SCREECH.
The lead Harpy dove like a feathered missile, her talons aimed at my eyes.
"Haaa!"
Runa intercepted her in mid-air. With a flash of silver steel, she parried the claws, sending the monster tumbling back into the pink clouds.
"Form up!" Sae shouted, her rifle barking blue bolts of mana. "Don't let them break the perimeter!"
The raid team—Ayaka's bodyguards and the police support unit—formed a circle around me and the Heiress. They fired spells and bullets into the sky.
But the Harpies didn't dive again.
Instead, they circled. Dozens of them. They flapped their wings in a rhythmic, hypnotic beat.
And then, they opened their mouths.
It wasn't a screech this time. It was a melody.
A low, thrumming hum that vibrated through the air. It sounded like a lover's whisper mixed with a purr.
The effect was instantaneous.
The S-Rank bodyguards—hardened veterans who had fought dragons—suddenly lowered their shields. Their eyes glazed over.
"So beautiful..." one of them muttered, dropping his sword. "She wants me... she finally wants me..."
Even the women weren't immune.
"Nngh..." Sae leaned heavily on her rifle, her face flushing crimson. Her legs rubbed together involuntarily. "This sound... it's vibrating... everywhere."
Ayaka gripped my arm, her nails digging into my coat. Her breathing was ragged.
"Renji..." she panted, her eyes swirling with a dangerous mix of lust and possession. "Why... why does the air taste like you?"
(Okay. This is getting weird.)
I looked around. Everyone was incapacitated. They were either drooling, stripping off their armor, or looking at the sky with hearts in their eyes.
I waited for the urge to strip. I waited for the overwhelming desire to date a bird-woman.
I felt... nothing.
Well, not nothing. I felt annoyed. The song was loud, high-pitched, and slightly off-key. It was like a mosquito buzzing in my ear while I was trying to sleep.
[System Alert: Aural Mental Attack Detected.] [Status: Nullified.] [Reason: Attack targets Mana Circuits to stimulate libido. Subject has no Mana Circuits.]
(Right. The perks of being empty inside.)
Because I had no magical pathways for the song to hijack, to me, it was just bad karaoke.
"Is this it?" I asked, looking at Ayaka, who was currently trying to unbutton my shirt with trembling fingers.
"Renji..." she moaned. "Take me... right here... on the clouds..."
"No," I said, peeling her off me. "Not in front of the birds."
I looked up. The lead Harpy—a creature with violet feathers and a face that was uncomfortably human—was staring at me.
She looked confused. Every other male was on his knees. I was standing there, looking bored, checking my watch.
She flew lower. She hovered just a few feet in front of me, flapping her wings.
She sang louder. She focused the entire beam of her magical charm directly at my chest.
~Looooove meeeee... Submiiiiit to meeeee...~
It was deafening.
"You're loud," I muttered.
My skin, still hypersensitive from Dr. Mai's potion, was prickling from the sound waves. It felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper on my eardrums.
I had enough.
I stepped out of the protective circle.
"Master!" Runa gasped from the ground, where she was fighting the urge to hug her sword. "Don't! The temptation... it's too strong!"
I walked past the drooling bodyguards. I walked past the blushing Detective.
I stopped right in front of the lead Harpy.
She smirked. She thought I was coming to offer myself. She opened her arms, preparing to embrace (and eat) me.
~Yeeees... Come to mother...~
I raised my hand.
(My hand is sensitive. This is going to hurt. This is going to hurt so bad.)
But I needed them to shut up.
SLAP.
I backhanded her across the face.
It wasn't a martial arts strike. It was the dismissive slap of a pimp disciplining an unruly employee.
"OW!" I screamed internally. "MY HAND! IT BURNS!"
Externally, I kept my face frozen in a mask of icy disdain.
The slap didn't do much physical damage. But the psychological damage was critical.
The song stopped instantly.
The Harpy spun in the air, clutching her cheek. She stared at me. Her sisters stopped singing to stare at me.
The silence was deafening.
"Your pitch is flat," I said, rubbing my stinging hand against my coat casually. "And your harmony is derivative."
The Harpy Leader blinked. Her eyes widened. She looked at my crotch, then at my face.
She sniffed the air.
"Impossible..." she shrieked, her voice losing its musical quality. "No reaction? No blood flow? No mana fluctuation?"
She backed away, fear replacing the lust in her eyes.
"A male... without lust?" she screeched. "Are you... a Eunuch God?!"
(Hey! I am not a eunuch! I just don't have magic circuits!)
But to her, I was a biological anomaly. A predator she couldn't charm.
The raid team began to snap out of it as the song faded. They shook their heads, looking around in confusion.
They saw me standing alone against the swarm, hand raised, the Harpies recoiling in terror.
"He... he slapped the charm away?" Sae whispered, adjusting her glasses with trembling fingers. "He physically slapped the concept of lust?"
"He didn't even waver," Ayaka murmured, her eyes regaining their sharp, possessive glint. "He rejected the siren... for me?"
(No, I rejected her because she was loud.)
"You..." The Harpy Leader pointed a trembling talon at me. "What are you?"
I stepped forward. The entire flock flinched.
"I am Renji Amagiri," I said, my voice amplified by the silence. "And I hate bad music."