The Doll Experiment
Ruya furrowed her brow for a moment, mulling over my words, before her expression relaxed and she spoke. “Well, I’ll know once I try it myself! In that case, hurry up and turn me into a doll.”
“Even if you ask to be made into a doll, I’m not sure how to turn a human into one using only hypnosis.”
“Can’t you just hypnotize me with something like, ‘From now on, you’re a doll, an object’?”
“Absolute Hypnosis is powerful, but it doesn’t work if you just throw commands around at random, does it?” If it did, that would border on the realm of miracles.
“Besides, we don’t know what side effects might appear. I can’t just tamper with someone’s personality through hypnosis on a whim.”
“It’ll be fine~ If we don’t try, we’ll never know. Think of it as testing the limits of Absolute Hypnosis and experiment in all sorts of ways.”
“Eeeeh……”
Somehow swept along by Ruya’s overflowing enthusiasm, research into Absolute Hypnosis for dollification began. The experiments, conducted by having me apply hypnosis and then letting the subject report their experiences, ended surprisingly smoothly.
“Absolute Hypnosis is an incredibly overpowered ability, isn’t it?”
“It really is. It’s hypnosis in the truest sense.”
Remarkably, the miraculous realm I had mentioned earlier was realized. The conditions for applying it were extremely strict and difficult, but once it took hold, near-omnipotent mental manipulation became possible. It could completely strip away physical freedom or even enable minor copies and overclocking through arbitrary control of brain functions.
“On top of overclocking, release the body’s control limits.”
“Yes.”
When I gave the command while meeting Ruya’s eyes with my captivating gaze, she answered mechanically with a vacant expression, then blinked and moved her body with bright, lively eyes. “Wow, this feels amazing. I feel so much stronger than before.”
“Because the overclocking that accelerates thought speed also forcibly removed the body’s instinctive limits.”
“Ah!”
In an instant, I launched a surprise punch aimed at Ruya’s arm, but she dodged it lightly and even countered. Moving at the maximum output possible in her normal state, she evaded an attack at a speed ordinary people couldn’t even perceive and grabbed my wrist to twist it in retaliation. Since only her biological brain had been accelerated through hypnosis, her maximum thought speed was still limited, but it was clear the technique was effective.
“Waaah! Master’s attack looked slow for a moment!”
“Impressive, right?”
“This feels like a secret trump card. Hmm…… How about naming it Trans On?”
“We already have a technique called Overclock, though.”
“That’s just for thought acceleration. This technique, which also releases the body’s limits, needs a different name.”
“Well, fine. Let’s go with that.”
After all, Overclock only referred to thought acceleration. Ruya, delighted with the name Trans On, began running, jumping in place, and practicing martial arts movements with excitement before suddenly collapsing to the floor, panting heavily. “Haa, haa. This is…… haa. It’s way more exhausting than I thought.”
“Of course your body imposes its own limits for a reason. Forcibly removing the safeguards it put in place to protect itself is bound to take a toll.”
“Phew, I won’t be able to use this technique carelessly. It really feels like a last-resort move.”
After catching her breath, Ruya and I tested whether she could enter the Trans On state without my hypnosis. As a result, she was able to activate Trans On on her own. “By framing it as a single technique called Trans On and creating a trigger, I can activate it myself.”
“Seeing this, if we bundle various forms of hypnosis under the concept of dollification, she might be able to become a doll whenever she wants.”
“You’re still thinking about becoming a doll?”
I thought the successful experiments had diverted her attention, but she was still fixated on dollification. “Of course. That was the whole point of these experiments to begin with. Now that I have a feel for it, let’s start turning me into a doll.”
“Eeeeh……”
With her so eager, there was nothing more I could say. Drawing on our accumulated experience and information, we began by erasing her personality to prepare for dollification. Starting with sealing her memories, we removed the elements that composed her personality one by one until she was left in a completely empty state.
“Hmm, so far so good.”
Ruya stood perfectly still with vacant eyes, breathing but showing no other movement even as she responded to my words. However, only her surface consciousness had been erased; her inner awareness remained, allowing her to perceive my commands and continue the process. Just as I was about to begin the next step, I heard someone coming up. I didn’t know who it was, but since we were in the middle of the procedure, I quickly covered the motionless Ruya with a nearby cloth to avoid awkward explanations.
A moment later, the figure illuminated by the light coming through the window was Madam, dressed in a nun’s habit. “Elisha, have you finished organizing?”
“Yes, Madam. Here is the dimensional pouch. By the way, what brings you to wear the nun’s habit today?”
“I’ve been doing missionary work lately. Hmm.”
As I handed her the pouch attached to her waist, she checked its contents herself. After a brief inspection, Madam tucked the pouch into her habit and spoke. “Well done. It’s been quite some time—what were you doing?”
“I had some personal experiments to conduct.”
“Personal matters……”
Madam studied my ever-smiling face intently before touching her chin with a finger. “Your expression is always so hard to read, Elisha. It feels like you’re wearing a mask. Still, there are clumsy spots that give things away.”
“Pardon?”
“It has something to do with whatever’s hidden under that cloth over there.”
Madam approached the cloth-covered Ruya and pulled it away. Seeing the revealed Ruya, her eyes widened in rare surprise. “Ruya? Why is she covered with a cloth…… Hmm? Something’s off with her……”
With unfocused eyes staring blankly into space and not moving an inch, Ruya looked unmistakably strange, even to Madam. Aigoo, now that we’d been caught, there was no helping it. Madam had already begun channeling holy power into her hand, so I stopped her and explained the situation.
“So, Ruya wanted to know what it feels like to be a doll, and you were experimenting with turning her into one?”
“Yes.”
“Is it even possible to turn a person into a doll?”
“It’s progressing somehow through the hypnosis ability that’s a succubus specialty.”
“Hmm. I’m curious to see if it’s really possible. Continue.”
“Yes.”
With Madam watching, we began the complex process of building a doll’s ego within Ruya’s now-empty body. After countless trials, errors, and resets, we finally managed—albeit clumsily—to create a doll named Ruya Agrasil.
“How does it feel to be a doll?”
“Ah, so this is the perspective from which a doll views the world. It’s unfamiliar.”
Ruya’s expressionless face and nearly monotone voice made her seem like an android. As she moved her body with emotionless eyes, she noticed Madam watching with interest and spoke. “So you were here too, Madam.”
“My, you seem like a completely different person.”
“That’s because I’m currently a doll.”
Even though the dollified Ruya shared her original memories, her speech and mannerisms were entirely different from the elf Ruya. It was likely due to suppressing her original personality as much as possible and constructing a new one as a doll. “If you think of yourself as a doll, then your master must be Elisha, correct?”
“That is correct. Now that I’ve become a doll myself, I finally understand Master’s explanation a little. It’s hard to put into words, but it’s definitely different from being a slave.”
“Hmm…… The ability to turn a human into an object and own them completely…… Succubus powers really are enviable.”
“The moment someone accepts Absolute Hypnosis, they’re already owned. Dollification is just an additional step.”
From my perspective, the new technique of dollification had more drawbacks than advantages. The process was complicated and time-consuming, carried high risks, and offered no real benefits. Since Absolute Hypnosis alone already created an inescapable state of complete slavery, there was no need to go through the extra trouble of turning someone into a doll. That was the biggest issue.
“Trans On.”
Suddenly reciting the technique’s trigger name, Ruya entered the Trans state and blinked before speaking. “Becoming a doll has increased the efficiency of Trans On.”
“Because unnecessary thoughts are suppressed in a doll.”
“Unnecessary thoughts? What do you mean?”
“Well…… For example, the process of reacting to external stimuli and generating emotions has been blocked. In short, the current dollified Ruya cannot feel emotions.”
“Oh my, not being able to feel emotions…… I can’t even imagine it.”
“Everyone feels that way until they experience it themselves.”
The emotionless state was similar to a state of perfect tranquility and thoughtlessness. With neither positive nor negative emotions, there were no unnecessary thoughts to interfere with rational judgment, allowing for extremely efficient decision-making and mental processing. Among the knowledge I had acquired somewhere, there were methods of achieving a thoughtless state by calming emotions through prolonged meditation, which I considered a form of self-hypnosis.
“All anxiety and worry have disappeared, so it’s incredibly comfortable. Or rather, it seems comfortable. It’s still difficult to diagnose my own condition.”
“You’ll gradually get used to it as you live with it. Besides, you’re only experiencing it briefly anyway.”
“My, why stop there? A doll state without emotions would be very useful in combat situations.”
“I agree. Master, please allow me to continue using the dollification technique.”
“I can’t guarantee what side effects might occur if the doll state is prolonged. In the worst case, it could lead to genuine multiple personalities.”
“Ruya is already close to having a dual personality anyway. She herself wants it so strongly—do you really intend to erase the newly born doll personality?”
“Ugh……”
Madam’s words about erasing the newly born doll personality made me hesitate. It was true that the current doll Ruya was a new personality created by me, so calling her “just born” wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t thought much of it at first, but hearing those words made me reluctant to simply erase her.
“Elisha, as a fellow doll and as her master, show some mercy.”
“Sigh, fine. I’ll leave her as is.”
“Thank you, Master.”
“Hohoho, to celebrate her birth, I’ll give her a new name. That’s all right, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Having volunteered to name the doll as well, Madam pondered for a moment before snapping her fingers. “Makina. How about Makina Agrasil?”
“That works.”
“I agree.”
“Then it’s decided—Makina. Please take good care of her from now on, Makina.”
“Please take good care of me as well, Ekaterina.”
The doll, now Makina instead of Ruya, shook hands with Madam. What had started as a simple experiment had resulted in an independent personality. My worry that rejection might cause problems proved unfounded; when the original personality, Ruya, was released from the seal, she coexisted with Makina without conflict and adapted surprisingly well.
“Makina, how do you feel about experiencing emotions indirectly?”
“Not particularly pleasant. There’s interference causing disruptions.”
“Is that so? Well, the doll state is incredibly comfortable. On the other hand, not being able to feel joy is a bit strange.”
This conversation was surprisingly taking place between Ruya and Makina within a single body. To a third party, it would look like someone having a deranged conversation with themselves, but the two paid no mind and often chatted with each other. Watching them, the family members spoke with subtle expressions.
“……They seem crazy, meow.”
“Their expressions and tone change so quickly—it’s kind of scary.”
“Hohoho, you could just converse internally like Charlotte does.”
“Meow, Arin is too shy to come out.”
Arin was the name Charlotte had given to the Abaddon princess who had grown and developed her own ego. She was so shy and easily embarrassed—far more than one would expect from someone possessing Charlotte’s memories and knowledge—that she rarely came out. Meanwhile, even my brother, who had initially been awkward about the changes in his concubines, gradually adapted and was now able to treat them normally. Come to think of it, his adaptability was truly remarkable.
“Last time we sparred, Makina fought better than you.”
“No way! How can a kid who’s only been born for a week fight better than me?”
“Unfortunately, it’s true, meow.”
“In the first place, Makina was created based on Ruya, so how long ago she was ‘born’ doesn’t really matter.”
“I will not participate in combat first unless Master commands it and Ruya does not wish it.”
“Yeah, yeah. If you think you can’t handle it while fighting, just leave it to Makina.”
“That won’t happen, okay? Hmph!”
Ruya pretended to dislike it, but she looked pleased to receive my brother’s attention. While our family was adapting to these various new changes, Horana and the women—who had been provided with weapons and training—expressed their desire to go out and deal with monsters themselves, apparently having gained confidence.