Villain Retirement

"B... bakemono! Omae ni chikadzuku na! Don't... don't even dare to approach me!"

A snap in the air echoed throughout the frozen room as a small girl dropped to the ground; holding her cheek that was struck by her mother; blood, slowly trailing down from her nose.

"What... what have you done?"

The small girl then turned her head towards her mother, who was embracing what seemed to be a statue sculpted from ice-- but if one were to look closer, one could see that a human was actually trapped inside... the blood oozing from each pore of his skin, somewhat crawling through the ice and turning it darker.

"Why... how could you do this, you monster!?"

"But..." The little girl tried to approach her mother, but her mother quickly ran away, only to return with her hands trembling... the knife that was now in her hands pointed at the little girl.

"D... don't even come near me," the mother stuttered.

"But... d... dad told me he was hot," the little girl's eyes started to move erratically, "I... I only wanted to make him feel better."

"No... no, this... this isn't happening," the mother's ears seem to be closed; her daughter's words not even entering her mind.

"He... he said he was hot, m... mommy," vapor started to fume out from the little girl's mouth as the floors in the room started to crackle, "D... dad said he... he wanted me to make him feel better. He... he took off his clothes because he was hot."

"W... what?"

"I--" The little girl's words were cut short as the blood that was trailing from her nose gushed out even stronger, "He... tried to get my clothes off too, m... mom. But... But I said I wasn't hot...

...So I just... I just thought I should help... help him... So...

...I froze him."

***

"W... when are you going to stop crying!?"

With Katherine clearing out most of the mist from Hannah evaporating the prison of ice, almost everyone was now looking at Hannah, as well as Tomoe, who had been crying for almost a full minute.

Hannah could not help but panic, waving her hand randomly as the tears trailing on Tomoe's face did not seem to have any plans of stopping.

"What did she do?"

"Did... did she bully her?"

"W... what the!? Who said that!?" With the other students starting to whisper with each other, Hannah quickly let out a violent roar as her eyes scanned the gossiping people, "This is a superhero academy, what do you mean bullying!? And shouldn't you be concentrating on your own matches, you stupid fucks!"

With Hannah's terrorizing voice reverberating throughout the vast field, the gossiping students could only shut their mouths; trying their best to avoid the nuclear tyrant's glare. Perhaps she didn't choose the name 'Nuclear Baby' because of her powers... but because of her temper-- the foreign students thought.

"Sorry, this is my fault."

"W... what the?" Hannah then returned her attention to Tomoe, whose face was now back to being emotionless, any traces of the tears that previously ravished her face were completely gone,

"What... what kind of bipolar nonsense is this?" Hannah could not help but breathe out. But after a few seconds, Hannah shook her head and let out a short but deep sigh,

"I... guess your family issues aren't as light and hysterical as mine."

"..."

"Tell me and Silvie about it sometime, okay?"

"Y... yes," Tomoe nodded. And with that as the sign of the conclusion of their match, the rest of the members of the Elemental group all clapped their hands; however, as soon as Tomoe's eyes landed on them, they all quickly stopped.

"It's time for us to decide who is in the 2nd place," Tomoe then whispered.

None of the members of the Elemental group, however, stood up. It was already common knowledge that Tomoe was part of the Potential Villain list-- they might actually just die while facing her.

And so, with that thought, one of the students' gulps whispered in the air, "We... I think...

...we're just going to fight for 3rd place."

***

"Damn, all sorts of drama are happening in Hannah's group," Gary, who was watching Hannah and Tomoe's situation from afar, quickly moved his head to the side. And as he did so, a fist suddenly passed by his face, almost grazing his mask.

"Surprise, motherfucker!" Gary then roared as he grabbed the fist, dragging it as he suddenly rotated his body, pivoting with his feet until a whistle started hiss in the air-- and finally, as soon as he heard a small gulp whisper in his ear, he let go of the fist.

"I told you, you should have gone with the arm wrestling, boy!" Gary then shouted as the owner of the fist he just threw started to roll on the ground for several meters, "I might be a side character, but I'm the main side character-- that means I'm strong!"

"This is a bit too much, isn't it?"

"Oh?"

Gary then looked towards where his opponent landed, only to see him in Silvie's arms.

"Finally, the main challenger has come!" Gary then said as he pointed at Silvie, "Come, let us not waste our time dealing with these nameless goons and finally decide for ourselves who is truly the number one Enhancer in this class!"

"No."

However, even with Gary's passionate... speech, Silvie only shook her head, "I don't think it's right not to give the others a chance to participate for--"

"Aha!" Gary did not let her finish talking as he once again pointed at her, "You are going to wait until I am tired so you could easily defeat me... such tactics are so underhanded--"

"Fine," and with those words, Silvie gently dropped the student she was carrying; before approaching Gary with a twitching smile on her face,

"Bring it on," Silvie then said as she gestured to Gary to strike first.

"Oho, there's the arrogant Silvie I know," Gary said as he rubbed his nose, "So you want to just grapple?"

"Let's just fight. I promise not to hurt you too much."

"Now you're talking," Gary said as he hopped a couple of times,

"Let's do this!"

"...You win."

And after a few seconds, Gary was holding his cheek; which seemed to be as swollen as a bloated tomato,

"We have the same powers, but how are you so strong!? Ack!" Gary winced as his cheek started to throb, "Even though you're just a baby!"

"...Aren't you only 2 years older than me?" Silvie sighed, "And that's not all true... Your heat vision is stronger mine by... like a lot."

"Meh," Gary then waved his hand, "I can't just let my eyes go brr here now, can I? I still can't control it that much."

"Tha--"

"Go, shoo. Leave me here to lament. You may have defeated the Dragon Monarch, but I will continue to rise from the ashes of defeat!"

"You know... Since you're always mentioning 'ashes', couldn't you have just picked the name Phoenix Monarch instead?"

"..."

"..."

"Fuck, you're right," Gary grabbed his head tight, "I... I think I need to change my-- No, never mind. Ms. Phoenix's fans are quite protective of her name."

"...Ms. Phoenix?"

"You don't know Ms. Phoenix!?" Gary almost jumped from where he stood as he looked at Silvie, "Ex-member of the Hope Guild!? The one who is said to be one of the only supers that are able to stand toe-to-toe with Mega Woman!? Even stronger than the current leader!?"

"...No?"

"What!? You--"

"Uhmm... guys?"

And before Gary could even continue his words, one of the members of their group approached them, "Perhaps... it's our time to have our matches? We still haven't--"

"Alright, alright," Gary grabbed his classmate by the shoulders, "Since I still haven't fully warmed up, I'll be your opponent...

...Let the Dragon Monarch be the judge!"

"..." Seeing Gary flailing their classmate around, the other members of the group could only let out a small but deep sigh.

...Why was their class full of monsters?

"I'm sitting this one out." And speaking of monsters, one of the members of the Telekinetic group had first-hand experience in being mowed down by one-- Bella Jackson.

"Eh, you sure, sis?" Ben then quickly approached her sister, his steps slightly mocking, "It's not like you to pass the opportunity for a fight. W... wait, don't tell me...

...you've fallen for the beautiful and pure Riley Ross!? Has my sister finally learned to appreciate the di-- Cuck!"

"Fuck you," Bella punched her brother on the stomach before he could continue his words, "You're just saying that because you haven't fought him yet."

Although Bella had already talked it out with Riley-- she would lie if she said there wasn't a small fear left inside her. She immediately lost consciousness during her fight, but if her memory was right; When Riley hit her on the stomach... for a second there, he looked like he had this weird and unnaturally wide smile on his face.

Of course, she could just be wrong; humans don't usually have the ability to extend their lips like that, even if it was Riley, who already had wider lips than most people. Of course, Daniel Espinoza was an exception.

But still, it was better to avoid fighting him for now, "You can go ahead and fight him if you want to."

"Oh no no," Ben wagged his finger before also sitting down on the ground, "If someone like my beautiful sis was sent to the clinic after having intercourse with Riley, then what chance does a tiny little fabulous human like me have? He would utterly, and beautifully destroy my bu-- Twack!"

"Please don't," Bella once again hit her brother in the stomach before he could continue his... words.

Bella was not the only one who held caution, however, as most of the members in the telekinetic group were just staying quiet; refusing to be the first to have a match-- trying to gauge their opponents since the foreign students were here now.

But one of those foreign students, however, stepped forward-- the one who initially asked for Riley to join the activity, a student from SAMA.

"I... I'll go and try to fight with Mr. Riley Ross," the student meekly said as he raised his hand. But after a few seconds, he looked at the Jackson siblings, "You... should be the ones representing our race, but I'll be the one to take the mantle since--"

"...Race?" Bella furrowed her eyebrows as soon as she heard the foreign student's meek voice, "The fuck you on about? We're Americans."

"..." The foreign student only let out a small breath, before finally placing his attention towards Riley Ross,

"P... please, let's have a friendly match," the student said, his voice still quiet.

"Okay."

I got you!-- The student then screamed and smiled inside his mind as he saw Riley Ross walking towards him. In truth, he was part of Jamba's tribe. And since this was an activity where they weren't allowed to hurt each other much...

...then Riley wouldn't do anything drastic.

Him, on the other hand, was ready to expel or even die for his tribe's cause-- He will bring honor to his family and be the one to kill the One Cursed by God.

"How do you want to do this, Shomari?"

"I... I am honored you know my name," the tone of Shomari's voice once again became meek; a complete opposite to the thoughts he was having, "S... since I am not really confident I can win in a straight fight..."

Shomari then raised his hand, and as he did so, a whistle whispered in the air. The other members of the Telekinetic group wondered where the sound was coming from; however, they soon saw a small glint flashing from the sky.

The flash then revealed itself to be a double pointed-spear flew, flying straight in between Shomari and Riley.

"So... how about Tug of War?"