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Ruined Mansion - Outside the Property
Two of the ladies in bikini suits— one that had a cloak on it while the other had coverings on her extremities— were laid down against the underside of the base of a certain carriage. They were apparently unconscious because of a strange ability in which she mistakenly underestimated an enemy— the old man in robe— through his oblivious techniques. He also understood her disadvantage which her ability would generally be activated at night.
Anyway, one of them could wake up with her early conscious eyes, gradually opening the lids while sweeping away from her fatigue.
"What's happening?"
It was Juliette who spoke with her soothing voice that made some men attracted. But it was a mere nature of her as she got used to it. Until she fully opened her eyes, she witnessed the pool of splattered blood and severed corpses with her gasp that made her somewhat amused.
"My blade Artemis doesn't work other than I can warp it through shades that can block off the light." Juliette said while staring at her right hand. "But someone who did this was kinda peculiar for her to settle this problem."
Knowing that her assumption was right, Juliette looked around her such as she saw Maria was still unconscious. For a woman with the honorable term "van" before her surname, she felt ashamed of herself as it was nothing but to feel old as she remembered.
"I guess hanging around the night is surely my thing here."
Juliette realized that it was her mistake to spend a morning break.
Moments later, she heard a clunking sound — a wooden door — coming from a nearby area.
* * *
A purple-haired with a yellow headband named Rachel grabbed the lever to push the door upward. She caused the creaking noise that could overhear around the area.
"Phew."
Eventually, the rest of the members of the Black Tears squad — subdivided as the Black Resort Division — felt relieved from their fatigue although some of them were carrying the corpses around their shoulder. Mild scratches had displayed over their skin while some of them had bloodstained hands — it didn't belong to them at all — since the battle happened moments ago from within the cellar.
The Black Tears successfully saved the female slaves, gratefully with their escort. Most of them also helped them to give some corpses their carrying service for a proper burial later.
They completed their mission with no casualties except there were dead women, which it was too late for them to save their life from their fatality.
Once Rachel stepped on a surface, she saw a crimson-eyed lady—Juliette — from her side, smirking towards them as they succeeded in their task regardless of status.
"Lady Juliette! We have accomplished our task!"
Rachel roughly saluted while the rest delayed the same, leaving the survivors puzzled.
"Looks like you did your job well… at least," said Juliette.
"At least?" asked Rachel.
The reason for her aforementioned concern was the corpses that caught her attention.
"Casualties still count… I wonder what exactly happened to the dead ones."
"… Some troll creatures overwhelmed them with severe carnal pain."
Rachel clicked her tongue as she blamed everything that happened to them. Accusing the trolls was her only vibe to give herself a relief of stress. She felt pitiful towards the dead women — the same feeling goes for Juliette.
Juliette could empathize since she was the one who chose her as a leader of her squad.
But something still bothered her… or perhaps someone was missing as she failed herself as a caretaker.
"Where is she though?" Juliette muttered.
She was referring to Mirai Shizuku, wondering where she had gone through.
However, she saw something that might give her a clue — multiple bloodstained footprint trails — leading straight towards the mansion.
* * *
Ruined Mansion - Indoor, Bedroom
A certain strange-looking yet beautiful lady named Mirai Shizuku was searching every clothes suited for her taste within the cabinet.
Unfortunately, every cabinet she looked through wasn't fit for a woman like her — instead it filled with hanging frock coats. Everything had a large variety of color which she usually disliked the taste of a certain unknown owner. Even if she could found proper clothes for her, she barely covered herself with the rotten cloak she had worn moments ago before the time a certain old man raped her with a terrible ability that somehow succeeded over him with her ability called "Dark Matter".
"Is there any garments fit for a woman only?"
She complained, which it turned out that she was choosy of her taste regarding clothing options.
"I honestly hate wearing these rotten frock coats. They're all widely expanded and made me look like a fat person."
Mirai couldn't tell what kind of dress would fit her, other than that she felt obnoxious to whatever she could find within the cabinet. Its expandable features had despised her regarding her appearance.
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"Guess I'll ask Juliette for spare clothes for women."
On second thought, Mirai ignored the cabinet and turned away to the exit — regretting that she wasted her time just to overlook every cabinet within the mansion rotten for many years. She thought Juliette might have woken up and carelessly left once she attempted to search for her.
Or perhaps…
She noticed something that had gotten beneath her feet.
"Red footprints? Pretty convenient for me to re-track–"
However, there was something that caused her sentence to halt.
It altered the dimension as the hanging antique stopped its pendulum movement. The absence of wind had shocked her, although she could breathe like a normal person. It was like a virtual game world that had automatically paused itself without a warning notice from the moderators, or maybe a grandfather clock snapped his magic spell to stop the time of the world excluding Mirai's consciousness.
"Vally?"
Mirai was curious about what was happening around her. Believing that Vally could've set this place up in the first place, but actually, her voice had no response as there was no answer from her calling. It looked like it shifted her to another dimension.
"Vally? Vally?! I know this is not a joke to play around here!... Jeez, what's up with that succubus bitch up to?"
She still allegedly blamed her "spiritual companion", but there was no one who could help her nor herself. She felt infuriated yet scared to play along for naught as she was merely looking for clothes that somehow displeased her from what she found moments ago.
"..... The Desirable Lady"
Then, a sudden unfamiliar feminine voice echoed within Mirai's ears. At first, there were no signs of presence once she looked everything around.
"Mirai Shizuku, thou hast came here to this world for purpose, thou hast question of thy redemption, thou shall seekest thine own answer, for thou redeem thyself as The Desirable Lady."
Until the mysterious voice was told second, a bright ghostly figure with female features appeared before her — glowing like a dull sun in a human form.
"Who are you?" Mirai asked.
Mirai did not understand what she was trying to say — other than she assumed that the language she spoke of was the language of gods as she judged that the one who stopped the time was probably the one who could control the word and insist the person to divert towards this place of a different dimension. Although she heard the familiar calling — The Desirable Lady — which the old man in robe awhile ago mentioned before his death wish.
"Me?" she asked.
"Aye, I sent thee for thy curiosity, for thou beseech for thy knowledge shall be aware of thine accordance."
"Knowledge? In this world? Terra… right?"
"Aye, for thou art The Desirable Lady who shall achieve thine accordance."
"..."
Mirai didn't want to further her question as it provided her with peculiar-understanding lectures. Filled with archaic terms, only people who reached in old ages could barely understand. Yet she wanted to force her idea to hear out the answer, so she raised a question before her.
"I don't know who you are or being interested in seeking your name. For sure, what is your significant goal that you want to achieve through me?" Mirai asked.
Before the bright figure would answer her, she somehow reappeared behind her back. Mirai obviously could tell that she was of a goddess or spirit who wanted to have a chat with her — The Desirable Lady.
"Thou hast no right to proceed the truth through time. Convey thy will for thy decisions art in thee. O, The Desirable Lady, I shall solely grant thy knowledge for thou wilt grant thine understanding."
The mysterious one refused to give out the answer, leaving Mirai with no single clue on what she was referring to. Although the bright figure suddenly disappeared as she snapped a finger, letting the illusion collapse before her.
"Wait–hold on!"
Again, not any chance voiced a single answer around her ears as the dimension had continuously dispersed like a non-stop earthquake.
Moments later, the broken pieces had suddenly compressed again — transfiguring a distinct atmosphere.
* * *
???
Space of nothingness appeared before her — with the bright figure standing beside Mirai herself.
The voice spoke with a painting of images being projected in front of them — according to her words, cinematically. It shifted her version of terminology to a similar language of The Desirable Lady.
"In ages past, gods and demons alike waged wars that mere mortals could only witness while cowering in fear. Swords, craft, words... they were all meant to prove their strength to one another while attempting to hide their immortal personages within the mortal world. Once the Accursed Ones revealed themselves, those mere mortals worshipped those gods and demons, begged for their aid; for their divine blessings. Through this endless showering of worship and praise, these mortals became deluded by their own grateful hearts. Be it honest, or deceitful, they all fell into a one-sided oath of understanding towards humanity: their own selves brought chaos. An age or two later, a certain maiden who did not conform to the blessing and curse of the oath appeared. Through her own understanding of willpower, wisdom grew within her mind. A new ideology for humanity was born; one full of complexity and balance. Through balance, she encouraged mere mortals to counter the gods and demons - ceasing their precarious fate of fragile lives among immortals. What she desired became her will, her humanity made the immortals question her beliefs and values. The Maiden became an enigma to all, earning the title of 'Desirable Lady', with eyes like the crimson sun at dusk; a face full of demonic beauty. However, this Maiden's book was not to be judged by her cover - for her pages proved her worth in the minds of mortals and immortals alike."
She finished the speech as the bright figure concluded the lore with the image projection automatically faded out. Mirai never felt tired of her storytelling since her form of metaphysically existed before the mystery — unlimited restlessness was a thing here. She felt amused with no words left to describe, but one particular phrase surprised her the most — The Desirable Lady.
But why did someone call her The Desirable Lady? Was there any proof of powers or values possessed within Mirai Shizuku herself?
As the bright figure said, she had no rights or privileges to conceive the truth. The choice was hers, probably thinking this might be a trail for her to reveal as The Desirable Lady.
"Now, Mirai Shizuku… the question was the test of thine accordance. Not a test for a mere naught purpose."
Hence, the dimension once again collapsed before her — shifting back to the "actual" dimension.
Although the last word made the shift prolonged.
"O, The Desirable Lady, redeem thy desire of all desires, and grant thy strength for thou must receive the will of thine accordance of men."
* * *
The one who stood with a stiffened position was Mirai Shizuku. She somehow felt surprised as she only witnessed a fearsome yet fascinating scenario moments ago in front of her widened eyes. The words only belonged to the face of someone whom she called her "The Desirable Lady".
It looked like she came back to the actual world — with hanging antiques swaying slightly caused by the blowing wind inside the mansion.
Incidentally, someone who was a crimson-eyed lady and whom Mirai somehow previously called her "an old yet young-looking hag with her strong lip and a bikini-fondness" — Juliette van Vermiculo — acting like a caretaker who luckily found her adapting daughter despite her attractive sexiness. Some of her followers — Camelia, Clement, and Haru — got her back.
"Finally… there you are, thanks to the bloodstained footprints. I was able to find you," Juliette said with her sigh of relief.
"So that person was the one she meant for last night," Clement whispered to Camelia.
"Hm… I guess she can be an add-on to our squad," Camelia replied.
"She is quite peculiar yet beautiful though," Haru commented with her surprising gasp.
Meanwhile, Juliette hugged Mirai and patted her shoulder as she promised for something beneficial would provide without worries.
"Welcome to our home… sorry to say this earlier, but for now, you will be with us."
Even though it wasn't dramatic to hear, Mirai appreciated her help as she finally found a shelter with Juliette and others to live in.