Villain Retirement

"Grea!?"

Riley had almost forgotten about Grea, but as soon as she revealed herself again, Riley realized just how domineering her aura actually was. And even with the fact that she was in her human form and missing her extra set of limbs, it somewhat made her look even more intimidating than before.

And he wasn't the only one who seemed to have noticed that as even Esme squinted her eyes and stood up; her hands, already balled into fists.

Riley never really thought of it before since he had no reason to, but now that he knows that Miss Pepondosovich was previously a champion of Grandarena City, it made Grea even more interesting due to the fact that Miss Pepondosovich actually idolized her.

"Grea!" And it wasn't only her, even Marleen's eyes lit up as soon as she saw Grea.

"You girls seem to be up to no good again," Grea squinted her eyes at Marleen and Miss Pepondosovich, looking at the two from head to toe. But after a few seconds of doing so, a small smile crawled on her gray face,

"Don't tell me you're interested in a cosmic piece now?"

"Tch, I could say the same to you, Grea." And although Marleen was clearly happy to see Grea, there was a certain smugness in the tone of her voice, "Weren't you also the one who lectured us that searching for a cosmic piece is a fool's errand? Now, pray tell — why exactly are you here if not for the cosmic piece?"

"Well, we are not searching for a cosmic piece, are we?" Grea hummed, "A clue to it just miraculously landed itself here, in Grandarena City. One might say it is letting itself be found."

"And we are going to get it, not you."

"Ssh, Marleen! What are you doing?" If intentional violence was allowed on the 91st floor, then Miss Pepondosovich would have definitely already stomped on Marleen's toes, "Why are you still talking to Miss Grea like that? I truly apologize for this, Miss Grea. You know how Marleen is, she always questions your teachings."

"She should, there should always be a balance within the group," Grea did not seem to mind at all as she just chuckled; placing her muscular arms on Marleen and Miss Pepondosovich's shoulders; surprisingly, Marleen did not avoid her hand at all, "And you two make a good dynamic, I am glad to see that you are still friends even after hundreds of thousands of years."

"We've actually only just met again," Marleen scoffed.

"Then that is even more proof of your unbreakable friendship," Grea once again chuckled before turning her attention to Esme, "And now… who's this little monster?"

"My name is Esme, Miss Grea," Esme curtsied as she introduced herself to Grea. As a themarian, she had the innate ability to detect the energy of beings and creatures, and with that also comes the age. Grea gives off more energy than Miss Pepondosovich, but not by a lot. What she did have in abundance, however, was her age — Miss Pepondosovich couldn't even determine just how old she could actually be… and it wasn't only her.

"What sort of creature are you?" Ahor Zai, who had not even been live in the Domain of the Gods for several minutes, almost malfunctioned as she tried to analyze Grea, "Unidentifiable."

"What sort of creature are you?" Grea repeated Ahor Zai's words back to her, "You're… not a creature at all."

"I am not," Ahor Zai shook her head.

"Your adventures truly do lead to the most amazing things, Pepondosovich," Grea sighed as she focused her attention back on Miss Pepondosovich. She then took in a short but very deep breath as her eyes finally landed on Riley,

"And I am sure it is all because of you, child. To think that we would meet again not even after a year has passed."

"Miss Grea," Riley nodded.

"I suppose it is all because of you that Pepondosovich is here?" Grea looked at Riley from head to toe.

"I suppose so," Riley blinked, "I did not realize the two of you were close the last time we met, Miss Grea."

"Close…?" Grea once again hummed as she took several steps back, "I suppose we are to an extent in the perspective of someone so young. We have spent a thousand years together, if that makes us close, then we are."

"I've known her longer," Marleen followed up as she returned to her seat and just casually continued eating, "You've met Grea in her city, it makes sense that she won't give anyone special treatment while you're there — and yes, we are close. She's basically the one who took care of me when I just got here, then when Miss Pepondosovich arrived, I took care of her and introduced her to Grea."

"And now Miss Pepondosovich is taking care of me and Miss Esme," Riley placed his hand on his chin, "And she introduced me to you and Miss Grea."

"A twist of fate, no?" Grea gestured to Riley to sit down as she joined them at their table, "Or perhaps we should account it to luck?"

"She means me, if it wasn't clear for you guys," Miss Pepondosovich held her head high as she returned to her seat, "Everything is thanks to me."

"Luck…" Ahor Zai stood behind Riley as she once again tried to scan Miss Pepondosovich, "...A very dangerous element that I never thought truly needed to be accounted for. I wonder if there is a way we could input it in our calculations, Boss?"

"I won't know, Ahor Zai. I am not a computer like you."

"I forgot," Ahor Zai closed her eyes, "Sometimes I forget that you are not capable of doing everything due to your innate strength and brilliance, Boss."

"Thank you, Ahor Zai," Riley then grabbed a spoon of the food he nicely prepped earlier and gestured to Ahor Zai to taste it, "Can you tell me if this is better than the seafood I prepared last time back on the Council of Ross?"

"Wait, you're not going to eat it yourself!?" Miss Pepondosovich suddenly rushed toward Riley; not even giving Ahor Zai the chance to even lean her head close as she gobbled Riley's spoon herself before just quickly backing away.

She would be damned if someone else would actually taste this food. She had been looking forward for Riley to taste it himself, to the point she was getting frustrated that he kept delaying it or something just interrupts him. And so, now, the only thing she could really do was take the matters into her own hands… or in this case, into her own mouth.

"...How does it taste, Miss Pepondosovich?" Riley could really only blink a couple of times as he looked at the bent spoon in his hand.

"Hm…" Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes, puttering her lips before she placed her hands on her cheeks and shook her head; letting out a small harmonious as she seemed to thoroughly enjoy the food the way Riley prepared it.

As for Ahor Zai, she glared at Miss Pepondosovich, almost wanting to kill her with her eyes.

"It would seem that you truly are lucky, Miss Pepondosovich," Ahor Zai's eyes twitched as she continued to stare at Miss Pepondosovich, "And so, answer the Boss. How exactly does it taste?"

"It's good. I thought I was going to hate the fact that you lathered it with the fried garlic, but it just blends well with the butter. The caviar by itself is okay, but when you add the crab eggs with it, the taste just becomes… surreal," Miss Pepondosovich just breathed out as she crawled back to her seat, "I have to say, Riri. You probably would have made it into one of the best chefs in the entire multiverse if you just pursued it. This is just… phenomenal."

"Maybe I will in the future, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley placed his hand on his chin as he seemed to truly consider it.

"I sort of agree with that sentiment," Marleen nodded, "I know how much you like to cook, Riley Ross. Even I've been getting the urge to cook since I entered your mind. If you probably were not a Primordial that is meant to destroy everything, then I know you would have been a chef."

"The Primordial Chef," Miss Pepondosovich pointed at Riley, "That sounds like an entirely new story for you altogether, Riri! Miss Grea, you should try and taste Riri's food and—Miss Grea?"

Miss Pepondosovich could not help but blink a couple of times as she looked around… only for her not to find Grea anywhere.

"Where… did she go?"

"She disappeared exactly 1.4 seconds ago, Miss Pepondosovich," Ahor Zai was the one to answer Miss Pepondosovich's question, "Along with Miss Esme."

"Miss Esme…!?" Not only Miss Pepondosovich, but Riley and Marleen also turned their heads to where Esme should be, but she truly was no longer there, "Don't tell me…

…The two of them are going to fight each other this early!?"