Villain Retirement

"Please resurrect this man…

…or I will lobotomize you and do it myself. I am only asking you because the latter would take more time, Mister Randall."

Randall could not help but gulp at Riley's words; his horns glowing even more fervently than before. His eyes, moving back and forth between Riley and Miss Pepondosovich, before ultimately settling on the god of luck. Miss Pepondosovich only nodded at Randall as he looked at her, her hand still clasping Randall's as firmly as possible, almost as if she was quietly warning him not to do anything that would get him killed.

"Very well, Riley Ross." And after a few seconds of hesitation, Randall let out a long but very short sigh, "But only because you asked so politely."

The light dancing around his horns flashed dangerously at Riley's threat, but he knew better than to act on his instincts while facing the god in front of him. He knew Riley was dangerous the first time they met, he knew it in the very depths of his core, but now that that danger was pointed right at him, Randall could not help but feel so...

...small.

Back in his universe, he was considered the evilest and most heinous being - a demon god, so to speak. He had waged war and enslaved the other planets just for his own greed, they were nothing but food to him. It was really only in the end and in the Domain of the Gods that he found himself changing - that he found what he was doing futile in the grand scheme of things.

He was shown his own weakness in the Domain of the Gods as everyone here was as strong as him, some even stronger. But fear? Fear was something he thought was no longer in his vocabulary...

...or so he thought.

Although Riley's words were clearly a threat, he was not really showing even a single sign of killing intent, not even one. But that is what made Randall almost quiver where he stood, he knew Riley was going to kill him, but he could not even feel even the slightest bit of animosity in him. Even humans think or feel something when they kill an insect, but Riley?

It was almost as if taking another one's life was just something natural to him... like he was born to do so. Like everyone and everything around him was just...

...nothing.

Randall stared at Riley's empty eyes a few more seconds before he let out another sigh. And with a shake of his head, he brushed his hands along his horns, grabbing the lights that were nervously dancing on the top of his head.

"I have already told you my condition of resurrecting a corpse, Riley Ross," Randall turned to look at the corpse floating between him and Riley, "I can only resurrect them if they only died just recently, and if their body is still intact. This corpse... only fulfills one of those condition."

The upper part of the ugly man's corpse was completely intact, albeit completely pale as it probably already lost all of its blood since all of its lower part was missing; mangled, flesh and guts just hanging loosely everywhere.

"Even if I do manage to resurrect this human, he will just ultimately succumb to his own mortality. He would die faster than we could even breathe," Randall continued to explain as he stretched his hands toward the corpse; the light dancing around his arms, now veiling the mangled corpse violently, "Even if you heal him to extend his life, he will really only truly be lucid for but a moment. Anything longer than a moment, you will be speaking with a husk."

"It is fine, Mister Randall," Riley nodded, "I only need a moment."

"Riri..." Miss Pepondosovich approached the corpse as she slightly also got in between him and Randall, "...I don't really get why you're doing this. We were already at the top of the tower, it would have only taken a few more battles before we're fighting for the title of Champion and receiving the Cosmic Piece either way."

"Because I trust you more, Miss Pepondosovich."

"...What?" Miss Pepondosovich could really only raise an eyebrow at Riley's words, "I'm... flattered, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"What… does this mortal have to do with the cosmic piece?" Randall, who was just waiting for RIley's cue to start the resurrection, could not help but slightly waver as he heard Miss Pepondosovich's words.

"He holds the book that contains a clue on how to get a Cosmic Piece, Mister Randall," Riley answered Randall without even a slight hesitation, "Now please, do resurrect him."

"Wait," Miss Pepondosovich grabbed Randall's arm again before he could start reviving the ugly man, "Even if you revive him, what makes you so sure you'd find anything from him? I'm sure the reason why he's just roaming free on the 91st floor is that the Grand Champion already has everything he wants from the human — he is useless. The Grand Champion probably already has the book with him."

"Maybe," Riley blinked a couple of times before looking Miss Pepondosovich in the eyes, "But as I said, Miss Pepondosovich — I trust in you, or rather, your abilities."

"...Oh," Miss Pepondosovich's eyes became slightly stoic.

"We were able to find him for a reason, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley nodded, "I intend to find out why. Mister Randall."

"...Well, alright then," Miss Pepondosovich rolled her lips as she backed away from them, "I… also trust in you, Riri."

"Mister Randall," Riley also took a step back as he just let the corpse hover in front of Randall, who nodded before breathing something from his mouth, an incantation. And unlike with Esme, the revival did not take long at all as the ugly man's face started twitching almost instantly. And then, with just another breath from Randall, the corpse opened his eyes.

Randall immediately took a step back, gesturing to Riley that it was done.

"What…" The ugly man gasped as soon as he woke up; his eyes, darting everywhere. As soon as his eyes landed on his lower body, he let out a visceral scream that caused Miss Pepondosovich to just wince and slightly look away, "Where… where's my—Gah!"

And before the man could even finish his words, Riley suddenly inserted his entire arm through his mangled lower body. The screams that were escaping the man's mouth, however, were suddenly silenced as Riley trapped his voice inside some sort of vacuum, also making the man unable to breathe.

"You only have a few minutes to live, I plan to find a way to extend that as much as possible," Riley then said as his face reflected on the tears that were trailing down the man's face, "It is up to you whether you will be in pain for that duration or not — so please, tell me everything and anything you know about the cosmic piece, we know you have it, or at least had it. I am going to let you talk now…

…please do not make it worse for yourself."

"I… I don't kn—Grkah!"

A whistle whispered in the air as Riley's hand started vibrating through the man's insides. He also created some sort of telekinetic tentacle that was as thin as hair, making sure that all of them were hitting all of the man's nerves so that his entire body would be in an endless and excruciating pain.

What he was doing to the man might seem tame compared to all the things he had done before… but it was absolutely not. Even Randall, who was familiar with torture, could not help but momentarily close his eyes and sigh.

As for Miss Pepondosovich, she just crossed her arms and shook her head; sighing as she slightly held herself responsible for what was happening to the mortal.

As for Esme, well… she was mentally taking notes.

A second.

A minute.

"I… I really don't know anything, please… I couldn't even read the contents of the book! I—Grah!"

Several more minutes.

"He… should be dead by now," Randall said as he watched as Riley continued to torture the man even after several minutes had passed, "At least his mind should be, he should no longer be reacting to anything, and yet…"

"He's still pretty much alive," Miss Pepondosovich once again sighed, "Riri must be doing something to extend his life and consciousness for as long as he could."

"This is against the law of everything, Pepondosovich," Randall whispered, "A mortal such as that one should not be alive anymore."

"We are in the Domain of the Gods, anything is poss—"

"No," Randall shook his head as he focused on Riley, "You don't understand. It is against the law of Creation… and breaking the law will have consequences."

"I will let you speak again, okay?" Riley's hand was now outside the man… along with the man's beating heart, "I want you to provide something use—"

And before Riley could finish his words, the man just suddenly disappeared. He did not fade away, he did not disintegrate or wither, he just disappeared into thin air… replaced by another silhouette, a stranger…

…but extremely familiar at the same time, a woman.

"That is enough, Riley Ross."

"!!!"

And as soon as the woman's feet landed on the mountain of corpses, Randall quickly kneeled without a word. The woman's skin was dark; her hair, silver. Her face, well, it was average… extremely so.

"You are interrupting my purpose again — even in this place. Just what am I going to do with you?"

"I told you, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley ignored the woman as he looked at Miss Pepondosovich, whose mouth was wide open as she stared at the woman,

"I was right to trust you."

"Is that…" Miss Pepondosovich gulped as it was the only thing she could really do,

"...Death?"