Villain Retirement

"Grugh…"

It was so sudden, so sudden that almost no one even realized that Gary's stomach had already been stabbed until a few seconds had passed. Out of everyone in the field, only Miss Pepondosovich, Riley, and Silvie actually saw what happened.

Esme did not force anything — no. She just casually stretched out her hand, she just did it so fast that she pierced Gary's stomach like it was air. It wasn't even bleeding, as after the world had registered what Esme had done, it overcompensated with the friction and completely burned Gary's gaping wound closed.

"What the…" Gary whispered out as the blood escaped his mouth instead as he looked up at Esme.

"I apologize, Mister Gary," Esme, however, just had a slightly disappointed and weary look on her face,

"I thought you would be stronger since you are supposed to be the son of Princess Aerith."

"I'm…" Gary then watched as Esme just lifted him up in the air by his stomach before being casually shrugged off and swinging away like he was dirt on her hand. With just a casual swing, he found herself rolling across the entire field with a hole in his stomach; only stopped as Riley caught him in his path.

"Your female counterpart is still stronger than you, Gary," Riley then let out a small sigh as he placed his palm on Gary's back, and then, with a breath, a green light started to wrap around the hole in Gary's stomach — and within seconds, his flesh and blood started to squirm.

Gary wanted to scream, but he just gritted his teeth and watched as his wound healed.

"Do you still wish to continue, Gary?" Riley then asked as he took several steps back.

"I… have a feeling you already know my answer to that," Gary spat out the blood in his mouth as he focused his attention on Esme, "I was simply caught off guard by—Gkh!"

And before Gary could finish his words, he suddenly found himself at the very end of the field; his face, being pinned down onto the invisible barrier that Riley created by Esme's hand.

"Stop… stop attacking me when I'm still not ready!" Gary let out a small roar as he grabbed Esme's arm, trying to crush and tear it apart. The only thing he managed to do, however, was very slightly stretch her skin by a single millimeter.

"But you will never be ready, Mister Gary," Esme just let out a small sigh as she moved her hand forward, causing a tight crack to whisper in the air as Gary's skull started to shatter ever so slightly, "Male themarians have a limit to their strength — perhaps if you did as Mister Seed did, you would at least have a chance to defeat me."

"Who… who the fuck is Seed!? And stop talking and just fight alrea—"

And once again, Gary felt his vision shift as Esme just casually threw him back. This time, however, he was not caught by Riley, but by Esme's long leg which was practically an immovable post if anything that almost completely snapped Gary's spine in half.

The only thing Gary could really do was let out a graspy wheeze as the blood wanted to escape his lungs, but his lungs were currently being pinned and locked by his broken ribs. Esme did not seem to care about this, however, as he just raised his foot. And as she was about to stomp Gary's head, a golden cape snapped in the air as Silvie suddenly got in between Gary and Esme, catching her foot with her entire body which literally dug through the ground.

"Kh…" Silvie gritted her teeth before grabbing Gary by the head and throwing him away, "Esme, I think this has gone on long en—"

And before Silvie could even finish her words, Esme already disappeared and was on her way to Gary again; this time with her fist already locked in and heading straight toward his face. And so, once again, Silvie used all of her strength to rush toward them; kicking Gary on the side to push him away from Esme's impending fist of death.

"Stop!" Silvie screamed as she caught Esme's fist with both of her palms, swiftly moving back at the same time and letting herself be pushed to minimize the impact of the strike. Even then, however, Silvie felt her entire body get wrangled with just a casual strike from her.

She knew Esme was strong — she had tried to spar with the Esme of their universe, and she was also no match for her… but there was something else with Undead Esme. They both had the trait of not trying at all, but this Esme — something is weird about her. And as Silvie turned to look at Esme's face, she finally realized why…

…this Esme was smiling.

She was having fun because she had something the other Esme didn't — confidence.

Confidence in controlling her strength, confidence in not being hurt even if she didn't. This Esme wasn't just the Undead variant…

…she's Esme Prime.

And perhaps the physically strongest being in the entire remaining cosmos.

And as Silvie was lost in thought, Esme once again rushed toward the poor Gary, who at this point, was almost like a ragdoll more than anything.

"I said stop it!" Silvie did not really have any time to think anymore as she just once again blocked Gary from Esme's path. She did not even look away or flinch, she just stood there ready to take whatever Esme was going to throw at them.

…And Esme truly was going to throw it at them; her fist, already heading straight toward Silvie's face.

"Wop!"

Before it could reach her, however, Riley and Miss Pepondosovich suddenly appeared right between them; the sole of Miss Pepondosovich's foot blocking Esme's fist while Riley was lifting her other foot so she could actually reach Esme's height—no.

Miss Pepondosovich's foot did not really block anything as Esme's fist stopped just an inch away from hitting her sole. But what did happen, however, was everyone else feeling their lungs suddenly turn empty as all the air in the field was absorbed by Esme's fist… and then released into a violent gust that blew away half the entire field.

Fortunately, no one was behind Gary and Silvie — if not, they would have also been blown into pieces like the large crevice now adorning the field.

Esme, Silvie, Riley, Miss Pepondosovich, and even Gary stayed in their pose for several seconds before Riley started lowering Miss Pepondosovich down and then grabbing his microphone from one of his trusty pockets.

[Ladies and gentlemen…] Riley then grabbed Silvie's wrist and raised his hand, [...Your Megawoman!]

"H…huh?" Silvie did not really know what to do as Esme just suddenly started giving her a round of applause there, even Miss Pepondosovich was nodding her head. But it wasn't only Silvie who was confused, everyone else was.

[Even despite fully knowing that she couldn't win against a stronger opponent,] Riley then dramatically pointed at Esme before gesturing toward Gary, [Silvie still risked her life in order to save a stranger. Not backing down for even a single millisecond…

…such is the trait of a superhero. To those who have passed, this is the ideal that all of you should strive for.]

And as everyone heard that, they all just clapped their hands and started cheering for Silvie, for Megawoman.

[And for those who did not pass, well…] Riley then cleared his throat as everyone stopped cheering, [...As long as you are alive, there will always be a next time. But also remember that as long as you are alive…

…you can also turn into a villain — you always have a choice.]

"W… wait…" And as Riley was about to fully end the test, Gary let out a small wheeze and as he grabbed Riley's leg while trying to get up from the ground,

"Did I…

…Did I pass?"

***

"Oh, good. You're back. What did you find out there?"

Somewhere in the last remaining Universe, a Portal opened up in the middle of a vast field of metal. It was a Dome, with the view of the expanse of space completely filling up its sky and horizons.

And there, from the Portal, emerged an individual completely covered in a pink suit of mechanical armor.

"Absolute fuck all," the individual then pressed something on her neck, causing her helmet to unfold and hide within her shoulder pads… revealing her slightly short brown hair and feisty expression, literally; her eyes and lips were smoking,

"For the thousand times, absolute fuck all."

It was Hannah Ross, or a Hannah Ross… as the person approaching her was also another Hannah.

"Well, Hannah…" The other Hannah gave a flask to the armored Hannah to drink, "...Guess it's time for a break, then."

"Fuck no," the armored Hannah scoffed as she grabbed the flask from the other Hannah, "That would be unfair to you, you just finished your turn, Nannah."

"I found something interesting in the New World," the other Hannah, Nannah, let out a small chuckle as she brought out a tablet.

"Fuck that pseudo-communist weird labor place that's filled with psychopaths," Hannah once again scoffed before just turning around, "Bring up another universe and just let me dive."

"A new Hero academy was built," Nannah then said, causing Hannah to stop in her tracks as she glanced at her.

"...Like Mega Academy? Are you saying the other species are cool with that?"

"No idea," Nannah then turned on her tablet and started searching for the news, "I haven't actually watched anything yet since I wanted to wait for you — apparently, they sent a worldwide broadcast to everyone. Here… let me bring up the video of…

…Oh fuck."

"What…

…What is it?"