Raiju quickly stood up at Maria’s command and put out her arm before making a little gash on it with her chakram to draw out blood. It was quite impressive to see the lightning-like blood drip out of the spirit’s body but Maria quickly scooped it up with her index finger and performed the pact that bound the NPC to her. The pact that was initiated this time was one of master and servant. Both sides needed to agree to the terms and Maria had chosen this type of pact to make with the lightning spirit because unlike Ash whose loyalty had been tried and tested that Maria was willing to make him her Champion and not her Servant, she wasn’t too sure about Raiju.
From the looks of things, Raiju seemed to have some kind of misunderstanding about her which was why she had surrendered and unlike Ash, Maria didn’t know the true motives or goals of this lightning spirit at all. Without knowing the reason or the motive behind Raiju’s surrender and willingness to form a pact, Maria saw her as a potential danger if she didn’t put her on a tight leash, especially since she knew that this lightning spirit was sealed for a reason and there was the word ‘malevolent’ in Raiju’s description. It was practically a ‘Danger’ label and it would be stupid of her if Maria didn’t take any precautions against this. In the future, the spirit might suddenly turn on her once she regains her full powers.
Maria wanted Raiju to be an asset in the present, future, and further into the future, not a liability or a danger. So in this circumstance, the Master-Servant pact was the best way to go about it. Of course, she could have gone even further down the subservience line and went with an Owner-Slave pact but she reckoned that Raiju wouldn’t like that idea so she took a step back. Raiju also noticed that the pact type was a Master-Servant and not an Owner-Slave which came as a surprise to her. Normally, Battle Gods and Goddesses would choose the slave-type pact for absolute obedience since in that pact, the Slave’s life and death would be determined entirely by the Owner.
If someone was to argue in this situation where Raiju had wholeheartedly surrendered to Maria, she should have instead gone for the Owner-Slave pact but Maria was of a different mind. She wanted to foster loyalty among her subordinates and in order to do that, she needed to place a little bit of trust in them. Without even any hesitation, Raiju quickly sealed the pact by chanting the words because she didn’t want Maria to change her mind at the last second.
“Thank you, Master. Thank you!”
Raiju immediately began thanking Maria out of the blue for being ‘gracious’ to her but it was only because Maria had her own considerations and seeing the reaction that she wanted, Maria nodded inwardly in satisfaction but her face remained cold on the outside. She took a look at Raiju’s stats and began cheering inside when she saw how huge her stats were.
‘I hit the jackpot, the jackpot!!!’
Name: Raiju Level: 225 Status: Sealed, Weakened HP: 2,325,000/2,325,000 (581,250)
MP: 1,000,000/1,000,000 (250,000)
SP: 51,000/51,000 (12,750) EXP: 0/39,375,000 Race: Spirit Rank: Noble Title: Lightning Ruler, Malevolent Spirit, Trickster, The Unfortunate One, Species Eradicator EX, Servant ATK: 400,000 (100,000)
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
DEF: 155,000 (38,750)
M. ATK: 20,000 (5000)
M. DEF: 200,000 (50,000) STR: 20,000 (5000)
AGI: 15,500 (3875)
VIT: 15,500 (3875)
INT: 20,000 (5000)
LCK: 1
Raiju’s specs were beyond what Maria had imagined. She was level 225 but had such amazing stats. However, since she was weakened and sealed, she only retained a fourth of her original stats which was rather regrettable but this gave Maria time...time to foster loyalty from this malevolent spirit. The pact was a two-way bridge so Raiju was able to somewhat feel Maria’s strength although she couldn’t feel it entirely because of her status as a Servant. What she felt caused Raiju to feel...shocked. Shocked because Maria was unbelievably weak. At least, weaker than her original state if she wasn’t sealed and weakened.
‘G-Goddammit! This girl...she isn’t a Battle God! She’s just another mortal!’
Raiju felt her knees go weak when she sensed Maria’s power but she didn’t fall to her knees. She had to tolerate it because although Maria was weak, she was still much more powerful than her who was sealed and weakened. Although the lightning spirit didn’t show it on her face, Maria was able to feel the subtle change in her emotions which gave away her inner feelings.
‘Tsk, I knew it. As a powerful NPC, she probably sees me as a lesser...just you wait, I’ll change that thinking of yours until you worship me as the goddess that you’ve been calling me a few moments ago!’
Maria didn’t know why Raiju had been calling her a Great Goddess but it didn’t matter. Now that she felt her servant’s inner feelings, she was more determined to become whatever goddess Raiju had misunderstood her to be just to prove a point. One thing that Maria didn’t like was being slighted and that's just what she felt from Raiju’s thoughts, contempt and regret. No one looks down on her or underestimates her besides herself.
A small grudge had formed inside of Maria’s heart and it was going to bite Raiju in the ass one day. With a long term goal now set for her, Maria had something to look forward to in the future once she conquered all of Vanhal.
“I’ll show this little prick…”
“Did you say something...Master?”
Maria turned to Raiju who asked the question and eyed her a little coldly for real this time and replied, “No.”
That simple ‘no’ caused a shiver to run down Raiju’s spine. She felt a small tinge of fear surface deep in her heart for some reason when she shouldn’t be afraid of Maria at all even though she was currently weaker than her master.
“U-Uhhh...what are we going to do now, Master?”
“For now...nothing. I’ve accomplished a small goal today so I want to go celebrate.”
“Okay…?”
“I’ll have you explain to me why you mistook me for some ‘Great Goddess’, hm?”
When Raiju heard Maria’s words, she began to sweat a little especially since she heard the word ‘mistook’.
“W-W-W-W-What do you mean, Master?”
“...Let’s go. I want to hear your story too.”
“Yes…”
Maria took off into the air followed by Alexa and a rather worried-looking Raiju in tow.