Villain Retirement

The Ratking.

A very long tail that had bits and little pieces of hair extruding out of it—barely even covering a single fold. Its arms were longer than its tail, but still muscular all the same. Riley had always wondered if Theran had any animals or creatures similar to monkeys or apes, and now, his questions were answered.

Riley just didn't know where to categorize this monster in front of him. Was it a primate, or a walking rodent? Perhaps none of those matter.

The only thing that matters is that it crushed a themarian's head with one hand. A themarian's skull, which is multiple times harder than diamond… crushed like an egg.

"M…Mr. Riley! Pull her away!"

"..." Riley then turned to look at Pia, who was the only one that revealed herself from behind the boulder she was hiding behind. Riley then turned to look at Aita's body, which just dropped to the ground with its neck looking like a blooming flower of flesh.

Soon, however, this blooming flower of flesh started to wriggle—Aita was still alive. But before anything else could happen, the Ratking suddenly slammed its tail straight down on Aita's stomach; a force enough to create a gust that could split a mountain in half.

And like a flan being chopped violently, the insides of her stomach burst out as her body split in two; her organs, scattered everywhere. Still, even with this gruesome sight, her organs seemed to still function as they wriggled and beat.

"..." For a talking and walking rat, the ratking did not seem to be that intelligent. Or perhaps it was only playing with its prey? If so, then he seemed to be enjoying this alone. As Riley turned to look at Aita again, her head has already fully grown.

Her eyes, looking in different directions as her brain still seemed to register what just happened to it. Soon, however, both of Aita's eyes turned toward Riley.

"Please…" Aita whispered as her hair started to grow back, "...please help me."

And once again, Hannah's face overlapped with Aita's, causing Riley to slightly take in a sharp breath and grit his teeth. And with a small groan, Riley suddenly stepped on Aita's fresh head—burrowing it straight through the cold, hard ground.

"What are you doing!?" Pia could not help but gasp as soon as she saw this. She was going to rush toward Riley but then found her hair very slowly floating forward. This gentle touch, however, soon turned violent as Pia felt her entire body being pulled toward Riley.

"This…" And although Pia was still quite confused as to what was happening, she immediately punched through the ground so she could stop. And without waiting for anything else to happen, her eyes lit up, letting out a violent beam as she looked at Riley.

Unfortunately for Pia, Riley grabbed Aita from the floor—using her face as a shield as he ran toward her.

"Aita!"

Before Riley could get near, however, Rylo suddenly rushed from the side—ramming himself toward Riley while Milla grabbed Aita from his hand.

"Rah!" And with a roar that reverberated through the entire cave, Rylo grabbed Riley's face and slammed him straight to the hard wall. And he did not let Riley recover at all, as he started rampaging and letting a barrage of fists on his face.

"Aita, are you… are you okay!?" Milla carried Aita away, cleaning her face to see if there was still life in her eyes; the smile that was growing on her face, however, was already enough indication,

"We… we thought we lost you."

"Can't get rid of me that fast," Aita then violently shook her head as she pushed herself away from Milla, "We need to—"

"Uhm, guys…"

And while Rylo's arms have disappeared from the naked eye while he endlessly strikes Riley's face, Pia pointed at the ratking. Milla and Aita quickly set up their stance as they turned to look…

…only to see the ratking digging through the sack that Riley was carrying.

"That…"

"Fuck… he wasn't lying."

The three women could really only take in a small gulp as they saw the different body parts being thrown out and scattered from the sack. And judging by the way the ratking was having trouble biting through the flesh and bones of the corpse… the corpse belonged to someone strong. Stronger than all of them.

"..." Aita continued to watch the ratking force its sharp teeth through the flesh when she realized something. If a corpse like this was in Riley's sack, then wouldn't that mean—

"Rylo! Get away from him!"

"Huh?"

Aita instantly realized that calling out to Rylo was a mistake. Because as soon as he stopped hitting Riley, some sort of white light beamed out from the back of his chest.

"..." Rylo very slowly turned his head down to look… only to see the blade of light moving closer to his head, and then between his eyes. And in half the time it would take to blink, several lines of light moved randomly across his body.

"...Rylo?" Aita and the others all held their breaths as Rylo was still able to turn around to look at them.

"S… sister," Rylo whispered; his flesh, almost as if not knowing whether to regenerate or fall apart, "I—"

Unfortunately for him, before his body could make a choice, he became the ratking's target instead as it started to get frustrated from how hard James's flesh and bones were. And once again, unfortunately for Rylo, the ratking used all of its force to bite through his face.

And in just less than a second, his entire body was mowed down and devoured by the ratking. What else could Aita and the others do but watch?

If they were to try and rescue Rylo, then Riley would definitely kill them.

"Run…" Aita whispered as she grabbed Pia and Milla's hands, "...We should go."

"What… what about your brother!? He might still be—"

"He's dead! Let's just go!"

And with that, Aita dragged her two friends away—even destroying the ground she was standing on as she used all of her strength to leap and fly away.

"..." Riley watched as their silhouette almost instantly disappeared from sight. But after a few more moments, he raised his hand. And as he did so, the cave started to tremble. The shaking was light at first, but as the veins on Riley's face started to show, the quaking became violent.

Theran truly is a mysterious place. Riley was able to crumble Mars in seconds with just a small amount of effort. But here?

He even had to stretch his telekinetic abilities to destroy and close down the mouth of the cave. Perhaps the deeper and closer one is to Theran's core, the denser, harder, and heavier everything is. It is also no wonder why the wildlife of Theran are the way they are.

A wildlife…

Riley then turned to look at the ratking, who returned to James's corpse to once again try and devour it.

"That's mine."

But as soon as Riley took a step closer to it, the ratking immediately ran deeper into the cave. At this point…

…shouldn't Riley be considered one of the wildlife of Theran?

"..." And with that thought circling in his mind, a smirk started to crawl on his face. If he is part of the wildlife… then perhaps it was time for him to be the one to hunt.

Riley wanted to take a mission on the Credit Board to try it, but now…

...maybe they'll make a mission to subdue him instead.