Villain Retirement

"We surrender."

"Huh…? W—"

Queen Vania was not even able to react or express what she was feeling as she was warped back to her table. And it wasn't only her—Princess Vera and the other evaniels that were defeated before her were also back.

"What the…" Vera quickly touched and tapped her neck, gasping for air as she was still a little confused as to what happened, "We… won? You were able to defeat all of them, Queen Mother?"

"...No," Queen Vania blinked a couple of times as she looked at her people, "I… think they surrendered as soon as one of them was hurt. Wait…

…who are they?"

Queen Vania quickly tried to find Ahor Zai, only to see her with her head down; her eyes were flickering as if there were a thousand fireflies dancing in them.

"What's going on with the Codex?"

"The AI is currently talking to the Messengers," Diana was the one to respond as she approached the slightly perturbed queen. No, perhaps slightly was an exaggerating understatement — she is shocked, to the point that the only thing Queen Vania could do was look around to try and make sense of it all.

"They were also the first ones to win during the Battle Royale, correct?" Queen Vania breathed out as she looked at Hannah, "You were able to talk to them?"

"...Not really," Hannah shook her head, "They were a little weird. They look like humans, but there was something odd with them—they reminded me of Riley for some reason."

"It doesn't matter what type of people they are," Queen Adel joined in on the conversation as she literally looked down at Queen Vania; her feet, slightly above the floor, "They were able to finish your people in less than a minute, and then only received superficial wounds from your strongest champion. Is it possible for them to be themarians?"

"They were not," Esme, who had been dozing off from time to time, raised her hand to speak. And as always, her voice was extremely monotonous, add that to her lethargic tone, and one would almost feel sleepy listening to her, "I have scanned their energy, but they did not have anything at all…

…similar to the Professor."

"..." And as everyone heard Esme's voice, the humans, evaniels, themarians, as well as the other Higher Races all looked at Riley, who was trying to figure out how to turn the channel back on the big screen to Italian Mafia Reborn.

"Riley," Hannah did not even wait for the others to ask as she walked toward him, "What's going on here? Are those guys actually with you or what?"

"Hm…?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he glanced at Hannah. Before he could answer, however, Ahor Zai woke up from her stupor with a shout, almost causing Hannah to jump back in fright.

"What the fuck!?"

[I apologize,] Ahor Zai wiped the imaginary sweat trailing on her forehead, [I wanted to try that once. I have come back from talking with the Messengers.]

"...And?"

Everyone focused their attention on Ahor Zai.

[They do not know about them,] Ahor Zai sighed, [Lakas, the Messenger that brought them here, fetched them from a planet that does not exist.]

"Huh…?"

"How does that even fucking work?" Hannah glanced at Diana and the others.

[It should never have happened, but it did,] Ahor Zai placed her hand on her chin, [I have also tried to find them in the hall of losers, but they were not there—it was like they just disappeared.]

"Just disapp—wait a fucking minute," Hannah pointed at Riley, "Are you using Paige's abilities again!? Didn't we just have a talk about you not using it!?"

"I believe we did not have that conversation, sister," Riley said as he subtly gestured to Ahor Zai to turn back Italian Mafia Reborn, "And no, I am not using Paige's abilities."

"Do not be absurd, human," Queen Vania raised her voice as she also pointed at Riley, "Do you really think your brother is capable of creating an illusion, and then using his telekinesis all the way from here to simulate a group of people that was able to overwhelm my people?"

"Well…" Hannah looked back and forth between Riley and Queen Vania, "...Who knows what this pervert is up to now."

"I am not a pervert, sister," Riley shook his head before pointing at Gracy, who was just minding her own business and not caring about the mysterious group, "But she is."

"Wh—"

"But if all of you are truly curious as to who those 5 people are, I might have a guess," Riley waited for someone to ask him. But as several seconds passed and everyone just stared at him, he just let out a small sigh and raised a finger, 

"The Primordials."

"..."

And with those words, everyone just looked at each other. Even Ahor Zai was slightly confused, almost leaning closer to Riley even though she could actually hear everything within the hall no matter where she was.

"The Primordials exist beyond the multiverse itself," the five norinlads floated closer to Riley, "They could never exist in our plane."

"I have been here for more than two decades, Inferior Tedis," Riley sighed as he looked at the norinlads, "I am a Primordial."

"Stop with this blasphemy, Riley Ross," the leader of the norinlads stepped on the floor, "Even if you are our only connection to the secrets of the universe, we will not tolerate you making such claims."

"Why not?" Riley tilted his head, "I am tolerating all the existence in this room. I could start killing all of you and none of you will even know if this is even my original body or not. I have the Cherbi on my side, and I could also ask Olseyir and her race to help me—in exchange, I will recreate them."

"..." Queen Vania's green hair immediately lit up as the tattoos on her body emerged. It wasn't only her—Queen Adel also stood by her side as her eyes turned red.

Hannah, on the other hand, just turned to look at Hera. And as soon as she confirmed that she wasn't transforming into anything, she just rolled her eyes and covered her face.

"But all of you may relax. We are in a safe space," Riley let out a sigh as he looked at the petrified faces of the Normal Races, "None of you are dying today. I am not here as Darkday, I am only here to have fun."

"Threatening to kill everyone here is your definition of fun?" Princess Vera's green hair also started to light up.

"No threats, just killing everyone, Princess Vera."

"You-"

"As I said, no one can stop me if I wished to do so - because more importantly..." A small smile crawled on Riley's face as he stretched his palm to the side. And as he did so, Ahor Zai very gently held it and stood beside him,

"...Ahor Zai is Quadley's friend—she is on my side."

"What…?" Queen Vania blinked a couple of times as she looked at Elder Apo and Elder S'adar, who were fellow members of the Common Council. And judging from the way they looked, none of them knew it as well.

"This Tournament that involved the Higher Races," the smile on Riley's face grew even wider, "It was Quadley's idea. The Common Council just filled the gaps. In a way…

…the Common Council works for me, no?"