Riley Ross-Chapter 186: Anastasia’s Fantasia

Anastasia was extremely careful now. Knowing what Riley and the rest of the Baby Crew were capable of, she was trying her best to be as quiet as possible, even at her size. She stayed behind the condiments in the kitchen, waiting for the rest of the children to go home.

Unfortunately for her, she waited for almost an entire day.

She thought she would lose their chance, since they were going to return to the Academy soon, and if the others didn't go home, then that meant they were all going to the Academy together.

Fortunately for her, that wasn't the case.

It was two in the morning when they all started leaving together with Hannah, who, if Anastasia heard right, was going to take them home with a private jet.

And now, the only ones left in the penthouse were Riley and his mother.

She could target the mother, but from what she had seen throughout her observation, Riley didn't seem to care much about anyone else, and it wasn't like a teenager rebelling against his parents, no.

He downright didn't care at all. She doesn't think he was even capable of caring for someone else due to his unique condition.

If she targeted Diana and it didn't work, then she would just alert Riley of her presence unnecessarily. Since she had already waited this long, her best bet was to wait for Riley to go to sleep and enter his brain again and stay there to slowly wither him away.

If she understood correctly, then Riley had some sort of insane regenerative ability that practically brings him back to life if she doesn't fully erase him… or was it actually more than that?

Whatever the case was, this wasn't the first time she was fighting someone with god-like regenerative abilities. And no matter how strong the abilities are, there are always limits.

And since Riley was still young, she was sure that her stamina was more than his.

And so, Anastasia waited.

She floated in a place without shape or light, a void so empty it could have been the space between molecules. At this scale, she couldn't "see" anymore—vision meant nothing when she was no bigger than an air molecule.

But her gift was never just size-shifting. It was everything that came after.

If she only shrank, the air alone would have shredded her. But she slipped into a state beyond density—an intangible micro-form where nothing could touch her unless she willed it. Smaller than this, she shouldn't even exist. Yet she did.

She could swim through space that shouldn't hold her. Travel distances that should take years at her scale. And most importantly, she could feel everything within ten meters.

A ten-meter world was a kingdom to someone her size.

And soon, she felt something.

A door opening. She held her size perfectly steady, forcing her heartbeat down until the world quieted again. Then, Riley finally fell asleep.

And she started to move, a ripple of nothingness gliding through the air, slipping past the curve of his ear, diving into the labyrinth of nerves and vessels. She entered his skull without resistance, a thread between molecules.

She was going to avenge her partner. Not cleanly. Not mercifully. As brutally as she possibly could.

She unlatched the small pouch at her waist. A cluster of marbles floated out, each one heavy with promise.

One by one, she released them into his bloodstream, letting them drift into branching paths, arteries, veins—scattered landmines inside a god.

This was how she would destroy Riley Ross—Seed his body with silent spheres…

…and let them all grow.

Let every fiber of him tear apart from the inside.

And when she was sure she had covered all of the bases, she returned to Riley's brain. But throughout her dive, however, she felt something amiss.

Although she wasn't exactly sure if she sensed it right, but Riley's body felt… different. It was almost as if it wasn't alive at all.

Or was she just imagining things?

Well, it didn't matter—because right now, she was going to kill him once and for all.

Anastasia hugged her legs, moving into a fetal position as she calmed her heart once more. And then, as she let the single thought of her partner being killed right in front of her, she stretched all of her limbs and turned herself bigger at the same time, along with the marbles she scattered throughout Riley's body.

The marbles thud like bowling balls, some rolling off the bed while she remained lying on it. She stared at the ceiling, a smile creeping onto her face along with the sweet escape of her breath.

Her breaths of relief didn't last long, however. Soon, they turned heavy as the feeling of something being amiss returned to her.

She blinked a couple of times and then raised her hand above her face, only for clumps of… sand to shower on her.

She quickly sat up, shaking her head and patting the sand away. She looked around her, and there were no traces of blood and flesh at all… only the sand.

"W-what…?" Anastasia whispered, her mind now completely blank.

She didn't know what was happening at all. It wasn't when she heard a noise that she snapped out of her stupor. She quickly turned herself smaller, but only to the size of a small child, since she noticed that the sound came from Riley's closet.

Everything inside her was telling her to just leave. All of her training told her that this mission had already failed.

But she didn't go. After all, this wasn't a mission; this was an act of revenge.

She jumped out of the bed, and even though she was sure there was no one around her, her steps were still extremely careful.

She opened the door fully, and her eyes were quickly drawn toward the large suitcase that was at the center of the closet. After all, it was the only thing that was out of place.

She approached it, squinting as she stared at the case. And then, with a sigh, she crouched down and opened it—only to take several steps back and gasp as soon as she saw what was inside.

Of course, she knew what it was, but most importantly, who it belonged to.

Darkday's suit.

"How was the reveal, Ms. Anastasia? Quite dramatic, right?"

Anastasia's eyes turned wide as she heard someone beside her. She quickly leapt to the side, focusing all of her attention toward the direction where the voice should've come from… but there was no one there.

She didn't let down her guard at all. She was about to turn smaller, but before she could do so, she felt something poking her cheek.

She looked to the side, only to see Riley poking her with his hand.

Yes, his entire hand was smaller than the tip of her finger.

Yes, Riley was standing on her shoulder, smaller than a rat.

"We meet again, Ms. Anastasia," he casually said. "You do not have to doubt your infiltration skills, I did not know you were here at all—but I knew you were going to be. After all, I killed someone you love… and one of Father's lessons was that humans do stupid things because of love."

Anastasia didn't speak and just analyzed the situation she was in.

"Oh, this?" Riley removed his hand from her cheek and gazed down. "Yes, I have your ability now. And…"

"...I also have the ability to clone myself, Ms. Anastasia."

Anastasia looked to her other shoulder as she heard another voice, only to see Riley standing there as well.

Anastasia stared at the empty air for a moment before she slowly shifted back to her normal size. She sighed, closing her eyes as she thought of many different ways to defeat Riley.

"Are you that confident of defeating me?" she asked, finally speaking again. "You revealed everything."

"I am not really confident that I can defeat you, Ms. Anastasia."

Another voice joined them again, and this time, it was a normal-sized Riley who casually stepped out of the bathroom.

"You are, after all, as Father explained to me, the best super assassin in Russia," he said.

"Even now, when I can instinctually use your abilities, I know that I am not even using them to their barest potential. But I am, however, also confident that you will not be able to defeat me… because I am not even here."

"Hmm?" Anastasia narrowed her eyes.

"Those two on your shoulders, and this one as well…" Riley motioned to himself before pointing at the bed. "They are all clones similar to that one you tried to kill. And all of us, by the way, can move things with our mind, to clone ourselves, and to change sizes like you. Albeit I am in need of practice. So, I have a proposal, Ms. Anastasia."

"And what is that?" Anastasia breathed out.

"Join me and—"

Before Riley could even finish his words, Anastasia suddenly disappeared, causing the two mini Rileys who were on her shoulders to fall and drop to their butts.

And before he could say anything else, his head erupted into pieces from the marble that suddenly exploded inside his skull.

And the same thing happened to the mini Rileys.

Anastasia popped up again to her normal size, but she wasn't allowed to have a break at all as another Riley popped up.

This time, from the windows.

"Well," Riley said, sighing as he slowly flew away from the window. "I suppose fighting against you is another way to learn your abilities faster, Ms. Anastasia. So…

…shall we dance?"