Villain Retirement
chapter-347

"Do… you think you're allowed to be happy?"

The sound was viscous. Gnarly — seeping through every pore. If anything, it felt even louder when Paige covered her ears. She recognized that voice anywhere, of course… It was hers.

But more than the voice, however, was the visceral sound that drummed endlessly in the air; gnawing at the deepest parts of her bones. The noise it created seemed enough to grind her bones into dust.

It was the sound of a chainsaw.

A chainsaw that could only cut one thing in this world — her.

"Leave… please, just leave me alone!" Paige screamed as she crawled further back into the closet; but alas, there were really only so many steps she could take before she hit the back of the closet.

"You don't deserve to be happy, Paige."

Paige closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she could see the light seeping from the cracks of the closet being covered by a shadow.

"You don't deserve to be happy…

…not after what you did."

"Just leave me alone!" Paige once again let out a scream — and suddenly, the shadow covering the light from seeping through the closet disappeared. And finally, there was silence.

The only sound that whispered in the air was Paige's fettered and heavy breaths; her hair, already sticking onto her face from the sweat that almost drowned her entire body.

Still, even with the silence, Paige just stayed inside the closet, staring at the cracks to see if she would return. But a few seconds went by, and nothing. It would seem it was… over.

She then let out one final deep breath as she moved; but before she could reach for the closet doors, she noticed a face looking at her through the other end of the closet — hiding between the clothes with her eyes as wide as they could possibly be.

"It will never…"

Paige could only sit there petrified as she stared back at these murderous eyes that belong to a face eerily similar to hers.

"...It will never be over!" The face then jumped out of the clothes; not affecting anything else except Paige as a pair of unnaturally long arms tried to grab her feet.

"No!" Fortunately for Paige, she was able to force her way out of the closet; not even looking back as she ran. But from the sound that only she was hearing, the thing was chasing her.

"Why… why is this house so big." And even with a tall lanky monster wearing her face chasing her, Paige's thoughts suddenly went to her old apartment. If this was in her old apartment, there wouldn't be any need to run as she would have already reached the door.

Never buy a large house, because in most horror movies, it's the large house with the stairs in front of the main door that's haunted. At least in smaller houses, you already know your fate and there's no need to run because there's nowhere to run in the first place.

And so, with that thought circling in Paige's mind… she quickly turned around and materialized her old house, trapping the tall lanky monster inside it.

But before she could even let out a smile, the house was cut in half — no, it was sawed in half.

"Running somewhere?" And finally, the only thing that Paige truly fears is now in front of her…

…herself.

— Except with a creepy and cheeky smile, and a chainsaw that stood taller than her body.

"Die!" And without even waiting for anything else, the Other Paige rushed towards her, brandishing the giant chainsaw almost as if it was just made with paper.

Paige took in a deep breath as her arms were suddenly wrapped by some sort of armor that seemed to be made of the same material as Megawoman's statue in the Hero Association.

"You think that can save you!?" The Other Paige's laugh cackled in her ears, "Die!"

Well, fortunately for Paige, she didn't really get the chance to test whether or not her gauntlets could withstand Other Paige's torso.

"...Which one is the real you?"

"R– Adam!" A smile quickly grew on Paige's face; the armor wrapped around her hand, instantly withering away as soon as she saw Riley's back.

"So… this is the other Paige you told me about, Paige?"

Riley was currently holding the chainsaw even as it continued to spin violently; the blades, not even dulling or melting as Riley increased the temperature in his hand to an extreme degree.

"The boyfriend arrives," Other Paige then let out a small giggle as one of her hands let go of the chainsaw… only for a gigantic hammer to emerge from it — the size of a car.

"Paige just had to bring and involve someone else into her pain, gotcha!"

"!!!"

Other Paige then swung the hammer towards Riley, causing him to be violently thrown away straight through the walls of the penthouse and to the outside.

"Adam! I… I'm sorry! I… I promise… I'm not… I can't control it!"

"Ugh, don't flatter yourself," Other Paige lazily tilted her head towards Paige as she groaned in disgust, "You're not capable of controlling anything in your life. You're just a sad little witch that should be living alone in a lonely little shack away from people. Now, stay there while I take care of your boyfriend."

"Stop!" Paige quickly surrounded Other Paige with chains before she could even take a single step.

"Cute," these chains, however, were quickly ground away by Other Paige's chainsaw. And without even waiting for another word, a… floating glider appeared beneath her feet,

"Time to party!"

More than a dozen missiles then shot out from the glider; moving with her as she flew forward at the same time — and all of them, just passing through the walls and not affecting even a speck of single dust.

"Haha!"

"..." Riley, who was just casually waiting and floating a few meters outside the penthouse, could only let out a sigh as he saw several missiles flying at him. But most importantly, Other Paige was also flying toward him holding a giant hammer and a giant chainsaw.

Riley has seen aliens and a whole other planet — but Paige has truly shown him things weirder than any of those.

Riley let out another sigh as he stretched his hands to the side, and soon, swords of light emerged from them; and perhaps as if mimicking Other Paige, the swords he summoned were probably the length of an entire bus.

"That's fucking cool," Other Paige cackled as she saw Riley's silhouette. With his long black hair waving with the wind; his eyes that seemed completely unperturbed about anything — it was no wonder Paige was sticking to him.

And soon, Riley started waving the swords, almost too casually as he deflects the missiles that threatened to explode in his face.

"D–"

"Paragon!"

And before Other Paige could reach Riley, a small thunder could be heard rumbling in the air as Silvie suddenly arrived; her hands, already moving towards Other Paige's glider. Other Paige, on the other hand, just raised an eyebrow as Silvie just went through the glider.

"...What?" Silvie could not help but blink a couple of times as she looked at her hand and Other Paige back and forth. A beam then shot out from her eyes as she tried to destroy the chainsaw, only for it to once again just pass through it.

"Well, that's awkward," Other Paige only shrugged her shoulders, before once again rushing towards Riley and started clumsily but violently waving her gigantic weapons.

They couldn't get past Riley's swords, however, as they just keep on getting split into two… but then instantly fix themselves as if nothing happened.

Silvie was still confused as to just what kind of ability the woman has, but she didn't really think twice before rushing towards her to try and at least put her on a choke hold — she did not expect, however, that even her body was intangible.

"...What's going on, Paragon!?"

She then focused her attention on Paragon, who was clearly fighting this intangible being. Soon, however, as she took the time to stare at the woman's face, she realized who she was.

"Wait… isn't this your partner!? Why are the two of you fight--"

And as Silvie said that, several planes suddenly emerged out of nowhere. Of course, in instinct, Silvie attempted to slow them down-- but once again, it just passed through her as they all collided with Paragon in the center.

But soon, however, they disappeared as if they didn't exist in the first place.

"What's going on!?"

And before Silvie could get her answers, Hannah also arrived — and just like Silvie, she tried to throw a ball of fire at Other Paige only for it to pass through her.

"...Isn't that Paige!?" She was about to throw another, but quickly recognized who it was.

"No," Riley, who was once again seemingly just casually waving off the giant hammer and chainsaw threatening to mow him down, turned to look at Hannah,

"It's… her monster."

"Her monster?" Hannah slightly furrowed her eyebrows for a few seconds, before her eyes started to widen,

"Where is she!?"

"There," Riley then let go of one of his swords as he pointed at the penthouse; the sword, still moving on its own, deflecting the attacks as if its owner was still holding it,

"She–"

"I understand."

And without even waiting for Paragon to finish his words, Hannah flew towards the penthouse.

"What the heck is going on!?" Silvie, who was still completely out of the loop as to what was happening, could really only follow Hannah to the penthouse.

And as soon as they stepped onto the terrace… a group of people who seemed like doctors welcomed them. Well, not really welcomed them as they just walked around.

Silvie grabbed one of them by the shoulder to talk, only for her hand to once again pass through.

"...Can you tell me what's going on, Hannah?"

"That."

Silvie then quickly looked at where Hannah was pointing to, only to see Paige being surrounded by a bunch of doctors — all holding a syringe.

"Seriously…" Hannah then let out a sigh as she carefully stepped closer, "Just for once…

...Why can't we meet normal people?"