Villain Retirement

Chapter 135: Cephalos

Cephalos.

Real name: Kalani Kani. He was born somewhere in Hawaii almost half a century ago; other than that, like most villains, his background was in the dark, especially since he was in a time where communication and information were limited. He was, however, famous for massacring entire villages as soon as his powers woke up…

…and one other thing.

Technology then wasn’t as advanced as it is in present times; without powerful satellites to observe and analyze activity on the ground, the response time of the supers wasn’t as fast.

There was a reason why Mega Woman was placed on a pedestal amongst the other heroes that were emerging for the last 300 years– and that was her ability to never seem to get tired.

Of course, Mega Woman still needed to sleep; but one would always find her flying through the skies 24 hours a day, sometimes for a whole week without rest.

She was dubbed as the world’s greatest and mightiest hero to ever exist not because of her seemingly unlimited strength, but her selfless willingness to protect the people, even when she was not called.

And despite her status; she has not, even once, thought she was above anyone. With her powers she could have ruled the world, no one would have been able to stop her; not even the combined powers of the supers that were already roaming the world. She could have ruled, but instead, she ushered the Age of Heroes.

But of course, with the Age of Heroes, also came the Age of Villains. It was quite an ironic turn of events. With heroic activities doubling, one would have thought that the evil that was roaming the world would dwindle, but no. The acts of villainy became even more prevalent as if solely to challenge the stance of heroes.

And now, we have one of those– a relic of the near past.

Cephalos. He was considered to be a Threat Level 5 Super since he had numerous villages. There were, of course, supers that were able to hold him back; but none succeeded in fully killing him…

…as he had the ability to heal at a very rapid rate; growing dismembered limbs in a matter of seconds– this was the other thing he was famous for, but not because of him, no… but because of what Mega Woman did.

That was the first time the world had gotten to know how brutal Mega Woman could be if she wished to. Of course, most of them were just rumors, but it was the first and only time that Mega Woman… had ever killed her opponent.

The people of Hawaii could only see a trail of almost endless blood; creating a river of red as Mega Woman continued to dismember the legs that grew almost instantly.

She tried to trap him, but for some reason– even in the tiniest of cracks, Cephalos was able to fit himself through.

And so, as the rumor suggests, Mega Woman had no choice but to truly kill him.

“…But as you can see, that rumor was false.”

“Are you done?”

Back on the beach, the air had already become somewhat sedated as most of the people had run to the street; surprisingly though, Cephalos still remained floating above the shoreline, not even bothering with the crying footprints of the people.

His eyes, still staring directly at the Baby Crew.

“Mega Woman! Mega Woman! Mega Woman!” He continued to shout even as the skin of his chin and jaw tore apart from having been connected to the octopus part of his… biology. Perhaps scream was not the right term to describe Cephalos’s shouts, it was more a gasp; a crack in his voice that struggled to come out.

“Is… he talking about Silvie?” Hannah whispered as she glanced at Silvie.

“M… me? Why?”

“You’re the only one that might have a slight connection with Mega Woman here.”

“Nothing’s been confirmed yet!” Silvie whispered loudly in reply, “Anyway, none of those matter right now. If Cephalos truly is what Gary says he is, then we need to neutralize him as fast as possible.”

“Agreed,” Hannah nodded. But after a few seconds, her eyes landed on each of the members of the Baby Crew, specifically herself and the two other female members.

“…We’re in our swimsuits.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Even with Hannah’s remark, the sand beneath Silvie started to swirl around her feet; her body, slowly ascending to the air.

“What are you civvies still doing here!?”

But before her feet could fully leave the ground; she, and the rest of the Baby Crew could not help but cover their faces as the sand in front of them suddenly exploded. And as soon as the grains of sand settled back to the ground, a group of individuals revealed themselves to them.

And with the costumes they were wearing, they could be nothing else but superheroes– 5 superheroes coming to respond to the threat.

“O… oh shit, they’ve come to rescue us,” Gary said as he quickly grabbed his phone… that was hidden in his Brazilian bikini.

“…How did you– never mind. I don’t want to know the answer to that.”

“A man has his secre–”

And before Gary could even finish his words, the phone in his hand met with the sand below as it was swatted away by one of the superheroes.

“What the fuck?”

“Do you think this is a game!? Stop it with your social media bullshit and leave, now!”

And as soon as the man’s words reached Gary’s ears, his eyes ever so slightly started to turn red. But fortunately, before the superhero could notice it, Hannah quickly pulled Gary away.

“We’re going to go now,” Hannah then let out a small smile as she bowed her head towards the superheroes, “We’re really sorry for interrupting your work.”

“You should be, fucking bitch.”

“…” Hannah’s eyes slightly twitched as she heard one of the other superheroes commenting from the side; but still, the smile on her face did not disappear as she turned around.

“Wait, should we just leave them? Maybe they would need our help?” Silvie muttered.

“Leave them, those waste of semen,” Gary clicked his tongue, “They almost destroyed my phone.”

“No, we should still help them,” Hannah then breathed out; the tone of her voice clearly agitated from how deep it was, “But we can’t fight wearing this.”

“…” And as soon as they heard Hannah’s words, the group once again turned to look at the clothes they were wearing; quickly nodding as soon as they realized the incidents that could potentially happen while wearing a bikini to a superhero fight.

And so, they all left their footprints on the beach… except for Riley.

“Oi, bro. What are you doing!?” Hannah whispered loudly as she gestured for Riley to follow them. Riley, however, was still staring at Cephalos.

Seeing this, the superheroes that responded to the threat could not help but once again grit their teeth in frustration.

“Are you fucking deaf!? Get the fuck out of here while we are still asking nicely!” The one that Hannah talked to earlier bellowed, “It’s not safe–”

The man was about to push Riley away, but found that he was not able to do so; like there was an invisible wall that almost threatened to crush him into pieces and mix him with the sand.

“E make ana ʻoe,” Riley then whispered; not even bothering to look at the superheroes as he turned to follow the rest of the Baby Crew.

“…What the fuck?”

“Leave it be. It’s also partly your fault for being too aggressive.”

One of the superheroes that had been quiet throughout the whole exchange tried to calm her comrades down, “We have more important matters to do.”

“Tch, fucking civvies. Anyway… why is this thing not even moving?” They all then tried to relax and calm their breaths as they looked at Cephalos, who seemed to have no plan on moving out of the water; instead, its head seemed to still be following the members of the Baby Crew.

“Can’t it go on land?”

“Doesn’t matter. Everyone, get into posi–“

And before their leader could finish her command, the already dark sky that surrounded them became even darker, casting a shadow upon her that fully covered not only her face but ever so slowly, the entire beach.

“Just…

…attack!”