Villain Retirement

"Railerus!"

"Rarus!"

Interesting—Riley thought. He was used to beings that are capable of producing sound through vibrations whenever he flies in the expanse of space; he was also able to create a pocket using his telekinetic abilities. An intelligent octopus being able to talk underwater shouldn't have come as an unexpected variable for him, but it did.

"Ray Roz!"

And although he had no idea of the other words they were uttering, it was clear that they recognized who he was judging from the mispronounced attempts of his name—expected, as despite wearing the black version of his Paragon suit, he didn't wear the mask that came with it. His face was out in the open for everyone to see.

Of course, perhaps even with a mask on, his utterly white skin and hair would already prove to be enough to identify who he was.

Seeing as a majority of the people on this planet recognized him, even the foreigners in diving suits, it would seem the tales of him fighting with himself disguised as a Themarian have already spread—no.

It would seem it hadn't stopped spreading, as one of the… weird televisions floating around the underwater city was clearly showing his fight.

"..." Riley then floated toward the large underwater television that showed the news of his fight; the people that had curiously approached him, quickly swimming away and making a path for him as he did so. Most of the crowd already left as soon as they saw and Riley didn't really mind those that stayed even while knowing who he is; after all, even back on Earth, there were those that stay and watch Darkday whenever he appears… they mostly also end up dead, though.

[...was a clone. For those that still do not know, the individual known as Riley Ross is a newly appointed Ranker…]

"...Oh?" Riley tilted his head as he could understand the words of the cephalopoid newscaster. It made sense for their media devices to have an automatic translation function—what somewhat surprised Riley, however, was that it was translating it into English for him.

It would seem any and every translation device automatically registers any language it learns and uploads it to its main network. Riley had somewhat surmised something like that, but what he could not understand…

…was how it knows what language it should translate to, and how it seemed to be able to transmit it to only him. This almost seemed like magic—but Riley was sure that if he asked his father, he would have an answer for him.

[...and after careful re-evaluation by the Common Council and the Outlaw Justice System, Riley Ross who was just previously placed at Ranked 89…]

Riley Ross's thoughts quickly faded away as soon as he heard the newscaster's words; his ears, physically perking up as he focused his eyes back on the screen. And there, he saw a 3-dimensional render of his profile… as well as his new rank.

[...is now placed at Rank 37. Never has—]

And out of nowhere, the large underwater television suddenly split in half. And unlike what someone from Earth would expect, there were no traces of electricity—instead, colorful fluids started to seep from the cracks along with the bits and pieces that were torn away.

"Oh," Riley then blinked a couple of times as he stared at the red, green, and blue oil-like liquid very slowly descending deeper into the ocean. He… didn't really mean to split the TV in half. He… was becoming impulsive—this was definitely not good.

"I apologize, everyone," Riley then let out a small sigh as he faced the crowd that was watching him from afar. He knew they couldn't understand him, but there was a chance that there was someone that had a translator with them,

"Perhaps there is someone who knows the business that owns this television? I wish to pay for it."

"..."

Most of the people from the crowd just looked and started whispering at each other, clearly trying to figure out what he was saying.

"..."

"..."

Riley decided to wait for an entire minute to see if someone was going to swim forward; but alas, everyone just continued whispering and looking at him, some even seemingly taking a photo of him with their devices.

"...Hm," and after waiting for a few more seconds, Riley just decided he would leave a coin and just insert it through the cracks of the TV; before he could do so, however, he saw a harpoon-tipped bullet suddenly floating right in front of his face, and not just one, but dozens.

"Do not swim away! Cross your limbs together and curl yourself into a ball now! Right now!"

"This is the Blusi World Police, we are not going to warn you again!"

And finally, people that Riley could understand arrived. And judging by the number of bullets blocked by his telekinetic barrier, the 2 dozen so-called police officers were not friendly.

To everyone's surprise, however, Riley curled and placed himself in a fetal position, which was probably this water world's equivalent to 'placing both hands behind the back of the head and lying on the ground'. He even went as far as removing his telekinetic barrier, causing the water to finally drench his skin, and suit; his long white hair, now imitating the still movements of the ocean.

"..." The officers that responded to the threat could really only turn their eyes at each other, reserving one of their tentacles to scratch their heads. Suffice it to say, they didn't expect Riley to comply.

"Riley Ross, you are under—"

"252 bullets." And before the cephalopoid that seemed to be their captain was able to finish his words, Riley spoke.

"252 bullets directly targeting parts that would prove to be fatal, cephalopoid officers," Riley did not really uncurl himself and just remained free floating as his words traveled through the water,

"Seeing as my only known crime on this planet is destroying property, I am certain that does not warrant death. Based on that, I have surmised that you tried to kill me without probable cause."

And with those words, Riley very slowly started to uncurl himself; the water, also once again starting to avoid his silhouette, flowing like a mini-whirlpool as they circled around him.

"I said don't mo—"

A pocket of air the shape of a spear suddenly appeared in front of Riley. And without even letting the squad leader finish his words, the invisible spear exploded, causing pockets of bubbles to violently crack in the water as it shot straight through the cephalopoid's head.

"..."

"..." Nothing really happened. The squad leader could really only touch where the invisible spear landed on him, wondering what it did.

"Y—" And before he could even ask what Riley did, his entire body bloated and doubled in size almost instantly… before his blue blood and ink started to mix with the rest of the ocean.

"251 left," Riley then said as he stretched his arms to the side and started moving ever so slowly through the water.

"Call… call for the Guardian, no—"

And with a small sigh escaping Riley's lips, all of the police officers that surrounded him burst into pieces—causing the area to completely turn dark from all the ink and blood now misting through the water.

"228...Oh," a smile then started to crawl on Riley's face as this dark tainted water waded across his face. To think that even in a place like this, darkness would find its way to him. Truly, Aerith's naming sense was the best of the best, he thought.

Riley then quickly dived deeper, exiting the tainted water as he floated back to the crowd that was curiously watching him from afar. Their numbers had already dwindled as most of them swam away as soon as the firing started, but still, there were quite a lot of curious eyes left.

But alas, sadly for them—they suffered the same fate of the nosy bystanders back on Earth.

"220."

And as soon as Riley said that, 8 cephalopoids from the crowd found their limbs violently torn from the rest of their bodies. They would have survived this, of course… if it wasn't for the rest of their bodies being squished into a mush afterward.

"Ha…" Riley then closed his eyes as he let the peaceful sound of the ocean travel through his ears. Granted, he had already killed many people under the ocean back on Earth—but that was usually just drowning them and watching them scratch their throat and chest for air.

Killing people that could breathe under water underwater was a completely different experience.

A smile then once again crawled on Riley's face; this time, his lips reached from ear to ear. This view did not last long, however. As soon, the blood and ink of the cephalopoids started to float toward his head… wrapping around it and forming a shape eerily similar to his Darkday helmet.

"Well then…"

The water surrounding him exploded meters and meters away—creating a tiny sphere in the middle of the ocean that was devoid of any water. The cephalopoids that happened to be in the sphere started to wave their tentacles, trying to swim back to the water but hopelessly not able to.

"0." And with those words, everyone and everything within the sphere burst and turned into mist—the only thing left resembling water within the sphere, the helmet of blood he was wearing.

"I miss this…" Riley then said as he tapped the helmet, causing a tiny ripple to echo its surface, "...but it's a thing of the past."

And with a sigh, Riley floated forward—leaving the helmet made of blood and ink to disperse behind his long white hair, "Back in the Academy, I said that I would be known to the world as Riley Ross, and now…

…I am."