Villain Retirement

"Well now, who might you be? You… smell like a Guardian."

"And you smell like a racist vixen who hits children. Such a shame that all that is inside such a beautiful vessel."

"..."

"...Dad?"

Hannah's eyes started to tremble as she saw the white silhouette that was standing tall in front of her. She got used to seeing Bernard just sleeping in some sort of coma, but now, even when he was completely covered in armor, he seemed more than alive.

No, perhaps it was the armor itself that made him feel more full of life…because the armor itself felt like it was alive.

There were orange strips of light traversing throughout the entire armor, pulsing like veins that seemed to follow the rhythm of Bernard's breaths. The lights all intersect with his eyes, which blazed like a raging sun.

And with the way it latched and wrapped onto his body, it was almost like a second flesh—there was no longer any sign that it was mechanical… a living armor.

"You're… finally awake, dad," Hannah could not help but stutter.

"Just taking a much-needed rest," Bernard's sigh could be heard seeping from his helmet, "I almost died again when I woke up surrounded by aliens, though. Thinking about it now, that was sort of funny."

"How… did you find us? Did you just wake up?" Hannah looked back and forth between Bernard and Queen Adel, who seemed to be as curious as them as to what was happening.

"I put a tracker on your limiter, remember?" Bernard said as he pointed under his left arm.

"...You still put a tracker on me!?" Hannah whispered loudly, "How does that even work? You have no satellites here."

"I created one," Bernard shrugged; his eyes, not leaving Queen Adel one bit, "This Guardian Force thing is convenient, it's easy to get used to—an almost unlimited power source inside me makes a lot of things… a lot easier. Look, I upgraded my suit too, how do you like it?"

"...How long did you say you've been awake again?"

"A couple of minutes, give or take."

"You… did all of that in a couple of minutes?"

"Who do you think I am?" Bernard then finally removed his attention from Queen Adel as he looked at Aerith; quickly recognizing the similarities between the two.

"Mother issues?" He then bluntly asked.

"Hm," Aerith only nodded her head, "Be careful, Whiteking. She has lots of issues."

"..." Bernard also nodded as he started looking at the crowd, and then at the small planet above the sky, "I think I am starting to get the situation now. And if I am not mistaken…

…is mom involved?" He then said as he glanced at Hannah.

"Mom… I think she's the mastermind?" Hannah chuckled awkwardly, as for Bernard, the only thing he could really do was sigh.

"Oh…" And finally, after just seemingly watching Bernard, Queen Adel finally opened her mouth with a short hum as she looked at Hannah, "You're Caitlain's pets?"

"..." Hannah only shook her head and rolled her eyes, not allowing herself to be provoked.

"Did you really think a themarian, especially someone as devious as Caitlain would really involve herself with animals like you?" Queen Adel started to giggle as she remained floating above everyone else,

"You animals are merely fleeting, and fragile toys that will be ashes come to the morrow. You think a themarian would love feeble creatures like you?"

"You seem to be speaking from experience," Bernard's feet started leaving the ground, "You seem unloved and everyone here can see why—you have a personality that even a frog would avoid, and they leap at tires."

Bernard then stretched his arm to the side, and as he did so, several orbs of white separated from his armor.

"That's cute. What are you going to do with that, play fetch?" Queen Adel once again giggled as she covered her lips, "I've met several Guardians before, and you are just like the rest of them, a fleeting dust."

"You seem to like talking to dust, I suppose it's the only thing that can tolerate you," Bernard remained completely calm, "And…

…I can be creative if I want to."

And with those words, the four orbs circling around Bernard flew straight toward Queen Adel; each creating skirts of wind as they disappeared from view.

"Really?" Queen Adel, however, also disappeared from her position—appearing a meter in front of Bernard with one of the orbs already in her hand, "So? What will this do, explode?"

"Not exactly."

"..." Queen Adel then furrowed her eyebrows as the orb blossomed open; its petals, almost like jaws as it swallowed Adel's entire arm and wrapped around it like a gauntlet. And soon, the three remaining orbs started attaching them to each of her limbs.

"I agree with you, though," Bernard then said as he looked the queen in the eyes; seemingly not afraid that she might just lunge toward him and put a hole in his chest, "I am no match for you, and now that I have these weird superpowers, I can feel the difference between us even more—I can't reach you."

"Sensible," Queen Adel scoffed as she just let the white orbs wrap her limbs completely, "Finally an animal who has a little brain."

"Well, I can't reach you… but it doesn't mean I can't bring you down," a small chuckle then escaped Bernard's mask.

"What—!!!"

And then, all of a sudden, Queen Adel felt a small shock flowing through her entire body, causing her to lose control of her limbs as she felt herself gradually getting exhausted.

"The thing is, I am used to everyone being stronger than me, Your Highness," Bernard then bowed elegantly as Queen Adel started to slowly descend to the ground.

"This… seems familiar." Queen Adel, however, did not seem fazed—one might even say she was a little amused as she felt herself getting exhausted.

"I forgot what it's called," Bernard also followed her as he also slowly descended to the ground as he looked at Aerith, "What do you call this again? EDP? I have no idea what that stands for."

"..." Aerith did not really respond; her eyes only squinted at her mother as she watched her slowly fall. If she was right, then Bernard just produced a miniature… and wearable version of an Energy Depletor Pulse—the device used to weaken themarians temporarily. Its main use was not actually to restrain a themarian, but to train them.

"I already had plans for it as soon as I saw the device you gave the Hope Guild—but it's only now that I have a power source that I could cramp in such a small space that it's finally possible," Bernard shrugged as he sighed as he and Queen Adel were finally back on the ground,

"I fidgeted with it a little, and I found that it doesn't really deplete anything. It just produces a pulse that stimulates, or perhaps I should say provokes your body into thinking that it needs to be exerted—causing you to be exhausted needlessly. Quite interesting how it works, really. I tweaked it a little to make the output 520% stronger…

…I just call it the Anti-Megawoman Contingency Plan Device. Sorry about that… Megawoman."

"It's… fine?"

Aerith almost forgot what Bernard meant to Earth. He was a human without any powers that stood amongst gods…

…and yet there was a reason Aerith always considered him the most dangerous out of all of them.