Villain Retirement

"Mother… Please stop laughing."

"Was that recorded? Please, send me a copy of the footage!"

It has been a few seconds after Queen Vania and the other evaniels were warped away to their match unceremoniously, and yet Queen Adel won't stop laughing obnoxiously—even kicking their table made of themarian materials and causing the entire banquet hall to shake,

"Did you see that, Aera? Did you see? She was trying to act tough only to be kicked out like a child!"

"...Aera?" Silvie blinked a couple of times as she looked at Aerith.

"That's… what she called me when I was young," Aerith covered her face. This was the first time in a very long time that she had seen her mother happy to the point of calling her with endearment, and she was doing so because she one-upped someone,

"Mother, please stop. The others are already staring at you."

"Let them," Queen Adel harrumphed and scoffed, "They should be honored to even take a whiff of my scent—no. They should be honored to even breathe the same air we are."

"Most of them don't breathe, Your Highness," Diana sighed.

"Did I ask your opinion, doctor?" Queen Adel finally stopped laughing, letting out a scoff as she looked away… only to see a humanoid without a nose looking at her,

"What are you looking at?" Queen Adel once again scoffed before just placing her attention on the match, "Why are they even bothering with this farce? They should have just limited the participants to the Higher Races. Well, the themarians would have won anyway, but at least it would have been more entertaining that way."

"What makes you think you would have won, Your Highness?" Hannah, who was returning to her seat after playing and competing against Hera with the arcade games, raised her voice as she sat back down to her seat,

"You still haven't faced any of us."

"I already have," Queen Adel looked at Bernard, "And it's not even close. The only two humans that are capable of actually facing me are in that group."

Queen Adel pointed at Riley's table, only to see that none of the Strays were there. Riley was watching Italian Mafia Reborn beside Ahor Zai, while Xra was being taught how to play video games by Gracy and Delivery. As for Cherbi, well… he was terrorizing the other tables by asking to taste their food.

"Well, you haven't faced me yet," Hannah crossed her arms, before placing her feet on top of the table, "Not yet, not really. And Dad already faced you once, he probably has a lot of countermeasures for you already aside from the EDP."

"Don't underestimate the humans, Mother," Aerith added as she looked Queen Adel in the eyes, "They are much stronger than you think."

"I am not underestimating them, or anyone for that matter. I know full well what they are capable of," Queen Adel returned her daughter's stare, "I'm just not impressed by them compared to your lover."

"That… Riley's not my lover."

"And yet you kissed him? So, what are you? Some sort of harlot that gets randomly impregnated by aliens?"

"..." Hannah still wanted to join the conversation, but after hearing Adel's words, she knew that this was already a conversation between a mother and a daughter.

"Randomly…? What I felt at that time was real," Aerith's voice started to deepen.

"It did not seem like it—you did not seem to be a good mother."

"At least I tried to be one. Unlike you who just completely abandoned us."

"I recall you abandoned your son a couple of times too."

"Y—"

"Let's just say that the both of you are bad mothers, okay?" Diana clapped her hands as she suddenly stood between the two, "How about we agree on that?"

"Said the one who took care of the literal devil," Queen Adel scoffed, "None of us would even be here if you just properly took care of and nourished that boy properly."

"Hey, I won't let you talk like that to my Mom," Hannah also stood up from her seat, "She might act like a gorilla sometimes, and can be a little hypocritical, temperamental, absent, and too doting. And she also hid her entire life from us and practically lied to me my entire life, but she has always tried her best sometimes!"

"Just… just sit back down," Diana glared at Hannah.

"Hm, let us all just agree that we lacked as mothers," Queen Adel scoffed as she finally sat back down, only to quickly stand up again as she looked at the match going on outside,

"...What?"

"..." Diana and Aerith were slightly taken aback at first as they saw the perplexed, and almost shocked expression on Adel's face. But it wasn't only her—almost everyone that could stand up started standing up from their seats, all of them, looking at the screens on the walls.

Ahor Zai also quickly noticed this. She waved her hand, changing the channel of the gigantic screen in front of her to the match happening outside.

"Oh…" Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked back and forth between Ahor Zai and the screen, "...That was the good part, Ahor Zai. Why did you change the channel? It's—Oh?"

Riley's head immediately tilted to the side as his eyes settled on the gigantic screen; his question did not even need to be answered by Ahor Zai as his eyes reflected Princess Vera… being strangled.

"Who…" Queen Adel whispered as she tried to find an empty table, but the only empty table in the banquet hall was the evaniel's, "...are they fighting against?"

"It's them!" Hannah pointed at the screen as she looked at the person who had Princess Vera by the neck. She quickly recognized him; after all, he was the person whose hood she… mistakenly pulled down before–the boy with the white hair,

"It's the weird human-looking people with colorful hair! The one that didn't have a table!"

"Are they from the Higher Races, Ahor Zai?" Riley asked as he heard his sister's words.

[I… don't know,] Ahor Zai blinked a couple of times as a small smile crawled on her face, [Interesting.]

"What do you mean you don't know?" Queen Adel approached Ahor Zai, but was blocked by Diana.

"You said you've absorbed all the knowledge of the other Codices from the other universes," Diana inquired, "How is it possible you don't know who they are? Could… they be from the Unknown?"

[It is possible,] Ahor Zai nodded, [But the fact that they are here means they are part of the Known Universe. I will ask the Messengers where they picked them up from.]

"Hm?" Riley focused even more on the screen in front of him as he heard that; staring at the white-haired boy strangling Vera. And as he did so, the white-haired boy also seemingly stared at him, looking straight at the camera that should have been completely invisible to everyone.

The white-haired boy tightened his grip even more, causing Vera to be warped away before she could lose consciousness.

And now, almost all of a sudden, only Queen Vania remained as the other evaniels were also defeated by the other robed figures.

"How… were they defeated?" Queen Adel squinted her eyes as she watched the terrain of the flat planet being re-arranged; with the mountains and the land turning into crevices by an invisible force that moved incredibly fast across the plateau.

And this invisible force was on its way to the white-haired boy, leaving nothing in its wake. The others might not see what was causing this, but Queen Adel and the other races with increased senses could.

It was Queen Vania, destroying whatever she stepped on as she rushed toward the white-haired boy without stopping.

Even with this torrent of destruction heading his way, however, the white-haired boy just calmly stretched his palm toward Queen Vania.

He was, however, obviously violently blown away.

"..." Queen Vania stopped running, causing all the dust and dirt to be blown away just from the shockwave of her sprint. She stared at the white-haired boy, who just casually stood up with just… a broken arm.

Vania then watched as the white-haired boy's companions joined him—running at a speed almost comparable to that of her people.

The boy's arm then slowly healed, snapping back in place as the boy raised it in the air with an amused look on his face.

"This, look at this," the white-haired boy whispered as he looked at his companions.

"Oh…" His companions also held an amused look on their faces as they watched his arm heal. And as soon as it fully recovered, they all turned their heads on Queen Vania all at the same time.

"..." Vania's eyebrows quickly lowered as she looked at them one by one—and it wasn't only her, even Queen Adel's eyebrows were lowered.

Those who knew of Queen Vania's strength were shocked, everyone saw the destruction that Vania showed, but only Queen Adel truly knew the meaning of what just transpired.

An evaniel's durability increases depending on how fast they are—and Queen Vania is the fastest being in the entire Known Universe; she was strong enough to withstand an attack that would destroy an entire star system.

And the attack she just did just now, although she was still holding back, was enough to obliterate several planets… and yet her opponent only received a broken arm.

"Who… are these people?"

The oldest-looking one in the group, the woman with purple hair, suddenly raised her hand, causing Queen Vania to ready herself for what was about to come.

The purple-haired lady then once again looked directly through the screen, before saying…

"We surrender."

"...Huh?"