Riley Ross-Chapter 187: The Tiniest War

"Shall we dance?"

Anastasia watched as Riley flew away from the window, seemingly not caring at all if people would see him outside the building.

What exactly was he thinking? — were her thoughts. He just revealed to him moments ago that he was the super serial killer Darkday, and now he was casually taunting her right outside his home?

Wasn't he afraid that she would reveal that to the world?

…No.

The fact that he casually revealed that to her here, and confidently floated out of his room, could only mean that his family already knew, were her thoughts. And knowing who her father was, she thought that it would be useless to even try to expose that to the world, since it would be buried. Well, if they repeated the same method they used to scatter the video of him killing someone, then it might work.

Scatter it outside the country physically, and only release it at the same time, once millions already have it. But she had to go outside the country to do that, or at least reach out to her team.

And right now, she doesn't think Riley would be making it easy for her at all.

But most importantly, now that she knew what Riley was truly capable of, trying to fight him now without preparing for it increased the chance of her losing—and she doesn't fight a losing battle.

The only correct path now was to retreat and re-plan.

She carefully made her way to the window, still staring at Riley as his white silhouette casually floated farther and farther away. And when he was far enough, she climbed over the window and just… leapt down while her body turned microscopic.

As strong as Riley's telekinetic abilities may be, she was completely invulnerable to them as long as she reached the size where her intangibility activated.

She might not be able to do anything to Riley now, but the reverse could be said the same. And so, Anastasia continued to dive down, diving through all the molecules—and at the speed she was going, it felt as if she was diving around hundreds and thousands of ropes.

"?!"

Soon, however, something caused her to stop.

Well, someone.

Riley Ross. Dozens of them.

"This ability of yours is amazing, Ms. Anastasia." One of the Rileys flew closer to her, twirling in the air and seemingly dancing around the molecules around them. "I have always imagined what it would be like to have Tempo's speed, and even though we are only moving several meters per second, it feels as if we are moving at a speed close to light, no? And we also should not be able to have a conversation at this size, either, and yet here we are. Although I suppose it is not really a conversation since I am the only one speaking."

Anastasia still didn't say anything as Riley stared at her, obviously waiting for her to reply. And when she just floated there, the Riley closest to her sighed and shook his head.

"You might be wondering how I was able to chase after you or block your path. Well, it is quite simple, really…"

Riley stretched his arms to the side, and the scenic miniature galaxy around them started to darken. Anastasia narrowed her eyes and looked around, only to see several colossal silhouettes approaching them from all directions.

Well, not really colossal—as these silhouettes would probably only be as small as a strand of hair, smaller, even.

"I was already waiting for you, Ms. Anastasia," Riley floated closer to her. "I was taught by Father to always anticipate every move my enemy would make, from their plan A to their plan 100Z. But I thought about it, and the most likely plan you would make after all the things I revealed to you was to retreat—and now all I am left with is which path you would take. Fortunately for me, I am able to cover different—"

Anastasia no longer chose to listen to Riley and instantly shrank further, moving into the size of molecules so that she would be able to slip away. But when she did so, she found herself in the same situation.

With several Rileys in front of her in the same size.

"As I was saying…" Riley sighed, continuing his words as he floated closer to her. "...I am able to cover different paths at the same time, and as you have just experienced, I am also able to cover different sizes. Now then, let me tell you the only paths you can take from now on."

Riley raised a finger.

"One, you can willingly work for me. Two, you can be my guest. Three, you can die a brutal death. I would truly prefer it if you choose the first one, Ms. Anastasia—I am very much in need of capable staff in the Guesthouse. Now, which one do you choose? I may not be able to use my telekinetic abilities against you, but I am guessing that I am at least able to touch you now?"

"The fourth one." And finally, Anastasia spoke. "The one where you die horribly in my hands."

And with those words, Anastasia suddenly grew in size and rushed at Riley, her leg already raised and slamming down toward him and his other molecular clones.

Riley didn't even attempt to dodge at all, and his clones only smiled at the giant feet as they tore through them. But not even a second later, Anastasia's eyes turned wide as she felt a shadow wrapping slowly around her.

She scanned her peripherals, only to see a pair of hands closing her in.

She immediately turned herself bigger, grabbing the hands on her way and practically ripping Riley in half. But again, that Riley only turned into a clump of dust.

Anastasia continued to make herself bigger, turning into her normal size. She spun in the air, and just in time to land on her feet as she reached the ground… right in front of a security guard who just happened ot be patrolling around the building.

The guard gasped, but he didn't let his shock last for long, and he quickly pulled out the stun gun on his waist.

"Stay where you are!" he said while pointing the gun at Anastasia. But his eyes widened when he discovered that the woman was no longer there. He was about to pull out his radio, only for an arm to wrap around his neck and snap his head in a second.

Anastasia didn't even look at the guard as his body dropped to the ground and instead focused her attention everywhere else… after all, Riley was everywhere.

She once again shrank, swimming away from the scene as fast as she could. Maintaining a smaller size was important—after all, she had already shown Riley that the best way to kill someone was to go inside them and destroy them from within.

She didn't want to be a victim of her own strategy.

To her surprise, however, there was no sign of Riley chasing or blocking her path at all. The stream of strands around her was continuous as she continued to swim through the air, but soon, after several more minutes, she realized that the strands were dwindling in numbers.

She finally stopped, her eyes narrowing as she saw the tiny air molecules around her moving toward a certain direction.

"!!!"

She quickly turned back to her normal size, only to see Riley right in front of her, holding a wireless vacuum cleaner right at her face. She looked around, and there were other people there who were almost as confused as her.

They were right at the center of Times Square, which had just started operations again after being destroyed by Replica Ricky. She turned her focus back to Riley, only to see him casually smiling and waving at her.

She knew there and then… that she wasn't going anywhere and that Riley had just been playing her right at the start.

Well, not like she didn't know that already. As soon as Riley revealed his abilities to her, she knew that this match wasn't going in her favor…

…and that this little psycho was just having fun at this point.

And that she was already dead.

And if that was truly the case, then she might as well go out with a bang.

She stared into Riley's eyes and then returned his smile with a smirk.

"I am going to destroy this place you call home, Riley Ross."

She crouched down and placed her hand on the ground, and not even a second later, the pavement beneath her feet exploded.

No, it expanded. It expanded and pushed everything else around it. The ground erupted, causing the buildings around them to sway before everything just collapsed.

The people who were walking around Times Square didn't even know what hit them as everything was destroyed in an instant.

Well, fortunately for the people, they were actually alive to wonder what hit them.

"W-what the?!"

Dozens, hundreds of them were now floating in the air. Half of them were completely knocked out, but those who were wide awake gazed down in disbelief as they saw the buildings continue to collapse back into the depths of Earth.

Yes, they were almost a thousand feet in the air—and right in the middle of them was Riley.

"It… it's the Sweet Snowy Little Baby Boy!"

"It's Riley Ross!"

"He… he saved us!"

"Wait… what even happened?! New York's getting fucked again?!"

"Fuck! I just placed a down payment!"

Once again, New York was in chaos because of Riley Ross.