Villain Retirement

"I killed all of them."

Hannah, who has known Chihiro for several years before she died, could not believe what she was hearing right now. Out of all the temporary members of the Baby Crew, Chihiro could be said to be the sweetest—almost like a precious little sister that they all had to take care of.

The next one that came close to her was Silvie—but Silvie changed… quite a lot. And so, Hannah was in complete disbelief that the Chihiro she knew would change this much. But then again, even as Chihiro Prime told them her story, Hannah can't quite fathom just how long she has been alive… and suffering.

A single death could change everything, and Chihiro Prime had to live an unimaginable number of deaths.

As for the Chihiro of this universe, she was in complete shock. She had initially thought of how cool it was that she was meeting a version of herself that is much more experienced and without a doubt stronger. She thought that she could become some sort of mentor to her along with Machina…but no.

She mentioned that Machina called for thousands of Chihiro from other universes, which means she also killed thousands of them. Wouldn't that also mean…

…Chihiro Prime might kill her too? And why is Machina not doing anything?

Chihiro had been trying to contact Machina, but why is she so quiet and not telling her to do anything… or giving her a new mission? Or perhaps…

…Chihiro Prime was the only one with a mission right now?

And while Chihiro and Hannah were both in disbelief at what was happening, Nannah's mind was in the gutters. Out of everyone here, she was the only one that has an actual idea of how strong Chihiro Prime was—after all, she fought her once already and almost died.

The only reason she was alive right now was because of her father, who seemed to have made some sort of deal with the primordial behind Chihiro.

And she knew… she knew that if Chihiro Prime were to actually become serious and wreak havoc, then the only one that could probably stop her right now was her father—and Riley Ross.

No, there were currently 3 themarians in her universe—and based on the information she had gathered, each of them should be stronger than any of the themarians they have here.

They could subdue Chihiro Prime without any problem. But the thing is, would they? They're not from this universe, and after she told them that she has killed several of them from other universes—the chances of them helping this universe were slim to none.

And so, the only thing that Nannah could really do now was once again summon her armor; her eyes turning orange as they planted themselves on Chihiro Prime. And although everyone can see that she was ready to fight at any time, the trembling of her hands also showed her hesitation.

And while the minds of the three girls were running amok, Riley could not help but be amused.

"You killed all of them while in the presence of a Primordial God, Chihiro?"

"It actually doesn't matter that Machina was there."

Chihiro Prime finally jumped off the counter, walking her fingers just above Riley's right shoulder as she circled around her to once again lean on the counter and look at Riley,

"It can't do anything. An almost infinite number of lives I have lived, and the only thing Machina could really do is…"

Chihiro Prime snapped her fingers before waving them on top of her head, "...All of this—an endless message of nothing."

"..." Riley looked Chihiro Prime in the eyes, only to see several words actually reflect on them. He tried to glance above her head, but there was nothing there,

"You are much more connected to Machina than the rest of the Chihiros, Chihiro?"

"I am," Chihiro Prime leaned away from the counter as her shoulders dropped, "You can say I know everything about it. It gave us powers, but it can not take them back. Machina could use two different Avatars in one generation, it happened once. But Machina was sort of… condemned by its colleagues."

"Interesting," Riley placed his hand on his chin, "But you have to die though, Chihiro."

"Hm?" Chihiro Prime tilted her head to the side.

"I have already killed you, so you should remain dead," Riley nodded his head, "And since I did not get any abilities when the Chihiro of this universe killed me, then I truly have no use for you."

"Ah, Machina told me about that," Chihiro Prime sighed, "Something about you not actually supposed to be existing, and something about the Chihiro of this world trying to absorb you and failing. And this is why we're meant to be, Riley!"

"We are?"

"Yes!" Chihiro Prime stretched her hand to the sides as she started spinning and laughing, causing everyone in the room except for Riley to squint their eyes, "You, who do not truly exist. And me, who has existed 'til the start of time and always exists in every universe. Polar opposites."

"I do not see why we are meant to be because of that, Chihiro."

"Hm, you will," Chihiro Prime abruptly stopped swinging around; just frozen as she started breathing heavily, "Because for you, I am willing to also be the only Chihiro in existence."

"...What?" Chihiro quickly reacted to Chihiro Prime's words, "Wh—"

And before she could once again open her mouth, the tip of Chihiro Prime's fingers were already only inches away from hitting her stomach. Well, perhaps it was better to say that it was only inches away from Hannah's palm, which was blocking Chihiro's stomach.

"...Why protect her?" Chihiro Prime quickly took a step back and started waving her hand, blowing on it as there were obvious signs of char healing around her finger, "You don't even know her."

"And why does that matter?" Hannah raised an eyebrow as she stood in front of Chihiro, "Heroes save people daily, and they don't even know their names."

"Oh…?" a small smirk crawled on Chihiro Prime's face as she looked Hannah in the eyes,

"Is that why you didn't save me back then?" Chihiro Prime's eyebrows lowered as much as her voice, "Is that why you just watched as my ex-boyfriend plunged his arm through my stomach?"

"That's…"

"You weren't much of a hero then, were you?" Chihiro Prime then covered her face; her breaths, seemingly not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "But you don't have to worry, I don't hold a grudge, I don't hold anything at all."

"..."

And while Chihiro Prime and Hannah were busy talking, Nannah was recording everything and sending it to her dad. Bard has actually been talking to her since earlier, assessing the situation and telling her what to do, or in this case, what not to do.

Bard told her to stand down and do nothing—let the matter resolve itself and just focus on trying to save people when it comes to it. As for the variants that were in their universe, the Aerith and Diana of Riley's universe were willing to help, but not the other Aerith variant.

But the themarians' involvement would complicate things. Whiteking could just erase all the footage of what would happen next, but if images of Aerith and Diana were to spread outside the universe… the themarians that were on Second Theran would surely have questions.

In short, her hands were tied and the only thing she could really do was…

"Golden Fox!" Nannah quickly grabbed Chihiro, before forcefully flying her away—wrecking the shop's roof and ceiling in the process.

"Oh?" Chihiro Prime let out an amused hum as she avoided the debris. She was about to chase them, but Hannah flew above her and covered them,

"...You do know I can teleport, right?"

"I'm not trying to stop you, Chihiro," Hannah sighed, "I'm trying to…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Okay, yes. I am trying to stop you."

"Hm," Chihiro Prime shrugged before glancing at Riley and smiling, "Please stay here, Riley. This will be over in a minute."

And as she said those words, she sank toward the void that was suddenly on the floor.

"Fuck!" Hannah wanted to pull her, but she was already gone before she could even descend a single millimeter, "Why does everything have to be so fucking complicated!? Why are all the variants so batshit crazy!? Look at mine, we're all freaking cool!"

"That is because you are the batshit crazy variant, sister."

"What the fuck did you say?"

"You are insane, sister."

"You—I just came here to bring you back, Riley!"

"Then let's go back, sister," Riley blinked a couple of times, seemingly confused with Hannah's words, "Everyone seems to be done with their dessert, so we can go home now. I also do not want to go home at the same time with Aerith, so this is the perfect time."

"What…? No," Hannah rolled her eyes, "That's our Chihiro right there! We also need to bring her home!"

"Our Chihiro is dead, sister."

"If we happen to be separated again and meet a million years later, will I still be your sister?"

"You will be dead, sister."

"Fuck, just fucking humor me."

"Then yes," Riley nodded, "You will always be my sister, Hannah. Even if you despise and abhor me, I will—"

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Hannah waved her hand, "So, is that Chihiro not our Chihiro then?"

"No."

"Ugh, whatever. I'm following Hannah, Chihiro and Chihiro. Fuck! Even the people are confusing now!" Hannah just shook her head as she flew out of the store; her loud voice, still echoing inside as she left Riley and Nannah's guards there.

"...How is it confusing?" Riley placed his hand on his chin. And after several seconds of deliberating, he looked at the guards that were probably the most confused of all,

"Do you people want dessert?"

"..." The guards all looked at each other, before just running out of the store in haste.

"Rude," Riley stared at their disappearing backs for a few seconds, before his eyes started to wander around the store, "Perhaps…

…I should just open my own dessert store?"

***

"Everything's a mess."

Back in Nannah's penthouse, the older generation plus Silvie were all scratching their heads.

"A mess that does not involve me."

But perhaps out of all of them, the most impatient one was Aerith-1, who had been walking around the penthouse and causing several shockwaves with each step.

"All of you are on your own—if Riley has garnered the wrath of these so-called Primordial gods, I will not contest it with my own revenge," Aerith-1 flung her extremely long blonde hair to the side, "I only wish to see what punishment awaits him."

"This is getting way bigger than we initially thought," Diana pinched the bridge of her nose, "Riley… Ugh, this is all my fault."

"Diana, don't," Aerith placed her hand on her shoulder, "This is already hard for you—I was the one who ultimately decided to imprison Riley… and kill him over and over again. It's—"

"Oh."

And before Aerith could finish her words, all of them turned their heads toward the familiar voice that suddenly let out a breath. And there he was, someone who was supposed to be idling in a dessert store, standing with them out of nowhere…

…Riley Ross.

"I did not know that, Aerith."