Villain Retirement

"...The others would get jealous of me knowing I'm having this much fun."

The smile on Elementia's face was slightly awkward, perhaps a testament to his still-growing emotions; even then, however, it was obvious to everyone there that he truly was having fun.

And soon, he even raised his hand to beckon Aerith'Ross to come forward; taunting her to attack first. Aerith'Ross, however, did not do anything and just stood there. She glanced at Riley from time to time, but other than that, she remained completely still and silent.

As for Riley, he started walking around and looking at her from head to toe… his face only inches away from her.

"Y—" Words almost escaped Aerith'Ross's mouth as the king of personal boundaries placed his face just inches away from her. Her eyes were clearly twitching from the awkwardness of the situation, but she was trying her best not to be affected at all.

"You do not look like me at all, Aerith'Ross," Riley placed his hand on his chin as he backed away and once again looked at her from head to toe, "I do believe you're my child, but there are a lot of things I do not know — as is the case as always. But—"

Aerith'Ross did not let Riley finish his words as she disappeared; only to reappear in front of Elementia, her fist already locked onto his face. But like Death, Elementia was just allowing the attacks to hit him, and like Death, the strike proved to be completely futile as Elementia's body once again turned into some sort of smoke.

"You can't—" Elementia's mouth was about to speak again, but something completely unexpected happened — Aerith'Ross was able to grab the smoke, ripping it apart with both hands vertically along with the rest of his still-physical body,

"So, you can. That is interesting."

Elementia still seemed completely unfazed, however, as his cleaved body just split into two to form two bodies that were completely identical to each other.

"I can see why Big Sis seems very eager to fight — this is truly fun," both of Elementia's bodies spoke at the same time — and their faces were also punched by Aerith'Ross both at the same time… as her body also split into two. Elementia's bodies once again turned into smoke, but something very unexpected happened next.

Both of Aerith'Ross's bodies also turned into smoke; merging—no, shooting toward the smoke that Elementia made and seemingly trying to overpower it. And as soon as Riley saw this, his mouth could not help but slightly open as he looked at everyone else with a somewhat proud expression on his face while pointing at the smoke.

"Look, everyone," Riley smiled, "She can copy abilities too, and she doesn't need to die. I suppose she really is my daugh—"

"!!!"

A deafening thunder resounded in the air before Riley could finish his words; the untouched field, completely cleaved into a deep crevice as Aerith'Ross's body violently rolled through the earth. Her flesh seemed to be falling apart, but regenerating before even a speck of blood could actually fall from her veins.

"We truly should have visited the Creation we made way before, Big Sis," Elementia was now back to a single entity; a quarter of his head, still missing and floating in the form of a smoke. Even then, however, Elementia was smiling as he looked at Death, "If someone from the New Universe is already this strong, one could just wonder how powerful Riley Ross truly is or will become. In the end…

…perhaps it is us who caused the End of Creation itself."

Death did not really give Elementia any answer as she just looked at Riley; her face, slowly calming down as she shook her head, "No. Everything ends, even us…

…Hurry this up so we can go home."

"Go first."

"No. I am not leaving you here, you are getting more unpredictable — that is supposed to be Machina's role."

"Why didn't we interfere, Big Sis?" Elementia glanced at Death, "Riley Ross is not the first to threaten Creation. Van wiped out the First Gods, and we did nothing. The Eternal Child almost killed Celestial and Ruin, and we did nothing."

"Van was peaceful after he killed the First Gods — and none of us, even me, could catch him," Death closed her eyes before letting out a small smile. Her smile, however, faded away and her eyes became slightly melancholic, "The Eternal Child did not have any intention of killing Celestial and Ruin. He just wanted to die…

…but even I could not give it to him."

"And Riley Ross?"

"I have every bit of intention in ending all of you," Riley was the one to answer Elementia's question, "Not yet, of course — I still want to see how my story unfolds. Because I think it ends as soon as I end all of you. Is it not the case, Aerith'Ross?"

"..." And as Aerith'Ross dug herself up from the crevice, she looked Riley in the eyes and was about to open her mouth, but chose not to do so in the end as she just completely strayed her glare away to Elementia.

"Are you still going to try and fight me?" Elementia let out a small hum as he touched his head, the smoke lingering around him; almost completely gone as his head was whole again, "I do believe you have a chance to kill me, Aerith'Ross…

…this makes it more exciting!"

And as Elementia raised his voice for the first time, the ceiling that served as the Domain of the Gods' sky also moved for the very first time — moving closer down before a mountain just violently and instantly emerged from above and completely pinned Aerith'Ross; the shockwave, enough to cause the entire Domain of the Gods to tremble, all of it. Even the mortals millions and miles away felt their ground tremble, causing them all to pray and panic.

"We…" Randall, who had been just quietly watching everything as he did not want to speak in the presence of the Primordials, could really only whisper as he took a step back, "...We are fools to see ourselves as gods. I suggest you leave too, Pepondosovich. This is not our place to be."

"Mister Randall!?" Miss Pepondosovich raised her voice as Randall just flew away, leaving her and Esme as the only audience to an event that would probably only happen once in the entire Creation, "Should… should we also leave? But Riri's still here."

"Who do you think is stronger, Miss Pepondosovich?"

"What…?" Miss Pepondosovich could not help but squint her eyes as she heard Esme's words. She turned to look at where she was looking, only to see Aerith'Ross lifting up the inverted mountain that dropped from the sky, "We should—"

"Aerith!" And all of a sudden, another figure suddenly appeared, "What are you doing here!?"

"M…Mister Pepondosovich?" Miss Pepondosovich gasped; her words completely stuttered as she saw the figure that just emerged out of nowhere, "No… my children?"

Miss Pepondosovich's eyes trembled as the figure that just appeared seemed to shift forms and faces; her husband, and then her two children, "No… it's not them."

"All I see is a woman with an average face, Miss Pepondosovich," Esme blinked.

"I heard that!" It was Jennifer, Other Paige's other personality, "I'll deal with you later, but for now… Aerith, we should go!"

"Another one from the New Universe?" Death quickly turned to look at Jennifer, "No… You're Paige Pearson."

"Now that you mention her name, I suddenly remember her. It would seem our rules do not apply to the people of the New Universe, Big Sis," Elementia smiled as he saw Jennifer approach Aerith'Ross, "I wonder if this one would stop me too?"

And as he said those words, he sunk into the ground and emerged in front of Riley; a cosmic piece, already in his hand.

"You wanted to leave this place, Riley Ross?" The smile on Elementia's face grew wider as his hand reached toward Riley, "Then use this."

"Stop!" A thunderous explosion echoed throughout the entirety of the Domain of the Gods as Aerith'Ross freed herself by splitting the mountain in half, once again causing all of its mortal inhabitants to look into the skies and pray.

She then quickly rushed toward Elementia — no, this time, she was flying toward Riley with her fist already locked onto his head. Riley did not move, however, and only smiled as he seemed to welcome Aerith'Ross's fist…

…but it did not come.

Instead, the thing that welcomed Aerith'Ross's fist was another fist — Esme's.

And as soon as their knuckles touched, Aerith'Ross's eyes instantly widened.

"What…" Aerith whispered, and everyone could hear her whisper since no sound emerged from their fists at all. There wasn't even a thud as their knuckles were just planted against each other, "...What have you done?"

"...Was I not supposed to do that?" Esme worded out as she stared at their fists, feeling something… weird.

Riley only looked at them back and forth, also wondering what happened. As for Elementia, he closed his hand and put the cosmic piece away as he glanced at Death.

"Something's about to happen, Big Sis."

"Yes," Death blinked a couple of times as she started walking around and looking everywhere, seemingly trying to find something, "I made a mistake coming here."

"Oh no," And as a breathy exhale escaped from Jennifer's mouth, everyone just very slowly turned their heads at her. Jennifer, however, only turned to look at Aerith'Ross,

"We fucked u—"

And before she could even finish her words, she suddenly disappeared—no. It wasn't only her. Death, Elementia, Miss Pepondosovich, Riley, Esme, and Aerith'Ross also disappeared.

Everyone disappeared along with the ground they stood on.

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