Villain Retirement

"What… what is this!?"

Aerith, Queen of Hel, and Leader of the Revolt.

A decade ago now, she came to know of the fate of Theran—that it will shatter in its own weight, taking all of them with it. Her father, King Arthus, however, was adamant that no action was to be taken; that if Theran were to really fall, then they should fall with it.

And so, Aerith asked for help from the very same person who informed her of Theran's status, Caitlain'Ur. Caitlain'Ur was a wanted fugitive, considered one of the worst criminals of Theran—but from Aerith's discovery, Caitlain only did what she did to find a way to save their people.

And they did. Together, they were able to overthrow her father… with the help of a single individual of a species from the Unknown.

A human who was able to utilize their energy dampener and turn it into a lethal weapon—a lethal weapon that would permanently remove a themarian's strength. And with King Arthus gone, Aerith took the throne and allowed Caitlain to do whatever she must to save their people—the establishment of New Theran.

And that was the short version of the story of how Aerith saved her people from certain annihilation…

…or so she thought.

As she came into power, she soon knew things that she wasn't privy to before.

The human that helped save her species, Bernard Ross, was a conqueror.

Their planet, Earth, was first invaded by a certain species years ago, not knowing that it was being protected by a themarian. But it didn't matter, it wasn't the themarian they needed to worry about in the first place, it was Bernard Ross.

Bernard Ross was the key figure responsible for repelling them away, but at the cost of his baby daughter—and that, was the universe's greatest mistake.

Bernard did not just repel the invaders, he followed them back to their planet and massacred each and every last one of them. And perhaps the scariest part of this revenge was that he was calm.

Like a quiet storm that painted everything red.

Caitlain'Ur was able to convince Bernard to stop the bloodshed, and for the most part, Bernard agreed. Unfortunately, he was also convinced that they will not be safe as long as the threats of invaders loomed on them.

And so, Bernard went on a quest. An… inquisition.

He made the planets make a choice; follow him, or die.

The Redking's ultimatum.

And that choice was also placed upon Aerith and her people. And of course, true to her name, Aerith was never going to let her people be under a tyrant, and they have been at odds ever since.

For the most part, Aerith was just trying her best not to get in the Earthlings' way—establishing themselves far away and completely apart from the Redking's grasp. And so far, it had been working.

She stays away from whatever it is he was doing, and he leaves her people alone.

Or at least, that is how it should have been.

Right now, she was watching her entire people just disintegrate in front of her—erased by a white light that just emerged out of nowhere.

And there was that voice, an ominous and sinister voice that calls for her name repeatedly. And like a hand of a god, Aerith finds herself being pulled away from her people…

…and she could do nothing but beg for their lives as she watched them disappear one by one.

***

"I told you, you trust that nerd too much! Now we have a much more unstable version of me driving the most dangerous weapon in the entire universe!"

"That's because Bernard always had a plan—I suppose he never expected that someone who is supposed to be his son in another universe would just kill him outright… Fuck, children are Bernard's weakness."

"...But that's a full-grown man."

"I meant his children. Riley Ross grew up being trained by the Bernard of his world—that only means one thing… he's a shameless manipulator too."

"Nope, we're just stupid. I swear, the boy has a certain charm in him."

Back on Earth, Alice and Diana were trying their best to penetrate through the invisible walls that Riley had placed between them; with Alice trying to lighten the barriers and Diana punching them open—but alas, they crack one, and two would replace its place and even push them back. Aside from the crack that was already there, they have not even been able to touch the glass that separates them and Riley even once.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, a fight for all of their lives was currently being held.

"Nope," Alice, who was pushed to her butt stopped fighting as she just shrugged, "This is pointless. We're dead, we're all dead."

"What are you doing?" Diana, who was about to rush back toward the glass, could not help but stop and look at Alice in disbelief, "Are you giving up!?"

"It's not giving up when you know you've already lost from the start," Alice laid her back on the floor. She then turned to look at the hologram of the universe; her eyes, reflecting the worlds that have been ceaselessly destroyed by Riley,

"This is it, Dee. This is the end of our world."

"How can you be so calm about this!?"

"How can you not? You're like a gazillion years old."

"You said it yourself, Bernard's our friend."

"Well… you two were closer, so…"

"Can we just focus!?"

"...No."

Even with Diana's pleading, Alice no longer moved—she was just staring at the hologram of the universe as if she was actually looking at sky and stars.

"This is it, Dee. You've always wondered what the end of the universe would look like—It's this—brought forth by the hands of my son. I don't know whether to be proud or mortified," Alice took in a small but deep breath as she glanced at Diana,

"I really love you, Dee. I do. Thank you for being my only friend for—"

[Why are you saying your farewells, Alice? As I said, I am not going to kill the two of you.]

"Oh," Alice sat up, "You heard that, Dee?"

"...But you are going to kill everybody else?" Diana finally lowered her fists as she spoke to Riley.

[If the mood calls for it.]

"And what is your mood now?"

[I just want to see Aerith again. Nothing else matters for now.]

"You do know we're going to try and restrain you as soon as you leave the Manus Dei, right?" Alice joined in on the conversation.

"Alice!"

"What? He knows that, he's obviously not the fool—"

And before Alice could finish her words, a figure of light started to form between her and Diana.

"You're… using Bernard's teleportation device?" Diana watched as the figure of light soon took the form of a woman, "How are you…"

Diana then quickly turned to look at Bernard, only to finally notice something even more wrong with Bernard's headless corpse. She stared at it for a while, before once again approaching it and just suddenly stepping on his arm, completely shattering his red gauntlet.

"Dee…?" Alice blinked in confusion, wondering why Diana would mutilate her friend's corpse even further—but then, she too finally noticed something wrong—the gauntlet was hollow.

Bernard was missing his head and both his arms—and there and then, Diana's question was answered. Bernard's facial imprint, his fingerprints, his eyes… everything needed to physically identify Bernard was missing.

Everything that could give access to all of Bernard's gadgets and device was missing.

Diana already had an idea of where they are. But alas, she did not have time to do anything as the figure of light finally vanished…

…revealing Aerith within its blanket.

"...Caitlain?" Aerith was completely pale; her eyes, red even without her releasing any energy. The confusion on her face was evident, but still, she quickly looked around her surrounding to assess her situation… only for her eyes to ultimately land on a familiar coat of armor.

"Did… you kill him?" Aerith breathed out as she looked at Diana, "Was he… Was he the one killing us? Is that why you killed him? Have you finally snapped out of it and realized what a monster he is?"

"..."

"But it's too late, Caitlain," Aerith's already red eyes started to glow even redder, "We are the only ones left of our people… but I feel like there really should only be one of us left. Let's end this once and for—!!!"

And before Aerith could finish her words, she felt a pair of arms suddenly hugging her from behind.

And she doesn't know why—but she immediately felt trapped. The arms were not even gripping her tight, but it almost felt like she was surrounded by chains that are as heavy as a million stars.

"Aerith."

"..." Aerith's eyes started to widen as she heard the voice—the very same voice that kept calling her name as she watched her people die.

"...What do we do now?" Alice awkwardly looked at Diana. Diana, however, was looking at the Manus Dei…

…which was now completely ruined; its walls, tattered and mangled. The translucent fluid nanites, now visible and charred, melted into each other like charcoal as they stuck to the broken walls.

"You… destroyed the Manus Dei?" Diana turned to look at Riley, who was casually resting his cheek on Aerith's shoulder.

"I don't need it anymore," Riley just casually breathed out, "Now that Aerith is here, we can once again start our never-ending battle between good and evil."

"..."

"What…" Aerith was completely frozen stiff; her eyes, just very slowly turning to Diana,

"...What is going on?"