Villain Retirement

"Stop it!"

Perhaps it was a cry for help, or perhaps just an expression of deep shock, but one thing was for sure — it wasn't only him that was doing it, the audience was too. The Grandarena city has been in existence for probably billions of years, and yet none of the gods have borne witness to what they are witnessing now.

There have been lots of attacks that caused their bodies to shiver and react even as they sat on their bleachers, a testament to how abnormally strong each of the combatants is, since the audience stand was actually enchanted and protected by an invisible and almost impenetrable wall even by their standards.

But now, not only were their bodies shaking… the entire floor was too.

Esme did what she said she would do — she imitated Bazel and also leaped from wall to wall, increasing her speed and momentum with each contact. Unlike with Bazel, however, Esme was actually doing damage to the walls and chipping it bit by bit… an act the gods previously thought to be impossible.

The walls, the floors, and everything else in Grandarena City were thought to be completely indestructible because it just was. It was just how things work, and they have already accepted it. And yet right now, even though it was incredibly minimal and one could lose them if they blink, cracks were starting to form on the walls.

"I… I think that's enough!" Bazel actually wanted to surrender, but unfortunately for him, there was a part of him that wanted to see what would happen if he was to be hit by Esme. He wasn't a masochist by any means, not at all — but how many gods could say they were hit by Esme and lived?

It was impossible to die in Grandarena City, the most that would happen to him was to be thrown outside the tower. And if he actually surrendered here, his peers would probably never let it rest and tease him for eternity.

Bazel could feel his entire body quaking from the inside as the thunders that Esme was creating with each leap were probably enough to deafen an entire galaxy. Soon, however, words started to emerge from in between the thunders.

"If you say this is enough," Esme's voice whistled around Bazel's ears, "Then I suppose it is."

"!!!"

He could most probably dodge with his speed, but why would he even prolong this torment and humiliation? And so, the only thing Bazel could really do was hold his breath and clench his butt as Esme's fist was just suddenly an inch away from caving his face.

No, it did not exactly cave his face… it just went straight through it like his entire head was just made of smoke. And what happened after was…

Nothing happened, Bazel just disappeared.

There was no impact, no blast, no ripples — Esme's punch did not even leave a single bit of shockwave. What it did leave, however, was silence.

Silence not because the audience shut their mouths, no. But utter and complete silence; like they were suddenly inside a vacuum where sound couldn't exist. The air became heavy too—no.

It was space itself that became heavier. But the audience did not feel themselves being dragged down, not toward the ground… but toward Esme. And before everything and everyone could collapse on her, Esme was teleported back to the resort on the 91st floor.

"Oh…" Esme blinked a couple of times as was suddenly back in her seat; her body, still warm from punching someone into oblivion… and perhaps literally. No one really noticed she was back since everyone was just looking at the match at the table, watching as the entire floor seemed to collapse before just returning to normal like nothing happened,

"...This place is very weird."

"You're the one that's weird," Miss Pepondosovich quickly pointed at Esme, "You're even bending space inside the Domain of the Gods!?"

"But is it really my doing?" Esme looked at her fist as she blinked a couple of times, "Maybe I should try it again to see if it happens."

And as soon as she stood up, everyone else did too. How could they not when Esme was already starting to punch the air, truly attempting to do what she just did in the arena in their holy sanctuary that is the 91st floor?

"Maybe… you should just sit down and let the alcohol get out of your system first before you do anything?" Miss Pepondosovich stood on top of the table, raising her foot and using it to hook Esme's wrist and pulled it back down,

"And there are no walls here for you to leap around like a monkey."

"Hm, if you say so, Miss Pepondosovich."

And fortunately for everyone there, Esme just nodded her head and returned to her seat,

"But where is Master? Did he not watch my fight?"

"What? Of course, he did. He's right…He's not there," Miss Pepondosovich could not help but point at an empty chair where Riley was supposed to be sitting. Miss Pepondosovich then quickly turned to look at the buffet table to see if Riley was there getting another serving of food, but alas, he was not,

"Where… did Riri suddenly disappear to?"

"Oh, he kicked himself out of the tower when he used his telekinetic ability earlier," Marleen was the one to answer Miss Pepondosovich's probably rhetorical question.

"What? When!?"

"As soon as Esme's opponent disappeared," Marleen shrugged, "I think he wants to know if the man was sent somewhere lost in time, or just teleported out of the tower because he was defeated."

"You think, or you read his mind?" Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow, "That's incredibly specific."

"The former," Marleen once again shrugged as she took a sip of her beer, even offering another bottle to Esme but Miss Pepondsovich blocked her hand almost naturally, "I know how he thinks since I've practically lived his life. You don't need to worry…

…the guy will be back before we reach the finals."

***

As Marleen surmised, Riley truly was trying to figure out if Bazel was eliminated out of the tower; his eyes, moving without pause as he tried to find Bazel amongst the large crowd.

Bazel should be easy to find due to his illuminated and blazing hair, but even after an entire minute of looking, Riley saw no sign of him.

"Interesting," Riley whispered to himself as a smile very slowly started to crawl on his face. His eyes still did not stop moving, however, as he anticipated Bazel to be back soon. After all, the punching machine also disappeared, only to appear again after a few seconds… but completely old and dilapidated.

"What the!?"

But Riley did not even need to search, however, because Bazel's almost pained roar echoed throughout the entire field. Riley quickly looked to where Bazel was, only to see a crowd of people already forming around him in a circle—no.

They did not exactly approach him, they were pulled toward him by an unbelievably heavy force. If they weren't already as durable as they are, their flesh would have probably been torn apart and eaten by the sudden and invisible force that pulled them to Bazel as soon as he appeared out of nowhere.

Riley quickly hovered toward Bazel, standing in front of him and looking him straight in the eyes.

"You…" Bazel blinked a couple of times as he also looked at Riley, "...I remember you. You're the one with that… woman."

As a being that reached his level, Bazel would no longer truly physically age — and yet it was obvious to Riley that there was something different in the way Bazel acts—no. Even his face looked like it got older, even though there was not a single wrinkle that added to his face.

"Where did you go, Bazelguese?" Riley asked as he continued to look Bazel in the eyes, "Were you transported to another time? How long were you gone?"

"No…" Bazel, however, just took a step back as he started shaking his head and looking everywhere, "...I'm back here!?"

The smile on Riley's face started to widen from ear to ear as he heard Bazel's words.

"Did you travel to the future, Bazelguese?" Riley asked as he once again stood in front of Bazel.

"No, no…" Bazel continued to whisper to himself. But after a few seconds, he finally returned Riley's gaze again, "...Esme, where is she now!? I need to—"

"Oh."

And before Riley could hear what Bazel wanted to say, he saw Bazel's head suddenly caving in… before just exploding very minutely. His flesh and bones did not reach Riley, however, as all the bits and pieces were sucked in by a tiny rip in space along with the rest of his body.

And just like that, Bazel was gone, leaving Riley just blinking his eyes a couple of times as he once again did not get any clear answers.

"I am with that 'woman'..." Riley placed his hand on his chin as he thought of Bazel's words, "Was he talking about Esme…

…or perhaps someone else?"