Villain Retirement

"Pavoom."

And as the glittering stars around them began to settle as they slowed down, the harsh and violent light that surrounded Riley started to extinguish. Both his palms, pointed at the giant pink fluff that followed them persistently.

And with a small breath, he uttered again—

"Pavoom."

And as if a black canvas being ripped apart, the dark expanse of space in front of Riley ceased to exist; replaced by nothing but a white emptiness that erased everything within its path instantly and without bias.

"...Pavoom."

Riley did not stop there, however, as another whisper escaped his lips—cracking and erasing the expanse of space even more as the first one was seemingly not enough to cover the entire Cherbi. A trickle of blood, however, started to drip from his nose; the corner of his eyes, completely red as he seemed to bleed from inside.

And very soon, the darkness once again rebuilt itself, as instantly as it was erased. And there… the pink fluff still remains. And from its eyes that were seemingly slightly squinted, it was clear that it was now even more pissed off.

"I… I really thought that would work," Riley's clone could really only gulp as he saw the Cherbi completely unscathed, "Is it because I thought of it that it didn't work!?"

[There are no laws in the universe regarding such things, Riley's clone.]

"Shut up, large silver lady," Riley's clone pointed at Tedi, "I liked you better when you had emotions!"

[Are you not also pretending to have emotions, Riley's clone?]

"Shut up, fat lady!"

[It is literally impossible for me to be fat. My size is something I can't control.]

"That is what all fat people say," Riley's clone shook his head, "Anyway, the Boss said you should probably leave us here. If our 'pavoom' did not damage the Cherbi, it would certainly be capable of killing you, Tedi."

[I'm not leaving,] Tedi quickly shook her head, [Both the Cherbi and Riley are beings of utmost importance to the Universe—but if I have to choose one, I will choose Riley to survive due to his potential.]

And while Tedi and Riley's clone seemed to try everything to make their doomed situation lighter,

"...Hm," Riley breathed out as he wiped the blood trailing down his chin—he had the chance to do so, after all. Even though the Cherbi seemed more pissed than it was before, it also stopped moving closer toward him.

Did it stop because Riley was no longer emitting his delicious nuclear aura, or did it stop because it started to get wary of him? But judging from the way it looked, Riley's 'Pavoom' move did not really do anything to it.

Was it also capable of becoming intangible like the norinlad? But no, even Bounty Hunter Kerrigan, an intangible norinlad, was damaged from Riley's 'pavoom'...and yet the Cherbi did not seem to have any visible damage.

And now that it was closer to him, Riley finally realized why they keep calling it the pink fluff—it wasn't in fact just a ball of destruction, it had fur and looked more similar to a round rabbit without legs, ears, and any other necessary parts—the only thing it had were its large pair of dark eyes.

"..." Riley then very slowly started backing away. And although it was hard to notice due to its size, it was obvious from its fur that it was also moving forward—following Riley with a certain aloofness.

Riley was no longer emitting any nuclear energy inside him, and yet the Cherbi still followed him.

[Riley…]

And as Riley was completely focused on the Cherbi, Tedi's voice vibrated in his ears.

[I am going to start moving again. Whatever it is you're doing, continue doing it.]

"..." Riley did not really respond, as he wasn't really doing anything but just backing away from the pink fluff.

[We—!!!]

And before Tedi could finish her words, the Cherbi suddenly moved closer to Riley… much closer.

And now that it was closer to Riley than it ever was before, the way the Cherbi looked for him changed again. The fur that surrounded its body was not actually fur, but some sort of tendrils that seemed to have minds of their own; all of them, seemingly pointed at Riley.

"..." Like most things in the universe that Riley has encountered, the Cherbi was large—but it was not as large as he initially thought. They said it devoured planets and suns, and yet the thing didn't seem to even be as large as Tedi—no.

It wasn't that it wasn't large, but it was shrinking. Its tendrils which were bigger than Riley, now becoming smaller and smaller.

[Riley…] Tedi's words once again whispered in Riley's ears as she watched what was happening from afar; her voice, once again showing emotion, [...Are you aware that the Cherbi changes its size depending on what it is about to devour?]

"Thank you for telling me at this time, Tedi," Riley nodded as he stopped backing away; his eyes, just staring at the Cherbi, whose pink silhouette started to deform, "It seems to also be changing its shape."

[Changing its shape!? There are no records of that ever happening—we most likely never noticed because it just always devoured celestial bodies. It probably still truly thinks you're some sort of star because of the energy you emitted earlier.]

"Hm." And now, as Riley tilted his head to the side, the Cherbi seemed to also do the same as its shape very slowly became more and more similar to a humanoid—or more specifically, Riley's shape.

And while Riley's clear eyes reflected a certain pink innocence with the way the Cherbi tilted its 'head', the only thing that the Cherbi reflected from its dark and cloudy eyes were Riley and the infinite darkness that surrounded him.

"You and I are not the same, after all," Riley then said as he very slowly stretched his hand toward the Cherbi, "You are just living."

[What are you doing, Riley Ross!?]

The Cherbi's 'human' head started to deform as the tendrils surrounding it also started to stretch out toward Riley's approaching hand.

"Hm…"

The tendrils still haven't touched Riley's hand, and even then, he could already feel a certain violent tug pulling him closer. No, not all of him—just his hand, while the rest of his body remained still. It almost felt as if it was trying to rip it off.

Telekinesis?

No, Riley would know what telekinesis felt like. This was different.

"..." And as the Cherbi's tendrils were only less than a foot away from Riley's hand—their ends opened up, revealing some sort of black orb that looked like eyes.

These eyes contained a deep darkness in them, however, it almost seemed similar to staring into the abyss. But perhaps it was because they were not eyes at all.

And as Riley's hand just very slowly disintegrated, distorted, and absorbed by the tendrils all at the same time, he finally realized what the pull was.

It wasn't telekinesis, not at all.

Gravity—no, a Black Hole.

Each of the Cherbi's billion tendrils carried the weight of a black hole in them.

It wasn't just a sentient black hole…

…it was a sentient shapeshifting creature that carried billions of black holes with it.

How exactly that worked, Riley already stopped questioning such things years ago.