Villain Retirement

"Megawoman."

"Aerith, please call me Aerith."

Back in Riley's universe, everything seemed to have returned to normal. Well, as normal as it could be with all the other people from the other universes gathered there.

With the news of Riley practically defeating King the Conqueror like it was nothing, most of the universes that have discovered multiversal travel due to the conqueror himself opted to visit Riley's universe — even going as far as calling it the main universe. Of course, these people had no idea that there were actually even more universes out there that were completely different than theirs.

But that did not really matter to them, what mattered was that they would learn and befriend the universe that defeated a multiversal conqueror. But of course, they were not really allowed to roam free everywhere, and would need to go through a batch of processing; handled by the Common Council, who had no rest at all.

As for Riley's peers, well — none of them were actually actively contacting each other anymore. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, Riley Ross was actually the only entity that was holding all of their relationships together. Without him, they had no reason to actually gather together. Of course, except, those who were truly friends with each other.

And right now, Aerith was currently inside the Ross's residence, which was surprisingly still standing and have remained completely unchanged even though several story arcs have already come and gone… and passed.

Aerith was currently having dinner with the Ross ever since Riley had disappeared. It was a little awkward at first since—

"Then… can you please pass me the corn, please?"

"You… don't really need to be so formal with me Katherine."

—Katherine was also there sitting at the table along with Karina, who had taken over Riley's room. Well, at least Karina was at the table just seconds ago, but now she was no longer to be found.

"Mom! Karina's using my makeup again!"

The women at the table could not help but just drop whatever utensils they were holding as they heard Hannah's words literally reverberating throughout the entire house. Katherine was about to stand up from her seat as she sighed, but Diana quickly gestured to her to sit back down.

"Then just give it to her! She's a growing lady!" Diana yelled, not leaving the dining table at all.

"Growing lady!? She's using it to color her coloring book!"

"You'll get used to it once you get another child," Diana only really giggled as she completely ignored Hannah's pleas, "It is actually pretty nice to have kids around the house again."

"Karina—what do you plan with her?" Aerith let out a short but very deep breath as she finally passed the corn to Katherine, "You enhanced her growth, and made it possible for Katherine to get pregnant by Riley in the first place."

"I have already told you my plan," Diana could really only sigh as she closed her eyes, "I wanted to create an entire species capable of luring the themarians out — but all of that was useless. Karina had a chance to do that, but it was already too late."

"...So the child's just an experiment to you?"

"The child is my granddaughter, Princess Aerith," Diana looked Aerith in the eyes, "And I just want her to live her life."

"The three of us know she won't be having a normal life," Aerith looked at Katherine and Diana, "She is, possibly, one of the only beings in the entire multiverse that could completely kill Riley."

"There's no proof of that yet," Diana shook her head as she continued eating while talking.

"There's no need for proof," Aerith focused her attention on Katherine, "The people that want Riley dead would do everything to get Karina to their side, Katherine."

"...And what about you, Aerith?" This time, Katherine did not avoid Aerith's gaze at all and even met it head-on as she looked her in the eyes, "Which side exactly are you on?"

"I think it's useless to pick sides now," Aerith just sighed as she shook her head, "Because the truth of the matter is, we have no idea what we're doing anymore. This is… way past us and way bigger than any of us. The multiverse, and now Riley being dragged away into a place outside of the multiverse where people like him gather – and I am certain that even though that place is supposed to contain Riley, it will only be a matter of time before he has everyone in the palm of his hands."

"Then just let me say this, then…" Katherine also let out a sigh as she closed her eyes; lightly twirling the fork she was holding on her plate still full of food, "...I will protect Karina by all means possible — and making her the enemy of her father is practically a death sentence to her. Even if it means everyone and everything else disappears, I will protect my daughter."

"..."

"But I have also accepted that I am a mortal literally walking amongst gods," Katherine opened her eyes as a small but defeated smile crawled on her face, "I will die, and Karina would probably live for thousands of years. But for now, I am her mother, and I would cherish every moment of that…

…what will you do when it becomes your turn?"

"...Me?"

"A lot could happen, Aerith — and I have no choice to admit it, but…" Katherine looked Aerith in the eyes, "...You and Riley are probably meant together. You've already started developing feelings for him, you've slept with him."

"That's…"

"What I am trying to say is that there might come a time that you and Riley would have a child of your own, a thousand years from now. I can't even imagine what life would be then — everything would be completely different."

"Where are you going with this, Katherine?"

"I'm asking you to protect my daughter like she is your own once I'm gone," Katherine said without any hesitation, "Treat her like she is your own."

"That's a very weird ask," Hannah finally appeared; quickly taking a seat beside Diana as she grabbed a fried chicken to her plate, "I'll just be blunt, but the dynamic here is very, very weird. I don't know how themarian minds work, but let me summarize your situation, Megawoman…

…The father of your child died during your battle with my brother. Riley plotted the death of Gary. Riley somewhat plotted the death of your entire people — and you slept with him."

"..."

"And now Katherine here is asking you to take care of her daughter with my brother," Hannah took in a deep breath as she squinted her eyes, "Man, talk about messed up…

…but I guess that's just life with him? Isn't it?"

"That…" Aerith really only looked at Hannah for a few seconds before lowering her head, "...That it is."

"The heart wants what the heart wants," Diana clapped her hands in an attempt to erase all the awkwardness in the air, only to add to it as everyone just turned to look at her, "I am just saying that if a themarian falls in love, they fall in love very, very hard. But enough of that.

…does anyone want to ask me about my progress in trying to reverse engineer the Cultivation thing that Aerith and Gracy learned?"

"Ha…" Hannah let herself fall to her chair as she devoured the fried chicken leg in her hand,

"...I wonder how that blank face is doing."

And while Hannah and the other people from Riley's universe were currently having a somewhat casual conversation, Riley was currently wreaking havoc in front of Grandarena City.

"Stop this at once!"

Can one really die in the Domain of the Gods?

The short answer is yes.

Gods are very, very durable and they won't die just by normal means — but they were in the presence of other gods, and some more powerful than them. If a god is truly intent on killing them, the said god would make sure that not even a speck of them is left, to also make sure that a god of healing would not be able to resurrect them too.

But Riley's goal was not really to kill, but to just wreak havoc as much as possible. And if the gods around him die, then so be it.

There was carnage everywhere, and the once immaculate field of green had turned into a forest of blood and guts. And this wasn't just because of Riley, no. Once the chaos and rampage started, everyone just went wild.

But right now, after hours have passed, the chaos just suddenly halted out of nowhere. The gods who were juking it out completely stopped fighting altogether suddenly. How could they not…

…when a being clearly stronger than them suddenly emerged from a portal out of nowhere?

One of the Higher Gods that have already discovered a cosmic piece.

"That's… Kravos…

…the God Killer."