In Zarek's opinion, there was no woman prettier than Priya. Honestly speaking, when his girlfriend hit her truest prime, she would only become more stunning. Though, that was helped a great deal by the third Ability Melaloon would awaken quite soon, if not already.
All things considered, Priya might be an adult in the world's eyes, but she wasn't yet a woman. In a lot of ways, Priya was still growing into the person that consumed Zarek's dreams.
However, this woman—well… she wasn't bad herself. Inferior to his Pri, but who wasn't?
Her robes didn't hide her curves very well, those curling locks of pink hair were most definitely their own standout, and then there was that pretty little face. She had an innocence to her that was enticing, and yet there was a fiery passion hidden beneath that came from a true fanatic—a fanatic obsessed with her work.
She had the look of a businesswoman who had a fondness for crushing her enemies beneath her heels, all while wearing a pretty little adorable smile as she did so.
A powerful woman, to be sure.
The problem came when she suddenly stripped her robes down and revealed an outfit that made Zarek's lip twitch. What the hell had he suddenly gotten himself into?
Looking at the wooden 'X' he was strapped to like some sort of crash test dummy, Zarek suddenly felt the outfit made more sense.
She was wearing leather lingerie, a whip strapped to her wide hips. Her heels had straps that crisscrossed along the length of her calves, and there was a pair of fishnet stockings that made up the rest of the distance up her thighs.
"You know, there are easier and more subtle ways to seduce a man. Have you tried looking in the mirror before?"
The woman seemed about to do something, but then she blinked, looking up at Zarek for seemingly the first time.
"Are you flirting with me?"
"Flirting? Woman, you're wearing a leather dominatrix outfit, I think we passed that point a long time ago."
"Domi… what?"
Zarek was speechless. Where was this innocence act coming from all of a sudden? She was practically naked right now?
Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. All things considered, most of her was covered up, and even the "bra" she wore hardly had any cleavage at all, straps and spikes covering it up.
Suddenly Zarek's heart skipped a beat. Not good.
The realization of what was going on hit him like a truck.
Dream Godsfall Tears were internally consistent… usually. But there were methods of twisting them. These methods were often locked away in the hands of the supremely powerful, and usually required someone who was far beyond the Class of the Godsfall Tear, or…
An extremely skilled Matrix Master.
'Suki again. Fuck.'
An innocent, business-focused woman like this, busting out a ridiculous outfit that looked like she was one strap-on away from pegging Zarek's virgin chrysanthemum into oblivion was only something that would play out in a ridiculous comedy…
Or a Dream Godsfall Tear that had been manipulated.
'Another fucking variable, fantastic.'
"Is flirting with you going to get me out of this?" Zarek asked with a smile.
"No. But it is interesting."
"Oh? You don't have men flirting with you all the time?"
"Not in a way that's nearly so entertaining."
"Well, if you go out like that, maybe they'll be more creative."
"I would never go outside with this. This is a strict ceremonial garb."
"According to who?"
"Our Ancestors."
"Tell me more about that. I feel like I don't know enough about Adastra history."
"Mm," the pretty woman with pink hair nodded. "I suppose this wouldn't be a problem."
Zarek was just trying to stall to see if he could get more out of her, but he didn't expect her to agree so readily. But at the same time, he was sure he had grasped something else.
'Some changes might be ridiculous, but not all of them are random. Or more accurately, all of them are triggered by something even if they might seem random. Something like a dominatrix outfit becoming a ceremonial garb… that has Belladoll's fingerprints all over it.
'I bet this woman might have a direct link to Belladoll…'
"Our order is known as the Dolls of Bell—"
Zarek's lip twitched, but at the same time, he grew severalfold more worried.
The dominatrix outfit was fine, but this felt more like a signal. Even if they were going to try to change things around, they would know that Zarek would be entering soon after.
The only reason they would be so bold with revealing themselves like this was if they felt they had things in the bag, or if it was a trap… it was more than likely the second.
They knew Zarek too well to feel that things were well in hand for them. He had a knack for turning even the worst of situations on their heads.
This meant that there was almost certainly a trap somewhere here.
"—we have sworn an oath against magic. Led by my elder sister, Princess Sona, we crusade against the dark forces of the Empire.
"Some time many years in the past, we embraced magic, believing it to be a shortcut to prosperity. We were given things with ease, handed strength of nations on a silver platter.
"But absolute power, especially when not gained through effort and hardship, always leads to corruption. We forgot the importance of study, of understanding, of the grace of the mind the Gods granted us, and instead offloaded our understanding onto the so-called system—"
Zarek's heart skipped another beat. This was the first time he had ever heard a person from a Dream Godsfall Tear mention a system. What was she talking about?
Usually, the people in Dream Godsfall Tears were all simply strong. There was no obvious reason they had managed to do so, as none of them ever mentioned the system.
But this one did.
And they seemed to treat it as some sort of enemy.