Villain Retirement

1093  Chapter 1093: Event Horizon

The fields were white — not from snow, not from ash, and not even from a field of white flowers—no. It was grass, or what seemed like grass but not really. If anything, they looked like tiny little cotton balls that had already been processed… but not entirely like a cloud at all.

But whatever the fields were made of, it spanned across the horizon almost endlessly — and even the sky was filled with it. Very soon, however, this field of white was interrupted by the presence of a portal just suddenly opening out of nowhere.

"It would seem it has returned to its infancy."

Elementia was the first to step out; his eyes completely reflecting the white field in front of him in full blast, quite literally, as his eyes also turned white momentarily,

"I wish I could say that I do not remember it being this way, and feign some sort of nostalgia. Unfortunately, beings such as us are devoid of such wonderful emotions — but it is quite curious to see the place that started the ruin of the multiverse as we know it. Speaking of which, how is Ruin, Sister?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Missing," Death was the next to step out of the portal; each of her steps, causing the white cotton around her to either tremble or try to move away — some, however, seemed to want to be closer to her, "And Machina, as she solely describe herself as, is malfunctioning. Celestial has not spoken again even once as her tears fill most of the Outerverse…

…and Navi can no longer see."

"Then should you not be with them, Death?" Riley also stepped out of the portal with Death; not even bothering to look at the field of white as he just quickly let out a telekinetic net to scan across the endless horizon.

"I am with them," Death glanced at Riley before nodding.

"She is," Elementia nodded his head several times, "She can be everywhere all at once."

"...Can't all of you do that?" And finally, Tomoe finally gained the confidence to speak comfortably to the Primordials; she was, however, still instinctively bowing her head with each syllable, "Be everywhere all at once."

"We could in a certain sense," Elementia shrugged as he crouched on the ground and held the cotton balls in his hand, "I can be everywhere in the sense that because almost all material things came from me, I can feel all of them and feel what they feel. Navi could see everything that unfolds everywhere all at the same time — But the Second Oldest here, she can be literally everywhere all at once. Her presence could be everywhere, literally. But enough about us old decrepit things…

…I do not sense anyone else here aside from us. How about you?"

"I am still searching, Elementia," Riley shook his head, "How vast is the Domain of the Gods?"

"Vast," Elementia shrugged, "It does not follow the laws of the universe at all — and sometimes, the farthest things could be reached in one step, and the nearest thing can be unreachable. But this is not yet the Domain of the Gods as you know it, perhaps I would not even call it that. This place is merely a space with no purpose at all."

"One could argue that it has gained its purpose now that we are here," Death slightly hummed, "Are you sure that we could find your youngest daughter here, Riley Ross?"

"I am not," Riley shook his head, "But it is the only clue that I have received and I will follow it, Death."

"And this clue — you received it from… the future Paige?" There seems to be some sort of melancholy attached to Elementia's tone, "We were not really able to witness the trial — all we saw was the wedding with your Sister and then everything just went black."

"I did not receive it from future Paige, Elementia," Riley shook his head, "Paige Pearson is dead — no, perhaps it is better to say that she no longer exists."

"Paige… is gone?" Tomoe blinked a couple of times as she heard that. Although the last time Tomoe saw Paige was even before the 600 years, she truly was quite fond of her and became closer to her due to her bubbly personality — quite a complete contrast to how Tomoe was. She also worked with her in the orphanage she built, and she saw just how she wanted to help people even if all of it did turn out to be an illusion.

"That… is a shame," Elementia closed his eyes before glancing at Death, "I feel that the blame for that should lie with us, Second Oldest. If we were not as arrogant, then all of this might have been avoided — it was a mistake to bring Riley to the Domain of the Gods and to try and train Paige Pearson for something that she was already meant to do."

"Hm," Death nodded, "Our first mistake was blending in with our creation — it made us… more. And I have learned that sometimes more is not always better."

"We learned how to be wrong," Elementia breathed out.

"No," Death glanced at Elementia, "We were always capable of being wrong — we just had no place to be wrong in. And Riley Ross, I sense something on you."

"Something on me?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he started patting his body.

"In one of your many pockets," Death pointed at one of Riley's many trusty pockets, "That one."

"Hm?" Riley then grabbed something from the pocket that Death was pointing at, only for the thing he grabbed to just grow in size as soon as it was out of the pocket — and it was, perhaps already expectedly, something bizarre.

It was Renna's severed arm.

"May I have that?"

"No, it is Rennalyn's arm," Riley shook his head.

"I meant may I hold it?" Death fixed her sentence before Riley handed her Renna's arm. And as soon as she grabbed a hold of it, her white eyes started to flicker before they stared and completely settled on the black void that attached to the base of the severed arm, "This void, I feel a little of your presence in it, Riley Ross."

"I suppose that would be the case," Riley nodded before he started explaining what Aerith'Ross told him; about him being cut into pieces, and about him creating some sort of tool that would, in theory, perpetually seal those pieces.

Riley Ross can't die — and he will always find a way to get out even if you seal him; that has been the truth so far. But it would seem Riley from the future had gotten tired of the truth and decided to deal with himself himself once and for all.

"I am, in truth, still a little skeptical," Death placed her hand on her chin, "Could that truly mean that traveling to a time already past truly is possible?"

"Just not possible now…" Elementia squinted his eyes before staring at the arm, or rather the black void attached to it, "...I do not understand what sort of element that is at all. Perhaps… something from the new universe that will come after this. But whatever that element is, Death is correct — although faint, I could feel your presence in it. Do you know what that means, Second Oldest?"

"Perhaps it is you entirely, Riley Ross," Death looked Riley in the eyes before focusing on the severed arm of Renna she was holding, "You become an entirely new element. Elementia would agree with me and say that it is impossible, but the impossible has been happening lately."

"The impossible started to happen as soon as Riley came into being," Elementia hummed.

"I give this back to you, Riley Ross," Death then handed the arm back to Riley, "Use it to find your child — if it is you, you would know how to before your female companion could breathe again."

"..."

"..."

"...Or perhaps not," Death let out a small sigh as Riley just remained staring at the severed arm for an entire minute.

"Try holding the void," Elementia said.

"I have already tried that, but I will try again," Riley nodded before placing his hand on the void, and as soon as he did so, he suddenly heard a sort of scream. At first, he initially thought it was from Renna as he started looking around, but the noise seemed to come from everywhere — and very soon, he found that the screams did not come from Renna at all, but Karina.

It was the Karina of the future, screaming in anguish and torment.

Riley quickly shook his head as he let go of the void, not wanting to hear the scream again. But after a few seconds, he just placed his hand back without a second thought.

And then he was shown a vision. It only lasted for a split second, but it felt like it spanned for days, perhaps even weeks, or months. Riley had no idea what he was watching, but it felt like he understood.

And very slowly, the void started to wriggle and wiggle before turning into some sort of goo that quickly left from Renna's hand…

…and started crawling onto Riley's arm.