Villain Retirement

"Is this what you wanted to happen!?"

"...Glad of you to finally join us."

A small rumble echoed through the room as Whiteking suddenly kicked a door open. But even with this uncivilized greeting, a small smile still crawled on Prophet's face as Whiteking stomped his way towards his desk, "The Academy sorely missed your presence… even though you don't actually do anything here."

"Shut the fuck up!" Whiteking then lightly slammed his palm on Prophet's desk, "I spent weeks trying to eradicate the Dark Millenium, and I returned to find this shit!?"

Whiteking then tapped Prophet's desk a couple of times in a sort of sequence, until finally, several monitors slid out from the walls and the ceilings. The screen showed multiple students being filmed by the drones.

"I thought it was fine during the Festival since it will just be a once in a year event," Whiteking then sat on the chair in front of the desk; crossing his arms as he stared Prophet straight in the eyes, "But showing them when doing normal activities? Since when did we become celebrities?"

"One could argue that heroes have always been celebrities," Prophet let out a small chuckle as he removed all the monitors in the room, "Don't you think so?"

"Look…" Whiteking breathed out, "...We've been friends for a very long time, but for the past month I feel like I barely even know you anymore."

"The government ordered it, I had no choice but to obey them," Prophet sighed, but still, the smile on his face did not fade, "After all, the Academy is still theirs."

"Since when were you a puppet of the government?" Whiteking furrowed his eyebrows, "Isn't your influence the very reason my daughter has it out for the government, Steve? All those ideas you ingrained in her mind whenever you visit--"

"I have my own shit to deal with, Bernard," and finally, the smile on Prophet's face disappeared, "And you forget, I am supposed to be very old."

"Then tell me what it is so we could share the fucking burden! And I don't care about the fake history the government gave you!" Whiteking once again slammed his palm on the desk, "I mean, what the fuck are we doing here!?"

"..."

"..."

Prophet stared at Whiteking for a couple of seconds, before letting out a sigh and tapping something on his desk. And as he did so, all the windows, doors… and even the walls were suddenly barred by a silver panel.

"...You know how I can calculate the future, right?" Prophet then stood up from his seat as he started walking around the room.

"No," Whiteking shook his head, "You see the future. Don't be so full of yourself, the only reason you passed the math class back in high school was by guessing. Remember when they asked us to write the formula, you got z--"

"That's enough," Prophet squinted his eyes as he looked at Whiteking, before letting out a sigh and shaking his head, "...And you know what future I can't see, right?"

"I have the gist of it," Whiteking nodded, "You can't read past a certain… energy level, right?"

"Yes. If the area or a person has high energy or higher than mine, then I can't… calculate their future," Prophet slightly coughed, "The very reason why I can't calculate Mega Woman, Darkday, Grade-S, and some Grade-A Supers' futures."

"I see," Whiteking once again nodded, "So that's why you can't read mine."

"No, you don't have powers," Prophet smirked, "I don't read yours because you're my friend."

"...Hm," Whiteking furrowed his eyebrows.

"And I also can't tell the future of the Academy."

"You told me before because thousands of Supers are gathered in one place and--"

"That's what I thought, at first," Prophet's loud sigh interrupted Whiteking's words, "But with all of the tragedy and the unexpected events that have been happening lately, it got me thinking…

...What if someone was here? Someone strong enough to cover the entire Academy and the entire area around it."

"...Mega Woman?"

"You and I both know she's not here, Bernard."

"Then are you saying--"

"Darkday…

...might be in the Academy."

***

"How about… A Tug of War?"

"...What's that?"

Back in the Field, all of the eyes of the Telekinetic group were on Riley and Shomari, the student from Africa. They were also staring at the double-pointed spear floating in between them; some were excited to see what's about to come, while some were already sweating from their expected outcome.

"You don't know what Tug of War is!?" Shomari then slightly raised his voice as he heard Riley's words, "It's a game from our childhood, surely you have games like that in America?"

"...I grew up not--"

And before Riley could finish his words, a sharp hiss whispered in the air as their entire area was suddenly blanketed by a thick white mist. The students were about to ask what was happening, but before they could do so, it was already gone.

The only thing they heard was a light snap coming from Riley, and the mist around them was blown away. But soon, the mist was gone completely as Scarlet Mage seemed to have swept all of it away.

"I grew up not playing games with other children, Shomari," Riley then continued his words.

"T… that's…" Shomari was slightly taken aback at first, but with a small sigh, he started explaining the rules.

"...But we don't have a rope, Shomari"-- was Riley's first response after he was done explaining.

"Then the spear will serve as our rope," Shomari then breathed out, "And instead of pulling it towards us… we push it until the tip pointed towards us passes through the line; and if I manage to pass my tip through the line, then I win. If yours passes through the line, then you win. Simple, right?"

Shomari then waved his finger towards the ground, creating a sort of line directly beneath the center of the floating spear.

"I suppose."

"Wait, then why does the end need to be pointed?" Bella then voiced out her concern, "One of you can get severely injured, man. Stop this nonsense."

"T… there's no need to worry. I… am confident in my control," Shomari once again spoke meekly, but deep inside him, a smile was forming.

"B… but, if Mr. Riley Ross is not confident in his control… then perhaps we can consider this my win?"

"That's a load of bull," Bella shook her head, "You're the one who chose this game. Riley, I have a bad feeling about thi--"

"It's okay, Bella," Riley muttered, "I feel like it is going to be a little fun."

"...But your face looks really bored right now."

"No, I am excited," Riley said as he blinked his eyes a couple of times. Bella then squinted her eyes to look Riley straight in the face… and true enough, the edges of his lips were higher than usual by almost a millimeter.

"Then… shall we start then, Mr. Riley Ross?" Shomari let out a small breath as the floating spear dropped on the ground, "Let's first put equal pressure on the spear before we start."

Shomari then stretched his hand, and as he did so, the spear started to tremble on the ground.

"Hm," Riley flicked his finger, causing the spear to stop trembling.

"...Okay, let's both lift it up."

Riley nodded in response as the spear started to once again slowly float in the air.

"Then… in the count of 3, we'll start the game," Shomari then let out a small but deep breath; his face showing how nervous he was. But in truth…

...The smile inside his mind couldn't be wider. His plan was simple; before the count even reaches to 3, then he will use all of his might to push the spear straight towards Riley's heart. If he was able to kill him, then he would be treated as a hero by his tribe.

The One Cursed by God was something his tribe has told for centuries; the bringer of destruction. A great evil that needed to be eradicated as soon as it was born. Riley Ross seemed to not be aware that he is cursed yet-- but that's good.

That would mean they would have a chance to erase him from the world before he wreaks havoc. For his tribe, and for the world… He was willing to do everything. But of course, there was also the prestige.

He could already imagine it… him being worshipped by everyone; a dozen wives prepared for him.

And of course, he needed to make sure that it would look like an accident. But if that failed… 

...then he still has another plan.

"Then--"

"I'll count."

And before Shomari could even say a word, Bella stood up from the ground and leaped towards them. She was still suspicious of this Shomari guy… there was something off about him, she thought.

"Riley… Are you sure you want to do this?" She then asked; but seeing as Riley only nodded in response, the only thing she could do was start counting.

"Okay," Bella sighed,

"1…"

"2…"

"Thr-- !!!"

And before she could even finish counting, her eyes turned wide as the spear suddenly shot towards Riley.

"I got you!" Shomari as well, could not help but roar what was on his mind as he stretched his arm towards Riley; using all of his might to push the spear straight through Riley's heart. But alas, before the tip of the spear could completely pass through the line he made, it stopped.

It stopped completely.

"W… what?"

"Hm…" Riley then slightly furrowed his eyebrows ever so slightly, "It seems I may have misunderstood the rules. I thought we would start after the count, Shomari."

"You--" Shomari forced his power even more to the point that his arm was already trembling-- but still, the spear was not budging.

"...Should we start over again?" Riley then turned his head towards Bella.

"...No, you might as well finish it," Bella sighed. 

Why did he even bother worrying about Riley? The guy could change terrains while sending her to the Ward, she thought. She then turned to look at Shomari, giving him a sigh as she shook her head,

"Better just give up, man," she muttered, "Riley is just built different. There's no shame in admitting defeat-- everyone here knows that--"

"N… no!" Shomari then finally decided to use two of his arms, even stepping closer to try and force the spear to move; his veins, almost started to pop out from the skin of his arms.

"Does that help you in increasing your strength, Shomari?" Riley muttered.

"S… shut up!"

"You… should stop before you get hurt, man. This is just an activity," Bella stuttered, before waving her hands towards Scarlet Mage, "Miss Scarlet Mage!"

Of course, Katherine was already watching. But with Riley's abnormal control, then there shouldn't be a problem. And so, she just gave a thumbs up, signaling that it was okay.

Bella, however, could not help but raise an eyebrow. Katherine only looked at Riley and did not even bother checking on Shomari.

"Stop this, man," Bella once again breathed out, "Riley, just finish this… he looks like he's about to shit himself."

"...Okay," Riley nodded as he flicked his finger. And slowly, the spear started to move towards Shomari; Shomari still tried to struggle, even to the point that even his own body was being pushed backward.

However, this struggle was for naught, because as expected, the tip of the spear passed through the line without even a slight tremble.

"Alright," Bella then sighed, "I declare the winner to be Ri--"

"Ack!"

Bella's eyes quickly widened as a pained scream suddenly roared through her ears. She then slowly turned her eyes towards the shout, only to see Shomari's legs swinging in the air.

"W… what?"

The spear, skewered straight through Shomari's chest as it penetrated the ground.

"W… what have you done!?" Bella then screamed as she rushed to help Shomari.

Riley, however, only tilted his head to the side and whispered,

"...That's weird."