Chapter 511: Prelude to Chaos
"Riley, get down there this instant! Ri—Oh my god, I'm starting to sound like mom."
"..."
Everyone held different types of expressions as Riley very slowly floated into the air, with his head almost hitting the ceiling;
Hannah was trying her best to pull Riley back down, but alas—the most she could do was also be dragged up.
"Riley, this isn't Earth!" Katherine also stood up from her seat and grabbed Riley's other leg, "You… You can't just go on a rampage here. Most of them might not be as strong as Megawoman, but all of them would be considered Class-S back on Earth just from their sheer strength alone!"
"It is no use, Silvermoon," Tomoe only shook her head as she stood, before very slowly crouching to the floor and hiding beneath the sturdy table—and she wasn't alone, Tsula was already there.
"...I'm old," is what Tsula said as their eyes met.
Vera already ran to the corner of the bar, carrying a wide smile on her face as she looked at the themarians, whose eyebrows were now all furrowed as they stared at Riley. If she knew Riley would just end up offending the themarians as soon as he lands on the planet, then she wouldn't have even made a plan to separate him from the ship.
Riley may be immortal, but she was certain the themarians have a way to get rid of him once and for all.
As for Hera—Hera was just shaking her head and sighing, before lifting up her mug and transferring to the counter,
"Can you fill this up?"
"Of course."
There is one thing that Hera learned while traveling alone with Riley for an extended amount of time—You can't stop him.
Earth was right to treat him a calamity, and soon, after all this shit was over, the universe will too. She would really rather just finally enjoy being on another planet, especially a planet as picturesque as Theran.
"Is that your friend?" The bartender didn't seem to mind either, as he just casually poured Hera another drink.
"More like a child I was tasked to take care of," Hera sighed, "You get a lot of trouble here, I presume?"
"Why do you think we're all wearing collars?" The barkeeper just smirked, before wiping the spilled alcohol on the counter, "And that black-haired woman, is she your friend too?"
"Which one?"
"The one not hiding beneath the table and is about to turn my floor into ice."
"Pirate Queen Xra? She's more like… a traveling companion."
"Xra… So that's why she looked familiar, she was here when I was a little younger."
Xra seemed to have noticed the barkeeper talking about her, as she quickly glanced at him and winked. The barkeeper really only just looked at her, before letting out a sigh and continuing to wipe the counter.
It wasn't only him that was doing nothing; all of the themarians in the bar were looking and staring at Riley with furrowed eyebrows—but that was it. They just continued fidgeting with their device, drinking and minding their own business.
Xra told them themarians tend to be apathetic but to think it was to this point.
"Let's show these old folks how it is done," Xra smirked as her nails grew longer.
"But you're also old, Pirate Queen Xra. You're probably older than some of these people," Riley said without any hesitation as he looked at the themarians sitting at their table.
They truly were just ignoring him. All of the planets he had been in quickly wanted to get rid of him as soon as they see him, most even using excessive force—but these themarians don't care.
If they don't care—then that only means he should wreak havoc even more now to try and lure out whoever.
And so, with a long and very deep breath… a trail of blood started to trail from Riley's nose.
"...Riley?"
"Riley?"
Both Katherine and Hannah, who were still trying to bring him down, could not help but blink a couple of times as they looked at the blood dripping from Riley's nose.
"...You're starting with that?" Xra also blinked a couple of times, "Doesn't that take quite a toll on your body?"
"Only momentarily, Pirate Queen Xra," Riley said as he shook his head, "And I have all of my subordinates with me, they can deal with whatever happens after for a brief time."
"If you weren't immortal, you would have died at a very early age."
"Two years, I would have died when I was two."
"...Right," Xra furrowed her eyebrows before grabbing Hannah by the neck and suddenly pulling her away from Riley.
"W…what are you doing!?"
"Just in case," Xra whispered right into Hannah's ear as she embraced her.
"W…What!?" Hannah could really only shiver as she felt Xra's cold breaths running down her neck.
"I'm protecting you," and with those words, Xra's wings of blood protruded from her back; completely encapsulating her and Hannah.
"What do you mean—"
"Paboom."
"!!!"
And like a flash bomb going off, there was this sudden and extreme silence that echoed throughout the entire bar—a whistle, like every sound and everything that existed momentarily didn't exist.
Just for a flash, however, as color once again slowly returned to the bar…which now had a clear view of the sky above.
"..." Hera, who quickly jumped over the counter as soon as her body told her to do so, saw everything that happened. No, there wasn't really much to see as even her eyes which could adapt to see even through the thickest mist failed to see anything.
Everything was just white. A void that swallowed everything within its path.
"And now, how many have become stronger? And how many will forever be in the embrace of eternal death?"
"..." And with those words, Katherine and the others also recovered from their slight stupor as they all quickly looked around. There was one of them, however, that was violently woken up—Vera.
Vera quickly looked to her side, only to see nothing there but a barren land. The wall she was previously leaning onto, was almost gone along with everything else behind her. Although she hasn't quite grasped the layout of the city they were in, she was sure that there should be a couple of houses behind the bar—as well as a small mountain.
But now, all that was left was a smooth crevice. No, perhaps smooth was an understatement… as it felt like one's foot would be sliced if it ever caught on to the edges of the crevice.
That wasn't what Vera was surprised about, however. It was how fast it happened.
No, perhaps fast was not even the right word for it. Vera was capable of following even small ships that have gone through Hyperdrive with her eyes. But Riley's attack was… instantaneous. It didn't have speed, it just… happened.
Just an inch more to the left, then her arm too, would have been completely erased from existence.
"..." Vera then turned to look at Riley, and judging by the smile he failed to contain—he did it on purpose. Didn't he say that he won't hurt!?
"..." No, she had no right to complain—those that were in the direct blast of Riley's mysterious white beam were now just completely… skeletons. Most still had their organs intact. Some, however, already looked like polished fossils.
"Interesting," Riley then casually walked toward the nearest skeleton, which was still surprisingly in the posture of sitting down even though there was no longer anything supporting its weight.
"One, two, three, four, five…" Riley then started walking around the skeletons that were already healing, "...six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Out of the 12 themarians that were hit, ten are recovering—and most are obviously older than those that have been put to eternal death. They—"
And before Riley could finish his words, a knuckle—a literal knuckle went straight toward his head. The themarian next to him still hasn't even fully recovered most of his body, but as soon as his arm regained some of its muscles, he was ready to attack Riley.
And before the… fist bone could reach Riley's cheek, the themarian's entire recovering body was suddenly encapsulated by a block of dark ice.
"T—"
But before Tomoe could even say anything, the themarian's arm just passed through her ice like it was nothing and grabbed Riley by the neck.
"It would seem something fun just landed on our planet," the dark-skinned themarian said as the ice surrounding him burst into pieces,
"No one butts in, this one is mine."
"Fuck, Krita died. He didn't even get to finish his drink."
"That white-haired guy is strong, you think you can handle him on your own?"
And without Katherine and the others even noticing, the other themarians that were just previously only skeletons have now once again fully recovered their bodies. If only the same could be said for their clothes.
None of them seemed to mind that they were naked, however, as even the only woman in the revived group just clicked her tongue and placed her hands on her waist.
"Just make sure he pays for our clothes. You know how hard it has been getting to get clothes with our collar—Oh, our collar's gone."
"What… the—You're right."
And now, even the dark-skinned themarian let go of Riley as he touched his own neck. He then turned to look at the other themarians… before a smile appeared on their faces and they…
…all just flew away and disappeared all at the same time.
"..." And before anyone could react, several roars, bursts of manic laughter, explosions, and battle cries could be heard outside the now exposed bar.
"Hm…" Riley squinted his eyes as he very slowly looked at Hannah and the others,
"...Just as planned. Now someone of authority would---"
"Just as planned your foot!"