Villain Retirement

"Hm. It feels really uncomfortable being warped away like that."

"I…I agree."

Riley's group was in the midst of eating their meal when they were suddenly teleported away from the banquet. Sadly for Gracy, the luxurious meal she just had was now trying to escape her body as she puked on the hard ground.

"Really? It feels refreshing," Delivery, on the other hand, just tilted his cap as he looked around the area they were warped to. They seemed to still be on the same flat planet, as the faded silhouettes of the Messengers still surrounded them from all sides. They were on a rocky plateau, filled with only sharp rocks and canyons,

"Where are the octopus guys?"

"There," Xra pointed toward a direction, but no one was there.

"...Where?" Gracy wiped the mix of saliva and vomit from her lips. She grabbed Cherbi's shoulder to help her up, but it ended up going through its pink body, "Ack!"

"..." Cherbi looked at Gracy for a few seconds, before shaking its head and showing a hint of disappointment, "Please do not touch me unnecessarily. It won't be good for you."

"Y… yeah, thanks for reminding me only now," Gracy started wagging her hand as she moved behind Riley, "So, do we have any plan or should we just do what we did earlier?"

"We don't need a plan for this, Gracy," Riley shook his head, "We will just hunt."

Riley started walking past the group, before pulling knives that may as well be the size of machetes from his back.

"Where… do you keep pulling those things from?" Gracy followed behind Riley, staring intensely at his posterior, "Is it from your anus?"

"I can summon things and make them feel real, Gracy."

"What? Were you always able to do that?" Gracy raised an eyebrow, "What exactly is your power? The power of pulling bullshit?"

"I received the ability from Paige, Gracy," Riley shrugged as he started brushing his knives together.

"...Paige? I have no idea who that is, but can I have one?"

"..." Riley looked at one of his knives for a few seconds, before handing it to Gracy. Gracy was slightly perplexed that Riley actually gave her one, but as soon as she grabbed it… it passed through her hand and fell straight through the hard ground, completely disappearing from her eyes.

"What the…"

"The knife is only real for me, Gracy," Riley nodded as he once again summoned another blade in his hand.

"It seemed real enough for the aliens you used them on earlier," Gracy slightly shivered when she remembered all the blood of different colors splashing onto her skin.

"I make them feel real using my telekinesis and other abilities, Gracy."

"So… that is the power you received from the girl," Xra joined in on the conversation as she touched Riley's long knife, only for her to feel a certain coldness coming from it, "I have already thought her powers to be… convenient. But for someone like you, it's a weapon. It is scary to think what you would do with it."

"I do not use it too much," Riley shook his head, "Mother says it accelerates the deterioration of my mind, making me see things that are not there."

"Hm… I would like to talk about it more," Xra started looking around, "But our opponents are here."

And as soon as she said that, one of the rocks that were blocking their view violently exploded, with some sort of bullet moving through it and heading straight toward Gracy's head. Gracy, however, easily avoided it by tilting to the side.

"Hey! That was a kill shot, I thought we weren't allowed to kill each other here!?" Gracy turned to look at where the bullet hit, only to see it scatter and turn to ink, "Wait… did you just try to squirt your… secretion on my beautiful face!?"

Gracy leaped from the ground, destroying the rocks behind her as she lunged herself to where the bullet ink came from—and as soon as she saw even a glimpse of a tentacle, she immediately stepped on it before forcefully pulling, and completely tearing it from the rest of its body.

"Kuek!" A high-pitched shrill echoed in the air as the octophoid revealed the rest of its body that was actually camouflaged on the hard ground. His shrills did not last long, however, as Gracy immediately covered his mouth, or perhaps that was a snout.

"You bitch. You dare perform a sneak attack on the mighty deliverer of justice…?" Gracy gritted her teeth as her eyes turned red, "Sadly for you, you overgrown squid… we're currently on Operation Hunt — that means you're going to have a lot of time being fucked into pieces."

And as she said those words, she once again pulled another tentacle; ripping it apart without any hesitation before throwing the dismembered tentacle to Cherbi, whose entire torso opened up to swallow it.

"Aside from killing you…" Gracy started giggling, "...I can do whatever the fuck I wa–!!!"

"Get away from Kantot!"

And once again, Gracy's words were interrupted as another ink bullet went her way—from Jakol. This time, however, she was hit directly on her chest, causing her to roll a few meters across the ground. This did not seem to faze her, as she immediately stood up and started wiping the ink away in disgust.

"Ew, ew… ew," Gracy started bouncing around; her breasts, also jiggling away uncontrollably, "Even your names sound disgusting!"

"How dare you disrespect us!?" Jakol roared as he rushed to help his comrade, Kantot.

"This is why you should wear more clothes, child," Xra rolled her eyes, "What made you even strip in the first place?"

"This is my superhero outfit!" Gracy continued to fling the ink away.

"Your superhero outfit is underwear?" Xra sighed in disappointment, "And I have been observing the way you act since we have met — I see no glimpse of a savior from you, little girl."

"Because I haven't been given the fucking chance to be a hero yet. My father and I spent all our time hiding. And it's not underwear!" Gracy clicked her tongue before smirking at Xra, "Then again, it's not your fault that you were born in a time when women don't wear underwear."

"What did you fucking say to me, child?" Xra raised an eyebrow as she stretched her hand toward Gracy.

"What, you wanna fight!?" Gracy raised both her fists, only to be slightly pushed aside as Jakol flew straight to Xra's hand.

"Your group does not have anything to worry about," Xra looked at Jakol from head to tentacle, "As long as I am here, none of you will really die."

"..." Jakol's eyes stared at Xra for a few seconds, before his tentacles started wrapping around Xra's entire body. Xra, however, just smirked before slamming him straight to the ground. Jakol could feel his flesh tattering into pieces—but for some reason, not a single of his blue blood sprawled anywhere. And as soon as he felt Xra's grip loosening, he quickly took this chance to skitter away; disappearing as the color and texture of his skin melded with the ground.

Even with him almost completely invisible, however, Xra's eyes followed him without fail as he went away to regroup. But for some reason, she didn't do anything.

Jakol realized there and then… that he was completely wrong. He hit Gracy right on the torso with his ink bullet, and yet she was completely unfazed. Xra also treated him like a hatchling, slamming him to the ground without even struggling to get away from his tentacles.

He was wrong — their strength was real. And so, as soon as Jakol was able to regroup with his team, he quickly decided that they should forfeit the match. He wasn't stupid, he knew that something else was going on with the Strays.

"Ahor Zai! We sur—"

But before he could announce his team's surrender, he found himself unable to speak. He looked at his team, only to see them also unable to open their mouths. Jakol quickly looked at one of the Messengers, waving at it to get its attention — but alas, he was too small to even be noticed.

"Well then…" 

"!!!"

And while Jakol and the Krukux were panicking, Riley suddenly appeared right in the center of them; standing there with a smile that reached from ear to ear,

"...I was told that the Tournament is a way for everyone to release their stress. And those that are watching it are watching it purely for entertainment."

"!?" Jakol and his people all backed away in different directions upon hearing Riley's words. They looked at each other for a few seconds, before they all shot him at the same time. Their ink, however, just slid down across his clothes and skin; not even leaving a trace of color.

"So, let me be the first to entertain everyone that is watching," Riley slightly tilted his knives to reflect Jakol, 

"We will give you the same treatment we gave to the people in the Battle Royale — we will give all of you 5 minutes. You can do whatever you want within that 5 minutes. You could continue attacking me if you wish… or you could run, hide, or even fatally and brutally attack each other so you could be warped away."

Jakol stopped spitting his ink bullet as he heard Riley's words. He started looking at his people. And even though they were unable to speak, the tension within their eyes was enough for them to understand their thoughts.

"You are free to do anything, Jakol," Riley started giggling, "But after your 5 minutes is done…

…our hunt will begin."