Villain Retirement
chapter-24

"Please stop this… you're only going to end up hurting yourself."

Silvie made sure to lighten her grip, allowing Gary to realize that she was only holding back so as to not hurt him. Gary, however, took this chance to push her hand away. But alas, the difference between their strength was starting to show as Silvie quickly held her ground.

"You… really want to win this badly?" Silvie furrowed her eyebrows.

"I guess?" Gary once again chuckled, before gritting his teeth to the point that it was starting to bleed.

"Stop, Gary. You're not going to win."

"I won't!"

"!!!"

Another thunder reverberated in the air as the boulder they were leaning on slowly began to crack. And due to Gary's sudden rise in power, the back of Silvie's palm almost touched the surface of the boulder.

If it wasn't for her also increasing her strength at the last second, then she would have probably already lost. Seeing this, she realized that she was probably overestimating her strength, and should probably already end this if she didn't want to lose.

"I'm sorry, Gary," Silvie then whispered, "But you still lack the training."

A sort of ringing vibrated in the air as Gary's hand started to be pushed back, with the tremble of the boulder matching his struggling arm.

"Stop struggling."

"I said no!"

Silvie could not help but squint as Gary's eyes started to emit a bright red light.

"What are you doing!?" Silvie yelled as her eyes also emitted a red light, "Did you really want to win this badly!?"

"Sadly so," Gary once again chuckled as he turned his blazing eyes towards Silvie, "You're strong, I am sure this is only going to tickle."

"Are you crazy!?" Silvie screamed, "Miss Scarlet Mage!"

"That's enough!"

Scarlet Mage quickly rushed towards the two to stop them as soon as Silvie's voice reached her ears. She was just going to watch at first to see how the situation was going to unfold because Gary didn't seem to be that aggressive, but perhaps she should have stopped it earlier knowing what she knows.

Gary Gray-- one of the 6 in the class that belonged to the Potential Villain list.

"Never!"

Even though Scarlet Mage was already on her way towards them, Gary didn't seem to have any intentions of stopping as his eyes grew even brighter and started to emit a trail of smoke.

"D… don't," Silvie was also ready to release her heat vision, but when she saw the crazed look in Gary's face, the only thing she could do was close her eyes and look to the side, gritting her teeth for the pain to come.

"Stop!" The strands of Scarlet Mage's hair stood up as she raised her hand, the grass beneath her feet started to dance as a clump of air seemed to have gathered on the palm of her hand; and without even a moment, the clump of wind shot towards Gary.

But halfway through it, Gary let out a shout as the light in his eyes started to become a beam, its path straight towards Silvie's face.

"Oh, fuck!" Gary moved his head to the side, as if trying his hardest to avoid hitting Silvie with his heat vision, but by doing so, the beam his eyes were emitting lost control, shooting towards the other students that were near them, "I can't stop it!"

Scarlet Mage increased the output of her power to push Gary away, but to her surprise, instead of shooting faster… the ball of wind that she summoned completely dispersed.

"!!!" She did not let herself panic, however, as a wall of earth quickly emerged in front of her. She was about to trap Gary inside of it, but once again, she felt a strong resistance that wasn't allowing her to control the wall.

"S… shit!" This time, she allowed herself to panic as she quickly looked towards Gary, but to her surprise, no one was screaming; instead, everyone was completely silent as they all watched as Gary's heat vision seemed to have stopped midway as if some type of glass was blocking it from moving.

"You're not allowed to hurt anyone, Gary. The same goes for you, Scarlet Mage."

"That's…"

Scarlet Mage then turned her eyes towards the somewhat cold voice whispering in the field, only to see Riley slowly descending from the air, landing right in front of the end of Gary's heat vision.

"I… I lost control of it, I didn't mean to!" Gary then started to panic, his heat vision not showing any signs of stopping, "I was only going to scare Silvie!"

"I see," Riley then said as he stepped forward. The loud gasps of the students quickly filled the air as soon as they saw this, some of them closed their eyes, not wanting to see Riley get burnt by the beam.

However, contrary to their expectations, the beam started to shorten. It was as if it was trying to avoid Riley, becoming shorter with each of his steps.

"W… what," Scarlet Mage could not help but take in a gulp as she saw this. Her wind magic dispersed, the resistance she felt with the wall of earth that she summoned… and now Gary's beam just stopping short of hitting Riley in the face.

Was this… all Riley's doing? It might have seemed like a minute, but everything happened almost in just a moment. Riley stopped everything almost simultaneously? Forget about his raw power, even his control was out of this world. Once again, Scarlet Mage was reminded of a simple fact-- Darkday was able to beat Mega Woman.

His power… is abnormal.

And now, Riley was standing only a meter away from Gary, with the beams already starting to flicker on his face as Gary's strength slowly began to reach its limit.

"You and Silvie Savelievna are slowly becoming a dear friend to my sister, Gary," Riley then whispered as he looked at Gary straight in his glowing eyes, "If you do this again, I will gouge out your eyes."

"R… roger that," Gary weakly said as his heat vision flickered once more, before fading completely with a slight sizzle, "Thanks for stopping--"

But before he could finish his words, he was suddenly blown away by a wall of earth.

"..."

Riley blinked a couple of times as the voice that was just talking in front of him turned into air. He then turned his head towards Scarlet Mage, whose eye was currently twitching nonstop. Her hand was still currently pointed forward, making her the obvious culprit.

"You broke your own rule, Scarlet Mage," Riley then let out a sigh.

Scarlet Mage then quickly rushed towards Gary to check up on him, but not before stopping in front of Riley and whispering something loudly in his ears, "You should have at least warned me you were going to let go of the wall!"

"I am so disappointed in you, Scarlet Mage," Riley clicked his tongue several times.

"Ugh!" Scarlet Mage then threw her tablet towards Riley, "Just call for a medic!"

And so, after the medics came and took Gary away, the class… safely continued with their exercise. Perhaps because of what happened, it would seem they became a lot more careful so as to not repeat something similar from happening.

They were supposed to be having their first class with another teacher after this, but after what happened, Scarlet Mage decided to let everyone go back to their dorms to rest instead. Of course...

...everyone except Riley.

As soon as the other students saw this, they all started whispering to each other. Some of them have heard that Scarlet Mage personally dropped Riley off at the dorms, and now this blatant favoritism and inappropriate whispering to one another.

Did… they actually have a thing?

Scarlet Mage, who saw the students looking at her and Riley while they exchanged their whispers, could not help but nod in satisfaction. Spreading the rumours is only the prologue of her plan, if she wanted the Academy to have a reason to kick them out, then she should commit to her role.

"Was there something else you needed from me, Scarlet Mage?"

"Yes, I… have information about Mega Woman," Scarlet Mage slightly stuttered as she tried to look Riley in the eyes.

"Already?" Riley furrowed his eyebrows, "What is it?"

"It is sensitive… information," Scarlet Mage took in a gulp, "So… let's… let's talk about this in my apartment?"

The first part of Operation 'Turn Dark into Light', officially starts now.