— — — — — —
Ryo gave Yume Eguchi a long, measuring look.
Well, damn. Instead of going for some subtle mind-control trick, she went straight for the romance play. Bold move. What was she—Baron La Croix's daughter or something?
She wasn't even fourteen yet, and her thinking was already this audacious?
"Interesting approach," Ryo said mildly, trying to ease the tension. "Just not exactly age-appropriate."
Yume's face flushed red, her eyes shimmering as she bristled, half furious, half flustered.
"What's wrong with being young? I'm a Succubus. Using this kind of suggestion is totally reasonable!"
She puffed out her completely flat chest and accused him with righteous indignation.
"You're discriminating against the Succubus Race. That's illegal."
Ryo let out a silent snort and looked at her with open amusement.
"So? Do you need some time to undo the suggestion?"
"…."
Yume froze.
Her face turned even redder. Her lips moved for a long moment before she finally deflated.
"I… can't undo it."
"I poured everything into casting it just now. Used up all my power. And now you want me to remove it…"
Her voice trailed off.
"…."
For a second, Ryo didn't even know what to say.
Using a mental suggestion you can't reverse on your enemy. Honestly? Not irrational.
At that moment, ripples spread through the air.
In a swirl of magic, a girl in a white gothic dress appeared beside Ryo, Natsuki Minamiya.
"Is it settled?" Natsuki asked calmly.
"More or less subdued," Ryo replied vaguely.
"More or less?" She immediately caught the odd phrasing.
With Ryo's ability, capturing Yume Eguchi should've been trivial. There shouldn't be any "more or less" about it.
Ryo chuckled and pointed at Yume.
"She just tried to plant a suggestion in me. 'Fall in love with her.' It bounced back."
"…"
Natsuki was speechless.
"Damn it…" Yume ground her teeth and stomped her foot, but didn't dare push her luck with more insults.
In her current state, provoking Ryo or Natsuki was basically asking to die.
By now, Natsuki had grasped the full absurdity of the situation. She looked at Yume with a strange expression.
"So even if we let her go, she wouldn't run?"
"That's nonsense! If I want to run, I can still run," Yume shot back stubbornly.
Though in her heart, she was already imagining dragging Ryo along with her if she escaped.
Her eyes suddenly lost focus.
"Seems more complicated than I thought," Natsuki murmured, the corner of her mouth twitching as she suppressed a laugh.
With a flick of her fingers, magic gathered and formed a telepathic link with Ryo.
"Don't remove the suggestion yet. Let me have some fun first."
Ryo shot her a strange look. He hadn't expected her to have such a mischievous streak.
"What? Got a problem with being secretly adored by a little kid?" Natsuki teased openly.
His eyelid twitched.
"Just… don't go too far."
He sighed, then narrowed his eyes at Yume. "Lilith's soul doesn't seem conscious. And you used your own mental powers to split yourself into a second personality? That's just reckless."
Yume shrank back, not daring to argue.
Inside her mind was another personality—Lyl—more extreme, more hard-edged.
But facing a Primogenitor like Ryo without knowing the situation, she obviously hadn't dared let that personality surface.
What if Lyl mouthed off and Ryo killed her on the spot?
She had no intention of dying that pathetically.
"How are you planning to deal with her?" Natsuki asked bluntly, not caring that Yume was still standing right there.
Ryo sighed. "I'll deal with Lilith's soul. As for the girl, you can take her back and… do as you like. She might qualify for the five-digit level. Though only mentally."
"What?"
Yume blinked, then stared at him in disbelief. "You're here to kill Lilith?"
"In a sense." Ryo's expression turned subtle.
"Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Yume exploded, indignant.
"If you'd told me you were here to kill Lilith, I… I would've just stayed still and let you do whatever you wanted with me!"
"Oh?" Natsuki arched a brow, her voice turning teasing. "So you really are a succubus, huh?"
Yume immediately caught on. She glared at Natsuki, cheeks tinged red. "You're not even that old. Why is your mind so filthy?"
"I'm twenty-five," Natsuki replied coolly.
"Hello, Auntie!" Yume chirped, sounding about thirty percent polite and seventy percent asking for a punch.
Natsuki's eyelid twitched. She smiled sweetly. "Little girl, who's the man you love most?"
Yume instinctively glanced at Ryo.
Her face went red.
She shot Natsuki a furious look. "You—"
She bit down on her words. No more reckless insults.
Natsuki let out a dismissive chuckle. Dealing with girls like this? She had a hundred methods.
"..."
Ryo glanced at Natsuki, slightly speechless at her bickering with a child.
Still, it was harmless teasing. What truly concerned him was Lilith inside Yume.
"You don't seem particularly attached to Lilith's remaining soul," he observed.
Yume's expression shifted. She clenched her teeth. "Do you know how much I suffered growing up because of Lilith's passive mental control?"
"I worked with Kazuomi Kusuki just to kill the Lilith inside me. If you'd told me earlier you were planning the same, I would've cooperated from the start!"
"So you have no objection to me eliminating her?" Ryo's eyes flickered.
"None."
She nodded, then took a deep breath. "Do it. I don't care if it hurts me. My only request is that you erase Lilith completely. Not even a fragment left behind."
Bold.
Ryo studied her for a moment, then raised his hand.
A black katana materialized in his grasp—the Zanpakutō that housed part of Algol's essence.
His right hand wrapped around the hilt. With his left, he brushed along the blade.
"Wake up and get to work, Algol."
.
.
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