Chapter 709: The Golden Hair, Once Again

"That is why I brought reinforcements."

"Reinforcements? What do you—"

"Wassup, bitches from another universe!?"

And before anyone could even ask Aerith what she meant, a voice cracked like thunder as a white silhouette stepped out of the portal; her long white hair that was tied in a ponytail, snapping in the air as she looked at everyone inside the silver room.

"Champion Karina Ross in the house!"

"..."

No one really said anything. They just watched as the white-haired girl started waving and spinning her hands, before ultimately doing some sort of... victory pose as she pointed her palm up.

"I know, I know," Karina then started bowing her head, "You are in awe of my presence, it is fine, it is normal. I shall sign autographs later—and no, I am not selling my bath water!"

"..."

Karina Ross, even after more than 5 years, has remained completely the same; right down from her appearance, and to her maturity.

"You... brought my granddaughter here!?" Diana could not help but raise her voice, causing all the Earth-1 variants to look at her.

"Ah, grandma!" Karina was about to run toward Diana, but her eyes suddenly settled down on Alice,

"Ah, grandma!" She repeated her words as she pointed at Earth-1 Alice; her mouth, very slowly shaping into a smile wide enough to reach both her ears.

"I... have a granddaughter?" Alice let out a stuttered and excited gasp as a smile also started to grow on her face. But alas, aside from pointing at her, Karina ended up completely ignoring her after as she just went to Diana to hug her.

"It took a little convincing, but Mom allowed me to go," Karina giggled as she snuggled on Diana's chest.

"You took my granddaughter?" Diana quietly mouthed at Aerith as she returned Karina's embrace. And before she could get an answer, another silhouette stepped out of the portal.

Another Aerith.

"There's... another one of you?" Earth-1 Diana lowered her eyebrows, "How many universes have you people jumped to?"

"This is the first one," Diana quickly answered, "She's a clo—"

"She's my daughter," Aerith did not let Diana finish her words as she introduced the person that just stepped out of the portal, who does indeed have the exact same face as her,

"This is Silvie Savelievna, my daughter."

"...Hello," Silvie nodded her head as she looked at Earth-1 Diana and Alice, but as soon as her eyes landed at Earth-1 Aerith, they immediately glowed red as she quickly got into a fighting stance.

"It's not her, she's... my variant," Aerith quickly blocked Silvie with her arm.

"Your variant?" Earth-1 Aerith raised an eyebrow, "And what is this, some kind of family affair? Just how many more family members are you bringing into my universe?"

"Well..." Aerith hesitatingly glanced at Diana as she let out a small whisper. And of course, Diana quickly noticed her expression.

"Who else did you bring...?" Diana blinked a couple of times as she already had an idea as to the answer to her question,

"No... the two of you aren't even that close—you barely talked to each other."

"Well..." Aerith sucked in a breath, "Let's just say she has your ways of persuasion... and she's also the one who told me about all of this so...

...I didn't really have a choice but to bring her in."

"No. You—" But alas, Diana could not even say a word in before the person she didn't want to see in this universe stepped out of the portal... with the person's eyebrows already as low as they could be and her lips turning into a snarl.

"Where. Is. Riley?" Hannah's steps contained a hint of weight on them as she quickly looked at each and every person in the room. She was wearing her superhero suit, but the blacks now dominated the pinks.

"Where is my brother?" Unlike the others who stepped out of the portal, Hannah did not even greet the people from Earth-1, ignoring even her mother as she just immediately approached Bernard, who was busy calculating and examining all the data that the deceased Earth-1 Bernard had.

"Hannah..." And even though she was ignored, Diana still approached Hannah and grabbed her by the arm, "...He jumped to another universe when we weren't—"

"What did I fucking tell you all!?" Hannah quickly slapped Diana's hand away as she returned her gaze, "I told all of you that sending him to another Universe would just create more problems!"

"...You didn't say that."

"But I told you not to just throw him away!" Hannah's eyes started to turn moist as her voice cracked, "I...He was changing! He told all of us that he wanted to try living a normal life, and you threw his development down the drain!"

"He... wasn't going to change, he's not capable of—"

"He is!" The air around Hannah started to distort as she raised her voice even further, "You knew in the first place that he was different from us! Perhaps you should have actually tried being a mother to him once in your life and not treat him as some sort of science experiment!"

"I'm not—"

"No..." Hannah shook her head as she just continued to approach her father, "No."

"So, that's your daughter with Bernard," Alice sneakily leaned closer to Earth-1 Diana, whispering into her ear as she silently giggled, "I kinda like her."

"She looks like a menace, like you," Earth-1 Diana clicked her tongue, "I liked the adopted son more."

"I... quite liked him too," Alice whispered; the tone of her voice, containing a hint of sadness and longing, "Except the killing everyone part, which everyone seemed to be chill about now except for the themarian. Wait, my god...

...are we the racist variants?"

***

"Good evening, butler."

"Ah, Mr. Riley. We have been expecting you."

Riley was now in front of the Majesty Hotel; his clear eyes, reflecting the towering building covered in glass and warm luxurious lights. There were also a lot of people in front of the glass door, all seemingly already waiting for Riley to arrive.

"Please," the one that seemed to be the head butler gestured to Riley to enter the hotel, "Someone will escort you to your room."

"Thank you, Butler," Riley nodded his head as he just casually entered the hotel; his long white hair, flowing with the draft of wind that softly blew from the inside. Riley already knew that the hotel would be luxurious, and so, he made sure to wear a suit accordingly. He wore a long white coat and suit, which almost made him look as if he had wings behind his back when partnered with his long white hair.

He was calm, but the staff of the hotel was only pretending to be.

"I thought Ms. Hannah was joking when she said that her friend looked like an elf... but is this man even real?"

And it wasn't only the staff that welcomed Riley outside, even the receptionists and waiters inside could not take their eyes off of Riley.

"Is he a cosplayer? I didn't know Ms. Hannah dabbled in that stuff."

"Stupid, does that even look like cosplay to you? That's clearly his real hair and skin."

"This is the first time Ms. Hannah is ever inviting a friend here."

"...You think she would bring a friend to the hotel? They're clearly more than friends."

"...Does that mean this is Ms. Hannah's type? Is that why she's always ignoring Lord Jonas's advances?"

"This... this is a big scoop."

And as Riley was walking across the lobby, people and even some of the staff started grabbing their phones, subtly snapping photos of him without his consent.

"Hide that! Do you want to get fired!?"

"Everyone's doing it! No one will know."

Perhaps no one will really know, but Riley has already memorized each and every face inside the lobby as he was escorted to the private elevator to Hannah's suite.

"Sir Riley, please—"

But as soon as the elevator doors slid open, someone suddenly blocked their way—covering the path with his arm as he suddenly stood in front of Riley.

"L...Lord Reuben, this is Ms. Hannah's guest," the steward gulped.

"Hannah's guest?" The man called Lord Reuben started looking at Riley from head to toe; his golden hair that brushed to the back, softly moving as he did so, "Hannah hasn't even invited me to her suite, and you tell me she has another guy over?"

"..." Riley wasn't interested at first, but as soon as he heard the man's name, he subtly glanced at his face,

"Who is this?" Riley then asked.

"This..." The steward did not know whether to answer or not, "...This is Lord Jonas Reuben, the grandson of the ch—"

"The grandson of Alistair Reuben?"

"Ye—"

"You know my grandfather, but you don't know me?" Jonas Reuben clicked his tongue as his hand slightly slammed on the elevator walls.

"I am not from around here, Jonas Reuben."

"And where the fuck did you come from, mate?" Jonas very slightly moved closer to Riley as he finished sizing him up.

"L...Lord Reuben, please," the steward tried to stop Jonas from approaching even closer, "Ms. Hannah called us—he really is her guest."

"I'm not asking you!" Jonas's eyes turned red as he looked at the steward, "Let the albino and I talk, you have no right to—Kh!"

"S...Sir Riley!?"

And all of a sudden, Riley grabbed Jonas's face, lifting him from the floor as two of his fingers almost dug through his glowing eyes.

"You are lucky enough to be alive because I wasn't here, Lord Reuben," Riley then said as his eyebrows began to lower, "But now that I am here, your life is optional."

"W...what?"

"So, tell me," Riley looked Jonas straight in his glowing eyes, "This ability of yours...

...how did you acquire it?"