Villain Retirement

"I've… never seen anything like this before — not here, not ever."

The withering field of glass probably spanned for hundreds and hundreds of miles, and the sky above them which is supposed to reflect the field they were standing on showed just how different the area was originally.

The sky was verdant, green as could be as the sea of grass seemed to not have an end, a complete contrast to the black and dead land Riley and the others were now standing on.

"Are you saying your clone did this, Riri? That Darkdaddy or something?"

"Darkday," Riley quickly responded as Miss Pepondosovich uttered a different name with much confidence, "And yes, I do believe this is his doing, Miss Pepondosovich — or at least he is partly responsible for it since I feel his presence nearby."

"You… don't know if Darkdaddy did this or not?" Miss Pepondosovich, however, completely ignored Riley's correction as she just grabbed a patch of the black dirt; grinding it in her fingers, only for it to just wither away like it was cotton candy, "I thought you're always connected to your clones?"

"Through a certain distance, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley also watched as the black dirt withered in Miss Pepondosovich's hand, "Although it did not really feel like it, it would seem the distance between the main island of the Domain of the Gods and the land of the mortals is farther than I anticipated it to be. My connection with my clones usually is not severed unless the distance exceeds more than 200 million kilometers."

"200 million kilometers?" Miss Pepondosovich blinked a couple of times, "That's not bad at all — just how many tricks do you actually have on your sleeve, Riri?"

"I no longer know how to answer that ever since I received all of King's abilities, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley shrugged as his feet soon started to leave the dead ground; Miss Pepondosovich and Esme's feet also floated at the same time as Riley once again started flying them toward the City of Summoners.

And as they got closer and closer to the city, they started seeing corpses here and there. Few, but considering most of them should not be dying at all, was a testament that whatever went here, it went in hard and brutal.

"These poor creatures," Esme let out a quiet breath as she saw all the summoned creatures that were also scattered everywhere, even more so than the other gods.

"You're the type to be more concerned about the animals, huh…?" Miss Pepondosovich nodded, "Well, I share the same sentiment in this case — these creatures are not really supposed to be here. And heads up, but something is moving our way fast."

"Hm," Riley immediately stopped their flight as he floated himself and the two to the side, avoiding the blur that suddenly streaked only a meter away from them. They only heard a whistle, or perhaps the sound of someone screaming loudly as it passed by them.

Not even a second after, however, the blur came back and brushed past them again, only to be thrown back like a yo-yo. This repeated several times, and each time, the streak turned redder and redder until it just became a streak of red… and soon, it just became nothing at all. Well, not exactly.

Esme stretched out her hand, catching the streak before it could move far — and there, in her hand, was an entire set of a humanoid skeleton.

This humanoid skeleton, however, withered away from Esme's hand; turning into powder that was just blown away by the winds of the Domain of the Gods.

"I believe that man is dead," Miss Pepondosovich pointed at the flowing ashes, "Judging by the sadistic way this god just died, this is Darkdaddy's doing?"

"Hm," Riley nodded as he once again started flying them toward the city, "I made the clone to resemble myself whenever I don the suit of Darkday, Miss Pepondosovich. Darkday is ruthless, merciless, but most importantly, he has flair. Most of the fun I had was whenever I was wearing the suit."

"Please, don't relive your villain days now, Riri," Miss Pepondosovich sighed, "I don't care what you are before the Domain of the Gods, you shouldn't either — you have a very, very long life ahead of you. Who knows, you might be a villain in your first 100 years of life, and then just become a full pledged hero after."

"I do not see that happening, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley shook his head, "I know my role, and I can only do it as a villain, a supervillain. I am still semi-retired, but once I get out of this place, I will slowly start again."

"Meh," Miss Pepondosovich shrugged, "You have no idea the changes of what a hundred years could bring, Riri — much less a thousand, a hundred thousand, a million… and you are going to live that. What you have experienced now… is nothing but a speck of your life. It's weird to look at it that way, huh? The starting years of an immortal being. It is very…"

Odd.

Miss Pepondosovich was still saying something wise, but Riley's mind was now completely shut off as it wandered through the deepest parts of his memory — memories of Darkday. When he created the clone he left on the land of mortals, he truly meant for it to be a complete replica of all his thoughts, ideals, personality, emotions as Darkday.

For some reason, however, as he was now near enough to gain access to his clone's thoughts, all he could really think of was how it was almost a stranger to him. He…

…doesn't recognize himself anymore.

And soon, as the bodies of the gods became more and more prevalent and the field filled with death was completely painted with the summoned creatures, they reached the open City of Summoners… only to be welcomed by even more death, mountains of it.

And right on top of that mountain was a god that Riley and the two easily recognized, especially Esme, as he was the one who made it possible for her to be amongst the living again.

"Mister Randall…" Esme whispered as her eyes glanced at Randall; eyes that quickly trailed toward the other silhouette standing on the mountain of corpses, completely covered in black — a complete contrast to the person he was carrying.

"Darkdaddy seems to be carrying someone, Riri," Miss Pepondosovich's eyes also focused on the little girl that Darkday was holding, "I… feel a different energy from the kid."

"She's dead, Miss Pepondosovich."

"I know," Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes further, "But there's something different with her."

"She is a child between 2 gods, Miss Pepondosovich."

"A—that's possible…?" Miss Pepondosovich could not help but widen her eyes as she heard Riley's words, "Wait, that doesn't explain why there are hundreds of corpses littered everywhere!"

"Ah, Boss!" And as Miss Pepondosovich raised her voice, both Randall and Darkday quickly turned their heads at them, with Randall being extremely cautious as he still glanced at Darkday from time to time,

"I hope you don't mind, I accidentally destroyed our village in the land of the mortals — but I brought this one here since she seems very interesting. The only thing is…

…Mister Randall refuses to resurrect her."

"I did not resurrect her because you told me the reason why you want her alive again, child," the friendliness in Randall's voice that he showed to Riley and the others was completely absent as he addressed Darkday, "I am not going to revive that child, only for you to open her up and torture her for her abilities."

"I am not immediately going to hurt her," Darkday let out a groan before chuckling, "I was only going to lobotomize her if her abilities were anything close to interesting. If it is not, then I'll just let her go right here and now."

"Hold up, hold up!" Miss Pepondosovich released herself from Riley's telekinesis as she leaped toward the top of the mountain of corpses and stood between the two, "That still doesn't explain why there are so many dead bodies here."

"Oh, that is because of me, Miss Pepondosovich," Darkday bowed his head before looking at the girl he was carrying, "Mister Randall said he was not going to use his powers to resurrect anyone, so I decided to kill every last one of his friends to see if he changes sentiment — and if he uses his abilities to resurrect any of them, that would mean he lied and he has to resurrect this girl."

"That…" Miss Pepondosovich pointed at Darkday before looking at Riley, "...Uh huh. Randall, I think you're in a bit of a pickle here."

"Hm…?" Randall wondered what Miss Pepondosovich meant by her words at first, but as soon as he saw the mangled corpse that Riley was holding, the only thing he could really do was close his eyes and sigh,

"Well…

…this is going to be complicated."