Villain Retirement

884 Chapter 884: The Cosmic Piece

The Domain of The Gods.

No one truly knows when it was made, or how the civilizations inside it came to be, or how anything truly worked in it. The only thing its residents truly know is that each of them that were living there was capable of doing damage at the apocalyptic level — that was the very reason they implemented their own rules in the first place.

If there was one god who happened to become violent, the damage he would do would probably become like dominoes, just rippling across the domain and affecting the other gods who have learned to suppress their violent urges.

There was nothing to do in the Domain of the Gods at the start, it was more like a prison to keep godly beings. There was nothing to do, nothing at all except one.

The search for a Cosmic Piece.

Once again, no one truly knows where the cosmic pieces came to be, but when someone first discovered it a very, very long time ago, that was when they realized they could escape this domain. It would have already been a boon to those who were trapped in this place with just that, but no.

The one who discovered the first cosmic piece returned to the Domain with news that made all the gods tremble in their godly boots — the cosmic piece allows one to create his or her own universe inside the multiverse, not a pocket dimension or another domain, a real universe.

That was when the Domain of the Gods truly received its name. After all, if one discovers a cosmic piece, then one will truly be a True God. One who handles his own universe.

And soon, the quest for the cosmic pieces brought forth to a new age for the Domain. Everyone wanted one for themselves, but a cosmic piece was truly a rare item — perhaps through its entire existence, there have only been 11 found.

And perhaps, there truly are only 11 pieces, one could truly never know."

"That is very interesting, Miss Pepondosovich."

"But that is not all."

Miss Pepondosovich had her black hat out. Her hand has actually been pulling all sorts of stuff inside it and showing it to Riley and Esme; a sort of sand that was able to transform into the images that were in her mind.

"It is also said that if you manage to gather all the cosmic pieces…" Miss Pepondosovich then started returning everything she had pulled out back into her hat as she stared Riley and Esme in the eyes, "...You will become a supreme being, on the same level as the Primordials or perhaps even a higher existence than them…

…and you will restart and create the entire Creation itself."

Miss Pepondosovich then waved her hands in the air as her hat disappeared; the tone of her voice, forcefully deep while she stepped backward for additional dramatic effect. As for Riley and Esme, the two of them were just clapping their hands as they remained seated on the brown grass.

"That is a very good story, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley said, "But who said it?"

"Hm?"

"Who said one will become a supreme being if you manage to collect all the cosmic pieces?" Riley asked.

"...Oh," Miss Pepondosovich's rabbit ears quickly lowered as she looked up, "I actually have no idea. I might have just heard it somewhere."

"Are you not searching for it yourself, Madam Miss Pepondosovich?" Esme stood up from the ground; oddly enough, she did not have to pat away any dirt from her buttocks as neither dust nor grass were even pulled from the Domain's ground.

"Psh, me?" Miss Pepondosovich quickly shook her head, "I did once, but I got bored after a thousand years. The two of you still have no idea how incredibly large this place is — we are actually quite lucky we haven't seen any monsters yet."

"Monsters?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he also stood up from the ground, "I thought only godly beings are allowed in this domain, Miss Pepondosovich?"

"Something like that," Miss Pepondosovich shrugged, "What I meant by monsters are loose summons."

"I suppose that makes sense," Riley placed his hand on his chin.

"It sure does. There are actually quite a lot of them, most are actually not even original summons anymore, as most of the earlier summons have… bred with one another," Miss Pepondosovich shrugged, "And get this…

…since the Domain of the Gods has existed even before other universes, some of the summons have actually already evolved into humanoids like you and I."

"You mean to say that there are normal people here, Miss Pepondosovich?" Riley blinked as he looked Miss Pepondosovich in the eyes.

"Yes," Miss Pepondosovich nodded, "They are very far away, however, and all of us gods sort of have this quiet rule not to meddle with their affairs. If you go far enough, you would actually see shrines of a few of us built by them."

"Hm, that is very interesting, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley nodded, "Can we perhaps visit them along our journey?"

"...Why?" Miss Pepondosovich's ears twitched.

"There might be a cosmic piece there since no other gods tend to visit their… realm, Miss Pepondosovich."

"...You want to find a cosmic piece?"

"Yes," Riley did not hesitate to answer, "Unlike most of you, I still have things left to do in the multiverse, Miss Pepondosovich."

"Right…" Miss Pepondosovich let out a short but very deep sigh, "...I almost forgot you are only 26 years old. Most of your people are still pretty much alive — don't worry, your longing for them will pass."

"Hm…"

"But if you truly want to find a cosmic piece, then I shall accompany you in your journey," Miss Pepondosovich lightly hopped as she raised her hand, "Let our tour party become a search party from now on!"

Both Riley and Esme also raised their hands in the air; both of them, completely emotionless as they did so.

"I was going to tour you guys to the City of Warriors, but let's skip that for now and go to the harbor," Miss Pepondosovich nodded before she once again started leaping away, not even waiting for Riley and Esme. After all, they could easily catch up to her anyway, "We can always just return in a few years after we have given up our search for a cosmic piece."

"Do not worry, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley shook his head as he followed just behind Miss Pepondosovich, "We will not have to search for long, as we won't have to search in the first place."

"And… how are you even going to do something like that?" Miss Pepondosovich was about to roll out her eyes, before she realized what Riley's words implicated, "Wait…

…don't tell me you're going to steal from one of the Higher Gods!?"

"Hm," Riley did not really answer and just let out a hum, a hum that truly made Miss Pepondosovich slightly worried. But after a few seconds, she just strengthened and quickened her pace to the point that everything became just a streak and a blur around them.

The trio stopped once in a while after several hours of just traversing the domain, with Miss Pepondosovich still doing her role as a tour guide and explaining the region they happen to be in, which was not really much explaining, as most of the domain truly was just an empty field of nothing.

There passed by several gods, but most just quickly turned on their Territory for some reason until they were out of sight. And soon, after what seemed like several days, the trio finally saw the sight of a blue sky filling the entire horizon.

Of course, it was not really a sky, but instead also an endless ocean that reflected the world below it.

"I welcome you… to Harbor City!" Miss Pepondosovich once again raised her arms as she took one final hope in front of Harbor City, "I am pretty sure it has a different name, but it has been a while since I've last been here, so forgive me."

"This place is—"

"Large, right?" Miss Pepondosovich stepped to the side so Riley and Esme could have a full view of the entrance of the city, "Most gods like the ocean for some reason, so they make this place their home. Like some sort of commercial area? There are more private homes for the gods who like to keep to themselves if you follow the shore."

Harbor City consisted of probably more than a thousand buildings, all made of some sort of material that resembled a brick—if bricks were stronger than diamonds, that is. The design was also almost archaic, with the roofs also tiled with bricks and doors were either just wood or drapes.

And the gods who were walking there did not seem like gods at all as they carried stuff with their hands.

"Of course, before we enter, though…" Miss Pepondosovich walked closer to both Riley and Esme before the three of them just turned around to look in a certain direction,

"...You have been following us for a while now, perhaps you should show courtesy and introduce yourse—"

"Greetings."

And before Miss Pepondosovich could even finish her words, a person suddenly appeared right in front of them; causing a burst of wind to blow as he stopped just a meter away from hitting Esme.

"Oh…?" Esme quickly blinked a couple of times as she looked at this man who suddenly appeared in front of them from head to toe,

"You're a themarian."