Villain Retirement

"...I am truly glad that they will die by your hands."

The empty field was barren, but it now seemed even more as Riley returned Neri's gaze — Riley had felt completely vulnerable before. Katherine, The Crimson Paladin, Pirate Queen Xra, Marleen, and now Neri.

All of them all had one thing in common — they were able to bypass all of Riley's mental defenses and could read through him completely. Either through feelings and emotions, he thought he didn't have, through his disguises, through his surface thoughts, through his memories, and now…

…seemingly just straight through him.

Riley is uncomfortable, that much is clear to him due to his eyebrows lowering on their own; something that doesn't really happen much for him unless he is truly affected deeply.

He could not even see anything else anymore, only Neri's sorrowful eyes and the tears they lay.

"Interesting…" Riley let out a small groan as he tilted his head to the side while approaching Neri again. Ramis blocked his path, but Riley seemed completely uninterested in him now. Riley just raised a finger, causing Ramis's tall and muscular body to stretch to its limits; his limbs, almost separated from the joints.

Riley then pointed his finger down, completely dropping Ramis to the ground; the hunter god, not even able to offer any hint of resistance. The only thing Ramis could do was watch as Riley crouched in front of the grieving mother of his now-deceased children.

"Neri… please, run!" Ramis used all of his strength to let out a scream, begging his wife to escape. Neri, however, just continued to stare at Riley's eyes.

"Do you know, Miss Neri?" Riley calmly said as he gently placed his hand on Emis's forehead; lightly brushing her hair before turning his eyes back to Neri, "I plan for my children to kill and stop me in the future, and if what you say will come to pass, that I will kill them for some reason — I do not see it happening. But if it does, perhaps in some chance that I become too far gone and even try to hurt my children…

…I would like your help, Miss Neri."

"I will never help you — I will not spare even a single breath or emotion," Neri bared her fangs, "You will suffer and suffer alone."

"Perhaps, but that is not the help I am seeking at all," Riley shook his head as a wide smile started to crawl on his face. He then removed his hand from Emis. And as he did so, Neri saw something in his hand; some sort of miniature glass box with something in it.

An insect?

No, not at all — it was humanoid, and although Neri couldn't feel anything from it, she knew enough of the power it held — at the same time, however, Neri could feel something else from it… the scent of death.

"What is that…?" Neri's eyes started to tremble as she saw Riley hiding the glass cage back in one of his many trusty pockets, "What is that!? What did you do!?"

"I am not doing anything, Miss Neri," Riley shook his head as he stood up and started backing away, "You are the one doing something, you will be helping me process what you have just told me."

"What are you—" And before Neri's breaths could continue to tremble, she felt a nudge in her arms. She quickly turned to look at her daughter, only to see her opening her eyes and mouth; groaning and stuttering as she tried to move.

But as her daughter started showing signs of life, Neri was not glad at all and even quickly let her go as she too, started backing away,

"What… what have you done…?" Neri's head started to shiver as she watched as Emis stood up; extremely clumsy, almost falling several times before she was able to fully stand up. Emis opened her mouth again, but only visceral groans escaped her lips; a long groan, whispering.

"You told me I would have to kill my children, and I asked for your help in trying to process what it would be like, so…" Riley said as she gestured to Emis.

Riley then flicked his finger again, throwing Ramis toward Neri; causing Emis to face her parents, her head tilting several times randomly as her nose started flinching into a snarl.

"...Please, by all means — show me what you and Ramis would do."

And as soon as Riley said that, Emis let out a loud roar while leaping straight toward the two of them.

"Emis, snap out of it!" Ramis welcomed Emis's attack; grabbing her by the shoulders to keep her in a distance. She tried scratching her father's arms with her sharp nails, but all that happened was her nails shattering,

"Emis, wake up!"

"She is not going to wake up, Ramis," Riley shook his head, "She is now an undead — and the only way you can stop her is to completely…

…kill her."

***

"Hm…" Several hours later, Riley was now surrounded by a ruined field; the terrain, completely unrecognizable from what it once was even though he had not actually even moved once — only now, as he once again started approaching Neri… who was now also holding her husband's corpse alongside her daughter's now mangled corpse.

Ramis was infected as he tried embracing Emis even as she was biting his neck; her teeth did not initially even do anything — but of course, that would have been boring, and so Riley decided to interfere and give it a little push so that her teeth would be able to pierce through Ramis's flesh.

And when Ramis realized what happened… he took it upon himself to destroy his daughter once and for all, so that his wife would not bear the pain of doing so — the only burden he gave her was the pain of killing him.

"...I do not really feel like I got what I wanted from this scenario," Riley let out a small sigh as he just sat beside Neri, whose eyes were now completely emotionless, "I suppose your daughter being an undead is quite different, since she does not really have her own mind, Neri. For that, I apologize for even trying this — I was wrong."

"...Just kill me," Neri whispered out.

"No," Riley shook his head, "That is not going to happen, Miss Neri. I have already killed both of your children, that is enough death from me — what would my children think, after all?"

"Why… why did my children even have to cross your path…" Neri was not really asking a question; she just stared at the nothingness of everything while resenting the fate her family suffered.

"I was going to go my way, Miss Neri," Riley shook his head again, "None of this had to happen."

"Kill me."

"I am not going to do that."

"If you do not, I will seek the other gods and tell them all about you and your children — it will not be a war, but a hunt only for you," Neri's lifeless eyes turned to look at Riley, "Kill—"

And before Neri could finish her words, she suddenly found herself on a field of crystal; the corpses of her family, still within her arms.

"I am not going to kill you, Miss Neri," Riley once again repeated his words.

Neri weakly scanned the area, and as soon as she saw the wind god trapped inside a crystal, she quickly tried to kill herself — after all, the wind god may look lifeless, but Neri was sure he was completely alive and aware of everything that is happening around him… he was just completely helpless.

But alas, unfortunately for Neri, she found herself encased inside a crystal grave before she could take her life. Perhaps, forever immortalizing her regret and sorrow, literally — her thoughts as she is trapped in this grave would forever repeat the horrifying things she did. Perhaps if there was a solace here, then it was the fact that she was embracing the remains of Ramis and Emis… but that too, was a reminder of her failure.

"Hm." As for Riley, he just looked at Neri and family; nodding his head as if proud of the painting he created — a mother hugging a family she had to kill herself. Riley did not stay to admire his work for long, however, as his body once again shot straight through the ground to Sub-Theran,

"Now…

…I wonder where those sheep giraffes are?"

***

Somewhere in Automaton, the City of Androids, Aerith was currently walking across its busy streets.

No.

It wasn't Aerith at all, but Ahor Zai who still carried the image of Aerith. Ahor Zai was just casually smiling and waving her hand at the androids who bowed their heads and greeted her — in all aspects, she was almost being treated as a god by them.

But while Ahor Zai was enjoying this, something started to happen to her. Her entire body froze, with only her eyes moving.

Her eyes started to glow, as if there were millions of fireflies in them.

"Why…" Ahor Zai then started to speak; the tone of her voice, back to being completely robotic,

"...are you trying to invade my body, Machina?"