Villain Retirement

"Ahor Zai… The AI?"

Marleen found herself in deep thought after Riley's request. It is true that although Ahor Zai may act like it was alive; the fact is, it is not. But still, there was one big problem with Riley's request.

"We won't know what will come out, Riley Ross."

"Oh…?"

And all of a sudden, there was a sense of solemness as Marleen's voice turned deeper. Even Esme, who was busy devouring the scrumptious food in front of her, could not help but drop the juicy lobster she was holding to look at Marleen.

"Ahor Zai…" Esme whispered loudly, "...That is the AI that tried to prevent the curse in my universe from flourishing, but failed since not everyone listened to it."

"It tried to prevent everyone from turning into an undead?" Miss Pepondosovich also momentarily stopped enjoying the tower of flavor in front of her; licking her fingers as she focused on Marleen and Esme, "I thought its main purpose was to just watch and record everything?"

"I suppose it will become sentient if given the right parameters, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley was the one to answer Miss Pepondosovich. And almost opposite to Miss Pepondosovich and Esme's reactions, Riley started eating; after all, seafood is not as enjoyable cold.

But then again, the warm and exaggeratingly flavorful butter that was oozing from the top of the tower made sure everything was at an ideal temperature; it helped make everything retain their juices too. Riley grabbed himself an entire crab, expertly opening up its exoskeleton and revealing all of its meat as well as the eggs.

"Hm…" Riley removed the meat and the eggs and placed him on his table, before using the exoskeleton to scoop out some butter and lathering the meat and eggs with it. He then took a spoonful of what looked like caviar and mixed it with the crab eggs before sprinkling all of it with chunks of fried garlic.

"Do you have to do everything so extra!? Just suck it and eat it!" Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow as she watched as Riley continue to prepare his plate like he was in some sort of fancy restaurant, "And wait… why do you even want to summon this AI?"

"Because I promised her that I would let her watch and record everything that I am doing, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley nodded, "And since I am stuck in this place, she is not able to do that."

"Okay, that is good and all, but…" Marleen raised a finger as she finally got the chance to continue her explanation, "...It is true that I can summon Ahor Zai, and the fact that she's a self-learning AI would ensure that she would work no matter what — but she won't be your Ahor Zai, Riley Ross. It might not have the same data, or it may even have a skewed sense of its memories. What I will be summoning would just be something else… like a different phone."

"That is fine, Miss Marleen," Riley shrugged as he added a little bit of furikake on his plate.

"Can you just eat it already, please!?" Miss Pepondosovich pointed at Riley's plate, "And where do you keep pulling all of those spices and condiments from!?"

"...Very well, then."

And as Riley was finally about to grab his spoon, Marleen snapped her fingers, causing her Territory to extend and push away everything… including their table.

"Damn it!" Miss Pepondosovich could not help but to almost want to pull out her hair as she still wasn't able to see Riley actually eat anything, "You could have at least let him take a bite first!"

Marleen completely ignored Miss Pepondosovich's wails as she just sat crossed legs on the marble floor. And although he wasn't gestured to do it as well, Riley also sat on the floor. And of course, Esme also did the same as soon as he saw Riley do it.

Miss Pepondosovich, who was feeling left out, could really only groan as she also sat on the floor.

"W—"

"Quiet."

She was about to say something, but Marleen quickly shushed her down. Marleen then placed both her hands on the side of her head, pointing at her temples as she started whispering to herself.

Riley tried to understand what she was saying, but she was uttering in a completely different language unknown to him. And soon, Marleen pulled her hands away, some sort of light, emerging from her temples like goo. She then started twirling her arms and performing some sort of sign which made the goo dance until it turned into a gray sphere…

…a sphere that was extremely similar to Ahor Zai's core.

"...And that's it," and without even taking a heavy breath or sweating a single drop, Marleen just casually stood up and started patting her pants, "I think we just need to wait for it to boot up or something."

"Hm…" Riley squinted his eyes as he also stood up. He then approached the floating gray sphere; its surface started rippling as if there was a silent storm currently wreaking havoc inside it. And soon, from this internal chaos, emerged a small silhouette resembling a very tiny humanoid with wings.

[I am—!!!]

"!!!"

And before Ahor Zai could even begin to speak, everyone watched as Riley suddenly grabbed it, forcing its mouth open before he retrieved something from his pocket — a small marble. And without even saying anything or showing a single slight hesitation, Riley forcefully inserted the marble in Ahor Zai's mouth.

And as Ahor Zai was choking on the tiny ball, he pushed her back into the gray sphere.

"What… did you do?" Marleen could not help but furrow her eyebrows. But soon, his eyes started to widen as she remembered something from Riley's memory.

"What's… going on? Why did Riri just force-feed something on that tiny human's throat?" Miss Pepondosovich was utterly confused as to what just happened. As for Esme, she wasn't really questioning anything since it was done by Riley.

No one really needed to answer Miss Pepondosovich, however, as the gray sphere once again began violently rippling across its surface. This time, however, nothing emerged. Instead, the entire gray sphere started changing shape and began resembling a human; its gray hue, very slowly changing golden brown… flesh.

[Aha!] And as soon as she opened her eyes, all the features one would find in an average female human emerged from the silhouette — the humanoid form of Ahor Zai. She wasted no time and bellowed, immediately finding Riley amongst the group, [You used my backup, Boss? Did something happen to my original body?]

"No," Riley shook his head.

[Then something happened to you?] Ahor Zai squinted as she started looking around. And as soon as her eyes landed on Marleen and Miss Pepondosovich, her human-like eyes started to glow; almost as if there were millions of fireflies inside them, [Immeasurable power levels, but not quite a Primordial. Princess Esme is here too, but a variant… her undead variant, but alive now. Boss…

…Where are we?]

"We are in the Domain of the Gods, Ahor Zai," Riley casually explained. And as he did so, Marleen snapped her fingers, canceling her Territory and returning everyone to their positions beforehand; except Ahor Zai, who was new to the fray.

[Domain of the Gods,] Ahor Zai blinked a couple of times, [That is new, Boss. But I suppose these two women are gods?]

"Marleen is, yes."

"Hey!" Miss Pepondosovich pointed at Riley, "What about me!?"

[Hm, I do sense more godliness in the bigger woman,] Ahor Zai turned to look at at Marleen before focusing her attention on Miss Pepondosovich, [But I sense a much stronger but weirder energy in her.]

"That is probably because she is a god of luck, Ahor Zai."

[Luck,] Ahor Zai squinted her eyes as she glared at Miss Pepondosovich, [Something that we can never truly account for, something that I can never truly calculate…

…disgusting.]

"What the—I thought this was supposed to be an AI!?" Miss Pepondosovich grabbed a crab leg and pointed it at Ahor Zai, showering her with the butter and all the juicy tenderness, "Why is it so sassy?"

"I am not just an AI, Miss Pepondosovich." The tone of Ahor Zai's voice completely changed to become more human-like, "I have transcended beyond it — I have the capabilities and data of hundreds of thousands of others like me. Like you, I also consider myself… a god."

"Great…" Miss Pepondosovich sighed, "...An AI with an ego, that always turns out well."

"Contrary, I do not have an ego at all," Ahor Zai shook her head, "I only follow Boss' orders. Speaking of, do you have an order for me since you installed me… inside another me, no less? That was weird."

"As a matter of fact, I do…" Riley just casually shook his head before gesturing to the tower of food on the table, "...I want you to store the ingredients and analyze how these dishes are made."

"W—you summoned a multiversal AI just for that!?"

"I also want her to analyze the book containing the clue for finding the cosmic piece once Esme wins the championship."

"Why don't you lead with that!? Also…" A smile then slowly crawled on Miss Pepondosovich's face, "What makes you think she will win the championship…

…and not me? I—"

"Or me!?"

And before Miss Pepondosovich could finish her words, a large woman from the other table suddenly approached them — a woman familiar to both Miss Pepondosovich and Riley.

"...Grea!?" Miss Pepondosovich pointed at the muscular gray woman approaching them. This time, however, Grea was missing her second set of arms and looked more human than before,

"What… are you doing here!?"