Villain Retirement

"When does a misguided hero become a villain?"

"..."

"When the people decide that they are."

And with a clap of his hands, the hologram that filled the center of the auditorium with all sorts of stories and emotions disappeared, leaving only King standing in the middle of it with eyes that seemed completely empty, and yet so full.

"And thus signaled the end of my story as a hero… and the start of a new beginning."

"You still have not answered how you were able to kill the themarians, King."

"Because I am not yet done with my story. Now, where was I?"

"You were exiled from your own home and chased away by Megawoman." And as everyone held faces of panic and worry, Riley just calmly gestured to King to continue. Aerith, who was violently stepped on and thrown away by King, could really only grit her teeth and also listen while waiting for her body to recover.

As for Diana, Bernard was trying his best to ease her pain, while trying to find a way to get rid of the nano-sized energy depleters that were currently eating away at her body.

"Ah, yes…" King did not seem to care that they were slowly recovering, however, as he also calmly started walking around with a smile on his face,

"I was forced to run away, too weak to fight back against the mighty Megawoman. But why me? Why was I being chased when all I did was protect my people? Why was I being chased away by an alien from my own home?"

"..."

"I hope you could see the irony in that," King laughed, "Even after I have taken the powers of more than a hundred supers, I was not a match against a themarian. So in the end, I ran and ran — and in the process of going through the Known Universe, I have also learned to take their racial abilities and put them inside me…

…even then I wasn't Megawoman's match, no… not until I found the Norinlads."

"Hm."

"Or perhaps it was better to say that they found me," there was almost a look of reminisce in King's eyes as he spoke, "Creatures that seek only knowledge and nothing else, creatures incapable of violence… creatures of unfathomable power. They quickly took interest in me, adopted me as one of their own due to what I was capable of mentally."

King tapped the side of his head as he started spinning in place as if he was still surrounded by holograms that only he could see,

"And I took advantage of that. Do not feel sorry for them for they are not kind, just curious. As they used my intellect and brutality, I used their thirst for knowledge — they willingly let me experiment on their own kind."

"Hm," Riley nodded, "The Norinlads will side with the devil for knowledge."

"Indeed," King chuckled, "But there was only one thing I learned as I learned about them — that their bodies are literally capable of splitting atoms with just a flick of their fingers. They are capable of changing the state of matter as easily as breathing… but they don't. Because changing nature is by definition, an act of violence. Splitting an atom would cause devastation…

…the power of a god once again wasted."

"I was not aware they were capable of that, King," Riley placed his hand on his chin.

"They are capable of much more," King closed his eyes and breathed in, "I wanted that power, but my resources did not allow me yet to extract their brains — they let me experiment on everything except for that. I needed a way, just one, to peek through their brains, but I was not strong enough to even touch them…

…until Pirate Queen Xra fell into my hands."

King then once again looked up to where the others were watching. His eyes which were far away, still managing to peer through Xra's eyes.

"Pirate Queen Xra sought the Norinlads, trying to find a way to resurrect her loved one. At first, the norinlads were curious as Xra brought out a bundle of energy equaling several stars — but that was all it was," King let out a small and deep sigh as he shook his head, "There was no person there, just a bundle of energy. The norinlads quickly ignored Xra, but not me…

…I gave her what she wanted, her lost love."

"..." Xra, who was just quietly watching from above, could not help but slightly show her fangs as she heard the somewhat condescending tone coming from King's voice. She was about to jump down, but Hera stopped her from doing so.

"If you go down there, you die," Hera stated; her eyes, looking directly at Xra's.

"I am immortal," Xra scoffed as she pushed Hera's arm away, "And I have grown tired of the man-child's story."

"You will die," Hera once again blocked Xra's path, "I know that you will die, every fiber of my being is telling me so."

"..."

"Listen to the actress, vampire," King raised his voice as he continued to look at Xra, "She is right, you will die, as your variant did before you. I gave her what she wanted, or at least an illusion of it, briefly. She was easy to fool, a woman madly in love with a ghost — and so I told her that I needed something from her, her abilities. I quickly realized she was a super from Earth, and she just willingly put herself on the table for me…

…not knowing she would never wake up. But of course, before she died, I at least implanted a memory inside her, an entire life with the being she loved. I gave her what she wanted as promised."

"That was very kind of you, King," Riley nodded.

"Thank you, Riley Ross," King also nodded, "Xra's abilities were fascinating. She was able to read minds that could not be blocked by any frequency, she was able to control and manipulate flesh and blood… she was able to manipulate life itself — the only being capable of counteracting the norinlad's ability to phase through matter. The norinlads, even with all their mysticism, after all, are still actually flesh and blood like the rest of us."

"Hm."

"And so, using Xra's abilities, I secretly performed a procedure on the norinlads — taking their racial abilities for my own," King let out a small but very deep breath as he shook his head, "They did not like that, of course, and banished me — but I had enough of being banished. It was pathetic, they did not even know how to use their innate potential, their powers. And so, as a last gift of knowledge to them…

…I showed them how strong they could be by killing each and every last one of them with their own abilities."

"I also like doing that sometimes, King."

"Of course, I knew you and I would have been friends," King once again let out a humming breath, "And so, we reached the answer to the question I opened…

…I used Xra's abilities to defeat the Norinlads, and then I used the Norinlads' abilities to defeat Megawoman. Trial and error, practice and repetition, weakness and affinities. And you could probably fill out the rest of my story."

"It is a very good story, King. Thank you for sharing it with me," Riley closed his eyes and nodded, "I would put it in the same ranking as the Pope's story. But may I ask a few questions?"

"Of course," King gestured to Riley to ask away.

"What happened to the normal humans of your story, King?"

"They are safe, hidden away from those who wish to hurt them," King smiled, "I proved to them that everything I did, I did for them. They are safe."

"One more question then, King."

"Go."

"Were you not able to dissect the brain of an Alice Lane?" Riley tilted his head to the side.

"Alice Lane…?" King placed his hand on his chin as he recalled all the names of the supers he had encountered, "Not that I remember, no."

"That is probably why you were not able to defeat Megawoman earlier, King," Riley nodded, "She was my mother, and she owned the first ability I received from the Supers."

"Oh…?" King smiled, "Then I would be sure to remember that name and dissect her."

"You will not be able to," Riley shook his head, "She is incredibly strong, and if you did manage to defeat her, she wouldn't be alive and her body wouldn't be intact."

"She is that strong?" King's eyebrows started to furrow, "Yet another one that was not there when the aliens invaded my Earth. It would seem that out of all the universes, mine was just unlucky to not have the proper heroes present."

"I suppose, King," Riley shrugged, "Perhaps if Alice was present, then the aliens that invaded your Earth would have probably not even reached your atmosphere."

"I would have truly liked to have lived that life." Once again, a certain sense of longing could be seen glimmering from King's white eyes as he glanced at Diana and Hannah,

"But sadly, this is my story."

"Hm."

"And I thank you for letting me finish my story, Riley Ross," King then bowed to Riley; the smile on his face, slowly disappearing as he did so, "Now…

…let me finish yours."

"Riley!?"

King disappeared from his spot, only to appear behind Riley; his entire arm, already lodged through his face.

"..." King was going to pull his arm away, but found that he could not do so… even as Riley's body melted to the floor,

"You do know that a norinlad's body can not be grabbed by any means, even if your telekinetic hold could create black holes?"

"I do," another Riley descended from above; his hand gestured like a gun as he pointed it at King, "But I found something that works…

…Pavoom."

"!!!"

And almost as if color itself disappeared, a white beam flashed through everyone's eyes; deleting everything it touched… except for King.

"Wow…" Even though half his body was already blown off, King still looked at his remaining arm in amazement, "...Now this is how you use power, Riley Ross. Bravo… bravo…"

And with those words, King's body… very slowly turned into ash and melted into the floor.

"..." Riley watched King crumble for a few seconds with squinted eyes. He quickly realized what was happening.

"I did tell you I was going to finish your story."

Riley quickly turned to where the voice was coming from, only to see another King standing… close to Hannah.

"But you are undying, Riley Ross," King let out a small giggle as he looked the slightly petrified Hannah in the eyes, "Your story will not conclude until there is no one left to tell your story…

…and that starts with the people closest to you."

"!!!"

"Hannah!"