Villain Retirement

"You don't need your ears."

"..."

The heat that traveled through the canteen was enough to distort the very air. Cyril, however, couldn't care less about the changing temperature. He was more in shock by the unrelenting grip of each of Riley's fingers.

He tried breaking Riley's arm again—even tearing it off; but for some reason, Riley's nerves remain completely connected, causing his grip to remain and even lock. The only thing Cyril could really do was look through the gaps between Riley's fingers, watching his arm heal in a very weird way.

"..." And soon, it made it hard for him to ignore the rising temperature. It was getting hotter and hotter, to the point that it was starting to surpass his own energy beam. At this point, it would only be a few more seconds before Riley manages to melt his entire face—his nose was already started to burn and melt.

Realizing this, Cyril took one final breath with his mouth before leaping into the air and wrapping his legs around Riley's arm. He wanted to fly down and drag Riley into the floor; but alas, he felt like there were strings keeping him suspended in the air.

This didn't faze Cyril, however, as he turned to look at his friends. And as soon as he did so, the other guards started to rush toward Riley—grabbing him by all of his limbs and lifting him into the air; one was even pulling on his mouth and face.

Riley gritted his exposed teeth as his breaths became extremely vocal and rabid; his flesh, very slowly but surely being torn off by the 5 themarians pulling him in different directions.

"Ha…" Riley let out a loud grunt as the corners of his lips were slowly separated, making his already wide mouth even wider—it looked as though he was smiling… but he was not.

Riley was not smiling at all; he was just staring at Cyril's eyes which were also looking at him through the gaps between his fingers.

"..." And with another grunt, Riley pulled his head from the hand grabbing it, completely tearing his cheek open. As soon as he did so, however, the air around him completely became obscure—completely and fully distorted by the heat and the smoke that was starting to fog the air around him.

"Hot!" One of Cyril's friends quickly let go of Riley as he was suddenly surprised by something that felt like heat close to the inside of a sun—this was a mistake. Because as he was waving his hand and trying to ease the pain, the others also lost their grip one by one, completely freeing Riley.

And as soon as his feet landed on the floor, Riley carried Cyril away from the table before slamming him on the floor, cracking it and slightly causing the entire canteen to quake.

Cyril's friends did not hesitate to rush toward Riley again, but the sudden steam that fumed out of Riley's body all caused them to take a step back. The air was so thick and hot that it almost felt like there was a wall preventing them from stepping inside.

And soon, they could no longer see what was happening. It was just a white sphere—a white sphere distorting anything close to it visually, and literally.

"You…" Cyril could feel his entire skin starting to crack, burn, and melt. One would think that themarians would be used to pain since they were a race of warriors, but no. Aside from their own species, there were only a few things in the entire universe that could hurt them, after all.

Cyril could really only grit his teeth—if he was going to save himself, this was his last chance. And with that thought, his eyes which were already starting to meld with his eyelids started to glow as he summoned a pair of energy balls around him.

These two red orbs, however, completely did nothing. Whatever was being released from Riley's body, it was hotter and more violent than his energy projection.

"You… You can't do this," Cyril tore off his own lips that were already stuck together to be able to speak, "I'm a royal guard. This is—"

Riley did not even seem to care, however, as he even slammed Cyril's head on the floor again as soon as he heard him talk.

"I told you," he then whispered, and with each word, he continued to slam Cyril's head, "Do. Not. Touch. My. Things."

"Professor Riley."

"!!!" Riley then quickly turned his head as he heard a voice, only to see a hand grabbing his wrist; a hand large enough to cover more than half of his forearm.

"I have an update about Princess Aerith."

And as soon as he heard those words, the scorching temperature in the room started to lower; very slowly returning to normal as the white noise blocking Riley and Cyril from the rest of the canteen dissipated away.

"What is it, Princess Esme?" Riley then casually let go of Cyril's face as he turned to face Esme; parts of her clothes, completely gone and exposing her slightly tanned skin. She didn't seem to care, however, as she looked at Riley's face.

"You have something on your face, Professor Riley," Esme blinked a couple of times as he saw Riley's cheek torn off and hanging from his jaw.

"Oh," Riley also blinked a couple of times, before using his telekinesis to fix his skin and flesh, helping to hasten his body's regeneration, 

"This is not important, Princess Esme. Please share your information about Aerith," Riley then said as he walked toward his broken table, letting out a small but very deep sigh as he started picking up the pieces.

"She is in the castle, somewhere underground," Princess Esme slightly hummed as she looked at Cyril, or more specifically, Cyril's organs. He seemed to have lived, however, as his flesh and bones were slowly starting to materialize again, "I tried making a request to see if they could grant us visitation hours, but they said they were ordered not to let anyone near her at all costs, even if the King himself requested."

"Underground?" Riley started putting the table together using his telekinesis, and as soon as it seemed whole again, it suddenly disappeared; no, it became smaller,

"Themarians seem to like hiding things underground, even mother does it," Riley squinted his eyes as he returned all of his things back into his coat.

"...Is that another one of your abilities, Professor Riley?" Princess Esme's eyes widened as soon as she saw Riley shrinking the chairs, tables, and cutleries.

"Yes," Riley casually said as he started walking away.

"Then, is it possible for you to make me shorter?"

"No. I have tried using it on another person once, they just turn into a lump of meat. I can use it on myself, however."

"...What other abilities do you have, Professor Riley?"

"I can grow trees. There's also…"

The other themarians in the canteen could really only watch as Riley and Esme casually walked out of the canteen, leaving Cyril to recover all on his own on the floor.

"..." Even Zac, who found and brought Esme to the canteen, could not help but suck in his breaths and hope this situation doesn't escalate any further. After all, this involved him in a way since he knew Cyril and the others. And so, after a few more seconds of staring at Cyril's regenerating body, he also turned to follow Riley and Esme—-leaving everyone wondering—

"What… just happened?"