Villain Retirement

"Asha!"

"..."

You might live.

That is what Riley told the dark-skinned themarian as he pierced his arm through her chest, pushing out her heart through her back and holding it tight…with all the veins and arteries still surprisingly intact.

"Same as Aerith. Your heartbeat is exponentially faster than hers, however. Throughout the time I have been with her, her heartbeat usually only beats 4 times a day."

And through all the shocked faces, Riley just pulled his arm out with Asha's heart; still intact even after her veins stretched more than a meter—probably a themarian trait. Of course, Riley wouldn't really know all of it.

"It still baffles me how similar your biology is to humans, but at the same time, so different," Riley said as his head tilted to the side while staring at Asha's still very much beating heart,

"Oh well."

And with those words, Asha's heart started to bloat in between Riley's fingers as he started to grip it ever so tightly. Riley was already using enough strength to completely turn diamond into dust—and yet Asha's heart, like a balloon, just continued to stretch out.

"Stop… stop!"

And Asha—Asha couldn't really move anything but her eyes and mouth; her screams, reverberating straight to Riley's ears like a visceral song.

"This…" The smile on Riley's face became wider, to the point that one could already see both his upper and lower set of teeth, "...This is beautiful."

Riley had never heard something like this before. As far as he knows, themarians seem to be the only species in the entire universe that is able to actually speak in the expanse of space and produce a sound without using any external instruments or gadgets—and the sound they produce is quite… nerving.

"Let… let go—Eek!"

"I feel like I am underwater," Riley then closed his eyes as his head started to bob left and right, "Like a magnificent ocean creature is singing its song to me, and me alone. How wonderful… truly wonderful."

Riley's white face soon started turning red as his words soon became stuttered. And each strand of his long white hair, vibrating along with the excitement and glee that was surrounding his entire body, almost producing a sound similar to a thousand cicadas that only Asha could hear.

"Asha! Let… let go of her!"

"Leena, no!"

"Oh?"

And once again, in the heat of the moment, another one of them was able to escape from Riley's telekinetic grip. The blonde themarian girl, Leena, did not even hesitate to rush at Riley as soon as she felt even a tiny hint of freedom.

"I said, let go of—!?"

Sadly for her, however, as soon as she was within arm's reach, Riley suddenly pushed Asha's heart straight into her screaming mouth. Suffice it to say, Leena instantly stopped in her tracks; her eyes, even wider than her mouth that was holding Asha's heart within it.

"!!!"

And before Leena could do anything, Riley swung his palm up and struck her directly under the chin. Blood and saliva exploded right on Riley's face as Asha's mouth finally burst open inside Leena's mouth.

The worst part of this, probably, is that Riley was not even letting her open her mouth.

"..." Riley then turned his eyes toward Asha, waiting for her to regenerate. And as soon as he saw the flesh around the hole he made starting to close shut like a million worms coalescing into one another, he gently pushed Asha away.

"I told you, you might live, Miss Asha," Riley then chuckled before turning his attention to Leena… and grabbing her face and gripping her cheeks. But with her lips completely shut, Asha's blood and mangled heart had nowhere to go but in.

No, that was not exactly true as some of Asha's blood started to spurt out from Leena's nose. Minjun and Con also tried their hardest to be free of Riley's telekinetic grip, but alas, with Riley now fully restraining just the three of them… it almost seemed as if they were drowned in some sort of immovable ocean.

The only thing they could really do is the thing they have been doing since the start—watch.

"How does other's blood taste for you, Miss… Leena?" Riley whispered as he looked Leena straight into her weeping eyes, 

"I tried tasting human blood before to see if I was a cannibal, but I didn't end up swallowing it and even spat it out."

"Hmgh…" Leena was either trying to say something, or she had already vomited inside her mouth.

"I have had Inihaw na Dugo before. It is some kind of street food back on my home planet—my themarian vocabulary is not that polished, but it should translate to Grilled Blood. In my case, it was grilled chicken blood," Riley muttered, "It tasted good when you dip it and let it soak for a few seconds in sweet and spicy vinegar. I thought it would taste like that, you know? But no."

"..."

"Inihaw na Dugo is prepared by seasoning the blood with salt and pepper," Riley continued as he raised his other hand. And as he did so, something emerged from the pocket of his black suit—salt and pepper shakers.

Leena's trembling mouth started to open, revealing the guttural view of vomit, blood, and saliva all mixed together between her lips. And despite her best efforts to shake free… the only thing that started to shake was the salt and pepper shakers. The flavorful dust very slowly flew straight inside her mouth and into the blood.

And almost as if to mock her, Riley's mouth also started to open—the smile on his face, now wider than ever before.

"And then…" Riley's face started to turn red as his words became whispers, "And then… you boil it in water."

"!!!"

Asha's weeping eyes seemingly wanted to pop out of their sockets as she felt the inside of her mouth starting to burn. As a themarian, their flesh could resist unimaginable temperatures—they could even bathe inside the core of the sun if they wanted to.

Well, adult themarians, that is.

And with Riley releasing a fraction of Hannah's powers right inside Leena's mouth, the inside of her cheeks, her gums, and her tongue started to stick to each other as they melted from the heat.

Surprisingly, though… the blood inside her mouth just calmly started to boil.

"We don't have water, Miss Leena. So… I have to improvise, I apologize," Riley sighed and shook his head, "Now we just wait for the chicken blood to solidify into a chunk."

"..."

"..."

Leena's eyes started to tremble from the seething pain inside her mouth—but finally, after a few more seconds, the pain just disappeared.

"And now that it's finally hard, we cut it into tiny bite-size portions," Riley said as his index finger in his free hand started to twirl. And as it did so, the flavored solidified blood started to turn into chunks—unfortunately for Leena, the slice just went slightly beyond and also sliced her cheeks.

Her cheeks being cut open was no problem at all, however, as they healed as soon as it was cut. The problem was, however, that her teeth started to char.

"And then we grill it."

"!!!"

Minjun and Con also started to shed tears as they watched what was being done to Leena. Although they were truly rageful and filled with sorrow for Leena, they no longer really knew what their tears were for.

Was it for her pain… or was it for the fact that they knew they were next?

"So, how does it taste, Miss Leena?" Riley then grabbed Leena's chin and forced her to chew it—and of course, swallow all of it at once.

"It probably tasted bland without the vinegar, but I sadly don't carry one," Riley sighed as he finally let go of Leena's face,

"I have actually cooked grilled blood several times, but using chicken's blood—I just can't seem to try it with humans because I already know that I'm not a cannibal. So…

…how was it?"

"Eurgh!" And with Leena finally feeling her face free, the only thing she could really respond with was by another vomit.

"Hm…" Riley nodded several times, "It is appalling, no? Anyway…"

And with that, Riley flicked his finger—and as he did so, Leena's face split open, before opening up like a rose and revealing her brain.

"You might live, Miss Leena," Riley said as Leena's brain started to detach itself from the rest of her body. And with Riley pushing her away, his eyes started to stray toward the two themarians left.

"Fun, no?"

"..."

"..."

Both Minjun and Con tried their best to shake their heads, but could not. And very slowly, Riley made his way toward them.

***

"Ha…"

After an undetermined amount of time, Riley was now freely floating in the darkness. His eyes closed, and the smile on his face was still as bright as before. He was the only one smiling, however, as the four themarians around him were just curling and cradling themselves.

"Themarians are so durable," Riley giggled to himself. And as he did so, the four flinched.

"That was really fun, we should go again."

"No… no…" Leena, who had to grow an entire body, could not help but shiver as she heard Riley's words, "Please… please, enough."

"You might still live again," Riley shook his head, "You are stronger now, no? That is what I heard from Aerith. Truly unfortunate for sir Fionn, though. Anyway…

…Again."

"I don't think so."

And before Riley could approach one of the pitiful young themarians, a figure suddenly appeared right in front of him.

It was a muscular themarian, adorned with a graying thick mustache.

"D… Dad!?"