Villain Retirement

Some say there comes a point where technique could never defeat overwhelming strength — and they would be right, no matter what sort of technique an ant knows, it would never be able to compete with a diamond wall. That would, of course, be the case if it was a normal ant or a normal wall; the beings currently ramming their bodies against each other were anything but.

Once again, the audience became eerily quiet. At first, they were chanting Yulk and Riley's names as the two just brutally exchanged blows without a care in the world, almost as if they just wanted to see who could really last the longest.

But now, it almost looked like a sumo match that did not involve arms.

A howling echo reverberated throughout the entire floor, causing a ripple strong enough to cause the faces of the gods to fold, causing the subtle smile on their faces to widen; their eyes, however, closed not once even with the violent force wafting through their silhouettes. And then again, it happens each time Yulk and Riley's shoulders meet.

Riley either gets thrown back or slides on the platform, as should be the obvious case since Yulk was clearly physically stronger than him. But something was wrong, however, Riley might be the one being pushed back; his bones and flesh bones repeatedly being mangled and regenerated, but it was Yulk who was groaning in pain each time even though he had no clear injuries.

And as they rammed their bodies together again, Yulk could no longer take the pain as this time, he went down on his knees and started clasping his liver. Riley could very well use this chance to throw Yulk down the platform, but he did not — he waited for him to recover.

This was already perhaps the fifth time this has happened. It was clear to the audience that the two may look like they were in a stalemate, but Riley was clearly already playing with Yulk. His much smaller frame compared to Yulk allowed him to directly strike Yulk wherever he pleased, and he did hit Yulk wherever he pleased.

Yulk did not seem to mind this mercy, however — no. He did mind it, he might look calmer than before, but it was clear in his eyes that the rage inside him was dancing even wilder than before. And so, once again, he stood up; smoke, fuming from his nose as he almost growled at Riley before rushing toward him again.

Riley only smiled as he also rushed toward Yulk.

"Now that I know Father's armless martial arts are somewhat effective against you, let me use something I learned from you, Yulk," Riley breathed out as he dived feet first onto the ground, sliding beneath Yulk as soon as he got near — Yulk acted fast, however, as he thought Riley was now wanting to end the match by using his own momentum against him and pushing him straight to the edge of the platform.

And so, he did the only viable thing he could do in the situation; drop his hard buttocks muscles and slam it right on top of Riley…

…a very huge mistake, colossal.

Riley was not trying to push him out of the platform at all. As he said, he was going to use something he learned from Yulk. And so, Riley quickly started to curl his body to try and trap Yulk in his grasp. But of course, with their size difference, it would be completely impossible for Riley to encapsulate the raging giant, the only thing Riley could truly fully pin in and trap…

…was Yulk's balls.

"!!!"

And with Yulk dropping himself down, the added force caused his eyes to widen to the point that his other balls, his eyeballs, almost popped out from their sockets. He could not even scream, no, the audience did it for him.

It would seem that even though most of the other gods came from completely totally different universes, one thing was universal — testicles are incredibly sensitive.

The audience screamed, not yell, shrieked. Some of them even crouched down and covered their own balls as they winced; looking away for the very first time since the match started.

Unfortunately for them, Riley likes to keep his promises, and there was another part of the move he had not done yet. And as soon as the people realized that when Riley started moving, some of them even started to shout,

"No!"

Yulk, who was probably the one to realize last, could not help just very slowly turn his eyes down at Riley, who was also just staring at him down below with his smile growing by the second. And soon, very soon, his body started to spin.

"Ghkrah!" And of course, Yulk was never going to allow this to happen as he finally used his hand to get rid of Riley — perhaps he did not even mean to, it was just the instinct that told him to do so.

It was weird. During battles of this level, battles that could reform and reshape parts of the universe itself, it was actually quite normal that one's privates would be hit or even outright blown away… and beings like Yulk and all the other gods here would not even blink an eye.

But for some reason, if it was the main target; if it was the only target, one could not help but dread about what was to come, and an abnormal behemoth like Yulk was not an exception to this.

And so, with Yulk using his hands to hold Riley — the two found themselves quickly teleported away. Riley onto the upper level, while Yulk was thrown outside the tower.

Unfortunately to those who happened to be near Yulk, he abandoned his calm demeanor and rampaged his way across the long line back to the tower. As for Riley, well, the match with Yulk actually exhausted him. If they were out somewhere in the universe, their fight would have probably resembled his fight against Zombie Esme; destroying everything and anything around them.

And so, Riley just decided to lay low for a while — or so he would like, but since the audiences of the upper floors already actually knew of him, they quickly cheered for his name and looked at him and him alone, causing the rest of the combatants to also place their attention on him even though they were from a completely different batch.

Still, Riley welcomed all of the attention, even instigating it as he climbed and climbed to the upper floors. Was he struggling? Perhaps, maybe.

But even as he advanced the floor with his body much bloodier than the last, much more mangled than the last, the smile on his face just grew wider and wider.

When was the last time, really? When was the last time he had actually truly fought and thought he couldn't win? Megawoman? That was like a lifetime ago already.

Yanchuen, the Grandarena champion he faced on the lower levels, told him that the Domain of the Gods was a prison — Riley agrees with him, of course. It was obvious what it was. But it was also a paradise, a short vacation for Riley before he went on to continue his quest to kill each and every last one of them.

And he intends to enjoy it every single bit.

And soon, he reached the 91st floor.

Riley was more than ready to wreak havoc; his veins still throbbing for the blood of others to wrap around him. Sadly for Riley, he did not find himself on a battlefield at all…

…but some sort of garden with the view of a sky above them. Not the sky of the Domain of the Gods where it was just a reflection of the land below, no — a real sky with celestial bodies everywhere.

Different planets, scattered above the clear clouds that might as well not exist. There were probably thousands of planets there all huddled up together; the larger ones farther than their smaller neighbors — and in one of those planets, he saw one that looked like Earth—no.

It is Earth.

"Master!"

And before Riley could try and leap toward Earth, Esme stopped him from doing so as she suddenly appeared beside him.

"Oh," Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at Esme, before turning to look at Miss Pepondosovich who was waving her hand as she hopped her way to him,

"I suppose this is the area where all the combatants competing for Champion are gathered?"

The garden was filled with all sorts of things; mostly seats and tables as well as comfortable resting areas — there seemed to even be a large pool. This wasn't a garden at all, but already a resort. It reminded him of little Hera, Talia's domain.

"It is, Riri," Miss Pepondosovich swiftly landed in front of Riley while nodding her head, "Some of the people you see here are like me, champions of the Grandarena city. And get this, the book that contains the clue to a cosmic piece…

…It's real."

"Then I suppose either you or Esme are going to get it, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley closed his eyes and let out a small hum.

"Are you not going to participate anymore, Master?"

"You're so close, Riri! You bored or what?"

"No, not at all," Riley smiled as he shook his head, "This is probably the most fun I have had in a very long time, Miss Pepondosovich. But if it is just with pure raw strength…

…It is clear that I am the weakest person here."