Maria never wanted to be anyone’s [Avatar] and she definitely wouldn’t want anyone to exploit her in such any way. When she started the game and became a Fallen, Death had practically shoved the [Dark Priestess] class onto her and because she didn’t know any better, Maria just went along with it without knowing the implications behind it all. She had been tasked with many absurd things like destroying a planet, spreading Death’s religion on Vanhal, the planet she had decided to take over. If she continued her conquest, all of those achievements would have been Death’s and not hers.
This would have hindered her Ascension which was unforgivable. Now she understood why Death gave her so many long-term quests without any time limit.
‘So this is how you wanna do things, huh? Alright, two can play at that game…’
Maria’s dark eyes darkened a few more shades as her mind began plotting a way to screw Death over in the end so that she could ascend and retain her previous accomplishments. She really was just that god’s errand girl and this didn’t sit well at all with Maria. The rewards she got in return were indeed great, but she hardly used any of them since they were useless to her. The weapon she acquired, Calamity, and the Dark Priestess Class’s abilities were just about the only things she used that she acquired from Death.
As for anything else, Valhalla’s Raiment was something she obtained from Odin, Zantetsu-R was the same, the souls of the sin devils as well who didn’t seem to be affiliated with Death considering that they were sealed inside of the dimensions of the skill books she acquired from the god. Speaking about those skills, Maria had to do an absurd mission just to acquire those things. Of course, she didn’t just leave with only those Dark Priestess Class skills but even more since she absorbed the souls of all the sin devils she defeated.
“I can’t rely on that weaselly bastard anymore…how dare he deceive me...”
“I’ll show him...it’s not like I wanted to be your [Avatar] in the first place since you just shoved it in my face…”
“I’ll listen to you for a little while but just you wait, you little prick…”
Maria began muttering curses and insults at Death for using her but Raiju only turned fearful because she thought she had said something wrong which angered her master.
‘C-Crap...what did I do?’
Raiju didn’t need to worry, however, because she had actually helped her Master. She enlightened her Master on the things she previously didn’t know. If she hadn’t, Maria would have been screwed over until the end because of her ignorance. Maria turned to Raiju who was eating while fidgeting a little. She looked uneasy for some reason but Maria didn’t pay any mind to that.
‘I’ll have to reward Raiju for telling me all of this…’
“Raiju.”
“Y-Yes?!”
The spirit let out a surprised cry which somewhat shocked Maria.
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“Why so jumpy? No one’s here to seal you or anything.”
“Eh? Y-Yeah...what did you want of me, Master?
“Nothing, I just thought that I should reward you...How about this, I’ll help you lift the seal that’s still affecting you and get you back to your prime form, is that enough?”
“...Why, Master? I didn’t do anything to warrant such a reward…” Raiju asked, appearing a little wary again.
Maria shook her head when she saw her being like this and said, “Don’t be so wary with everything I said. Unlike a certain someone, I won’t take advantage of you.”
“O-Okay…”
“I’m doing this to thank you for enlightening me and opening up my horizons. If you hadn’t explained anything, I’d still be a frog at the bottom of a well unaware that I was being conned and taken advantage of for my abilities…” Maria said this while squeezing down hard on the spoon she had just fixed, breaking it again.
“...”
“Anyway, once I’m finished with my business here on this planet and we head back to my home planet, Vanhal, we’ll discuss your strengthening even further.”
“...Thank you, Master.”
“For now, I’ll need you to help me complete the quest I have here on this planet. Then, you’ll tell me more about how I can ascend and become a goddess.”
“Yes.”
While Maria was having her downtime with her subordinates in the game, she had completely forgotten about the IGC which had finally arrived on its last day. Maria had completely missed the final side event which she was supposed to be competing in, the Gauntlet because she was stuck inside the Dungeon of the Blind while honing her skills. The last day of the IGC had started today while she was in the game and had finished clearing the ‘bugged’ dungeon and the events were all undergoing their final matches.
When the lots were drawn in the morning, the semi-finals had become an epic showdown of Light vs. Dark, Angel vs. Devil. It was a coincidence but ironically enough, the Dark and the Devil had emerged victorious. Arthur had been soundly defeated by Lizzy in their battle as she had tossed him around like a helpless punching bag. The battle had taken a long time only because Arthur was a Holy Knight who could heal himself and had a lot of HP.
On the other hand, Caedes and Eos’s match was about even and the winner was determined through only a slight difference in equipment. If it wasn’t for a unique item that granted Eos invulnerability when receiving a fatal blow, he would have lost against Caedes.
If Lizzy and Caedes were matched up in the finals instead of her and Eos, it would only spell doom for Caedes, who was a pure spellcaster-class player. Lizzy's magic resistance and M.DEF stat were so high because of her racial advantage of being a dragon that even if she used her Berserker class’s HP-consuming abilities, she’d be able to kill the angel player off long before her HP fell into dangerous levels.
When the finals match came, everyone expected Lizzy to trash her opponent but against all expectations, Lizzy lost her PvP finals match against Eos so she came in second and took home the silver medal. The guild leader of Nine Hells had been hiding his potential even against his match against Caedes and in the midst of their battle, actually achieved an [Awakening]. It was like a scene straight out of an anime where the protagonist was about to lose but suddenly received an unexpected power-up in the middle of battle. With Eos's awakening, his power had reached a plateau that was above Lizzy so he overcame her and defeated her in battle right in the last few seconds, earning him the Champion spot and the gold medal in the PvP match.
Lizzy had heard all about this [Awakening] thing from her best friend, Maria, so although it was regrettable that she lost, she at least understood why she lost. Eos was just very lucky that he had accomplished his awakening in the midst of battle because before his awakening, Lizzy was manhandling him just as she did with Arthur and was tossing him around like a not-so-helpless punching bag.
If it wasn’t for his absurd mana pool, high HP, and numerous support, enchant, and debuff spells, Lizzy could have ended the battle before Eos had the chance to awaken and secure the victory. However, Eos wasn’t the guild leader of Nine Hells and one of the strongest devil race players for no reason. He had the skills to back up his standing and so the match wasn’t easy for Lizzy at all but she was capable of going head-to-head with even the strongest players in the game and even put up a decent fight against Eos─post his awakening─before going down.
She didn’t lose immediately and Eos had to work hard before bringing her down and earning the gold medal for himself. Lizzy won the silver medal and this attested to her strength so it was enough for her. Since she only participated in this tournament because it was fun and she wanted to advertise her guild to the world, winning second place when her ranking and level was pretty low while also putting on a good performance for everyone to watch was already a mission success.
Her Fallen Angels Guild’s name was already out there now so she expected more and more people to join her guild in the future. Her rival from the Light Faction, Arthur, had lost his placing match and obtained Fourth place while Caedes, who was victorious, obtained Third place. If she had battled against Caedes instead of Eos in the finals, Lizzy believed that she would have won because from what she saw, at least Caedes wasn’t going to have an anime protagonist episode like Eos and awaken in the midst of battle.