Villain Retirement

"The way… she begs?"

Diana, Bernard, and Alice all looked at each other as they heard Riley's words—thinking of several other ways it could be interpreted as, but only one really surfaces in their minds.

"Can you repeat that, Riley?"

[The way she begs for the lives of others remains the same.]

And like a confirmation of what they have already deduced, Riley repeated his words; this time even clearer,

[The Aerith of my world never begs for her sake—it will always be for others around her. She is not just a superhero. She is the beacon of everything good, of hope, of salvation. The only being that I could consider holy—She is Megawoman, and the love of my life.]

"Aerith is the Megawoman of your world?" Bernard furrowed.

"You didn't know?" Diana raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were listening in on us."

"...I didn't get to that part."

"Pft, nerd," Alice chuckled to herself.

"Wait, we're getting distracted," Diana stepped forward as she raised her hand, "What do you mean beg for the lives of others? What… did you do?"

[Pavoom, Diana. Pavoom.]

"Pavoom…?" Diana breathed out. And once again, before she could even think of whatever that was, Alice squealed in excitement.

"Ah, that's an ultimate move! He has an ultimate move!" Alice said as she almost hopped in place.

[Not exactly, Alice. I believe I do not have an ultimate move yet. I just find this move to be effective against themarians as it sends them to their eternal death 5 times out of 12 when I was on Theran.]

"...You visited Theran?" Bernard exclaimed.

"Wait… you're killing themarians!?" Diana once again raised her voice, this time grabbing Bernard by the throat and lifting him up in the air, "Bernard!? You said the boy will die if he does something not to our liking!"

"..." Bernard did not really answer Diana; his silence, however, was enough.

"You… you told him to kill the themarians!?" Diana tightened her grip on Bernard's neck. But before any bones or flesh could be crushed, Bernard's red armor emerged directly from the pores of his body—perhaps a mistake, as Diana's grip tightened even more so.

"We… we made a deal," Bernard's breaths soon turned into gasps as he tapped Diana's wrist several times, "And I was not the proponent of the deal… he is."

"...What?"

"H—He made a condition," Bernard could not help but let out a cough as Diana finally let his neck go, "At first, he wanted to get Aerith as compensation for helping herd the themarians… but then we discussed further, and I agreed with something he said."

"..."

"In his world, the themarians are the only beings that could potentially threaten his… quest to destroy everything," Bernard closed his eyes as he looked at the hologram of the universe, "And he's right. He was able to wipe out the themarians—all except two, you and Aerith… and in the end, they were the ones that sent him here…

…As long as the themarians exist, humanity will never be safe. And so, he proposed that we eradicate them once and for all."

"And you agreed?" Diana took a tiny step back as her legs almost gave out on her, "The themarians are a special race, Bernard! Who knows how many billions of years we need to wait before we could see a species like mine!? The themarians will be useful for the future that you and I want!"

"But he's right," Bernard walked away, not even looking at Diana as he examined the map, "Riley, finish up and get Aerith close enough so I could warp her he—"

"We're not done talking, Redking!" Diana disappeared from her spot, before appearing right in front of the glass that separates the Manus Dei and the room they were in. She then placed her palm on the glass, before looking Bernard straight in the eyes, "You…

…you're still hiding something. I thought there won't be any secrets between us, Bernard?"

"There aren't—that's why I am telling you now," Bernard then waved his hand, causing himself to be surrounded by the hologram of several planets, "It…

…is not only the themarians that are disappearing tonight."

"...What?" Diana looked back and forth between the hologram and Bernard; very soon, however, her eyes just stopped moving as she watched as the planets crumbled one by one, "What… are you doing?"

"This is the future that I want, Diana," Bernard then closed his eyes, "A future where only the humans exist, this is the only way that we are going to be safe. Because you are wrong…

…Themarians are not the master race, we are."

"..." Diana then turned to look at Alice, who was no longer focusing on Riley and was now looking at Diana, almost as if asking her she wanted to do.

"And this is also what you wanted Diana, your experiments would finally progress."

"You think I want the death of a trillion lives?" Diana breathed out, "I experiment to create new life, Bernard! Not eradicate it!"

"Exactly!" Bernard pointed at Diana, "With this, you are free to create the very first life other than humans—you will be a god, Diana. A species that will not threaten us… because we created them."

"Well…" Alice finally spoke up, letting out a light hum as she crossed her arms, "...You'd find that most slaves rebel against their masters—"

"They won't be slaves!" Bernard roared, "On the contrary, they will experience the perfect life, free from any hardships because we will be the ones watching them! Our mistakes will—"

"Are you hearing yourself, Bernard…?" Diana did not let Bernard finish what he was saying as she tapped the glass, causing a tiny crack to form on it,

"Just because you got yourself a little weapon, you immediately pulled the trigger? You are starting to sound like that guy I killed almost a hundred years ago now… and you know what I did to him."

"Kill me if you want to," a small smile slowly started to crawl on Bernard's face as he finally returned Diana's glare, "But I will die knowing that my people are finally free from external threats. And if they do kill each other because of their foolishness, at least it will be in the hands of our own doing."

"You're a fool, Bernard," Diana sighed as she closed her eyes, "Alice, stop your son."

"You think you can actually stop this!?" Bernard raised his voice and screamed, "This is inevitable, Diana! What did you think was—"

Bernard's head suddenly disappeared.

"..."

Diana and Alice did not even know how to react—they were now just staring at Bernard's headless body.

It was… just sudden.

The two didn't even flinch, because there was no reason to flinch. No blood spurted out from his neck, there wasn't even as much as a single sound.

Bernard's head just suddenly disappeared into thin air.

[Oops. I apologize, Aerith is a little hard to handle even with my telekinesis amplified. I had to focus my attention elsewhere.]

"...What?" Diana and Alice looked at each other as they heard Riley's words.

[I was planning a grand reveal for this, I must say I am a little disappointed.]

"How…" Diana did not really know what to say as she watched as Bernard's headless body fell to the floor, "...But there's a failsafe in… what?"

[Oh, he was already dead before he entered the room—I decapitated him when we were chatting earlier,] they could hear Riley's sigh filling the entire room they were in; his disappointment, extremely clear for them to hear,

[I truly wanted to reveal this when Aerith is here already.]

"W—" And before Diana could say another word, Bernard's headless body suddenly flinched. She then squinted her eyes as she watched as something emerged from his neck—or perhaps it was more proper to say that someone stepped out.

It was Riley, or at least a palm-sized version of him.

"Tadaa!" Little Riley then stretched out his arms to the side—his voice, completely similar to that of Bernard, "How was my performance, Boss? Was it nice?"

[It was okay.]

"I told you…" Little Riley sighed as he started cleaning himself off Bernard's blood, "...You should have just let me handle imaging his head. This is your problem, Boss—you always want to do everything by yourself. I can use Paige's abilities, I have been—"

And before Little Riley could finish his words, he burst into pieces as Diana stepped on him.

Diana then crouched, quietly inspecting the headless corpse to confirm if it was Bernard. But after just a few pats, she turned to look at Alice and nodded.

"Well, that's not nice," Alice closed her eyes and sighed, "You do realize we need to stop you now. Right, son?"

[The two of you do not have to worry—the thing about the failsafe is true; Bernard told me,] Riley chuckled, [And also, I also quite like the Alice of this world. Bernard, well… not so much.]

"He was my friend," Diana also closed her eyes as she let out a very long and deep breath,

"You need to die, Riley Ross."

[Well, the thing about eradicating the rest of the species was also true, Diana. You can watch it from the recording since Bernard set up several cameras during our meeting. Well, maybe he did not really say it outright—but I am sure he wanted it.]

"You—"

"Oh god, enough talking," Alice cracked her knuckles, "Sorry, Riley…

…Bernard was also my friend."