Villain Retirement

Grea knew. She already knew she was not going to be a match against Esme not even a second after they met.

Her so-called lessons were useful, but as she said, they were only useful at a certain point. And now that Esme was grabbing her head, she was just trying her best to not be pulled inside the crevice she herself made.

"Thank you for all the lessons, Miss Grea."

Grea could hear Esme's monotonous voice whispering from the shallow hole. And although her eyes weren't glowing, she could still see them staring at her, deep inside her. The crevice was not deep at all, but it almost seemed as if Esme was staring at her from an endless abyss.

"You did not need the lessons at all, child. You are a brick wall, and all my attacks are just pieces of crumpled papers — no matter how many I throw, the most I can do is remove dust," Grea let out a very long but deep sigh, not shying away from the abyss at all and even returning Esme's gaze.

"Do you have a final lesson for me, Miss Grea?" Esme's voice whispered from the crevice.

"Yes," Grea smiled, "The older your opponent is, the more stubborn they are."

And without even any sign or hesitation, Grea suddenly crushed her own head with her hands. Her other set of hands, pushing her away from the crevice. And before she even landed back on her feet, her head had already regenerated.

She did not have time to even check if she was actually whole, however, as she found herself suddenly dropped to the floor; her legs, crumbling down as Esme suddenly appeared beneath her, sweeping her feet… along with the supposedly indestructible ground of the arena.

The audience were already suspending all their beliefs about Grandarena City and the Domain of the Gods in general — but the ground of the arena casually being shaved off? That was where they drew the line.

Never in history has there ever been someone capable of doing that? There might have been during the infant stage of the Domain, but unless it was recorded by someone, then this was the very first time this has ever truly happened.

A handful of the audience were even leaving, in fear that Esme might actually pierce through the invisible barrier protecting them and end up obliterating them from existence, like what she did with her previous opponent. They weren't going to wait for that to happen.

Grea, on the other hand, just smiled as she crawled away from Esme, using her four arms to move like some sort of scorpion.

"You truly fight in a very unique way, Miss Grea," Esme breathed out before leaping into the air; placing her foot on the ceiling before just kicking herself straight back down.

"Well…" Grea tilted her head to the side, swiftly avoiding Esme's foot which almost completely pierced through the ground, "...If you lived as long as I have, everything just becomes norm—"

And before Grea could even finish her words, Esme was able to grab the back of her head. And before Grea could intentionally separate her head again from the rest of her body, Esme did it for her by stepping on the back of her neck and pulling her head out.

Esme did not leave anything to chance as she used Grea's own head like a literal rock and smashed it against her own body — crushing everything into smithereens and not stopping until Grea's entire body turned into ash.

"Woah!"

And without her even realizing it, Esme suddenly found herself back at her table; her hand that was just slamming against Grea's body…

…now caught by Miss Pepondosovich's foot like it was a soccer ball.

"Relax, Miss Esme," Miss Pepondsovich let out a small chuckle as she very slowly lowered her leg and pulled it away, "You're back. I do have to say, I already expected Miss Grea to lose, but to think the disparity between the two of you is…"

Miss Pepondosovich really only sucked in a deep breath and winced as she returned to her seat.

As for Esme, she just blinked a couple of times before standing up; her eyes, locked onto Miss Pepondosovich's foot which caught her fist like it was nothing.

"You don't have to worry, Miss Esme," Miss Pepondosovich jumped onto her seat and waved her hand, "The tower won't register what you did as an act of violence since you truly didn't mean it."

"Hm," Esme nodded as she also just returned to her seat. But after a few seconds, she focused her attention on Miss Pepondosovich again, "You are stronger than Miss Grea, Miss Pepondosovich."

"What? No, pft…" Miss Pepondosovich waved her hand as she called for a waiter — except there was no waiter there at all and the beverage she wanted to order just popped up in front of her. She then took a sip of her drink for a few seconds, before letting out a short but very deep breath and looking at Esme,

"...Miss Grea is stronger than me in a lot of w—"

"She is stronger than Grea," Marleen did not let Miss Pepondosovich finish her words as she answered Esme's question, "Pepondosovich might look and act like that, but she's incredibly strong — even if you don't account for her stupid luck. But then again, the very reason she's that strong is because of her luck."

"What can I say?" Miss Pepondosovich leaned back and relaxed, "Maybe I just deserve all the luck in the entire multiverse, outerverse, innerverse, and whatever other verse there is."

"I believe you do deserve to be lucky, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley, who had just been quietly discussing with Ahor Zai about something, joined the conversation as he too, ordered his milk soda, "After seeing your family being burned in front of you even though you were fully capable of saving them, I do believe you deserve at least that."

"I think you're doing that on purpose already, Riri," Miss Pepondosovich furrowed her eyebrows, "It's been a very, very long time — but the hurt is still the same so I would appreciate it if you don't mention that again."

"I apologize, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley let out a sigh. As for Ahor Zai, she just patted Riley's shoulder and shook her head; almost as if gesturing to him that he no fault at all in the matter, "I truly am not doing it on purpose."

"It's true," Marleen once again interjected, "He really is not doing it on purpose."

"...I don't think that makes it better," Miss Pepondosovich stuck out her tongue and scoffed.

"But since we are on the topic already, Miss Pepondosovich — can I ask you something?"

"I just told you not to mention it…" Miss Pepondosovich could really only groan as she looked Riley in the eyes, "But fine, if this can stop you from ever mentioning my family again, then go. You may proceed with your ask, Riri."

"You are more than a hundred thousand years old, correct?" Riley returned Miss Pepondosovich's gaze.

"Correct, hm…" Miss Pepondosovich nodded nonchalantly.

"And you still have not forgotten your earliest memories?" Riley placed his hand on his chin, "Your mother, father, your siblings — you have not forgotten any of them, Miss Pepondosovich?"

"...No," Miss Pepondosovich thought about it for a bit before answering, "Don't be mistaken, Riri. I have forgotten a lot of things, perhaps I have even forgotten more things than I remember — but you don't really forget the things that have made you… you."

"The things that have made me me?" Riley tilted his head to the side.

"Aerith."

Riley turned to look at Marleen as she joined the conversation again.

"Your sister, Katherine, your first friends," Marleen followed up, "I like to call them your Core Memory. Memories that shaped your life and changed it, and memories that tend to change your life usually involve either a person, a place, or an event that happened involving either of the two."

"Does that mean that if I happen to cause my sister's death… I will never be able to forget it?" Riley looked down.

"Would you want to forget something like that, Riri?" Miss Pepondosovich breathed out, "I remember the death of my husband and children, I remember being so helpless, I remember them screaming."

"Do you not want to forget that, Miss Pepondosovich?"

"No, not at all. Not even if it starts to hurt more and more," Miss Pepondosovich shook her head, "Because no matter how painful it is…

…memories of them are all I have left. I don't want to lose that."

"Once you reach a certain age, Riley Ross," Marleen lightly clasped her head, "You'll know what we mean, what we truly mean."

"Memories…"

"Do not worry, Boss," Ahor Zai once again placed her hand on Riley's shoulder, "Isn't that why I am here? To make sure everything is recorded."

"I only wished the dead could still remember things," Riley sighed.

"...What?" Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow at Riley's words.

"So that they would remember how they died by my hands."

"Wow…

…way to turn this conversation sideways, Riri."