When was it? When was the last time that Riley felt truly helpless? The answer there would be before Alice killed him for the first time when he was still just a little tiny infant. Throughout his entire life, even when facing Megawoman, he never truly felt helpless.
Hopeless, a lot of times, but never truly helpless.
Helplessness. He never knew what it meant, what it felt like… but perhaps it was this.
A full hour had passed, and yet Riley had not touched even a single strand of Marleen's hair, while Marleen had been casually kicking him away without any sort of force whatsoever. She was just using Riley's own momentum against him.
She did not even look like she was dodging at all. She was moving milliseconds even before Riley could switch to his next attack—no, to his next attack pattern. The other gods from the previous floor could also dodge his strikes, but not completely as the shockwave of each of his hits was still enough to graze their skin.
