The longest Day III

03:00

Mari

"W-what are you doing here?", I asked Hebi-san who impudently entered the bathroom right when I was in the process of relieving myself. (Number two as well!)

It was early morning. On the continent only 3 hours have passed since I started my training with Femto. But for me that translated into 45 grueling days of training.

I admittedly missed the girls a bit, but still.

That didn't mean they need to show up when I'm on the toilet!

Hebi-san seemed to care very little for my current state as she folded her arms and stared down at me. “We have a proposal, Mari Beta. We demand that you listen."

...

I probably shouldn't waste my time with this. After all, I need every bit of time I could get my hands on.

"Fine", I said, against my better judgment. "I listen but before…”

Hebi-san shook her head. “We have no time to spare for your idlings. We demand that you stop what you are doing at once.”

“GET OUT!”

...

..

.

"Hypnosis", I stared at Hebi-san with a blank look on my face. "That is your solution?"

We retreated back to the master bedroom for this and Hebi-san gave a short nod. "Turning you into our obedient thrall will increase your fighting ability tremendously."

What do I even reply here? "Look, I appreciate the effort but...”

"You wish to see proof? Very well. Come Nekotamata!"

As if only waiting for that command, Aiju strutted into the bedroom. She looked quite determined.

"You hypnotized her?", I asked.

"Indeed."

...

"W-wait hold on! I'm pretty sure I gave you an order to not hypnotize people!”

“Fooooooooool! Your orders don't apply to me! The mighty Gilbert! Gyahahahahaha!"

Hebi-san’s snake, Gilbert, was laughing like a maniac. I could only groan in response. "And why, pray tell, are you out of your cage?"

"Naturally, we stole the key. It was a most simple thing to do with the foolish human infatuated by the other foolish human.” Hebi-san stated that without a single shred of shame. "Now, do you wish to waste any more time bickering?”

I definitely do not. I need to get back into the void and...

“Nekotamata! Attack!”

Without a second of delay, Aiju pounced and slashed at me with her claws.

“Gah!”, I barely managed to avoid the first strike. But the catgirl was far from done. She quickly closed the gap and attacked me again.

Having fought against her, I knew what Aiju was capable of. She was a strong fighter. My first round win against her certainly came down to the wire. But it was precisely because of that, that I know her limits. And I was also significantly stronger now.

Aiju’s attack were fast and powerful. But they lacked skill. Her aim is to overwhelm an opponent with sheer ****.

At least that was my read on her.

But now that skill issue appears to have completely vanished. All her attacks came with deathly precision. She even anticipated my own movement and reacted to it. All I was doing was avoiding her and even then I could barely keep up with the catgirl.

There’s no way she can keep up this level of precision for long. I just need to wait for her to make a mistake.

And yet it was actually me that screwed up first. I misjudged my surroundings and found myself against the wall. Oh crap, Aiju is going for the kill! I need to tell her to sto…

Aiju’s claw came to a stop exactly at my throat. In fact she was slightly pressing against it. Just barely not strong enough to draw blood.

“What does Mari think?”, the catgirl grinned at me and then proceeded to lick my face with a purr. “Is my win.”

Well, that certainly sounded like the Aiju I knew, but in that case..."Are you really hypnotized?"

"Naturally", assured Hebi-san. "Admittedly this is Gilbert's handiwork. It works quite a bit different then what we do. “And fool that you are, you have yet to realize the extend of our powers. Observe your garments.”

My..uhh...garments?”

I looked downwards and my face almost went white. My shirt, as well as pants were completely shredded. But even more impressive then that was that I suffered not a single scratch. To attack with such pinpoint precision...

“Meow! Before I could react Aiju slashed one more time and just like that my pants completely crumbled to the ground.

“H-hey!”

“Is very useful”, Aiju stated and rubbed herself against me, purring. “Can get you naked now whenever I want. Good, now...”

“That will be all!”, Hebi-san declared with an impatient scowl. “Move towards your quarters and sleep, Nekotamata. You shall awake come morning, well rested and relaxed and back to your usual self.”

Aiju let out a dissatisfied purr. But despite the fact that she showed no sign of it, she was still very much under hypnosis and as such separated herself from me. “In the morning…” she stared towards me, her sleepy eyes slightly wandering and then, followed by a short sway, the catgirl collapsed on the spot.

Of course I immediately caught her. “What’s wrong with her!”

Hebi-san let out an annoyed hiss. “Nothing is wrong with our thrall, foolish Mari Beta. That is merely all the foolish little Nekotamata can accomplish. Exertion will have the possibility of breaking the hypnosis. We do hope you won’t produce such a disappointing showing.”

Making sure to give Aiju a proper check, it did indeed appear that she was only asleep. Good.

Well.

That power boost was certainly enormous but if I fall asleep after a few minutes it won’t really amount to anything.

“That is what your training is for, is it not? You will train yourself to become more resilient, so that our hypnosis will not break. Do you understand?”

Guess I don’t get a say in this, do I?

“We wasted enough time as it is! Let us hypnotize you already, Mari Beta!”

I took a deep breath. I wasn’t too sure about this, but at the very least it was worth a shot. If I can keep this state up for the entire fight it would be a tremendous boon. "Fine, but I want some of the other girls to watch this. For obvious reasons.”

Hebi-san tsked at that. "How untrustworthy. Very well, we shall oblige.”

...

..

.

Since Hebi-san came up with this scheme in the middle of the night most of the girls were deep asleep but Fisti and Sylphid were still up. I suppose they will have to suffice.

As it turns out only Gilbert can hypnotize me in a way that would bring forth such results. Hebi-san put me under plenty of times but this is the first time the Snake did so.

"How are ya feeling?", Fisti asked. She sounded very skeptical about this.

"Not particularly hypnotized", I stated honestly.

"Of course no, Bossman! You barely feel my soft, moist touch! That is my specialty!" Gilbert grinned. "But you feel much more calmer, much more focused and much more saucy, riiiiiight?”

That was true. Apart from the last part at least.

“No, No, you definitely look way more saucy”, Sylphid agreed. “It’s very sexy, actually. How about a quickie before you hop back into the void?”

“No.”

"You are already aware of this, but since you are a fool it bears repeating", Hebi-san explained. "This type of hypnosis will wear off, after a while. There is also a chance that it will be removed by **** via a powerful strike."

"Sounds way too fickle for me taste", Fisti grumbled. “Don’t put too much stock in that hypno mumbo jumbo!”

“Foolish flat chested child! You dare question us? This will bring Mari Beta victory!”

"I will see how it goes in training", I smiled and patted her head. "Thanks Hebi-san. This will be a game changer.”

"Hmpf, foolish Mari Beta, just don't you dare start losing!"

For a moment I almost thought I saw her blush.

Femto’s estimate on victory over Minerva

Amber Dominator Mari Beta (1%/0.5%)

steel dirks (0.4%/0.2%)

Devil of time(1 hour) (13.6%/6.8%)

Sylphid is doing something (1%/0.5%)

Sanakia is doing something (-2%/-1%)

Leaky is doing something (0.2%/0.1%)

Bea is cackling(+4%/+2%)

Gilbert’s hypnosis (+2%/+1%)

chances of victory by kill: 20,2%

chances of victory via surrender: 10.1%