Villain Retirement

"Hahahaha!"

King never considered himself a villain. He knew he was in the eyes of billions of people, but he was convinced that what he was doing was right — and time would prove that to be so. He had seen it first hand, after all; the violence men are capable of to those who they deem weaker than themselves.

King knew what he was and what his goal is.

That is why he needed to become the strongest, the one who stood on the top. If he was the only oppressor, the only ruler, then there would absolutely be no violence other than himself. He had seen true evil, he was one of them, after all.

Or so that is what he thought. And now, he was being shown that he knew nothing of true evil at all.

"Go, King. Conquer them, they are already kneeling. Say your famous lines."

"..." King could really only stare at the scenery in front of him. He had thought the worst when Riley told him that he knew about all the variants of Steve he had kept alive in different universes, but Riley never once brought King to them.

Instead, they were going from universe to universe, with Riley urging him to conquer the people in front of him.

Humans, billions of them all kneeling in front of a wasteland that Riley created. One could barely even hear the storm raging around them, as everyone's whimpers and cries just created a harmonious song of hopelessness and death.

None of them truly kneel, however. If all of them just stood up at the same time, one could actually see the sea of blood they were all standing on — but that would be impossible now, as Riley had actually cut off all their legs; their knees, just grazing on the hard and coarse ground.

King thought he had seen what true violence is, but as he saw a mother lifting up her son as he bled from his knees, King could really only shake his head. He had killed children before, infants, even — but he always made sure it would be painless for them — that they would not feel a thing. But most importantly, he wasn't actually laughing while doing it.

But Riley…

King then glanced at Riley, only to see him with his eyes closed and his head almost bobbing rhythmically with the choir of death in front of them.

"I thought I have outgrown this, King," Riley then opened his eyes as he looked at the sea of people in front of him, "But I suppose this is what I truly am and always will be. I thought eternity had killed this side of me, but it only made it worse."

"Just kill me. You've already won," King breathed out. He could fight or run if he wanted to, but Riley was now wearing his armor and would be able to follow him anywhere in the multiverse.

"Oh no, no…" Riley shook his head as he took a step forward, "...We haven't even started yet, King."

He then raised his finger, and as he did so, the screams of a billion people caused the very air itself to tremble — their silhouettes combined now looked like a tidal wave heading for King.

No, all of them truly were heading for King and Riley.

King could really stare at this almost drowning scenery. Riley, on the other hand, just stretched his hands to the side as the tidal wave of people rammed through them.

"!!!"

King was not hurt at all, but he found himself gritting his teeth as all sorts of people practically imploded upon hitting him; their blood and guts, just spraying everywhere. And as a little child was practically blown into pieces upon hitting his face, King did something he had not done for a very long time…

…he closed his eyes.

But alas, it did not last long as his eyelids were ripped off by Riley. They quickly regenerated, of course… but this time, Riley grabbed his face from behind and forced his eyes open.

"Are you having fun yet, King?" Riley then whispered as they continued to be surrounded by exploding bodies and slowly being drowned bit by bit, "Is this not more fun than conquering them?"

"N—"

And before King could finish his words, he saw the scenery in front of him instantly change. And now, they were in front of a different species on a different planet.

"Hm…"

King turned to look at Riley, only to see him shaking his head.

"I will never get used to the feeling of stopping time, King," Riley continued to shake his head as some of the blood blanketing him started to seep into his skin, "But Xra's abilities… they are incredibly useful. Disgusting, but useful."

"How…" King gulped, "...How are you able to stop time for that long?"

For King, it might have just been in a blink of an eye. But for Riley, he had to travel lightyears away while time stopped around him — just moving from one side of the room was already enough to kill King whenever he used the ability…

…but Riley was able to travel through the cosmos?

"Practice and repetition, King," Riley shrugged, "And unlike you, I have mastered melding all my abilities together for them to work in harmony…

…so, shall we have them kneel again?"

***

"Riley… you've won?"

"Not yet, Mother."

"...But, isn't that King?"

After a few more tidal waves of flesh and guts, Riley finally returned back to the space station. The people that have been waiting in anticipation and anxiety for him there, did not really know whether to cheer or not as he returned.

When Riley said he was just going to watch, they all thought he truly was not going to do anything at all — but when it came to attack King, he left all of them there and told them not to follow him.

And when they asked him about it, he just told them —

"I am going to watch King suffer," is what he said before just casually turning into Princess Esme and leaping into the portal.

And now, half a day later, he was back…

…with King just obediently following him from behind.

Although King did not really have any visible wounds, he looked like he just went through the worst thing he would ever experience in his life. His silver hair was completely disheveled, with bald patches even showing. His face was still more youthful than Bard's by a decade, but he seemed exhausted from life to the point that if you pushed him, he would just die there and then.

"What… did you do, Riley?" Diana was about to grab King to lock him up somewhere, but Riley pulled him away while shaking his head. Diana did not really react to this and just squinted her eyes, "We… detected a portal being opened up, but you didn't really travel here. Did your battle reach the other universes?"

"There was no battle, Mother," Riley shook his head as he did not let go of King's arm, "I have told all of you, I only watched him make a fool of himself. But I think he had some fun too. Am I correct, King?"

"..."

"Am I correct, King?"

"Y… yes," King answered in panic. Finally realizing where he was and started looking around.

"Why… is he acting like that?" Gracy squinted her eyes as she looked at King from head to toe, "I thought he was the big bad or something? Isn't he supposed to be a multiversal threat? This guy beat Mom's variant into a pulp."

"He didn't beat me," Aerith quickly commented, "He had to stop time because he was losing."

"Yeah, because it was 3v1," Gracy shrugged.

"That's not important," Aerith just waved her hand as she approached King, "Where's the kid? Where's Paige?"

"We were just about to go there, Aerith," Riley finally let go of King, causing him to slightly tremble but let out a sigh of relief at the same time, "We just took a pit stop here so he could rest from everything that has happened — King could not handle too much fun, you see."

"...Fun? Just what—!!!"

Aerith was about to slap King away as he suddenly rushed toward her, but quickly stopped herself as soon as she saw the pleading look in his eyes.

"Please… just kill me," King's whisper stuttered in the air for everyone to hear, "Or just imprison me somewhere for eternity. Please… please don't let him take me home."

"...What?"

"Help—"

"Hm, if you have the energy to beg, then that means you have energy in general, King."

Before King could finish his words, however, he found himself being dragged away by Riley as a portal appeared beside him.

"No… please, don't do it!" King tried prying Riley's grip open, but the only thing he could really do was shake his head as Riley casually dragged him into the portal.

"..." Aerith and the others just looked at each other as they watched this scene unfold. But after a few seconds, Aerith followed them to the portal.

"What… is this place?" Aerith's breaths turned into vapor as she found himself inside an ice cavern.

"King's version of the Guesthouse, Aerith," Riley commented as he continued to drag King, only stopping as they reached a glass cage where a man was being confined, "Highly inferior to mine, but I suppose the purpose remains the same."

"..." Aerith then realized that there were actually glass cages scattered everywhere; almost melding with the ice walls — and inside of all of them, were the variants of the same man. Steve Bridges, aka Prophet.

"Wait, is Paige being kept here!?" Aerith quickly scanned all the cages while Hannah and the others arrived one by one.

"Let us wait for everyone to arrive, King," Riley then forcefully sat King on the frozen ground, "So…

…they could also watch what I am going to do."