Chapter 1045: Consequences
"Shit… what…
…what do we do?"
"What do we do, Sister?"
And while Riley was completely confused at Hannah's words, Hannah seemed to be completely oblivious of Riley's confusion as she started pulling Megawoman's corpse out of the closet; her face, clearly about to puke as Megawoman's mangled flesh touched her skin. She even stepped on a loose skin and flesh, but it did not break or split apart at all from how strong it was.
"Tempo… Tempo clearly saw everything, fuck… fuck!" Hannah whispered to herself while looking randomly everywhere until her eyes landed on Riley, "Why are you just looking at me!? Fucking help, for fuck's sake! Tempo and the other members of the Hope Guild are going to be here soon! Fuck!"
"Are you not mad at me, Sister?" Riley tilted his head to the side as he just stared at Hannah's fuming face filled with tears.
"Of course, I am fucking mad at you! I'm seething!" Hannah screamed, "But we have more important fish to fry!"
"Aerith is not a fish, Sister," Riley shook his head, "And you can't burn her with the current level of your flames, but you could."
"What are you even fucking saying!? The Hope Guild is probably on their way here right now!" Hannah screamed, "And we need to fucking go! We can't… we can't involve Mom here!"
"...You are also not involved in this, Sister."
"Fuck you!" Hannah dropped Megawoman's body as she rushed toward Riley and raised her palm. She could not, however, slap him as she stopped herself from doing so and only just pointed at his face, "You're my baby brother, okay? You fucking listen to me. We need to hide Megawoman's corpse."
"She is alive, Sister."
"What…?"
"Megawoman's alive," Riley then pointed at Megawoman's body, "She just merely suspended her life to stop me from wreaking havoc and killing more people."
"What…?" Hannah clasped her head as she quickly looked at the body, "So… so she knows I tried to burn her corpse—I mean, her!? Is she gonna kill me!? No… Megawoman, I'm… I'm not a bad person!"
"I know, Sister," Riley shook his head before gently grabbing Hannah by the cheeks and facing her to him, "But I am. I am Darkday, and I am truly sorry for being your brother."
"You should be, you fuck…" Hannah's head trembled. But even though Riley told her that he was Darkday, there was no sense of fear at all in Hannah's eyes, "...But right now, we need to do something about this—we need to leave. I… I think Dad has a jet or something hidden somewhere, we can just… we can just go… Let's just go? Okay?"
"Why are you helping me, Sister?"
"Because you're my fucking brother," Hannah did not hesitate to say as she forced out an almost whimpering chuckle, "You're my fucking brother and I can't do anything about that. Let's just… let's just go. Okay? Before they—!!!"
And before Hannah could finish her words, Riley's already broken window—no. The entire wall disappeared; shaved away by Empress as she stepped into the room. Her eyes, immediately landed on Megawoman's mangled body.
She then turned to look at Hannah's crying face before looking at Riley. And as soon as she saw Riley's calm face, tears started to fall down from her eyes.
"Alice…" Empress whispered to herself as she winced, "...Damn it. I… I failed to see it again."
"Aunt Adaeze, this isn't what—"
"Move her away, now!"
And as soon as Empress roared, Tempo suddenly appeared behind Hannah and carried her.
"No!"
"Shit!"
Before Tempo could run, however, she quickly dropped Hannah as she felt a scalding heat on his arms.
"It's… it's not what you think!" Hannah then quickly rushed toward Riley and covered him, "He—"
"Get out of the way, Hannah," Empress shook her head, "I've failed to protect your brother once… I'm not making the same mistake again."
"Protecting…? You're going to kill him."
"To protect him from himself," Empress looked Hannah in the eyes, "You don't know what's happening, Hannah — Riley's mother, Ms. Phoenix… she went crazy and I think Riley's going to follow the same path. He already has."
"He's not crazy!" Hannah roared, "He's just different, okay? But not any more different than you and I!"
"He's a murderer who has killed millions and millions of people, Hannah," Empress reached out her hand toward Hannah, "The times he had shown himself to the world could almost be counted in a single hand… and yet he has already killed so many. What do you think will happen if he begins to truly wreak havoc?"
"You—"
"Nothing is going to change, Miss Adaeze." And before Hannah and Empress could continue their conversation, Riley placed his hand on Hannah's shoulder and stepped forward, "I believe you already know that you are not able to defeat me, not at all."
"That was before I didn't know who you are," Empress shook her head, "You're Riley… I held you in my arms when you were just a baby. You can stop this."
"Talking will not do anything," Riley shook his head, "I would only get worse after this — billions, trillions."
"See? He's mentioning trillions, there's only a few billions of people on Earth," Hannah forced out a chuckle, "He… he doesn't know what he's doing."
"There is more life out there," Riley looked up. And as soon as he did so, his ceiling just disappeared, "But I suppose it doesn't matter. This will be over once I kill all of you. You first."
"Tempo!" Empress's eyes turned wide as she quickly looked back toward Tempo. And before her eyes could even land on him, his blood had squirted and showered on her face as he just exploded right there and then.
"Riley, no!" Hannah quickly rushed to hug Riley tight, "Stop it! Please, just fucking stop it!"
"I am afraid stopping is not an option, Sister," Riley shook his head, "I need to kill everyone to move on this trial."
"What are you even saying!? You're not making any sense!" Hannah tightened her embrace, "Please, let's just… let's just go! You said there's more life out there, right…? What if… what if we go there!? Fuck… I don't know anymore."
"Sister," Riley let out a small breath as he brushed Hannah's hair, "I truly do love you, but this has to happen."
Riley then turned to look at Empress, and as soon as he did so, Empress clasped her fists together to create an explosion, completely destroying their house in the process. And as the dust settled, Hannah found herself floating in the air as Riley did not even move a single millimeter from where he was standing.
Hannah did not bother about this so much, however, as she started looking around while grabbing onto Riley.
"Mom!? What about Mom!?" Hannah said, "Wh—Mom!?"
Hannah did not need to search for long, however, as she saw Empress carrying her in the air.
"Oh my," Diana just held her cheeks as she looked around, "What's happening now? Oh, is that you sweetie? What are you and your brother doing in his room?"
"We need to get you out of here, Diana," Empress said before looking Riley in the eyes, "You won't hurt your mother just to get through me, will you?"
"You and I both know I do not need to, Empress," Riley shook his head, "And even if I do, she will not be hurt at all — she is a themarian much older than Megawoman."
"Oh…?" Diana blinked a couple of times as she looked at Riley, "Hhmm…"
"Is… is that true!?" Hannah quickly believed Riley without any hesitation, "Are you… a themarian, Mom!?"
"I… don't know," Diana still held her cheeks, "First of all, what is going on here? Why are you carrying me like a princess, Empress? And why is my house all… broken?"
"It's not the time for this, we need to go."
And with those words, Empress just flew away,
"Hannah, just stay safe, okay!? I'm going… I'm going to get you soon!"
"What…?" Hannah could not help but just stare at Empress as she left with Diana, "What the fuck… is going on here?"
"I want to tell you a story, Sister," Riley then very slowly descended from the air and landed on the rubbles of their home, "I believe…
…it would be for the best for you to hear."
And like with the first trial with Alice, Riley really had no reservations in telling everything to Hannah. And Hannah, surprisingly, was quiet the entire time he was telling his story.
"All of that… happened?" And as Riley was done, the first thing Hannah did was start walking around; glancing at Riley from time to time, "...That's it — we can… we can just surrender, you're clinically insane. They won't—no. They'll lock you up in an asylum. I won't let that happen."
"Sister, I am an evil man," Riley let out a small but very deep sigh, "And there is something I skipped in my story."
"What is it?"
"At some point in my story, you killed me."