Villain Retirement

"I shall test your leash, then."

No one noticed it, even Aerith. Aerith was so busy being distracted by Riley that she did not even feel Queen Vania moving from her seat—this was a mistake.

The difference in strength between an evaniel and a themarian was large; like an ant to a tiger. But then, when it comes to speed, the situation is reversed. The worst part of it all is that as Aerith is strong for a themarian, Queen Vania was strong for an evaniel.

She's fast.

Very fast.

So fast that if Aerith was not able to grab her at the very first millisecond of their fight, she would rather just retreat as she would be wasting her time trying to catch even a single fist of her. But alas, right now, Queen Vania was already moving.

"What are you doing, Queen Vania!?" But even so, Aerith rushed to grab Queen Vania—her body, moving like clockwork as she tried her best to reach her as fast as possible, even causing a ripple of shockwave to cause the air to tremble; but alas, the only thing she managed to grab was the image left behind by the queen,

"Stop—"

"Do not interfere, Princess Aerith."

"..." Aerith swung her palm to once again try to catch Queen Vania as she appeared behind her; but once again, Aerith found herself catching air as Queen Vania just vanished. Aerith could sense where she is, and if she focuses enough, she could even predict where Queen Vania will be moving.

But like the lightest feather that could ever flow with the wind, Queen Vania just dodges Aerith's hand. By a hair's breadth, or a full foot away—it didn't really matter, Aerith will never be able to touch her.

"!!!" Aerith then suddenly felt herself being thrown away as Queen Vania hit her straight on the stomach with her palm; just the sheer force of their bodies meeting, enough to cause the very fabric of space itself to crack.

As for the others that were not blessed with godly senses, the only thing they really saw was Aerith waving her hand around before just suddenly disappearing from sight—Aerith and Queen Vania's encounter lasted less than a second.

And now, with Aerith blown away somewhere on Ahor Zai, Queen Vania turned all of her focus to Riley.

"Now… let us see if you are truly as immortal as they say you are."

[Queen of Evaniels, please stop!]

And as Queen Vania made herself visible to the naked eye, a giant slab instantly emerged from the floor—trapping not only her but also Riley as another slab extruded from his feet; both their silhouettes, etching out of the gray slab.

"I said no one interfere. You are included in that, machine."

But alas, it didn't even seem to have any effect in stopping Queen Vania as her hand just easily forced herself out of the slab; her body, a complete blur as it flickered endlessly. And without even as much as another warning, he grabbed Riley's face, who was still trapped inside the slab.

She then stepped forward, pushing Riley's entire body out of the slab before immediately slamming him onto the floor.

One might think seconds may have passed, but no—from the view of those that can't follow Queen Vania's movements, it just seemed like her image was flickering and jumping; like a stop-motion animation that only had 3 frames, they were only able to see Queen Vania whenever she stops moving for a single millisecond, or when she was done with whatever it was she was trying to do.

But then, once again, she disappears from their sight. Unbeknownst to them, the queen of evaniels was now outside the dome, dragging Riley's head through the gray ground, trying to completely shave off his entire head as she ran around Ahor Zai again and again in just seconds.

With no luck, however, Riley's head was still completely unscathed as his entire body was currently protected with a telekinetic barrier; his eyes, looking in between the gaps of Queen Vania's fingers.

Aerith was right—the queen of evaniels was in a completely different realm than the other evaniels Riley had faced. She wasn't even running properly; she was slightly leaning down and crawling since she seemed adamant in dragging his head through the ground.

Riley had also been placing invisible walls in front of her. But aside from her nose slightly being squished by a millimeter, it was almost as if she was completely ignoring Riley's telekinetic barriers.

"..." Riley then turned to look at Queen Vania's legs, which were nowhere to be seen from how fast they were moving—she just looked like a floating torso in Riley's view.

"I can not imagine how hurt you are with the death of your son, Queen Vania," Riley then just decided to talk as he sighed. But alas, his words were completely being left behind—not even he was able to hear them.

"Queen Vania."

Riley once again spoke; this time, his words traveled with them due to him making a telekinetic bubble that connected both their heads, making Queen Vania turn her head to Riley.

"Y—"

She did not let Riley say another word, however, as he lifted his head up from the ground; her speed, suddenly increasing to the point that Riley could truly no longer see anything. And then…

…she suddenly let go of Riley and abruptly stopped running.

And like a cork, Riley's body was thrown violently across the ground—only stopping as he hit the glass dome that encapsulated the plateau of Ahor Zai. His head, however, was still floating near Queen Vania.

"..." Queen Vania turned to look at Riley's floating head, watching as it dropped to the ground,

"Let's watch how you revive," Queen Vania said. But alas, she did not exactly see what she wanted to see, as Riley's head just shattered; turning into gray dust that very slowly returned to the gray ground of Ahor Zai.

"..." Queen Vania then looked to where Riley's body was, only to appear in front of it without even a single millisecond—and there, once again, she watched as his body returned to the ground.

"What is the meaning of this, machine?" Queen Vania's stern voice whispered in the air as she looked to nowhere in particular, "Was that a clone? Where is Riley Ross?"

[Riley Ross is currently in the library, Queen Vania.]

"What? Since when?" Queen Vania's green eyebrows started to furrow.

[He never left.]

"..." Queen Vania took in a long and very deep breath as she closed her eyes; calming herself down before suddenly disappearing from her spot, moving through the basement of Ahor Zai and almost instantly appearing in front of the library.

"Open the doo—" And without even letting her finish her words, the door to the library opened. Queen Vania instantly activated her speed as she barged inside, just in case it was a trap. But as soon as she saw him, her green hair quickly relaxed as it fell to her shoulders.

"What… are you doing?" Queen Vania could not help but utter as she saw Riley seated in front of Ahor Zai's Memory Storage… 

…casually drinking milk and eating cookies.