-- This chapter is from Mizeleth’s point of view --

Huhuhu! This succubus is foolish beyond measure. She made a contract with me to awaken her memories, an unusual arrangement to say the least. I must uphold the words of the contract, which regrettably limits my actions so I cannot actually alter her memories. But this Ais failed to realize the hidden price...

She did take some precautions, insisting that we go to the mortal world to have another succubus accompany me into the dream. I find myself in a summoning chamber belonging to humans, being addressed by this irate creature dressed like a servant.

"Wassup~ Miz~!"

"Do not talk to me with that tone, succubus."

"What~!? You don't~ remember Celica~? We just met four hundred and seventy-three years ago~!"

As if I would care about meeting some trashy succubus. And how so exact number of years?!

"Still~ got that stick up your spider butt~, I see, I see~."

"AM I HERE to be pestered by this idiot, or to proceed with the operation!?"

"About that... Imperials didn't want you out of this chamber, and I can't get sleep on the floor, so it'll take some time to have a bed brought."

"For fucks sake...!"

I do not want to waste all day here, so I spin her a hammock out of web. She better be grateful for this!

"Huh. I guess that'll do. (I didn't need to see the part where you squirt the material out of your ass though...)"

"'Tis a ham-mock~. Tehe~."

She already told about that incident to this imbecil?! DAMN THEM ALL TO-- ......No, I need to wait a bit longer. Once this is done with, then she can pay for every indignity I have suffered.

Dreams and memories are connected. I will use this to uproot her suppressed memories and strengthen them within the dream. Once enough have been awakened, the rest will follow and she can have her memories back - that much is according to her wishes... but in the process I shall also gain access to her deepest secrets. Then she can only dance to my tune helplessly or be crushed!

Once the succubus is asleep I cast my special spell, the dream invasion, and enter her dream with that Celica-creature. I use my true form for ease of movement, and as the transfer phase ends, I find myself in a strange landscape...

It is a night in the dream, but there are lights all over, blinking at us like eyes in myriad colors from every direction. The ground is covered in dark material, something akin to cooled magma but with all surfaces even. We are surrounded by buildings of metal and light, rising towards the dimly lit sky higher than any I have ever laid eyes onto. And all around us there are forms of humans, endlessly pouring from all directions to all directions - and all of them faceless and blurred, as is everything else in this dream.

"This place... what is this?"

I have been to thousands of dreams and seen sights untold in them, but this is... different. How can I steer the dream to directions that allow me spy her secrets, if the whole context is unknown to me? And that another succubus is not making this any easier, I have to manage that covertly. I do not like this...

"Whoo-boy~. She picked a really~ weird one this time~..."

Picked? What is with that cryptic remark? What did Ais pick?

"Whatever are you talking about? Make sense!"

"Never mind~, Celica just-- Watch out~!"

"Wh-- IIIIIIIAAAGH!"

A large form of metal with blinding bright eyes hits my lower body, fast as an arrow, then cowardly continuing on without even slowing down!

"Nghaaah... What... was that thing!?"

"Dunno~. But there's more where~ that one came from~!"

"I can see that!"

More of those metal monsters surround me, sending pillars of light and screaming with repeated voices like infernal horns! The first impact broke my second third leg, and I am forced to retreat from their path to an alley between two buildings. How unsightly!

"Where is the dreamer?!"

"Yuhuu~ Ais~!"

Immediately after she finished saying her name, the dream morphs and another form appears on the top of nearest building. That would be Ais. I climb right there with the tag along succubus flying right after me. I want this over with soon... if the rest of this dream is similarly awful, I may even have to give up on gaining her secrets...!

"Oh... You two..."

Ais has been facing away from us, but now she turns towards me. The dream gets more sharp as she does so. I notice she has clothes likes of which I have never seen before, some kind of blue trousers and a long jacket.

"Hullo dream-Ais~!"

"What is this place? It is so... alien, even for a nightmare."

Ais rises the black metal pipe she is holding and suddenly looks around alerted, ignoring us.

"Alien...? Not good..."

The dream shimmers again...? Damn it; that was a trigger word! In dreams giving the dreamer a keyword to a strong memory can change the dream, and I recognize that to be case here. But what could 'alien' - being foreign or strange - mean to her to alarm her so?

"Nice doggy~, good doggy~!"

Celica is facing an abominable crerature that is just about to climb up the edge of the building we are on. It has shiny black skin that makes it difficult to perceive in the darkness, but I can see its head and spiny back are utterly strange... no, 'alien'. So this is what the word meant for her.

It opens its mouth, revealing razor sharp teeth and another, smaller mouth. ...I do not think I have ever met a creature as disturbing as that, not even in the darkest dreams I have been to.

"Do not be foolish. There is no dog in any world that looks like that."

"I know~. But does it know~?"

What kind of logic is that!? There is something wrong with these two succubi... Ais jumps at the creature and points her pipe at it.

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Hello? Noise loud as thunder comes out with a blinding flash of light, and the monster's misshapen head bursts in an instant. It falls off into the darkness, spraying stinging blood that melts the building material wherever it hits. ...Where does she get these images!?

She pulls part of her weapon backwards in pumping motion, making a clicking sound. This is when more of those monsters climb up. She gives it one glance, and motions us towards an appendage of the building.

"GET TO THE CHOPPA!"

What in damnation is she talking about?! She forgoes explaining and just attempts to shove me into a cramped thing that I assumed to be part of the building.

"Miz~ move your fat ass~."

"IT IS NOT FAT, JUST BIG!"

That succubus is getting on my nerves more and more. I manage to get in despite her asinine assistance, while Ais sits on the bench in front and pulls a lever. Loud noise begins, and blades above this... this machine begin swirling faster than eye can follow.

"Is this a machine of war that cuts the monsters to pieces?"

"... More than half correct."

The machine reaches maximum level and starts rising from the ground. Is this so I can get out of the dream monsters' reach? At this moment grandiose music begins to blast thunderously loudly from within the machine.

"Catchy~ tune. Daa-da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAAA-da, da-da-da-daaaaaaa!..."

"Why is there music? What is going on!? And you SHUT UP already, I cannot hear my own thoughts here!!"

In this cacophony Ais turns the machine towards the roof where those monsters now swarm, and does something... and then machine's sides send several bursts of fire-tailed fly metal objects at them that explode with more force than any magical fireball!

"Whoa!"

"Wooo~! Pull another one~ Ais~!"

She fires another two salvos of them, utterly destroying the building, and then gains more altitude away from there and flies through the dreamscape at high speed.

The buildings are now more clear, the lights less blurry. Her dream has become more focused again, telling me that at least my contract objective is not failing - one or two more memories, and it will have reached the required threshold. It galls me to admit it, but since the beginning, with her dream being like, this I have not gained any semblance of control over its flow. ...I may have to cut my losses and leave without gaining any leverage on her.

"Flying~ in this whatchamacallit~ is way funnier~ than flying by yourself~!"

Celica hangs from the opening in the machine's side, about to fall. How can she be enjoying this delirious nightmare!? How annoying!

"Watch it you stupid succubus, I will not help you if you to fall out."

"Fallout?"

The dreamer reacts to my words again...? But nothing changes in the dream. The strange city is now far behind us, and there is nothing but sea below us, lit by dawns first light. It is getting brighter.

...

Dawn does not rise that fast! I look behind us. An enormous ball of light is now where the city was, bursting upwards and lighting the night bright as day. It is taking a form of giant mushroom made of fire and smoke of all things. Has she been eating poison mushrooms?!

"STOP DREAMING THESE FUCKED UP THINGS!"

Then a deafening roar of arrives, followed by a wave of force rising a wave of water. The machine violently plummets as it hits, falling down towards the sea.

"Wheeeeeeee~!"

"This is killing us! Dream something else, ANYWHERE ELSE!"

"Alright... Keep your panties on."

Her dream morphs again, and despite getting out of the way of approaching fire-storm, I grow even more anxious. Just what kind of person has her memories filled up with these incomprehensible scenes? And what horrid dreamscape she might conjure next?