enough to graze their skin.

But Marleen was a different beast altogether.

"I sort of feel special for being one of the only handful of existence in the Domain of the Gods that know that you are a Primordial, Riley," Marleen calmly said without a trace of exertion as she moved behind Riley very calmly, "While the rest of us are aiming for Higher Godhood by finding a cosmic piece, you were already born to be something even higher than that."

"Hm," Riley said as he swung his arm behind him as fast as he could, wanting to hit Marleen with his elbow. But alas, Marleen was once again already behind him, "I do not truly really feel that powerful, Miss Marleen."

"Nonsense," Marleen scoffed and chuckled, "Out of all the gods I have fought in the tower, you are probably in the top 10 — I need to be very careful with you since you fight differently than most. Unpredictable, but unfortunately not enough, not yet."

"The top 10? And who is the No. 1 in that list, Miss Marleen?" Riley curiously asked as he just took a step back and tried ramming his entire body at Marleen, but Marleen also took a step back; the distance between them, not changing for even a moment.

"Pepondosovich," Marleen answered without any hesitation, "She already told you what she is, right? She is the only god that could truly beat me senseless — no matter what I do, I will not be able to defeat her."

"Because she is lucky, Miss Marleen?" Riley asked as he continued to take several steps back; the two of them, almost looked like they were stuck together and tied by some sort of invisibe rods.

"She is more than lucky, Riley," Marleen let out a small giggle; just casually leaping over Riley as they reached the walls of the arena. Riley tried to grab her, but the tip of her fingers blocked each of the tip of Riley's fingers, preventing him from holding anything,

"Her luck is… hard to explain, but it is not just simply that she is lucky, there is a certain element there that is completely unknown to me, and it scares me."

"Your ex-lover is also wary of Miss Pepondosovich, Miss Marleen," Riley's eyebrows slightly lowered as Marleen's fingers just completely followed the movement of his fingers. The only thing he could really do was watch as Marleen was now directly facing him; her eyes, closed.

"He should be," Marleen nodded, "You should be too. But then again, I suppose the rules work differently for you as a Primordial."

"I do not truly feel that special as a Primordial, Miss Marleen," Riley shook his head, "Especially when I arrived in this domain. But your ex-lover did mention something about Miss Pepondosovich being latched on to me — does that mean some—"

And before Riley could finish his words, he could not help but abruptly stop as he was suddenly able to hit Marleen, completely dismembering her left arm during the brief moment. Riley wanted to take this chance to fully grab onto Marleen's shoulder and bite her throat off—but alas, Marleen recovered from her momentary stupor; stepping back just inches away from Riley's reach.

"Pepondosovich latched on to you, he said?" Marleen blinked a couple of times as she held her bleeding arm. And without even a change of expression, she inserted her hand into the cut… before pulling a new arm from the wound.

"Did you not access that part of my memory, Miss Marleen?" Riley tilted his head to the side as he finally stopped attacking Marleen.

"I… tend to avoid anything that has to do with that man like a plague," Marleen fought the urge to click her tongue, "Are you sure he said that to you?"

"Yes," Riley nodded.

"I suppose that explains a lot of things," Marleen placed her hand on her chin as she glanced at Riley and the floor of the arena. Surprisingly, the audience did not mind at all that the two were no longer fighting — after all, things were different when it involved gods who could crush galaxies with their hands. Battles require… much finesse,

"You are a Primordial, after all. It makes sense that Pepondosovich would just find you… that does not really bode well for the rest of us. You are a Primordial whose goal is to erase this Creation to make way for the new one, and if Pepondosovich is latching on to you, then something extremely unexpected is about to happen."

"Like what?" Riley asked as he started trying to catch Marleen again, but once again just failed as Marleen managed to completely get away from him without much effort.

"I don't know, Riley," Marleen shook her head, "Pepondosovich is completely unreadable, every move she makes is completely random and depends on luck. But let us get back to you — you should feel very special. You seem to be underestimating yourself ever since you arrived in this place, with valid reason, of course."

"Hm," Riley nodded.

"But you are also forgetting the fact that you have not even been alive for 30 Earth years," Marleen sighed, "The life you have lived is not even a speck of what I and the others have lived, not even a blink. And for you to already be walking among us is… quite scary too. Imagine how strong you will be a year from now?"

"Hm…"

"Imagine how strong you will be a hundred years from now," Marleen looked Riley in the eyes, "The fact is, Riley… I do not even know how we will be able to stop you once you have reached your true potential as a Primordial."

"Then perhaps you should stop me now, Miss Marleen."

"You would very much like that, won't you?" Marleen let out a small giggle as she reached out her hand to Riley, obviously teasing him as she quickly retracted her hand even before Riley attempted to grab it,

"But ask the other gods if they wish to save Creation, you will be surprised by their answers."

"You do not wish to save yourself, Miss Marleen?"

"Live for more than a million years and ask me that question "You do not wish to save yourself, Miss Marleen?"

"Live for more than a million years and ask me that question again," a small and slightly melancholic smile crawled on Marleen's face, "Most beings are just not meant to live forever, Riley. Unlike those themarians in your memory who have learned to innately adapt to their long lives, I am not — I should have died long ago."

"I suppose immortality is a curse for you, Miss Marleen," Riley sighed.

"No, not at all," Marleen sucked in a deep breath as she opened her eyes, "Immortality is beautiful. It is a prison, yes — but in that prison come gifts that one would never expect. I have met so many people; I have lost most of them, sure, but you will come to learn those memories…

…those memories are the real treasure of immortality."

"And what about the bad times, Miss Marleen?"

"Bad times are bad no matter what," Marleen let out an awkward chuckle as she scratched the back of her head, "That is why I learned to use them to amplify the good ones to make them better."

"I wish to talk with you more, Miss Marleen. But…

…not here."

And with those words, Marleen could not help but raise an eyebrow as Riley suddenly closed his eyes… and pierced his ears.

"I have actually fought someone like you before, Miss Marleen," Riley breathed out, "Someone who could predict my movements seconds before I even do them."

"And moving randomly would help you?" Marleen chuckled, "It is a good try – but you are forgetting, Riley… I am still stronger and faster than you."

"Perhaps," Riley shrugged… before suddenly dislocating all the joints in his arms, "But trust me, Miss Marleen…

…You and I are about to have fun."

"W—!!!" And before Marleen could even say anything, Riley randomly started flailing his dislocated arms like some sort of whip. Truly, Marleen could not predict where his arms were going to go since they were flailing randomly…

…but Riley was completely going the wrong way.