BANG!
The door to the bathroom was pushed open so fast that it slammed against the wall. If it had been normal drywall, there would have certainly been a dent left. But most of this place seemed constructed of stone.
Zarek looked over, his expression quite placid when he saw who it was. It wasn't the sort of reaction one would expect when seeing an enemy, but it made the words Belladoll had been about to speak freeze on her tongue.
There was no emotion in Zarek's eyes—no anger, none of the usual cheeriness, nor was there a snarky remark. Maybe under usual circumstances he would have said something about how he was naked, about how rude it was to be so perverted, but he said and did none of those things.
He just sat there in the tub, the black veins that had covered his chest gone, and whatever toxins he had pulled out of his body obscured by the soap and the already foul stench in the air.
Belladoll knew that look well. It was the look Zarek had when he had already marked a person for death—when he didn't see a person in the flesh anymore, but a target to be felled and crushed, a life to be ruthlessly severed.
This was the first time Belladoll had seen Zarek after he found the Time Fractal. She didn't know what she expected… maybe she thought there would be some banter, some jabs, some sneering remarks like there usually were.
Zarek had always been quite indifferent to her, but he had never been so stone-faced, so cold.
It seemed that all at once, Belladoll finally well and truly understood the gap between her and Priya. Zarek was no longer seeing her for her. He was seeing a target he would skin the flesh off of, a heart he would rip from her chest, a head he would peel from its neck.
It didn't matter that there was a gap in their current status or their current strength. It didn't matter that he knew the Dolls of Bell were practically wrapped around her little finger right now. It didn't even matter that he knew her Armament made her enough to crush most C-Classes she would come across already.
That was the look of the madman—the Ashborn Demon.
Belladoll stood frozen in place for a long while before she regained her composure. But before she could speak, it was Sona who rushed in soon afterward.
"Head Priestess, is there—!" Sona's voice was cut off by a shriek. She hurried to turn her head away, having just spotted Zarek.
Zarek stood from the tub, pulling a towel from the side and wrapping himself up after drying for a moment. The pulsing veins on his body now were even more exaggerated than usual, the toxin still raging through his veins. But that didn't stop him from looming high over Belladoll, more than enough to cast a shadow over her.
He really should just kill her now. It felt so easy.
He could see the umbrella in her palm, feel the danger it posed. But he almost didn't care for it at all, as though there would only be one conclusion if he made the decision to attack right here and now.
But he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't for the same reason Belladoll wouldn't. It would ruin the mission.
The "winner" of all of this would be decided based on contribution. Those that entered earlier had more important positions, and could thus contribute a lot more easily to the overall success of the mission. Given that Belladoll had gained such an important position, she was almost certainly the first to enter—which made sense.
She was likely the strongest among the opposing party right now, so it was smart.
But even so, she couldn't act unilaterally, at least not without consequences. Of course, she could decide to take the risk and use her cache to kill Zarek right here and now, and even have a good chance of coming out on top because of it…
However, there was only one ending for those that gambled with Zarek. And there were few that knew this better than Belladoll herself.
For a moment, Belladoll found her palms becoming sweaty.
Ultimately, she was just a bundle of memories—memories from a life that she couldn't feel every aspect of. It was like someone else's story had been downloaded into her brain, as though she had dreamt it in passing.
Suki had gone through a lot of trouble to make the transition seamless, but ultimately, whether it was Crux, Belladoll, anyone else Jiade brought back, or even Suki himself, the integration would never be as seamless as it was for the Rebirthers.
Looking into Zarek's eyes, it was clear that he had already figured this out.
She was a paper tiger.
She had memories, but not the muscle memory. She had the technique, but not the skill. She had the knowledge, but not the callousness.
There was a world of difference between the two of them.
Ultimately, she was a twenty-year-old child and he was an old monster that had seen centuries of life.
Just as Belladoll's mind was about to collapse, Sona suddenly squeezed herself between them.
"What do you think you're doing, heretic?! Back off! Back!"
Zarek's gaze swept over Sona and she felt a frightening chill. But in an instant, that cold gaze was gone, replaced by a smile.
"I thought that when I was given this room, I would at least be able to relax for a bit. I didn't know that I would have to deal with being harassed like this. Is my body not sacred because I'm a man? Is that it?"
Sona went from shell-shocked to blushing profusely.
"Stop! That is not our intention. Obviously—!"
"Obviously?"
Sona's next words were choked away. Luckily, it was Belladoll who was saved by her.
"We only wanted to give you an opportunity to integrate properly. After all, our enclave has many… new recruits, recently. Maybe you could be one of them."
Hearing the emphasis on new recruits, the chill returned to Zarek's eyes.
Who else could this refer to if not Priya?