"Ellen, what's your real name?" Sarah asked, looking directly into Ellen's dull eyes.
Her hypnosis had worked. Now she could ask Ellen anything, and she would answer truthfully!
Ellen replied, her voice completely flat, "My real name is Ellen Stone."
'Mm?' Sarah was confused for a moment.
—
'Haha!' Jace laughed inwardly as he looked at Sarah's confused expression, but he still showed nothing on the outside.
If Sarah was going to do anything to him, it was obvious that she would try to hypnotize him.
Jace knew that, which was one of the reasons he had put on the Polymath ring.
He wasn't wearing it to imitate a specific power, but to utilize its default passive abilities, which included enhanced mental attributes, analysis, and deduction to the most superior level below that of a demigod. Furthermore, he had already imitated a Hypnotist's control over their own mind from Nyx beforehand.
This meant that while Sarah was currently hypnotizing him, the effect was barely noticeable to him.
He still felt a slight compulsion to answer her questions truthfully, but he could easily resist it because Sarah was still an amateur Hypnotist.
So, he was merely acting as though he were completely hypnotized.
He knew, of course, that today was the day the cat would be let out of the bag, but he wasn't going to make it easy for Sarah.
'Hehe, I might as well have some fun with this.'
—
While Sarah remained confused, she continued asking her questions.
"Why did you approach me?" she asked.
"A month and a half ago, I saw you... kissing a woman in an alley. I like women as well. I thought if I got close to you, you might introduce me to someone like us... or maybe even take me for yourself," Ellen replied hesitantly, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks by the end of her sentence.
'Wh—what now?!' Sarah had noticed Ellen throwing a few glances at her figure before, but she had always brushed it off as simple admiration or confusion regarding her sexuality.
'How did she know about the kiss?' Sarah wondered. She had indeed kissed Natalie in an alley, but Nat was not one to show affection in public, and relationships between two women were not exactly accepted by society.
Even now, they were both living together under the cover of being cousins, and Natalie had been incredibly careful to ensure no one was watching when they were kissing.
So, the question of how Ellen knew about it remained a complete mystery in her mind.
'...Could it be that this poor girl has been manipulated?' Sarah mused.
Putting her stray thoughts aside for the moment, she asked another question.
"Do you know a person named Jace Liebert?"
A small smile touched Ellen's flat face. "Of course I do. He is a lovely young man. Though I like women, Jace was the only man I was ever attracted to," she replied, a little cheerfully.
Sarah watched Ellen with a blank expression, her lips twitching slightly.
It was now abundantly clear to her that this entire situation was orchestrated by Jace in some way.
While thinking, she looked at Ellen with pity in her eyes. 'This bastard actually manipulated such a bright and innocent girl.'
While Sarah wasn't exactly a saint herself—having manipulated quite a few people back when she was acting as a Psychiatrist but this was still a little too much for her to stomach!
But something still felt wrong to her.
'Emotions... Yes! Emotions!'
Sarah had just advanced to Sequence 6 a little over a week ago. Since her advancement had been hard, she had decided to take some rest, meaning she hadn't yet had the opportunity to test out her new hypnosis powers on a proper subject. Ellen was the very first person she had used it on.
And it was effective; she could feel that it had successfully taken root in Ellen's mind.
But something still felt off.
The knowledge that came with the potion indicated that a person affected by hypnosis should show no emotions whatsoever, answering any questions asked in a strictly truthful, emotionless manner.
Yet Ellen here had clearly blushed and smiled during their conversation, which led her to believe that Ellen had not been fully hypnotized. But how could that be?
Sarah frowned.
It looked like she was going to have to dig much deeper into Ellen's mind to find out exactly what Jace had done to her.
This would be easy enough for her, as she possessed the ability of Telepathy that she had gained from her Sequence 7 potion. She could use a candlelight and some herbal extracts as mediums to put Ellen into a hypnotic state, and then she would be able to directly communicating with her Body of Heart and Mind to uncover her deepest secrets.
Since she was now a Sequence 6, her powers were enhanced, meaning that with enough focus, she should be able to go through some of Ellen's memories.
All of her contemplations took only about a moment to think. As a Beyonder of the Spectator pathway, her mind was exceptionally fast.
Just as she was about to get up to fetch the mediums required for Telepathy, she stopped dead in her tracks and looked back at Ellen, who sat there expressionless, staring blankly ahead.
Sarah looked up and down at Ellen's entire figure.
'I'm an idiot,' she suddenly realized.
Jace would never do something as cruel as manipulating an innocent girl like this.
Therefore, the girl before her was not a separate girl at all—she, or rather he, was Jace himself.
It made perfect sense. Natalie had told her that one of Jace's Sequence 6 powers likely allowed him to take on other people's appearances, and it was highly probable that the acting method for this specific sequence involved assuming different forms and tricking people.
That was exactly what Jace had done to her. But she had known 'Ellen' for a month now, and in all that time, she had never noticed a single detail that made her suspect 'Ellen' was actually a man. Hell, she was even more feminine than Sarah herself.
If it really was Jace sitting before her, then the supernatural world of Beyonders was truly bizarre.
"Ellen, are you Jace?" Sarah asked.
"I am Ellen," 'Ellen' replied.
Sarah was certain her hypnosis was working mechanically, but surprisingly enough, it didn't seem to actually affect 'Ellen's' free will.
Sarah sighed inwardly. 'I suppose I'll just have to find out the truth by getting in there myself.'
She moved closer to Ellen until her legs were firmly pressing against hers. "Ellen, you said you liked me, right? So you wouldn't mind if I touched you, yes?"
Ellen's flat expression seemed to turn a little shy as a soft blush reappeared on her cheeks. "I... won't mind," she replied meekly.
'Jace, are you really going to take it this far?'
Sarah moved even closer, wrapping one arm behind 'Ellen's' back to hold her waist. Since they were both sitting sideways on the couch, she forced 'Ellen' to turn slightly toward her.
She pressed her chest firmly against Ellen's and placed her other hand directly over Ellen's breasts, giving them a firm squeeze.
'Hm?! They feel surprisingly real.' It felt real enough that it momentarily made Sarah wonder if her deduction was wrong and if this wasn't Jace after all.
By now, she had stopped using hypnosis completely.
'Ellen' was still in a dull state, but she let out a small, soft whimper—a response to Sarah fondling her.
Sarah's face was dangerously close to 'Ellen's', observing every single micro-expression. Their lips were barely an inch apart.
Sarah would be lying if she said she didn't want to kiss 'Ellen', as she really was beautiful.
But kissing and touching were two entirely different boundaries, and even with her playful and... naughty nature, she would never actually cheat on Natalie.
As she stared at Ellen, she realized the girl was showing no signs of abnormality other than occasional soft whimpers and soft moans, and there were even tears forming at the corners of her closed eyes.
At this point, Sarah was genuinely doubting herself, wondering if she was simply assaulting a poor, defenseless girl rather than exposing Jace. But she had to admit, she was getting kind of turned on by Ellen.
'Haa... Looks like I have to go all the way to be sure.' Sarah stopped fondling Ellen's chest, moving her hand down to Ellen's thigh and then toward her knee.
Resting her hand on her knee, she began pulling the hem of 'Ellen's' green dress upward. Once the dress was fully gathered at 'Ellen's' knees, she slipped her hand inside the dress.
Sarah felt 'Ellen's' warm thigh and soft skin against her palm. Inside the dress, she began moving her hand slowly upward along Ellen's inner thigh.
She looked up at 'Ellen', who was now breathing heavily with a fully flushed face.
Sarah felt her own cheeks warming up as her own breathing turned heavier, her hand continuing to slide toward...
'Forgive me, Nat,' Sarah whispered inwardly, continuing to slide her hand between 'Ellen's' warm thighs.
Just as her fingers were about to reach their final destination, she felt a sudden, firm grip clamp down on her wrist through the dress, stopping her hand dead in it's tracks.
It was 'Ellen's' hand. Sarah, who had been completely focused on the space beneath the dress, snapped her gaze upward to look at Ellen.
Ellen's face had completely transformed from teary-eyed and flushed to flat, calm, and solemn.
"That's enough," she—or rather, he—said. The voice echoing through the quiet room was no longer Ellen's melodic tone, but Jace's voice.
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A/N:- 1 Bonus chapter per 100 power stones