Villain Retirement

"C… commander Voris!?"

Dead.

The very reason why Riley was on the evaniel's ship in the first place, dead. In truth, Aerith asked him to talk to Commander Voris— and since Riley was a little curious about the evaniels, he quickly agreed to her; he had nothing to do, anyway.

Of course, Riley also already had a suspicion that something dubious and sinister was going on. After all, even if Val was the prince, it didn't make sense for them to just let him do whatever he wanted; especially when they were just going to lock him in his room after.

Offending a species you're meeting for the first time? That much is normal, one could even say expected from someone of royal blood. But in front of Aerith? Someone they were wary and cautious enough, that they would not use their superspeed within her vicinity?

Most of them weren't using their speed now, even though Aerith wasn't inside the ship. It is almost ridiculous that at that very moment, they would allow the prince to do as he wish. It was somewhat obvious that Commander Voris was up to something.

But now, he's dead.

They wouldn't be able to interrogate him anymore.

"What… do we do now?" Paige was the first to speak as she saw Commander Voris, who was now lying on a pool of what she could only presume to be his blood; blue, almost like the morning sky.

"We need to go," Tomoe said as she started looking everywhere, "This might be a trap."

"It might just be, Tomoe. But it doesn't really matter," Riley only shrugged before turning towards the prince, "Might you know anything about this, Prince Val?"

"W… what?" The prince could really only stutter as he just stared at Commander Voris's body, "N… No."

"Aerith suspected that Commander Voris is—was planning something," Riley then said as he stood in front of Val, blocking his view of Voris's cell, "And she suspects you know something about it, Prince Val."

"What? No!" Val finally removed his eyes from Commander Voris as he looked up at Riley, "I… I'm innocent! What did I do!? I didn't even do anything!"

"I am afraid I would have to interrogate you now instead, Prince Val," Riley sighed as a wide smile very slowly started to crawl on his face, "You don't have to worry, children of your age will usually get over the pain quickly."

"...What?" Val took in a small gulp as he watched as Riley moved closer towards him, "W… what are you saying? I didn't do anything!"

"You tried to offend master Riley several times."

And before Riley could completely get closer to Val, a cold voice whispered in the air as Tomoe suddenly moved between the two; her eyes, looking Val straight in the eyes, "You even attacked him. And since they already returned master Riley's rights, that is considered an assault— which is a crime."

"That… that's because Commander Voris told me to assert our dominance!" Val raised his voice even further, almost causing his words to reverberate through the vast confinement bay, "Especially since Princess Aerith was watching! C… Commander Voris told me that it would impress the princess and she would… It would make the evaniels more important in her eyes!"

"..."

Both Tomoe and Paige could really only look at each other as they heard the young prince's words. After a few seconds after, however, Tomoe's already small eyes started to squint.

"So, you're stupid," Tomoe whispered… loudly.

"Hey, that's not nice," Paige finally also approached Val as she shook her head, "He's just young. I'm sure you were even more ridiculous when you were his age."

"I made a mobile application at that age and sold it for one and a half million dollars," Tomoe said with a straight face, "So, no."

"I thought you were just computer savvy. What mobile app is that?"

"Irrelevant at the current situation," Tomoe scoffed as she rolled her eyes. She then turned towards the cell; her eyes, looking at the edges of the glass wall separating them from Voris's corpse, "How does this thing open?"

"O… Only Admiral Varen should be able to open it," Val took in a small gulp. And then a few moments later, his eyes turned wide as he let out a loud gasp, "Wait, are you saying that Admiral Varen did this!? Did… did he kill Commander Varen?"

"Hm, it's a possibility," Tomoe placed her hand on her chin; her eyes squinting even further and causing her to look almost as if she had her eyes closed, "But Admiral Varen shouldn't have left Aerith's side the whole time she was inside the ship…

…who else has access to Voris's cell?"

"I… I don't know."

"..." Paige could only watch in amazement as Tomoe started examining the cell, "She's… like a detective," she then said as she leaned closer to Riley.

"Hm. She did find out I was Darkdady," Riley nodded; almost as if proud of Tomoe's actions, "She's very good at stalking people."

"Think clearly, young prince. Who else has access to the Commander's cell?" Tomoe repeated her question.

"I…" As for the young prince, his words soon started to stutter as his eyes became moist, "I… I really don't know. I don't know what's happening."

"..."

Val's eyes started to travel everywhere as he seemed to be trying his best not to cry, "Wait… wait. Maybe… maybe the princess didn't like what I did? Maybe… maybe she killed Commander Voris!?"

And with that thought, Val's entire body began to tremble; his legs, almost giving up on him as he slightly tumbled a few steps backward in panic. Did they… make a mistake? Did they actually just… angered a themarian?

Val had heard many legends about the themarian from his mother, and one thing that never changed in the stories she told was their strength. One of them was enough to wipe out an entire civilization.

"N… no."

"...I just said Admiral Varen and Aerith should have been together in the ship," Tomoe could really only sigh as she once again approached the frantic prince, "Try to think harder, young prince. Your life depends on it. Who else has access to the commander's cell?"

"I… I don't know."

"..." Tomoe's eyebrows began to furrow as she looked Val straight in the eyes.

"I… I swear I don't know!"

"You're scaring the child."

And after a few more moments of Val just shivering in fear, Paige could no longer help herself as she moved beside Tomoe; placing her hand on her shoulder as she gestured to her to move a little bit to the side.

"He's not a child," Tomoe could really only shake her head and sigh as she moved away.

"She's quite scary, isn't—"

It would seem Paige would not have the chance to talk to the young prince, as before she could even say anything, the light within the confinement bay became red.

"..." Paige blinked a couple of times as he looked around the hall, "...Could red mean a good thing in your culture?"

"...That's the alarm."

"Oh… of course."

And not even a second later, Paige and the others suddenly found themselves surrounded by almost a dozen guards; the markings on their skin, as bright as their glowing silver hair— and as already seen earlier from Admiral Varen, this sort of appearance means the evaniels… were ready for battle.

"You're right, Tomoe. It is a trap," Riley calmly said as he scanned the 10 evaniels that were currently circling them.

"W… wait!"

Prince Val quickly raised his hand, "These people were with me the whole time, they didn't do anything to the priso— !!!"

And before the young prince could finish his words; his hair lit up instinctively, the markings on his face, also starting to etch out as one of the guards suddenly broke from his position… and rushed towards him.

Val could see it clearly. The guard was holding a knife; not just a normal knife, but a knife seemingly made of ice. He initially thought that the guard was going to attack Riley, but no— he truly was heading towards him.

He was the target.

Val was going to move to the side to dodge the knife that was threatening to make a hole in his chest. But then… the tip of the crystal knife started to break, to shatter.

Val could see it clearly. The knife exploded; its shards, piercing and penetrating through the guard's hand. It didn't last long, however, as very soon, the guard's hand also started to somewhat shatter—no, it started to fold.

There was a ripple, a ripple through his skin that soon traveled through his entire body. And there, Val saw the guard's arm creasing into several folds as his bones poked through his skin.

And then, without even a breath, almost like an insect; the guard's blood splattered neatly in the air as his entire body soon also shattered. His guts, very slowly falling, no— dripping from the invisible wall that seemed to be right in front of Val.

"W… what?"

Val could really only cover his mouth; trying his best not to puke and cry from the visceral and gory sight. When Riley Ross and Dr. Vella were talking earlier in his room, he heard that Riley was capable of telekinesis… was he responsible for this?

"You… you killed him," Val blurted out.

"Technically, he killed himself," Riley quickly answered with a sigh, "You will get used to it, Prince Val. I've fought quite a lot of sprinters before…

…this always happens for some reason."