Teti’s jaw dropped while Khonsu visibly paled. Since neither of them spoke, Setoth did.

“I am sure you’re wondering right about now, ‘what could the Evil God of Chaos possibly want with me?,’ or something along those lines, hmm?”

Teti slowly nodded while Khonsu remained petrified.

“Well, as I said, I am here to congratulate you on a job well done. In fact, you’ve done a job so good that I had to come here and make you each an offer!” they said jovially, before turning to Khonsu.

“To you, young man, I would like to offer you this weapon – the Trident of Serpents!”

With another snap of their fingers, the snake lunged upwards before transforming into a completely different trident from the one Khonsu had wielded, and the boy gasped. The former weapon was a mundane, iron trident without any special components or features. But this…

“The Trident of Serpents, as I am sure you can guess, has the ability to transform into a wide variety of serpentine monsters of the wielder’s choosing – for a mere pittance of mana, no less!” Setoth said, animatedly displaying the weapon like a sleazy bazaar merchant.

The trident was covered in slowly moving brown and black patterns, emitting an ominous feel and radiating with magic power. That weapon had a will of its own, and a wicked one at that.

“…And what do you want in exchange for such a powerful weapon?” Khonsu asked hesitantly.

“Good question, lad! There’s no such thing as a free lunch; the price for this weapon is an incredible, massive, whopping, nothing at all!”

“Nothing at all?!”

The Evil God nodded.

“I already have all the payment I need in three matters you helped with – at no cost to yourself, of course. The first is your wonderful strategy at taking down your enemies, though I’ve already told you enough about that. As the God of Chaos, I cannot let such delightful actions go unrewarded!” They said, raising a closed fist with a single finger raised.

“Second, it is going to be interesting to see how far you go and what you do with this weapon. I imagine a boy like you has a very interesting future!”

Another finger rose accordingly.

“Third, and most importantly, it was through your wrecking of that shop that I was able to discover the hidden gem that is your friend over here!” The god said, gesturing towards Teti and giving her a wide smile.

“Why is that worthy of a reward…?” she asked nervously.

“Another excellent question! That brings me to my offer for you.” They said, turning towards Teti and straightening their posture.

“Become my Champion. Be my favored mortal, my chosen agent in this world!”

Khonsu gasped, and I just blanked out.

“Me…?”

The god smiled.

“What’s so shocking about my request?” they asked.

Before Teti could respond, Setoth continued.

“A young, weak, unclassed, and unevolved girl managed to both exterminate a large group of people. She proved herself compatible with my ideal by sowing great chaos amongst her community. Imagine what such a girl could achieve with a little help and a generous helping of power! Besides, I’ve been lacking a Champion for quite some time now, and suitable candidates don’t grow on trees, you know.”

Teti shut her mouth and stopped to think, but the same couldn’t be said for Khonsu.

“Why should Teti agree to being the Champion of an Evil God? Not only is she painting a large target on her back, but she also isn’t evil either.”

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The strange god put a hand beneath their chin and nodded exaggeratedly.

“Hmm, good point, good point! But you’ve made some problematic assertions, young man.” Setoth said.

“Let’s start with this: Do you know the difference between an Evil God and a regular God?”

When Khonsu shook his head, the God nodded again.

“No wonder; it would have alienated most humans from worshipping the gods at all. Simply put, a God and an Evil God are exactly the same thing with a single exception: Evil Gods are called Evil Gods because more mortals than not consider them evil.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it!”

Setoth grinned and walked up closer.

“Being the Champion of any god puts a target on your back, whether it’s from gods hostile to your own, mortals who oppose your god’s ideals, and even dragons who just bear a grudge against everything to do with the gods. That applies equally amongst all of the gods’ followers, evil or not. Granted, you gain more enemies among mortals by definition if you follow an evil god, but who cares about that when you have a god backing you up?”

Khonsu nodded in stunned silence.

“What I offer is power. Power to protect yourself. Power to partake of the luxuries of the world. Power to bring ruin to your enemies. In exchange, I earn your fealty for the remainder of your life. So,” the god clapped, “what do you say to my offer?”

Setoth leaned forward, mere inches away from Teti.

“Don’t do it, Teti. There’s no telling what he might make you do if you accept his deal.” Khonsu warned.

Setoth waved him off.

“All I would require of you is to sow chaos every once in a while, much like you did tonight. And if you are worried that I may be lying, then rest assured that I am not. All gods cannot use lies or coercion when making any kind of pact with mortals. In general, we cannot even harm mortals directly, as long as they worship a god of their own. Even if we could, there would be no point in having a Champion who is upset with their god, and thus unwilling to obey their commands.”

Teti closed her eyes, thinking over the matter. While that blinded me to the god, I heard their next words clearly.

“While young Teti here considers my offer, what do you say, young man? Do you wish to take the Trident of Serpents?” the god asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? Of course not! Making deals with an Evil God is the height of foolishness. I am not afraid of you killing me in retaliation.” Khonsu said with a steely voice.

Setoth sighed.

“Unfortunate, but it was worth a shot anyway. Regardless, I wasn’t lying when I said I won’t harm you. Not only is it senseless, but it would damage my ability to make deals in the future. In any case, what do you have to say for me, young lady?”

Teti opened her eyes to see both of them looking to her with anticipation – Setoth’s eager while Khonsu’s was grim and uneasy.

“I refuse, but I have a counteroffer for you.” Teti said.

Poor Khonsu’s shoulders sagged in relief before tensing once again. Intrigued, the God raised an eyebrow.

“And what would that be?”

“I’ll be your Champion, but I have a demand in exchange. There is a child in my orphanage who is the closest thing to family I have, and he is afflicted with a condition that keeps him on the edge of starvation without actually dying. I want you to cure him and restore him to perfect health.”

Khonsu’s eyes widened.

“Teti, don’t! We can find ano-”

“Excellent!”

Setoth clapped, interrupting Khonsu’s objections.

“While I may not be a god of healing, I believe I have an idea of this condition you speak of. Removing it and restoring a single child back to good health should be a trifle well within my capabilities. Are you certain that’s all you want for your service?”

Teti nodded.

“Splendid! Now, give me a moment to finalize our contract.”

The god put the palms of his hands together and removed them from each other, revealing a piece of parchment and a floating feather in between.

“Setoth, the Evil God of Chaos, will cure a mortal child of Teti’s choosing from a crippling status condition and restore them to good health in exchange for Teti’s service as the Champion of the Evil God of Chaos for the remainder of her life. Neither party is permitted to take punitive or retaliatory action against the other or their allies for real or perceived offenses. This contract applies to each party for the remainder of their lives.”

The feather moved across the parchment’s surface rapidly as Setoth spoke, before vanishing once it was done.

“There we go. Once this contract is signed by both of us, we will be compelled to obey it until its conditions are met. Unlike soul magic, contract magic does not impose consequences on us for breaking the terms, but it imposes a compulsion on us to comply with them. It uses your own mana to compel you, so both of us would be equally incapable of breaking its terms. Are you satisfied with this contract, or would you like some more conditions?”

Teti stopped to think for a moment.

“One last question. You said gods cannot harm mortals directly. Why did you feel the need to include those safeguards against retaliation? And why the stuff about real and perceived offenses?”

The god’s eyes twinkled.

“Well, since the power balance between us is rather unequal, I felt that including these would help you feel more at ease. That said, I do admit that your spiteful nature gives me concerns of insubordination for its own sake, so this clause protects me from having a contrarian Champion while providing you and your loved ones a guarantee of security from both me and my followers. After all, while I cannot harm your allies, no such constraints exist for my mortal followers. Do you have any further questions?”

The Evil God was actually making an offer in good faith, which had me surprised. If Teti felt the same, then she did a good job of hiding her own thoughts.

“None at all. Let’s get this over with.”