Chapter 59: Goodbye, Scarlet Mage.

"This ship is mine now, No. 7…

...Secretly, of course. I assume that's not a problem for you?"

"N… no."

There was still a slight stutter in No. 7's voice, but he mustered the strength to stand up as he looked Riley straight in the eyes through his helmet.

"Good. Then from now on, you are Mr. Friday," Riley then let out a small but deep sigh before looking at the mangled bodies of the students from the Academy, "And I want your first task to be cleaning up this mess, I don't want this inside my ship-- it's disgusting. Also...

...I am slightly bored now, so my Subordinates and I will be leaving."

"...Leaving?" Mr. Friday muttered, "Wait… what am I even supposed to say to the members of this base… to the other bases? To Darkday?"

"Darkday is not the leader of the Dark Millenium, Mr. Friday," Riley once again sighed as he shook his head, the tone of his voice slightly irritated, "As for how you're going to deal with the other bases… I leave that entirely up to you, you're the captain now."

"W… What? You don't think they are just going to buy any lies I tell them?"

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"That is your problem, Mr. Friday."

"...What makes you think I won't just report what happened here to the others?"

"Because Little Riley will be watching you from somewhere in the ship, Mr. Friday," Riley then casually said as he walked away, snapping his fingers as he gestured to Katherine and Tomoe to follow him, "I will find you again when I need you, Mr. Friday. Please take care of my ship until then."

"Don't you have any orders for me!? What am I even supposed to do here!?" Mr. Friday bellowed.

"Become the leader of the Dark Millenium, Mr. Friday," Riley raised a finger, "Little Riley will help you so you can replace this fake Darkday little by little. Since I am still waiting for Mega Woman to show herself again, I need…

...something fun to watch."

"W… wait! Mega Woman!? What does Mega Woman have to do with this? Just…

...who are you?"

***

"..."

"They… are still unconscious?"

And just a few moments later, Riley and the two others were back inside the shelter. Tomoe was currently pushing Gary's face with her foot, checking to see if he was still breathing. And seeing as he whispered something indecent, it would seem that he was unfortunately still alive.

"I knocked all of them unconscious again while we were in our ship, Tomoe," Riley then said before suddenly lying on the ground, "I suggest the two of you also lie down, take this time to rest until the others are awake."

"You… knocked them out again?" Tomoe whispered before doing the same as Riley, she wanted to lay down beside him, but chose not to in the end as the color of her face almost exploded from all the blood going to it.

"Are you worried about them, Tomoe?" Riley then said as he closed his eyes, "You don't need to, Supers are more resilient than you think."

"N… no, I would never question your actions, master Riley…

...Unlike someone." Tomoe then turned to look towards Katherine, who was still quietly standing near them, before also proceeding to close her eyes.

"..." Riley momentarily opened his eyes to look at Katherine. Katherine also returned his gaze… even as her eyes were almost as red as her fake hair.

Tears have been wanting to fall from her eyes ever since they got off the ship, but she had been trying her best not to let them do so. It would seem she wanted to say something to Riley, but before she could do so, Riley once again closed his eyes.

He closed his eyes without saying a single word even though he clearly saw her on the verge of tears.

A fool. She was a stupid fucking fool.

Operation 'Turn Dark into Light'? Who was she kidding? She was so busy fantasizing about the things she could achieve if she turned Riley to the good side, not realizing that the only thing she had actually been doing was romanticizing it.

She was so obsessed that Riley could become good that even her own body was aroused to the idea. She made love with-- No, she fucked him. That was the only thing that happened.

There was even this crazy idea within her head that thought it was steamy; she thought that Riley was just shy with his feelings so he had been avoiding what happened between the two of them.

She should have known better. If there was anyone in this world that should have known that Riley didn't actually care about what happened between them, it should be her.

Operation 'Turn Dark into Light'?

That is never going to happen.

Riley…

...Riley is just a monster.

And the worst part of it all?

She thinks she might have already fallen in love with him.

A monster that expresses joy while torturing and killing people; a monster that was capable of killing millions of people, and then sits across a table with his family as if nothing happened; a monster that threatened to kill her mother and is having her hostage…

...and she has fallen in love with him.

"Pft."

Tomoe slightly furrowed her eyebrows, before opening her eyes to look at Katherine as she heard her suddenly letting out a suppressed breath.

Katherine… was currently covering her mouth; her shoulders trembling uncontrollably as she dropped to the floor.

"Wha--" Tomoe was about to ask her if something was wrong, but before she could do so--

"Ha… Ahahaha… ha… Hahahahaha!"

Katherine suddenly burst out into a manic laughter; almost swallowing the tears that were endlessly gushing out from her eyes. The pitch of her laugh was so high that the cover of the dome itself seemed to tremble as it echoed across it.

And then, ever so slowly, her luscious red wig trickled into a fiery ember, slowly withering away and causing his natural golden-brown hair to flow to her shoulders. But the embers did not stop with her wig, however, as the roots of her hair followed.

Tomoe was about to summon a rain of snow on Katherine's head when she noticed something odd.

The embers continued to crawl through her hair. But instead of her strands burning and falling away one by one, they changed color-- Silver.

A radiant silver that almost replicated the tears that were falling on her face.

Katherine then let out one final sniffle before the tears on her face turned to ice, before completely withering away with a smoke-- leaving a sort of dried streak marking on her face.

She carefully wiped it off, before proceeding to crawl towards Riley…

...and kissing him on the lips.

"!!!"

Tomoe's hands quickly turned into a fist as they trembled uncontrollably. But remembering the expression on Katherine's face earlier, the only thing she could do was once again close her eyes and bite her lip.

This was the privilege of the First Subordinate, she thought. She needed to work hard, so that someday… she will be able to do the same.

"Good night, Riley Ross," Katherine then said as she retracted her lips; a warm smile completely covering her face.

Riley's eyes slowly opened, looking Katherine straight in the eyes as his hand gently caressed Katherine's cheek, "Goodbye…

...Scarlet Mage."

***

"That… that was fucking crazy. Are you guys sure you're alright!?"

"Y… yeah."

"Oh man… my jaw hurts a little."

A few hours later, an orchestra of groans and yawns sang throughout the entire dome as everyone soon woke up one by one. The instructors were quick to act, swiftly checking if there were any students missing or if any of them were hurt by the sudden massive neuroleptic event.

The students, of course, had questions as to what just happened; but the only thing that the instructors could answer was that it was probably the work of someone from the Dark Millenium. And with this assumption, the staff of the Academy had thought it best to leave the shelter, as it was most probably already compromised.

There was also the fact that all the cameras were torn down, serving even more evidence that someone from the Dark Millenium had entered the shelter… or perhaps was already inside in the first place.

To their surprise, however, none of the students were missing or even harmed. But even with all of the confusion lingering in the air; there was one thing that was clear for everyone to see-- this was just the beginning of the Dark Millenium.

The government would probably announce their existence to the public soon, as an organization that was capable of something like this was something they could not ignore-- there was also the fact that the one leading them might be Darkday.

Right now, all of the students were on their way back to the Academy. Some of them resting, some of them crying, and some of them in disbelief that something like this would happen. They were all feeling different things.

However, most of them shared the same sentiment-- the Academy can't protect them.

They could leave and ask to withdraw… but would they be any safer out in the public when this Dark Millenium group actually knew their identity? Just how much do they know? Do they know their address? What about their families, are they safe?

A lot of thoughts were echoing in their minds; most of them, however, was completely silent. There was also the Potential Villain list… who knows if the one sitting beside them was actually secretly working for the Dark Millenium?

"Seriously, guys… I think I broke my jaw."

There was one group sitting at the back of the bus, however, that seemed to have remained the same.

Gary was currently stretching his mouth wide open, groaning as his tongue was seemingly trying to reach the insides of his jaw.

"That's fucking disgusting, close your mouth, boy," Hannah then clicked her tongue as she scooched away from Gary, "Count yourself lucky the only thing hurting is your jaw, a lot of people died today."

"Nothing we could do about the dead, mine is a 'now' problem," Gary muttered before closing his mouth and letting out a short but deep sigh, "Look at our very own Mega Girl, she's not letting it bother her."

"I am very bothered and sad, Gary," Silvie quickly replied as she furrowed her eyebrows, "I'm just… thinking of what we could have done differently."

"I think all of us should just relax for now," Gary then said, "I am sure the school would announce something once we get back. In the meantime…

...my jaw is still hurting."

Tomoe, who was quietly sitting beside Riley, could not help but slightly look to the side as Gary's words reached her ears. If she wasn't mistaken, the reason why Gary's jaw was hurting…

...was that she kicked it earlier.

***

"..."

In a room only lit up by numerous screens, a silhouette was currently quietly standing. Staring at the screens as all of them printed out the same words-- 'No Signal'.

"..."

The silhouette then moved his hands towards what seemed to be a control panel, and as soon as he did so, the words on the screen arranged into a static, before images started to appear on them.

The screens all showed a view of the dome when the people of Mega Academy were all still there. The recording continued to play for a while, before once again completely blacking out and showing the words 'No Signal'.

"..."

But after a few seconds, one of the screens lit up; once again showing the dome from a different angle. This time, the people from Mega Academy were no longer moving, all of them lying on the floor lifelessly… except for three people.

Riley, Katherine, and Tomoe. The video continued, showing the three leaving the view of the camera, only to return about an hour later.

"Tch."

The silhouette then once again moved his hand on the control board. And as he did so, another set of words appeared on the only working monitor-- 'Delete Selected Clip?'

And without even any pause, the silhouette tapped something on the control board-- completely erasing any trace that the recording ever existed.