— — — — — —
Is this even a real choice?
Yume froze for a split second, but when she saw Ryo's eyes slowly narrowing, she yelled without hesitation, "Option one! I choose one!"
She never had a real choice to begin with. Or rather, there was only one she could possibly take.
If she summoned Lilith and used her mental manipulation, there was at least a chance she could escape. If she didn't, and got dragged straight to the dissection table, then it was truly over.
As she shouted, a pale violet aura erupted from her body.
Her skirt fluttered violently as the surge of power sent a shockwave rolling outward. Kiriha and Sayaka both staggered back several steps.
"Magic output on the level of a Primogenitor?" Natsuki commented casually, steady even under the pressure.
"I'm starting to feel like the title 'Primogenitor' doesn't mean much in this world," Ryo said, scratching his head with a helpless look.
In this world, people talked up Primogenitors endlessly, but their reputation felt… cheap.
Anti–Primogenitor Schneewalzers, autonomous weapons rivaling Primogenitors, magic comparable to Primogenitors, divine weapons. It was everywhere.
At this point, Primogenitors felt less like apex beings and more like a standard unit of measurement.
'These two…'
Yume looked at the pair who hadn't even budged under her overflowing magic and nearly burst into tears.
She had never seriously fought anyone before. In the past, just releasing her aura was enough to scare off lunatics. Now she'd run into people who couldn't be intimidated, and she had no idea what to do.
Why would someone who looked like a final boss just randomly show up here?
By normal logic, shouldn't you send waves of weak underlings after me, force me to run, slowly grow stronger, and then counterattack at the end?
You're not playing fair at all!
There was no choice now. She had to use mental control.
Even though her confidence wavered, Yume clenched her teeth and pushed forward.
An invisible ripple spread outward from her body.
Through Natsuki's magical perception, Yume was now wrapped in pink magic saturated with an unmistakably suggestive undertone.
"Tch…" Natsuki clicked her tongue and flicked her fan. Her figure slipped into concentric ripples of space, pulling Kiriha and Sayaka along with her.
By overlapping space itself, she isolated the three of them from their current position, neatly avoiding that clearly suspicious magic.
'They're gone?!'
Yume's eyes lit up. She immediately turned her focus to Ryo, who was still standing there, intending to do the same thing to him.
The deep pink mist swallowed him whole, seeping in from every angle, trying to invade his body and mind.
This was Lilith's power. The prelude to mental domination.
'Got him… Make him let me go… No, what if he sends people after me later?'
Yume bit her lip hard.
Being hunted by the Dawn Empire would be terrifying beyond words. She knew she'd never survive that.
Then…
She swallowed. Overusing her magic had already drained the color from her face.
'Make him… fall in love with me.'
'That's the only way. At least I can implant the idea that he can't hurt me…'
It was the most Succubus-like decision she could make.
The deep pink magic surged violently into Ryo, ready to erode his mind and rewrite his thoughts.
At that moment, Ryo lifted his gaze and looked straight at her. "You might want to think carefully about the consequences."
"Ah!"
Yume jumped back, staring at him in terror. After waiting a few seconds with no retaliation, her fear turned into bravado.
"Don't think I can't see through your act! Your mind is already under my control. You can't even move a finger now!"
"Are you sure?" Ryo asked, his expression amused.
"Th-this…"
She hesitated for several seconds, then suddenly grinned. "Idiot. Fell for it, didn't you?"
"You really thought I was scared? I was just buying time, planting suggestions deeper into your mind. And you actually gave me that time."
She skipped over to him, even hopping on the last step, and held out her hand, "Kiss the back of my hand."
Ryo's smile grew even more peculiar.
He reached out, took her hand, rubbed it lightly, then lowered his head and kissed it.
Yume yanked her hand back instantly and started scrubbing it furiously, eyes wide.
"You really kissed it?!"
This was the first time she'd ever exerted such deep control over someone.
Before, it had always been family, classmates. Even then, it was only light manipulation, simple verbal commands, deliberate or accidental.
When she was younger, her control over her magic was poor. A careless sentence could trigger her power and override someone else's will.
And that was disastrous for social relationships.
When people realized there was someone who could casually control classmates, even parents or children, their first instinct was to eliminate the problem.
Parents lashed out with punishment. Classmates responded with bullying. Yume fought back with her ability, and everything collapsed faster and faster until she was socially erased.
That was how she ended up like this, forced to rely on Kusuki-Elysée just to survive.
"So I can even control a Primogenitor?"
She circled Ryo, staring at him in disbelief.
"No wonder Kazuomi Kusuki wanted to use me to control the Dawn Empire. Turns out I'm actually this strong!"
After circling him a few more times, she stopped and looked up at his face, hesitating slightly.
"Hey. I'll give you a choice too."
"One: never try to get close to me again, and I'll release the mental control. Two: become my slave forever. Pick one."
"Are you sure you'd really be able to leave me?" Ryo asked lightly.
"What are you saying, of course, I—"
Her words cut off abruptly. Her face flushed a deep, vivid red.
She suddenly wanted to get closer to him. To touch him. To push him down, tear open his suit…
Smack.
She slapped her own cheeks, staring at Ryo in shock.
"Why am I feeling this way…?"
Ryo raised his hand and touched his own face.
Instead of skin, his fingers met a thin, transparent layer of glass-like armor.
"Ever heard of a familiar that reflects everything?"
Yume's eyes widened in horror.
"The Fourth Primogenitor's first familiar, Aries Prote, the Divine Sheep of Adamantine? No wait, that's impossible. That thing only reflects physical attacks. How could it reflect mental interference…?"
Her voice trailed off as her face drained of all color.
Deep within her own mind, she felt something terribly wrong.
Seeing her pale expression, Ryo tilted his head slightly, puzzled. "You look terrified all of a sudden. Now I'm curious what kind of suggestion you just tried to plant in me."
Since her attack had been reflected from the start, he genuinely had no idea what it was.
Yume's lips trembled into a smile that looked more like a sob.
"I told you to… fall in love with me."
Ryo: "…"
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