Villain Retirement

Chapter 1137: Sudden Event

Chapter 1137: Sudden Event

"I am going to be completely free of you. And for that…

…I will have to be with you, Riley Ross. Let me join you."

"No."

"...Eh?"

It may not have seemed like it, but V used all of her courage and poured her heart out with those words – she dug deep into her past and into her feelings just to be able to utter them…

…and yet Riley just completely just completely flat out said no.

V did not even know what to say anymore as she just stared at Riley's blank face. She waited for him to say something else, but they only ended up just looking at each other awkwardly for an entire minute. Well, awkward for her, at least. She doesn't believe that Riley is capable of feeling awkward at all.

If she let this silence go on for another minute, it would only be her that would be anxious. She wanted to ask why he didn't want her to join, but that would make her sound clingy – and that was the last thing she wanted. After all, the goal is to be free of him, and if she starts that by being clingy, then she is doing something wrong.

"You can join me while I try to find the map for my crew, Victoria," Riley then nodded as he gestured to V to follow him, "Since I am already here, and I do feel that I owe them for just suddenly leaving like that. Please."

"Huh…?" V blinked a couple of times as she saw Riley's hand reach out to her while he was walking – did… he actually want her to walk while holding hands? Is this…

…some sort of test? Considering this was Riley, then it probably is a test – a test on whether or not she wouldn't feel anything if they held hands.

And so, with that thought circling in V's mind, she quickly followed Riley; trickles of electricity snapped around her head, materializing into a white veil that covered her green hair – after all, everyone knew her on this planet. She already left her clone on the throne, if people found out she was also casually walking through the streets, they would start losing their minds.

And then, with a breath, she grabbed Riley's hand.

"Hm?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he felt V's fingers going in between his, "Why did you hold my hand, Victoria?"

"You wanted me to," V scoffed, "And just so you know, I am not feeling anything at all. In fact, I am disgusted that I am doing it."

"I wanted to?" Riley tilted his head to the side as he stopped walking and looked V in the eyes, causing her breaths to almost stutter. But after a few seconds, he just continued to walk without saying anything else.

"You… you thought you got me there," V just once again scoffed; the smirk on her face quickly starting to falter. The cities of the Sphere World were ancient in nature and atmosphere; stones and marble everywhere.

And as expected, Riley was catching everyone's attention. Not only was he almost glowing, but he was also in his pajamas this entire time; not even wearing shoes of any sort. But his feet, however, showed no signs of being dirty at all.

"Since you are escorting me, Victoria – perhaps you know where we can find the map to the next planet?" Riley asked as he looked around the street, but there were no stalls or establishments at all; they were all residential.

"You won't find it here," V quickly shook her head before looking at Riley, only to slightly lean away as she noticed she was already too close to him; their arms sticking together, "T… it's probably in another city – this is a place of worship, after all. We–"

And before V could finish her words, a loud thunder erupted in the air – but unlike her thunder, which exuded elegant destruction, the thunder that roared in the air was more primal, raw… violent.

V did not waste time at all as she immediately realized where the thunder came from – she looked back, only to see her large shrine completely obliterated; an onslaught of smoke coming out.

"There… there were people there!" V gasped.

"Yes, there were," Riley nodded.

"W—"

[Hear me, people of the Sphere World!] V was about to say something, but a voice echoed through the air; incredibly high-pitched, followed by an even higher-pitched burst of cackle,

[I, Mundra, have returned to dethrone the false Messiah! For it is me, Mundra, who is the rightful ruler of this planet!]

"Mundra…" V blinked a couple of times as she heard the name. She squinted her eyes at the smoke, only to see a woman floating there – trickles of yellow lightning, dancing around her arms, "...I know her – I threw her to the depths of the phantom abyss, how is she even back?"

[Behold, I have killed her!] Mundra then raised the decapitated head of V's mindless clone, [And from now on, you will kneel to Mundra!]

And with those words, the yellow lightning dancing around her arms crawled toward the decapitated head – completely devouring it in the most gruesome way possible. There were no hints of blood, however, as the clone was not even made of flesh and blood – but of course, the people and even Mundra herself did not really notice it because of her excitement.

"Did… she really think she killed me?" V raised an eyebrow as she let go of Riley's hand, "She probably thought that I was weak from fighting you, Riley – wait here while I—"

"No," Riley started floating in the air before V could even take a single step, "Allow me."

"Huh? Why would you even–"

Riley completely ignored V as he floated faster and faster toward Mundra until he was floating right in front of her.

"Huh…?" Mundra quickly squinted her eyes as she saw Riley approach, "And who might you be? The first to kneel before Mundra?"

"No."

"No…? Wait… you look familiar," Mundra stared at Riley for a few seconds before her eyes strayed down to the ruined peristyle – and there, she saw the statue of Riley's decapitated head,

"I knew it, that's you!" Mundra pointed at Riley, "Then as I did with your wife, I will end you in front of all these–Huh?"

And before Mundra could even finish her words, she saw her vision suddenly spin and rotate – only stopping as Riley caught her, or more specifically, her head. She watched the rest of her body fall before Riley placed her head in front of him…

…and as her consciousness began to fade, the last thing she saw was the wide smile crawling onto Riley's face.

"That was boring," Riley just let out a small sigh; shaking his head before nonchalantly dropping Mundra's head like it was trash–no, not even. After all, Riley knows how to throw his trash properly.

Riley was about to float back to where V was but then noticed the people who were looking at him from below. And as soon as he looked at them, they all started kneeling one by one – humming some sort of song, electrifying and powerful.

"Oh…?" The wide smile crawled back on Riley's face as he very slowly descended toward the kneeling crowd, and then, with one swift motion, he grabbed something from the pockets of his pajama,

"Behold…"

It was some sort of DVD, "...A copy of Italian Mafia Reborn. People of the Sphere World, watch this…

…and reach true enlightenment. Farewell!"

And before any of the crowd could actually react, Riley's body just burst into millions of pieces; his blood, showering everywhere. The people in the crowd could really only look at each other in shock; not even noticing that the blood started to crawl away – and before they could actually notice, all of their attention was in the CD that was floating in the air.

As for the blood that was crawling across the ground, it all just collected in one spot and sneakily merged back into Riley right behind V, who was hiding behind the crowd unnoticed.

"I suppose you are dead to these people now, Victoria," Riley let out a small but very deep sigh while shaking his head, "Welcome to the crew."

"...Huh," V could not help but just blink a couple of times as she stared at her devouts – she thought they would mourn her for quite a very long time, and yet here they were now just treating a DVD like it was some sort of cosmic treasure, "...Italian Mafia Reborn isn't even that good."

"Maybe you should just stay here, Victoria," Riley shook his head.

"N…no. I guess… it's okay?"

***

"Welcome to the crew, Victoria."

After a few more hours of searching, Riley and V were still unsuccessful in trying to find a map, so Riley just opted to return to the ship instead.

"Wait… Where are Hannah and the others…? Wait…

…This isn't the Baby Crew!?"

Unfortunately for V, she misunderstood one tiny little detail.