"Leave." Connie's voice sounded cold as tempered steel. She sat slowly on the bed in the hotel room, the sheet messy around her body, her eyes red like embers too extinguished to burn, but still hot enough to wound. She stared at Seth with a mix of restrained anger and exhaustion.
Seth entered with the calm of someone who owed no one an explanation. He had gotten a black jacket, but was still shirtless... He kept his steps slow, too slow for someone who had just nearly been decapitated.
Vixen came glued to him, like a perfumed shadow. Literally clinging to his arm, her breasts pressed against him in an embrace that mixed charm, provocation, and a touch of theatricality.
"I have the right to know why I almost died, don't you think?" Vixen threw out, without the slightest shame, tossing her hair to the side with an exaggerated flourish. There was a playful gleam in her eyes, but also an undertone of frustration masked by vanity.
"You didn't take a single hit from me. Only the pressure of the aura." Connie replied dryly, looking into the void, her back straight like a spear driven into the ground. "Stop playing the victim."
"Hmm? Didn't I?" Vixen feigned surprise, laughing with that corner smile that said "I enjoy your frustration."
She pulled Seth's arm tighter against herself, her breasts settling with surgical precision between his muscles. It was almost an art.
Seth... didn't move.
He stood there, unmoving like a living statue. Observing. Feeling. He knew exactly what Vixen was doing. And as pleasant as the physical sensation was... he wasn't stupid.
Liking the attention didn't mean giving in to it. He could appreciate the beauty of a fire, but he knew not to stick his hand into the flames.
"Let go of me a bit, you're irritating her," he finally said. The voice calm, low, but with a certain hidden blade. "You're beautiful. That's never been in question. But try to control yourself a little."
She made a dramatic pout, letting go of his arm with an exaggerated "hmph" while turning her back as if she had been mortally insulted. But the truth?
She loved that kind of control, she loved receiving orders from someone interested, even more when it came right after a compliment.
Seth then turned to Connie, now standing in the center of the room.
"You want her to leave... But you were the one who started this fight. Take responsibility for your actions, understood?" He crossed his arms. "Or can't you keep your word?"
Connie stared at him, the red in her eyes flickering dangerously.
"…Just say what happened, Seth." He took a step forward, and for a moment... even Vixen held her breath.
Seth stopped. The silence that followed was almost uncomfortable, thick like gunpowder smoke after a shot.
"Ah~..." He sighed, his shoulders relaxing for a moment, but his golden eyes gleamed, serious and alert like those of a predator about to decide whether to attack... or observe.
"What do you think happened?" The question was thrown with calculated coldness, a clear attempt to gauge the ground before revealing himself.
Seth's mind was racing. Reveal the System? A choice that could cost more than just his freedom.
The System wasn't just a power. It was a presence. A consciousness. An entity that made him feel... watched.
And there were rules. He had learned that the hard way.
The penalty he had suffered before still burned in his skin, he overcame it, but... It wasn't just a temporary teleportation or an aesthetic punishment... It was nearly death.
And the clear sensation that, next time, he might not return.
"We know nothing." Connie's voice cut through Seth's thoughts like a blade through fog.
She clenched her fists tightly — lightning danced on her skin, pure reflections of the frustration carved into her soul.
"According to hotel management, there was a 'malfunction' in the cameras..." She huffed, her eyes shining like a stormy sky. "But, after pressing the bastards... I found out this slut asked for the footage to be deleted before even entering."
She looked at Vixen with a hatred that could sear flesh.
Vixen, in turn, smiled.
Serene.
Immune.
"Privacy is important, darling," she said in an almost innocent tone, while slowly walking to the sofa and sitting down with feline elegance. "When I talk to people I like... I prefer not to have cameras spying."
She crossed her legs slowly, letting the dress adjust perfectly to her body.
"I can't allow the media to see me as a... shameless woman hitting on committed men." And then she smiled. A sweet, poisonous, and victorious smile.
Seth remained silent for a moment. But inside him... chaos danced.
He stared at the two women. One, driven by an uncontrollable desire for control and justice. The other, an untamable flame that played with everyone around her.
Two forces that nearly destroyed London — and now, they were locked in the same room.
And he... He was the only thing keeping both from combusting again.
Seth smiled sideways. A crooked smile, half tired, half provocative. His mind spun in circles trying to come up with a believable excuse.
'I disappeared because I was teleported to a mystical desert where I faced invisible horrors?' No. 'I went for a walk in another dimension because I thought it'd be fun?' Worse.
Before he could open his mouth with any excuse, Connie cut him off with the coldness of someone who doesn't need others' words to piece the puzzle together.
"When did you enter a portal?" The question came dry. Surgical.
Seth raised an eyebrow. "Portal?" he returned, feigning confusion.
"Yes." Connie took two steps forward, her analytical gaze piercing him like invisible scalpels. "You wouldn't have returned in this state if you'd stayed in London. There's almost no sand around here... and this on you... is golden. It has too much magic. It's not natural."
Seth lowered his eyes for a second, as if only now noticing the golden grains still clinging to his clothes. 'Damn...'
"Ah... yeah, well..." he said, scratching the back of his neck with a hesitant smile. "A portal opened nearby, and I went after it. But... it took longer to close than I expected. It was complicated."
"Even with my ability?" The question came instinctively, almost automatically, loaded with curiosity... And then Connie froze.
Her eyes widened for a split second...
Silence.
Vixen slowly turned her face toward her.
"Your ability?" The woman's voice was soft... but laced with sugary venom.
Vixen's gaze scanned Connie like a predator that had just smelled fresh blood. "What ability, exactly, sweetheart?"
Connie, in turn, froze. An awkward silence settled in.
"Shit." she thought.
Seth crossed his arms, the smile returning, now sharper, almost mocking. "You and that big mouth..." he said, shaking his head like an older brother who caught his younger sister stealing cookies. "You deserve a punishment." Connie looked away and started whistling, pretending she wasn't there.
Pretending she hadn't accidentally exposed a secret kept under lock and key.
Vixen narrowed her eyes, smiling mischievously. She didn't need to force anything. All she had to do was observe. And that was much more fun.
"So... tell me..." Vixen's voice dripped like poisonous honey as her fingers traced slow patterns over Seth's shoulders.
Suddenly, she shoved him with surprising strength.
Seth dropped to his knees, before feeling the weight of her breasts pressing against his back as the hug from behind sealed him like a trap.
'What kind of strength is this?!' he thought, his muscles tensing automatically.
Connie, in the corner of the bed, was already rising with the fury of a bottled storm about to burst. She wasn't going to watch in silence while another woman shamelessly climbed on the man she...
...well, the one she hadn't yet admitted to loving, but definitely didn't want to share.
But before she could do anything, a series of ethereal chains tinted in warm shades of pink and purple slithered around the mattress. In seconds, they bound her wrists and ankles, immobilizing her the very instant she was about to charge.
"What—?!"
She forced her body, lightning beginning to course over her skin like living veins... but nothing happened.
"Oh, darling..." Vixen whispered, with a smile of someone who controls the situation like a maestro. "My power's not much for fighting. I'm more... the type who likes to have fun. And when it comes to control... well, I'm practically the queen of it."
She rested her face on Seth's shoulder and stared at Connie with half-closed eyes, full of mischief. "So cute when you're tied up... looks like an angry little pet."
And then, without warning, she gave Seth a light bite on the ear... the gesture shamelessly provocative, right in front of her rival.
"When I get out of here... I swear I'm going to kill you!" Connie's voice exploded in pure fury, her aura rising like thunder about to strike the sky. But the magical chains only tightened, cutting off part of her power.
"Again with that?" Vixen laughed, clearly amused. "You're adorable when you get possessive. But come on, be honest: you never really managed to claim him. I just wanted to meet him, have a little fun. Maybe be a mistress... you know, I like men like this."
She brought her lips down to Seth's neck, lightly brushing it with her tongue. "Hmmm... salty. I like danger."
Seth rolled his eyes. "Not that I don't enjoy attention, but... you're going a little overboard."
Connie, now with her eyes almost completely red, crackled with electricity. "BITCH! I WILL kill you!"
"Oh, no you won't." Vixen replied casually, like someone commenting on the weather.
And then, she tilted her head with theatrical curiosity. "But now that we're all so... intimate... why don't you tell me what ability that is? Don't tell me it's the same lightning from that woman over there."
But before more provocations could escape her mouth, a hot and humid breath blew against her neck.
Connie's eyes widened. The rage vanished in an instant, replaced by pure chills.
"V-Vixen..." Her voice came out strangely calm. "Behind you..."
Vixen slowly turned her face... and what she saw froze her to the core.
A colossal black panther, eyes like embers and muscles tense like steel about to snap.
The creature snorted, its chest rising and falling, with a murderous gleam in its gaze.
"KYAAAAAAAAA!!!" Vixen jumped so high she almost fell, releasing Seth at once.
Seth fell — but not to the ground.
He vanished.
The shadows swallowed him as if they were part of him.
A second later, he reappeared beside the panther. His hand rested gently on the animal's head, caressing it with familiarity.
"Sorry, Vixen. I get it, I'm irresistible. But... this one here is pretty protective." He smiled that... disarming, provocative, dangerous smile.
The panther snorted, now calmer, and lay down at Seth's feet like a feline queen. He ran his hand behind one of the furry ears and murmured:
"Very good, Bastet."
Vixen, on the other side of the bed, was still trembling a little. Connie? Still tied, but confused...
"Thanks, kitty. You read my mind." He said with a smile.