As Maria continued listening to Raiju’s story, she could feel herself get mad at this Karni Amat goddess who seemed so petty in her eyes. Raiju hadn’t done anything absurd to warrant punishment as harsh as being sealed for eternity. She may have just impersonated the goddess for fun but she hadn’t done anything harmful to ruin the goddess’s reputation or hurt her followers in any way.
Maria didn’t know how severe it was to impersonate a goddess but from her standpoint, Karni Amat was being petty. There was no harm done to her nor her followers but she sealed Raiju inside of her statue so she could ‘become’ her since the spirit had tried impersonating her. In Maria’s eyes, Raiju only had some harmless fun but was punished severely for it that it was practically unfair. The fault didn’t even lie in her and if anyone was to blame, it should be Karni Amat’s followers who mistook Raiju for their goddess.
“Heh, that goddess must not be much since she’s so easily mistaken for someone else,” Maria clicked her tongue as she involuntarily blurted out.
“...What?”
Raiju was a bit confused by what her master had just said. Her story still wasn’t finished but out of nowhere, her master just suddenly insulted the goddess who had imprisoned her.
“M-Master, you shouldn’t speak so badly about gods and goddesses. They’re an unreasonable existence in this universe that mortal and even immortal beings like us should stay away from…”
“Hmmm...but it’s not like there isn’t a way to slay a god, no?”
“S-Slay a god?!”
“That goddess who imprisoned you, she seems strong but isn’t she also a little petty? You just had some harmless fun and it’s not like you did anything to harm her followers or her reputation, right?”
“E-Eh? Y-yeah...but it’s a crime to impersonate a goddess…”
“Yeah, that’s on you but it’s also her followers who are to blame. They mistook you for their goddess, isn’t that pretty stupid? Also, how unassuming must that goddess be that she’d be mistaken for someone else?”
“U-Uhhh…”
Raiju could feel the sympathy and even anger that Maria had towards Karni Amat who had imprisoned her. She wasn’t even the one who was slighted and yet she was feeling angry on her behalf.
“M-Master…”
Raiju began tearing up as she felt her master’s emotions.
“Eh?”
“T-That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me in ages!”
“...”
Maria had a blank look on her face as she inwardly thought, ‘That should probably be the nicest thing you’ve heard in ages, alright. Considering that you were sealed for a millennium…’
She noticed that the favorability bar had jumped up a few notches after she said those words and Raiju reacted in such a tearful way. The Lightning Spirit was moved because someone had shown her kindness. Maria thought that Raiju was simple and easy to please when in reality, the Lightning Spirit could have been more rational. She had been sealed for who knows how long and yet she was moved to the point of tears after a few kind and sympathetic words from her master who had literally just taken away her freedom not long after she had been released from her shackles.
‘Well, whatever, this works in my favor since her favorability rose so high. Now I can foster loyalty into this spirit and get her to work for me in the future once her stats are unsealed...hehehehe…’
Maria smiled on the outside but she was tapping her fingers together inwardly while thinking what she could do with this spirit in the future once she regained her powers.
“I don’t need to hear the rest of the story since it’ll probably be how long you’ve been sealed inside of the statue…”
“Mhm...Well, after I was sealed, I tried doing anything to get out...but it was impossible to break the statue from the inside. I’m quite surprised it broke so easily just from Master dropping it since the statue was created by a god.”
Maria shrugged and said, “The seal and quality of the statue probably decayed over time, but since you said it was created by a god, that means you have no means of repairing it, do you?”
“I-I’m sorry, master...but why do you want to repair it anyway?” Raiju asked with a wary look on her face.
Maria paused a little before thinking that she perhaps may have messed up. The lightning spirit probably hated the statue and resented it so much for having sealed her for a long time that she had become a malevolent spirit. With her wanting to repair it, Raiju probably misunderstood and thought that Maria wanted to use it to control her and seal her inside of it again if she tried misbehaving.
“No need to be so wary, I know you hate that thing but I have some use for it. The ability, [Veil of Darkness], is something I want.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Huh? That’s it? What could Master ever want from that horrible ability?”
“Horrible?”
“W-Well...it’s what kept me in the darkness for all those years and turned me into a malevolent spirit…”
“Oh...well, I want to use it to train myself.”
“Train yourself?”
“Yeah. It can keep me blind and while I’m blind, I can hone all my other senses. It’s different than wearing a blindfold since the [Veil of Darkness] also somewhat hampers my other senses.”
“O-Oh…”
Raiju began sweating inwardly because she couldn’t comprehend Maria’s thinking process. Staying in perpetual darkness like that...she couldn’t even last a week inside of the statue where darkness surrounded her before she slowly started to crack. Her master, however, said she wanted to train in that perpetual darkness? It was a crazy notion that she could never entertain the thought of. She had just escaped from the darkness so she wanted to bask in the light. It was only natural that she wouldn’t be able to understand Maria.
“Anyway, I spent a few days or maybe over a week in the dungeon while trying to hone my senses, couldn’t exactly tell the time anymore since I didn’t care. I managed to attain what I wanted but I want more...I won’t get satisfied with just this because I need to kill a person that’s...probably stronger than you in your strongest state.”
“Hm?”
Now that Raiju had shared her story, it was time for Maria to do the same. The food had been served a while ago and the two along with Alexa, who was listening intently on the side, ate while they talked. Maria began telling her about her grand ambition to take over the planet of Vanhal and this alarmed the lightning spirit.
“Y-You want to take over a planet? A-As I thought, you want to ascend, don’t you master?”
“Hm? Ascend? What do you mean?”
“Eh? W-Well, I can tell that you’re an Awakened already, so doesn’t that mean you want to ascend after that?”
“So...there’s something above being an Awakened Being?”
“Naturally... if you were to become an Ascended, then your existence would become on the same level as the gods though you’ll begin on the starting line which would place you on the same level of existence as me, a spirit,” Raiju explained.
“Ohhh...I see...Hmmm, that doesn’t sound like a bad, long-term goal.”
“Master...did you seriously not know of this? Then why would you want to conquer an entire world?”
Maria thought for a moment before replying with a shrug, “Meh, I just felt like it and I thought it’d be interesting to do.”
“I-Interesting to do…?”
Raiju had a comical look on her face when she heard her master’s words. When she first heard her master’s ambition, she thought that her goal was to seriously become a Battle Goddess or Goddess of whatever she desired but who knew her master only did this because she thought it was ‘interesting’. Since her master was like this, Raiju terminated her plans on trying to escape from the pact she had with Maria. Once her master conquered the world, established her existence on every living creature in said world, she’d most definitely ascend to the ranks of being like her.
Breaking a pact was nigh impossible to do and if Maria hadn’t had any plans to become a goddess, she would have used an eternity to try and break free from it. However, if her Master became a goddess, then she wouldn’t need to do that.
Once her master ascended, all bonds with her mortal shell would be invalidated and this also meant any pacts she created like the one with Ash, Carmilla, and her pets. Alexa didn’t have a pact with her because she had sworn a blood-oath of loyalty to Maria instead which tied her to her big sis on a spiritual level.
If Raiju could help Maria quickly ascend, then she’d be able to free herself even quicker than she had originally planned. Although she grew to like this new master of hers, Raiju still wanted her freedom since being shackled to someone or something wasn’t what she wanted anymore. This line of thinking was what was going to bite her in the ass in the future since Maria still held a small grudge against her for daring to look down on her but with her mind made up, Raiju was just going to walk the path to her downfall.
“Anyway, I didn’t know that I could become an actual goddess if I take over a planet...why is that some kind of prerequisite?”
“W-Well, higher existences like me have tiers, Master. That naturally includes gods and goddesses as well.”
“Explain.”
“Yes, to put it simply─”
Raiju began a simple explanation regarding the tiers of those at a higher level of existence. Simply put, a being on the higher level would have something called the [Power of Existence] which showed their level of standing in the universe. The more [Power of Existence] one had, the stronger they are, and to obtain this [Power of Existence], you naturally need to attain some sort of magnificent accomplishment.
“Hmmm… so that’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Then...have you tried obtaining more of this [Power of Existence]?”
“N-No...we spirits can’t obtain any more of that as once we are born, that’s just how we’ll be until the end of our time.”
“I see...Ah, now I understand why the goddess, Karni Amat, was so infuriated with you. You impersonated her and thus this lowered her [Power of Existence]?”
“Y-Yes… I-It was a folly which I shouldn’t have done but once I tasted a little bit of it...I was a bit drunk on the power even though I couldn’t retain it for myself because I was a spirit.”
“You shouldn’t have been so greedy,” Maria said with a shake of her head.
“...”
“[Power of Existence], huh? It sounds interesting so I’ll turn it into a long-term goal...man, this game sure is pretty extensive and all...I can’t believe the devs are going to allow people to become gods…”
Maria mumbled the latter half so no one could hear what she said. She was a bit curious about this power so she continued to ask, “So, what sort of magnificent accomplishment must one do to obtain more of this power?”
“Well, you have to ascend first before you can feel the power. It’s what mortals call [Divinity].”
“Mhm, I understand that…”
“Anyway, if you were to ascend, Master, the first thing you should do is establish a church or a following of some sort. Mortals who believe in you will become the main source of supply for your [Power of Existence], it would be even better if you acquired an [Avatar] of your own.”
“An [Avatar]?”
“Yes, it’s like a mortal with who you’ve shared your power.”
“A mortal...who─”
‘Wait a minute...since Death is my god...doesn’t that mean I’m his [Avatar]...?’ Maria thought. She broke from her line of thought and asked Raiju, “What does an [Avatar] do?”
“Well, since a god has shared their power with an [Avatar], then any accomplishments their [Avatar] has done will also become theirs. These accomplishments will supply the god with more [Power of Existence] since their [Avatar] can’t absorb the power for themselves.”
When Maria heard this, she snapped the spoon in her hand as her eyes turned dark.
“...Does an amazing accomplishment also include...bringing the apocalypse onto a planet?”
“O-Oh, yes, but that’s a rather dark accomplishment. However, dark accomplishments like that usually warrant more [Power of Existence] than your average accomplishments though it’s frowned upon,” Raiju explained as the ‘blood’ in her body began to roil as she began to sweat from the baleful aura Maria was unknowingly leaking.
“...Oh…”
Maria nodded before using her magic to fix the spoon in her hand...and then breaking it again as a crooked smile crept onto her face.
“Let's finish eating, yeah?”
“...Yes, master…”
Raiju didn’t know what was going through Maria’s head while Alexa, who was on the side, only looked worried at her big sister who seemed furious about something.
‘That little weasel...how dare he use me like this…’