Villain Retirement

"He… he's killing us!"

Perhaps that was an understatement and an overstatement at the same time, and Silvie and those who knew Riley were fully aware of that. If Riley wanted them all dead, they would have been, but at the same time, those who really knew Riley to an even greater extent, in this case, Silvie, knew he also had the tendency to play around.

And so, right now, Silvie was completely conflicted on whether or not to make a move.

Was Riley truly just doing this for the lesson… or was he actually planning on killing them all here — and if they die, then that simply means they didn't pass.

"Riley…" Silvie's foot started to bounce by itself as she was starting to get anxious while watching their students get absolutely demolished by Riley.

"S… so…" Katrina's eyes also started to move everywhere, "...When do we step in?"

"I think the better question is if we actually should," Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes, "If these people truly want to be heroes, then they should know how strong the demon king is."

"Demon… king?" Katrina blinked a couple of times as she looked at Miss Pepondosovich, "Could it be you also read novels…?"

"What? No, I hate reading," Miss Pepondosovich waved her hand, "Anyway, Miss Esme here could just rescue anyone close to dying and bring them here."

"They would probably die if I brought them here at a speed where Master would not think of trying to follow me, Miss Pepondosovich," Esme shook her head, "I am learning more and more how fragile other beings are."

"Other beings aren't fragile," Silvie sighed, "It's just… we're different."

"You three are different," Katrina quickly commented, "You guys are closer to a god than you are to me, I don't even know why I'm here."

"Don't… sell yourself short, Kat," Silvie smiled as she glanced at Katrina, "Didn't you manage to hold off a god during the war?"

"Oh…?" Miss Pepondosovich opened her mouth in awe, "You did that, child?"

"N…Well, yes — it was an act of desperation," Katrina shook her head.

"She created a gale of wind so strong, it tore off the surface of a planet," Silvie smiled and nodded.

"Oh, impressive," Miss Pepondosovich lightly tapped Katrina's leg.

"...Esme can destroy an entire star system with the clap of her hands," Katrina once again sighed while shaking her head, "We… live in completely different worlds. Especially him…

…Riley."

And as Katrina turned her focus back to Riley, everyone did too — and it was absolute chaos in the field.

The once verdant sea of grass, not almost completely red as Riley tore off limbs, pierced stomachs, and even shaved off faces — the only reason why Silvie wasn't stopping him is that despite all the horrible things he was doing to the students…

…all of them are still alive and actually completely intact.

He was healing all of them completely before they could actually die.

"When… did Riley even get that ability?" Silvie sighed in defeat, "He was already unkillable before, and now it's just ridiculous."

"Whenever we ask him, he just always says that he got it from being killed by some warmonger called King," Miss Pepondosovich shrugged, "At this point, it's probably safe to assume that any ability you can think of…

…Riri probably has it, except probably resurrecting the dead, he needed Randall for that."

"Hannah told me that the primordials sent him to the Domain of the Gods to be taught a lesson…" Silvie whispered, "...But why does it seem like the primordials just made things worse for all of us? If the gods there couldn't defeat Riley, then…

…how do we actually have a chance?"

And while Silvie and the ladies' discussion was turning serious, Riley was truly just taking his time and having fun — and even as 4 hours had already passed, the students still could not find a way to stop him.

There were, however, groups slowly forming that were able to stay alive longer since they were finally helping each other instead of just running for themselves — and as expected, it was a group centered around the tigerlady, Ambrucx.

Ambrucx was trying her best to keep her group alive, while she and her team still tried to rescue the people they could. This was, first and foremost, still a lesson. Despite the ridiculous premise and activity, she was sure that Riley was grading each and every one of them individually, and that just running around would probably result in a negative grade.

And after losing her limbs for the 4th time and being healed by Riley, she was also starting to get over the shock of being on the brink of death. She still feared him, of course, but she was no longer frozen by that fear.

Of course, unbeknownst to everyone, Riley truly was just having fun. If there was actually a lesson he was trying to impart here, then it was the exact same lesson Mega Academy gave their students — life isn't fair.

There will always be levels, and Riley just happens to be above them by an abnormal margin.

"!!!"

And while Riley was having fun, the audience who were initially just there to curb their boredom could not help but just cover their mouths from the nausea they were experiencing. How could they not, when they have been watching limbs, guts, and all sorts of blood crawl in front of them? If it wasn't for the invisible barrier separating them from the field, they were sure that they would have already drowned with all the blood.

"This… this goes against the Margrea Oath!" One of the spectators couldn't take it anymore as he stood from his seat and started running away. And as soon as he did so, the others also started leaving…

…only to realize there was another invisible wall preventing them from leaving the stands.

"W… what the!?" The spectators started placing their palms and slamming them in the hard air, but no matter what they did, they were trapped there…

…and it would seem Riley noticed this as he suddenly flew toward the stands.

"Where… is he going?" The students finally gained the chance to breathe as Riley just left them abruptly without saying a word. Most of them took this chance to just fall down and rest, there were some, however, who felt like something was wrong as they saw Riley just floating in the air while watching the audience panic.

[Well then…] Riley then turned around to face the students again while stretching his hands to the side,

[...Time for the Phase 2 of the lesson.]

"Phase… 2?" Gary, who was part of Ambrucx's team, could really only wipe the sweat trailing down his cheek, "Did… did we even clear Phase 1?"

[Most of the time, heroes do not fight in a controlled environment…] Riley's words traveled across the entire field. And while he spoke, the spectators suddenly felt something weird going on around them—or more specifically, beneath them. They were… very slowly sliding down toward the field,

[...And most of the time, you would have to fight while being surrounded and distracted by civilians.]

Riley then stretched both his arms forward, and as he did so, all the spectators were suddenly thrown from the stands and shot straight toward the middle of the field like popcorn…

…the only problem was now that they completely mixed themselves with the students.

[So…] Riley very slowly descended from the air,

[...Time to dance.]

***

"Mom! Aerith!"

Somewhere out in the expanse of space, Hannah and Nannah landed their feet inside a ship; the ship, silver and vast. Vast enough that Hannah's screams echoed through her ears almost as if she was whispering into her own ear.

Soon, however, as she and Nannah walked deeper into the ship, the sound of birds and animals started to whisper in the air; trees and foliage, now also crawled across the haul.

"Where… are they? They usually meet us by the hangar," Nannah looked around the indoor forest, and aside from the wildlife in it, there was no sign of Aerith or Diana at all, "Wait…

…do you think Aerith's giving birth now?"

"What? No," Hannah shook her head, "Considering the time she was pregnant before time stopped for us… she should just be 7 or 8 months now. They're just probably inside the clinic, let's go."

The two continued to make their way deeper into the ship until they reached the clinic, quickly seeing Diana as soon as the door slid open.

"Mom! Why didn't you—"

"Honey!?" Diana's eyes widened as she saw Hannah and Nannah enter the clinic, "Leave now!"

"What? Why are you—A…Aerith?"

And before Hannah could even wonder what was going on, her eyes also widened as Aerith suddenly stood in front of her — no. It wasn't exactly Aerith, as the woman standing in front of her had skin as pale as snow, and hair even whiter — Aerith'Ross.

"A… A variant?" Hannah breathed in.

"Not exactly…

…Aunt."