Villain Retirement - Chapter 1098: The Order of Nothing
“No…!”
Riley and Miss Pepondosovich have been traveling the empty expanse of space for months – and although that wasn’t a big deal at all for Miss Pepondosovich who has lived for hundreds and thousands of years, she had already gotten used to the fast-paced life back in the New World.
Those months were already too long for her, and she wanted to have something to do or at least entertain herself with. He wasn’t like Riley at all who could just float in the expanse of space for years on end without doing anything – she needed to at least do something.
And right now, as soon as they found a planet to land on, some large spaceship just suddenly blew it away along with all of its inhabitants.
“What have you done, Riri!?” Miss Pepondosovich then pointed at Riley as soon as she faced the right direction while just spinning in space.
“I did not do anything, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley also just casually floated; his body just casually spinning and retaining the force of the explosion, “Perhaps it is you that did something you are the God of Luck, after all.”
“Do the inhabitants of this planet look lucky to you!?” Miss Pepondosovich started wriggling around.
“I would not know, Miss Pepondosovich. All of them were obliterated,” Riley shrugged as he looked around the bits and pieces of the planet they were just on. He then reached out his to grab what seemed to be a part of a face, or at least it looked like a face,
“At the very least, they died almost instantly look at this, she did not even have time to react.”
[By the Order of Nothing, this planet has been terminated.]
The loud noise once again echoed through the expanse of space; using the tiniest vibrations to cause sound to travel everywhere almost instantly.
“Order of Nothing…?” Miss Pepondosovich then pointed at the colossal spaceship, “Riri… you might be right I think I did this.”
“We are supposed to be getting away from all of it, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley let out a small but deep sigh while shaking his head, “Perhaps I should just leave you here since you seem to be the key to progressing my story.”
“Don’t you dare!” Miss Pepondosovich pointed at Riley, “And even if you do leave me, I am pretty sure I’m just gonna find you without even trying.”
“Hm… you might be ri-”
And before Riley could finish his words, he and Miss Pepondosovich suddenly found themselves being dragged and flown away at hyperspeed; their bodies and faces, planted on a window debris shield of a small spaceship.
“Reeree,” Miss Pepondosovich’s lips slid across the window as she spoke. She then turned to look at the other side of the window, only to see people screaming inside the cockpit of the ship, and oddly enough…
…they sort of resemble Miss Pepondosovich.
“What the…?”
***
“How… how are the two of you alive?”
“We’re very lucky.”
“…That’s not luck.”
After the small people inside the ship were done panicking and screaming in fear as they saw Miss Pepondosovich and Riley sticking to their window like bugs, they all quickly stopped moving in hyperspeed and very carefully and safely brought Miss Peponsodovich in.
They seemed somewhat reluctant at first, but when they saw Miss Pepondosovich, they all just nodded and agreed to let them in… there was a problem, however – Riley would not be able to fit in on their ship.
“Uh… Maybe your friend could wait in the cargo bay and-”
“No, it is fine,” and before the group could finish their words and show their reluctance, Riley suddenly shrunk in size almost at the same height as them.
“…I always forget you can do that, Riri,” Miss Pepondosovich pointed at Riley with her thumb, “So, that shouldn’t be a problem at all now, right?”
“R…right… Who are you people?”
“I should be the one asking you people that,” Miss Pepondosovich looked around the ship before approaching the group of people who resembled her, “Who are you people and what did you do to that planet?”
“It-that wasn’t us! We were there to rescue people but… we were too late.”
“Huh…” Miss Pepondosovich then squinted his eyes as she stood beside Riley, “…Is it just me, or do they kinda look like we belong to the same species?”
“Hm…” Riley then looked back and forth between Miss Pepondosovich and the group of people with bunny ears, “…I do not see the resemblance at all, Miss Pepondosovich.”
“What race do you belong to?” Miss Pepondosovich crossed her arms as she looked at the group.
“Uh… we’re Tondions?” The group looked at each other, their ears slightly lowering in confusion, “…Aren’t you the same as us?”
“…I have no idea what Tondions are.”
“Perhaps they are your descendants, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley just once again shrugged.
“… Maybe? Wouldn’t that mean we’re actually from the same universe, Riri?” Miss Pepondosovich placed her hand on her chin, “Are you from other multiverses?”
“…Multiverses? What are you talking about?” The Tondions once again all looked at each other in confusion, “Tondions are from Tondia. Well… were.”
“Were…?” Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes as she comfortably sat on one of the stools on the tiny ship. At first glance, the ship did not look as advanced as Diana’s ship, but at second glance… it truly wasn’t, “Does it have something to do with that large spaceship?”
“You… don’t know the Order of Nothing?” The Tondions once again looked at each other, “Where are you people even from…? Are you truly not a Tondion?”
“No, I’m… something else,” Miss Pepondosovich just shrugged, “You don’t need to worry about little old me.”
“And what about him…?” The Tondions turned to look at Riley, “He could turn small without using any device at all. And then the fact that you people could survive in the expanse of space
and being hit by hyperspeed…
…can you be creatures from the Unknown?”
“Huh…?” Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow, “What are you saying? You’re the ones from
the Unknown.”
“Huh…?” The Tondions all looked at each other again before finally huddling up and discussing by themselves, leaving Miss Pepondosovich and Riley just idling there.
“I suppose they consider our part of the Universe as the Unknown, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley whispered as he stood beside Miss Pepondosovich.
“…I guess that’s the case, huh?” Miss Pepondsovich squinted her eyes before looking at Riley from head to toe, “How come you’ve never shrunk before when we were traveling together? It would have made my life so much easier instead of always looking up.”
“I never really had the purpose to do so, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley shrugged, “It would also seem that there might be parts of the Unknown that are completely unaware of what
happened to the rest of the universe and multiverses.”
“Can’t be… what about the past 600 years when everyone stopped aging?” Miss Pepondosovich got off of the stool and approached the huddled Tondions. And as soon as she
did so, they all hopped in surprise while swinging their arms, “Comedians, great. I have a
question…”
Miss Pepondosovich then asked about the last 600 years.
“Yes… The Gift of Immortality granted by the Grand Messiah,” the Tondions all let out a sigh
at the same time.
“… You think the last 600 years of your agelessness is because of this Grand Messiah?” Miss Pepondosovich raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Riley.
“We don’t think, we know – he came to us, granting us the power of immortality so that we would be able to travel across the stars,” the Tondions placed their palms on their chests,
“But sadly…
…for some, immortality is deemed a curse. This is also the time the Order of Nothing was given birth. You two… don’t really know anything? Are you really from the Unknown!?” “Just treat us like we’ve been asleep the past 600 years,” Miss Pepondosovich breathed out, “What’s this… Order of Nothing business?”
“The Order of Nothing…” The Tondions all closed their eyes as their breaths turned heavy, “…They are an organization that considered immortality as blasphemous to their beliefs- and they just started killing everyone, turning them into ashes, turning them into nothing.” “Sounds familiar, Riri?” Miss Pepondosovich forced out a tiny scoff as she glanced at Riley again.
“Hm…” As for Riley, he just squinted his eyes in response trying to think if one of his clones were responsible for this. If so then which one? No. There really was no use guessing, Riley probably has hundreds of thousands of clones scattered across the expanse of the universe – perhaps one was able to find themselves in the Unknown.
“They are very dangerous. They destroy planets without any mercy, without any warning. But perhaps the most dangerous of them all is their leader – a being of incredible and abnormal strength, a mutant of some kind. The one the Grand Messiah calls the living apocalypse…
…Darkday.”
“Welp…” Miss Pepondosovich then turned to Riley,
“…I think one of your untethered clones has been having a good time in this part of the
universe, Riri.”