Extra Episode — Neruneh’s Hypnosis

I cooked up several plots to land hits on Core 50, but I was also planning out a full-frontal attack as well. That was a last resort, naturally, but it would be a big mistake to not plan around it at all.

That meant I needed to plan counters for his mind-reading abilities. Aidy, Sebas, and Niku could all use Detachment thanks to their Demon King style training, but Wataru didn’t have the time to learn Demon King style, and he didn’t already know any skills that would help out there.

“So, Wataru. I’m thinking about hypnotizing you. Mind helping out?”

“Hypnotizing me?”

In short, I just had to make him go berserk so Core 50 couldn’t read his mind. If we could make him go berserk at any time we wanted, well, he probably wouldn’t have any mind to read.

“I really don’t think hypnosis will work on me.”

“Don’t worry, we Beddhists are professionals at sleep. The hypnosis will work for sure, if you let it happen.”

“If you’re confident, well, alright. Are you going to cast the hypnosis? Since you’re the pope and all?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

Naturally, the hypnosis would involve using Kosaki the Succubus ring for charms. Succubus charms were very useful and effective for all sorts of things, including memory manipulation, but my Succuma form was simply too powerful. It ran the risk of negatively influencing my relationship with Wataru for the rest of our lives. I would never forget the slum criminals taking one look at me and deducing that I was Succuma.

“So, who’ll be doing the hypnosis, then?”

“Neruneh. You’d rather her be doing the hypnosis than me, right?”

“For sure. If I have a choice here, I’d pick Neruneh every time.”

It’s good to be honest. And so, I had Neruneh undergo the Succubus transformation this time.

As an aside, in the past Neruneh could only transform into a Succubus for very brief amounts of time, but through practice and experience she managed to stretch out the transformation time significantly. She framed her accomplishment as such: “Now I’m a lewd giiiirl.” (According to Kosaki, something was off about the transformation, but it was better than it used to be, so it was probably fine... I didn’t ask for the details.)

“Hey, Neruneh. You can come in.”

“Okaaay.”

Neruneh entered the room in her usual maid outfit, wearing the Succubus ring. She hadn’t transformed yet. Which reminded me of something important.

“Wataru. If you have any magic tools that give mental resistance or something, take ’em off. Those will definitely stop this from working.”

“Oh, right. Haku did give me some kinda strengthening bracelet to wear,” Wataru said before taking off his Lionheart Bracelet with a ‘clink’ and putting it into {Storage}. It would be a big problem if her Hero was Charmed into joining the enemy, so Haku had naturally planned ahead. “By the way, Keima. If we’re going to be doing this, I’ve always wanted to try one of those things where a person goes beyond their human limits due to hypnosis. Can you make that happen?”

“Huh? Er, probably.” They did say that human bodies had limiters to stop us from destroying ourselves.

“Alright, how about we split it into two stages, with signals to activate each. The first will be a berserk mode that makes you think about nothing but destroying the enemy in front of you, which we’ll be using for the fight. The second will be the limiter-canceling mode.”

“Oh, so I can activate it by shouting Limits: Off or something? That’s cool! Yeah, let’s go with that!”

“For berserk mode, the signal can be Berserk: Activate. For safety’s sake we’ll set it so you go back to normal if you pass out or Neruneh tells you to stop.”

“Oh, you can make adjustments that precise?”

Absolutely. I knew because I had done a lot of hypnosis experiments on the criminals with Niku back then.

“Okay. Let’s have Mission: Complete be the code word for putting the limiters back on.”

“You sure are enjoying this, huh?”

“Okaaay. I’m going to start the hypnosis noooow. Relaaax, and look this waaay. You are getting veeery, veeery sleeeepy.” Neruneh let a Beddhist holy symbol sway side to side in front of Wataru’s face as he sat in a chair. I had based the design on a five yen coin, so it was pretty much a traditional hypnosis coin. Neruneh’s relaxing drawl washed over us like the waves of hypnosis, seeping into our bodies and... Whoa, I almost fell asleep. Talk about power. She hasn’t even transformed into a Succubus yet.

“Possess,” Neruneh said just as Wataru was starting to drift off, transforming into a Succubus. Oh, and just to be clear, I was borrowing the Divine Lionheart Bracelet from Rokuko so I wouldn’t be Charmed myself.

“N... N-N-Neruneh...? Is it just me, or, uh, a-are you showing a lot of skin...?”

“Hmmm? Maybe the hypnosis is making you see thiiings? What does it look like I’m weariiing?”

“S-S-S-Something very, very perverted... Ah! Keima, don’t look!” Wataru yelled, falling into a panic.

“What’re you talking about? She seems normal to me. Seems like the hypnosis is already doing a number on you, Wataru.”

“W-Wait, really?! This is the hypnosis...?! God, hypnosis is incredible!”

She seemed like a normal Succuneh (Succubus Neruneh) to me, with her normal skimpy outfit. I told no lies.

“I seeee. Deep down you want me to wear a pervy outfiiiit, Wataruuu? Okaaay. Ahahaaah.”

Succuneh advanced forward toward Wataru. She had entered the corruption phase of the charming process. Succuma could forcibly charm people due to being a Queen-rank Succubus, but Neruneh was apparently just at the level of a standard Succubus, so this was necessary for her.

“Do you like belly buttooons? Do you want to touch it? Go aheaaad, I don’t miiind.”

“Ah, ah, aaaaah!” Wataru groaned. He already liked Neruneh, so I could imagine this was like a sledgehammer to his psyche. His cheeks were bright red. Seems kinda like he’s already fallen.

“Neruneh, try it.”

“Okaaay. Wataruuu, I have a requeeeest.”

“Er, y-yeah? What is it?”

“I want to see what happeeens if you remove the limiters in your braaain.”

“Ngh, uh, th-that’s... I would like to show you, if I could, but...” Wataru faltered, but ultimately still refused, thinking it impossible for him.

Ehhh. That’s a sign the charming isn’t complete. He would never say that if he were charmed. I happen to be an expert on this subject.

“Neruneh. Step two.”

“Riiight. What do I need to do for you to show meee? Should I lick iiiit?”

“L-L-Lick it?! Lick iiit?!”

Neruneh pressed her body against his, forcing him to be aware of her soft female figure. She gently caressed him all over with gentle hands, touching but almost not quite.

“Do you like being tickleeed? How perverteeed.”

“Eep?!”

She was whispering into his ear.

“...You want me to keep whispeeering? Ahaha, you’re so greeeedy. Fwooo.”

“Ah, ah, ah!”

He trembled when she blew in his ear. Actually... Why am I even watching Wataru being a pervert? I think I’m just gonna let Neruneh handle this.

“Neruneh, can I leave the rest to you?”

“Uh-huuuuh, it’ll be fiiine. I have Kosaki with meee.”

“Alright. Good luck, then.”

I left the room with Neruneh waving me goodbye. Have fun, you two.

＊ ＊ ＊

And so, the hypnosis was complete.

“Good work, Wataru. How was being hypnotized?”

“...I don’t really remember much about it for some reason, but I feel really, really strong. Blood is almost spraying out of my nose.”

“Want me to grab a handkerchief?”

Just to be safe we had erased his memories about the Succubus stuff, which meant he shouldn’t remember anything after the swaying coin. The berserk and limiter-removing techniques were ingrained deep within his subconscious thanks to the charms.

“Limits: Off...! Whoa, wow, this is kinda incredible. I can already feel the power boost.”

“Try not to go too far and destroy your body, alright?”

“Mission: Compleeete,” Neruneh intoned, which put Wataru back to normal.

“Oh, can I put my bracelet back on now?”

“Hm? Uh, huh...” Now that he mentions it, I’m not sure if the hypnosis (charms) will go away if he puts on anti-charm equipment once they’re in place. We should probably experiment a little.

And so he put on the bracelet so we could perform some relatively safe experiments with his no-limits mode.

...Yep. Seems like the modes won’t activate when he has the bracelet on, but they work when he takes it off. You learn something new every day.

Alright, now it’s time to have him try out the berserk function on Aidy. It would be pretty scary if it just didn’t work when the time came.

“Go ahead and let loose. We’ve got {Healing}.”

“You got it!”

It would also serve as Aidy’s payment for helping us. She would have to take the full brunt of his berserk attacks, but it would be worse for it to not do any damage when it matters most. Sorry, Aidy! We all have rough days sometimes.