Villain Retirement

Chapter 1131: Ei

Chapter 1131: Ei

"I heard you have been trying to call me, Child?"

"...I thought you would never come."

Somewhere extremely far away from where Riley currently is, Aerith'Ross's white silhouette stood isolated in the dark expanse of space — the only entity for lightyears away, and she had been so for several days… until now.

"...You changed your appearance?"

"You like it?"

"It is… unbefitting of one called the personification of Death itself."

Aerith'Ross turned around, only to see a woman with long blonde hair and extremely blue eyes; her skin, slightly tan and almost golden.

"Oh, you don't like it?" Death then slightly flicked her long white dress before spinning in the expanse of space; seemingly affected by wind and gravity even though both did not exist where they were, "I showed Riley's children, and they seemed to like it."

"Why does it feel like I am the only one who cares about what is happening in this universe?" Aerith'Ross could not help but just let out a small gasp as she lightly shook her head, "And I am not even from this time or universe at all."

"You will get used to it," Death just shrugged, "And despite their nonchalance, the people that surround Riley are actually doing their best to prevent whatever is coming – they just do not exert more force than necessary as it would not change anything – a trait they have learned most probably by spending too much time with the young primordial."

"I have been waiting for you, you know…" Aerith'Ross floated closer to Death; both of their hairs being blown by a wind that didn't exist, "...I have been waiting for you to ask me some questions about the universe that I am from – but you never did. How are you not curious about the universe that will ultimately replace everything you see here?"

"Because it is not my role to question or to ask," Death just shrugged.

"Then what is your role!?" Aerith'Ross raised her voice while waving her hand, causing a high-pitched ripple to travel across the empty darkness.

"I prefer you when you were still mysterious, Aerith'Ross," Death just blinked a couple of times as she slightly floated away from Aerith'Ross, "This intensity of yours does not really work for someone who looks like you, someone who looks even more ephemeral than I."

"That is your choice to look like that," Aerith'Ross's eyebrows lowered, "I never had a choice to choose my lineage – are you truly not going to ask about what happened to you and the rest of the Primordials?"

"You don't know."

"Hm?"

"You do not know what happened to us," Death just looked Aerith in the eyes, "You do not know what will happen to us."

"And how would you know that?" Aerith'Ross returned Death's stares.

"Because you are here right now, about to ask me passage to the Outerverse," Death just placed her hands behind her back, cutely leaning forward as she smiled at Aerith'Ross, "Right? You want to meet the woman you were with the first time we met – Jennifer, was it?"

"...I thought your kind are not supposed to be omniscient?" Aerith'Ross very slowly backed away from Death.

"We are not," Death shook her head, "But it does not take a genius to know what you want, Aerith'Ross. After all, the trial of the Black Tower seems to be very popular nowadays; it is too bad that I can not enter it myself…

…so, here you go."

Death then snapped her fingers, creating the portal to the Outververse.

"That's… not a trap, is it?" Aerith'Ross squinted her eyes as she looked at the large portal beside Death.

"Why would I be in need of a trap?" Death blinked, "Most things die, I just need to wait."

"...You know, you can solve all the problems this universe is having," Aerith'Ross once again looked Death in the eyes, "The two universes melding together into destruction – you can prevent that by killing and destroying either one, and the choice of which one you should destroy is clear."

"It is not my role to end life, Aerith'Ross," Death shook her head, "My role is to welcome the end of life — there is a big difference."

"...Are you truly just going to let me in?" Aerith'Ross breathed out as she very slowly floated to the portal, "Everyone in this universe has treated me like a villain."

"That usually tends to happen when you show yourself as a villain, Aerith'Ross," Death shrugged.

"Then why isn't Riley Ross being treated as such?"

"Are you blind?" Death blinked a couple of times, "Most of the people who know Riley Ross know him as a villain – the only problem is, is that he is a villain that they actually have to live with because he just won't die. Do you know what they used to call him, Aerith'Ross? The Walking Calamity…

…Riley Ross has been treated as a natural disaster even before he gained the strength to walk amongst us. And Riley Ross, being the way he is, follows the course of a natural disaster – random and without purpose."

"A natural disaster…" Aerith'Ross scoffed, "...He is a villain, nothing less and nothing more."

"Not for now," Death shook her head, "But do you, in your heart, truly want to see him become a villain again? Because as far as my knowledge goes, Riley Ross stopped trying to be a villain as soon as he defeated Megawoman. He has just been moving like a cloud since, randomly raining down whenever he wants to…

…do you truly want Riley Ross, as strong as he is now, to once again become a villain with purpose? The only reason why we are even having this conversation in the first place is that Riley Ross does not have a clear goal anymore…

…I would suggest not giving him a reason to have direction again."

Aerith'Ross did not really say anything anymore as she just stared at Death. And after a few seconds, she just let out a short but very deep breath before floating toward the portal.

"I would suggest relaxing, Aerith'Ross," Death whispered, "Maybe if you did relax and just continued being friendly…

…you would have known that a portal leading to the future has spawned right in Riley's house."

"Wait, what did—" And before Aerith'Ross could finish her words, Death just waved her hand and threw the portal at her.

"Well then…" Death then just let out a small sigh as she removed the portal, "...I think Tomoe is cooking some of those ramen stuff?"

***

"...I think it is time to talk about the elephant in the room."

"I do not see any elephants here, Aurora."

"I mean the literal dead body standing in front of the navigation!"

Back in the Nothing Nothing ship, Aurora was currently pointing at Set's frozen body, which Riley placed in front of the navigation terminal since no one was stationed there and it felt empty.

"And are we sure he's even dead!?" Aurora could not help but just take several steps back, going behind Miss Pepondosovich, "What if he just suddenly wakes up? I'm the one closest to him, and he could snap me like a twig."

"You should stop being so dramatic, Aurora," Riley just let out a small sigh while shaking his head, "I am sure he will not be able to do that, you are the captain of the Nothing Nothing squad."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Aurora shook her head violently, "I am literally just a normal person being surrounded by gods right now! Don't any of you know what that feels like!?"

"I do," Miss Pepondosovich raised her hand, "I used to belong to a race that was kept inside a planet to harvest and be harvested and then eaten by a larger and stronger race."

"That's…" Aurora could really only shut her mouth as she heard that, "...That's not what I—"

Unfortunately, before Aurora could actually place her case, Monkeh's yawn resounded throughout the entire bridge as she stepped inside, "I think we're getting close to the third planet island."

"Oh?" Miss Pepondosovich quickly looked outside, "What kind of planet is it?"

"Well, it used to be a completely different planet right about… if following the calculations you people are used to… 400 years ago, it was a completely different planet," Monkeh raised her finger as she also walked toward the window, "It used to be the most normal looking out of all the planets in the Grand Triangle – spherical, like a real actual planet."

"...And I'm guessing something happened 399 years ago?" Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes as she tried to find the planet in the distance, but the only thing she could really see was the colorful expanse of the Grand Triangle, as well as a large puff of cloud with lightning violently dancing around it.

"It turned into that," Monkeh pointed at the cloud, "I haven't been there since it changed…

…but I heard a single person completely transformed the entire planet to her liking."

...Could it be?