Villain Retirement

Chapter 75: The Dance

With the combatants of the Combat tournament now only half of what it was during the first day, allowing some leeway for the audience to watch a match that didn’t involve a Mega Student. Most of the students of USMA still had their eyes glued to Silvie’s match…

…But not Class 1-V.

As for Class 1-V, rather than watching Silvie’s match, their eyes were all on Riley and Bella. Silvie’s match was already done before it started since the one she was fighting was relatively unknown and not even a Mega Student. But Riley and Bella?

This was the chance to finally settle who has the strongest telekinetic ability amongst their class. Although Bella did not win during the group activity during the 2nd day since she fainted, she was indisputably the one who has the highest raw telekinetic power in their class.

And as for Riley, he was not able to join the activity because of Scarlet Mage– but all of them knew that his control was the best of them all due to past incidents involving him.

All of them were excited and initially thought that Bella would win since she was the first to strike. The match, however, was put on a complete hold when Riley changed the terrain– it was as if Riley was telling her that the difference between their telekinetic abilities was massive.

With that, the match was over. Most of them could only sigh as Bella slowly raised her hand to surrender. It should have been over– but when Riley suddenly took off his white long coat and got into some sort of martial art stance, all of them could not help but howl like little monkeys that managed to escape from the zoo.

And because of this, the other students that were near them could not help but be curious– their eyes also landing on Riley and Bella’s match.

“What… Why isn’t Riley ending it!? Finish her! Fatality!”

“…It’s a good thing you were replaced.”

And one of those howling like a monkey, was none other than Gary– his head even wildly flailing as he threw the popcorn in his hands.

“Anyway, this match is as good as done anyway. I’ll be preparing for the Rescue event.”

Hannah grabbed Gary’s face; and with force, pulled him back towards his seat before standing up and walking away. But when she saw Tomoe following her, she quickly raised her palm.

“It’s fine, you go and finish the match, you don’t have to follow me every time, you know.”

“But Riley said that–“

“What are you, his servant?” Hannah rolled her eyes, “I’ll be fine, go and enjoy. You’re about to see Riley murder someone.”

“…Murder?”

“That Bella girl probably stood a better chance when they were still fighting with their powers…” Hannah breathed out as she continued to leave,

“…But now, she’s fucked.”

“Oh, fucked how?” Gary quickly motioned obscenities with his hands as soon as he heard Hannah’s words.

“You shouldn’t have been let out of your room,” Hannah muttered, “Remember when I told you Riley was better than even me at martial arts? I wasn’t exaggerating that. He…

…once managed to hit dad.”

***

“…Let’s dance.”

“Heh, I am starting to like you more and more, Riley Ross.”

“My opinion of you still remains the same, Black Bell.”

With Riley putting up his stance, the only thing that Bella could do was let out a small smirk as she too, landed on the ground. And after only looking at Riley for a few seconds, she started walking towards him, and while she did so; her costume, which was made with metal plates stacked on each other, slowly fell on the floor.

This continued on until her smooth, and slightly toned dark skin revealed itself; leaving her with only her mask, tank-top, and some sort of workout leggings.

“Let’s dance, then,” and now, with her only a meter away from Riley, she chuckled; raising both her hands almost to her chin, her palm facing forward as she slightly moved her left leg forward and raised it, “Mano a mano, just how I like–“

“Wait, Black Bell.”

“…Ha?”

Bella was about to strike, but before she could do so, Riley suddenly removed his stance and walked towards where he folded his long coat. And without even saying a word and his back towards her, he slowly unbuttoned his vest and took it off.

“What… are you doing?” Bella raised an eyebrow.

“It is only proper that I too, strip down to the bare necessities, Black Bell,” Riley muttered as he then unbuttoned his shirt.

“!!!”

And as soon as he did so, Bella could not help but take in a huge gulp as soon as he saw Riley’s bare back. Of course, it was obvious that it was going to be as white as his face… but what Bella did not expect was the lines chiseled on his back.

With his skin… it literally almost looked the same as those greek statues– every muscle sculpted to perfection. Riley had always been wearing clothes that covered most of his entire body straight down to his cuffs. Even before they were asked to wear their superhero costumes at all times, he was always wearing long sleeves or a jacket.

So all this time… he was hiding that underneath his clothes?

“!!!”

Bella once again took a huge gulp as Riley finally turned towards her; almost choking in her own breath as her eyes widened almost to the point that they reached her ears. Ever since she was young, she knew that she liked women… but seeing Riley like this almost made her doubt her own preference.

She tried dating men before, but it just doesn’t click with her. And for it to almost break from the whitest man possible, in a literal sense, of course, was almost ironic.

Well, almost. Even with Riley literally being a Greek statue chiseled to perfection, the warm feeling she gets from seeing a woman was nowhere to be found. Realizing this, the only thing she could do was let out a small but deep sigh as she tightened her stance.

“Forgive me for not taking off my pants, Black Bell,” Riley then muttered as he returned in front of Bella, “I am only wearing underwear beneath these fine pants.”

“…No, that’s alright,” Bella let out a small chuckle, “Rather than your pants… I am more distracted by the fact that you’re still wearing your sunglasses; you look like a stripper.”

“…Right, thank you for reminding me.”

“N–” Bella was about to say something, but when she noticed the color of Riley’s eyes she could not help but blink a couple of times. They were almost a light red… pink even. Didn’t Riley have blue eyes?

However, after a few more blinks, she noticed that they were, in fact, blue, almost bordering on silver.

Was she… just imagining things? Bella then shook her head as she once again tightened her stance.

“Enough talk, let’s do this.”

“…” Riley then once again got into a stance, this time, once again copying the stance that Bella had.

“Tch,” and with the click of Bella’s tongue signaling the start of their brawl, she was the first to strike.

She leaped towards Riley, her knees threatening to slice his chin. Riley, however, quickly moved his head back to avoid it; leaving only an inch of space between his chin and Bella’s knee.

Bella’s attack did not stop there as she used Riley’s leg as some sort of foothold, allowing her other leg to have enough force to snap the back of her foot towards Riley’s face.

Riley rotated his entire body in response before her foot could reach his face, and without any pause, he pushed the foot away– using the momentum it already had to create more force, causing Bella to lose balance.

And with her body now falling horizontally, she could feel her vision blur as the back of her head was suddenly caught by Riley’s knee. It did not stop there, however, as she saw Riley’s unusually white elbow coming down towards her face– it was almost as if Riley was trying to swallow her entire head.

“!!!”

A loud bang then thundered as Riley’s elbow landed on her face– or at least it should have been her face.

“…” Riley then quickly leaped back, allowing Bella to fall on the ground with a slight clang.

“S… shit,” Bella’s muffled words then seeped out from the metallic helmet that suddenly covered her entire head, “I… I panicked.”

Bella then stood up as she took off the metal plate covering her face, “L… Let’s start again, I promise I won’t be using my power–“

And before she could even finish her words, her vision was suddenly blocked by Riley’s fist. She quickly ducked to avoid it, only to meet another fist heading straight towards her nose. And due to her surprise, she could not help but once again block her face with a metal plate that came from her costume.

“W… wait, that wasn’t–“

And once again, before she could even finish her words, a fist once again came her way. She could not help but wince as the sound of Riley’s fist exploded on her face; if it wasn’t for the fact that there was a metal plate protecting her, then her face would have definitely been destroyed.

Riley already changed his stance… if she was right, then he was currently boxing. She had no time to admire it, however, as the only thing she could do was back away as Riley continued with his barrage– not seeming to even mind that she was already using her powers to protect herself.

This… this was a shameful display. Even if she was outmatched, she shouldn’t be hiding behind her abilities when Riley was doing his best not to even use an ounce of his telekinetic abilities.

“…” And so, with a short but deep breath, Bella decided to throw the metal plates away, “I’m done hiding, let’s–“

What followed, however…

…was the sound of her ribs cracking into multiple pieces.