Villain Retirement

Chapter 1162: Chapter 1162: Monstrosity of a Hero

"Shit..."

The assassin was out of her depth.

This was supposed to be a simple mission. Get in, get out—clean, efficient, routine. Yet now, she was staring at an immovable wall, an obstacle she had no hope of overcoming.

And when faced with an unclimbable wall, there was only one option—turn around and run.

Without hesitation, she slammed a small object onto the floor.

Boom!

Smoke burst forth in a thick, suffocating cloud, swallowing the entire room.

A smoke bomb, for the second time.

This time, she didn’t waste a second—no distractions, no hesitation, no trying to take anyone hostage. She spun toward the window, hurling her throwing knives to shatter the glass before leaping toward her escape.

But she never made it.

A blur. A shift in the air.

And then—a hand.

Louis caught her knives mid-flight, fingers closing around them like a vice.

Her body was already airborne, momentum carrying her forward. But with Louis’s hand blocking her way, there was only one place left to go—

Down.

Before she could even process what happened, Louis’s hand wrapped around her throat.

Crack.

Her breath hitched, a sharp gasp escaping as she felt herself slammed against the floor, her spine rattling from the impact. Instinct took over, her body writhing—unsure whether to fight for air or scream in pain.

Neither option mattered, however.

Louis’s knee pressed against her chest, pinning her down with an unshakable grip. His gaze locked onto hers, cold, sharp—unforgiving.

"Blink twice if one of my older brothers sent you," he said, pressing the assassin’s own dagger against her throat. "Blink once if it was one of their mothers. Either way, Madam, I will not hesitate to kill you."

Silence.

The assassin’s breath steadied, her body ceasing its struggle as her training kicked in as soon as Louis started interrogating her. And then—she smirked.

"You have no idea what’s coming for you, child."

Her voice was low, taunting, laced with something far more sinister than fear.

"I may have failed, but worse will come. You will live the rest of your days looking over your shoulder, wondering if the shadow behind you is here to take your life."

Louis’s grip tightened.

"You—wait!"

But it was too late.

With a flick of her tongue, the assassin dislodged something from her teeth—small, hard, bitter. Not a tooth.

Poison.

Louis moved—fast, but not fast enough.

The pill cracked between her molars, venom flooding her mouth. A twisted, satisfied smile stretched across her lips as she exhaled, savoring the last expression on her target’s face—confusion, disappointment.

Then...

Then came the burning.

The fire she had been expecting, searing through her mouth. Next was the poison making its way through her veins.

But—

It never came.

"Hrgh!?"

Her vision darted left and right, panic creeping into her wide eyes. She could still move. She could still think. She could still breathe.

She was alive. But how?

And then—she saw it.

The white-haired man.

His hand.

The first thing she noticed was that it was too close. The second thing—was that it was inside her mouth.

Her cheek—torn open, flesh carved away like paper.

Her mind struggled to catch up. Her body screamed in delayed agony. But all she could do was stare at the man crouched beside her.

His hand, his entire hand, was lodged inside her face, through her cheek—ruthlessly severing half of her mouth, stopping the poison before it could ever spread.

Her fingers twitched.

And for the first time since this mission began...

she felt truly afraid.

And it wasn’t only her.

"Shit. Riley!"

Louis staggered back, his breath hitching as reality slammed into him once again—this

He had seen it before. And now, he was seeing it again.

Riley could have stopped the poison without needing to flow blood. A simple flick of his telekinesis, and the poison could have been pulled away from her body, he was more than capable of that.

Riley turned to Louis, smiling casually—unbothered, unfazed. His hand remained buried in the assassin’s ruined cheek, fingers deep in torn flesh as she choked on her own blood.

"Well, we can’t have her die on us now, can we, Young Master Louis?"

The assassin’s body trembled beneath him, her breaths ragged, wet. She could do nothing—no escape, no fight, just helplessness. Her vision blurred as tears welled in her eyes.

Riley noticed.

"Oh?"

He lifted his free hand, swiping a thumb across her cheek, wiping the tears away with eerie gentleness.

"No need to cry, Assassin. You’re wasting them. I’d save them for what happens next."

There it was. The realization.

She had been trained for this life—raised to recognize others like her, to sense killers before they could strike. But Riley? He hadn’t even registered.

She hadn’t seen him coming.

And that was the most terrifying part.

Riley finally removed his bloodied hand from her mangled mouth, tilting his head as if studying her expression.

"Oh? Did you want to say something?" His tone was almost playful. "You still have your tongue. I made sure that you could still talk."

She swallowed hard, struggling to form words past the pain.

"You..." A wheezing breath. "You’re supposed to be... a Hero."

"Yes." Riley snapped his fingers, summoning the Book and showing the label to the assassin. Louis also looked at the cover, making sure that Riley truly was designated as a Hero by this strange dimension—and there it was, clear as day.

Hero.

"Apparently," Riley mused, tapping the cover, "as long as someone is deemed ’evil’ by this dimension, I can kill them without consequence."

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"It warns me if I become excessive... but I’ve never really tested its limits."

His gaze locked onto hers, his smile growing wider.

"Shall we?"

And that was when the assassin understood.

Her instincts had never failed her before. She had known the moment she set eyes on Louis that he wasn’t a killer—that his hands were clean.

But Riley?

She hadn’t sensed him because... he was beyond killers.

Her lips trembled. "You’re... a monster."

Riley chuckled, amused.

"I figured that out when I was twelve."

With a flick of his finger, he tapped the raw flesh of her cheek. The sudden, searing pain sent a violent shudder through her body.

Then, he grabbed her.

By the gums.

A guttural cry tore from her throat as Riley stood, dragging her across the room like a discarded rag. She wasn’t actually crying because of the pain, she was used to it—she was crying because she somewhat knew what was about to happen next...

...and it was terrifying.

"Now then—shall we begin the interrogation?"

***

Somewhere in the vast expanse of the Grand Triangle, Queen Vania floated alone.

Around her, only devastation remained.

Shattered remnants of ships drifted like scattered bones, the ruins of a planet—the first one Riley and the others had visited—reduced to nothing but dust and debris. The vibrant colors that once surrounded it were now torn apart, as if they had never existed at all.

A single glance told the story. A battle had taken place here—one so immense it could have annihilated entire universes. Yet, somehow, it had been contained.

"One..."

The name left her lips.

She hadn’t expected it.

Someone had escaped her.

It wasn’t because he was faster than her—that was impossible. The only things in existence faster than her now were her progenitor, Van, and perhaps... Death itself.

No, One had escaped because, for a fleeting moment, she had forgotten about him entirely—about their battle, about his existence.

And then, in that instant, he was simply... gone.

Teleported.

A tremor ran through Queen Vania’s lips.

"These gods are tricky..."

Her hands clenched into trembling fists.

"But I will kill all of you... for what you did to my children."

Her crimson eyes burned with resolve as she turned toward the void, her whisper becoming a vow.

"All of you... and then finally, Riley Ross."