Story: Ataru's Goddess

Is there anything more pathetic than a Demon slumping off in defeat? If so, point it out to Mara so she could point and laugh and raise her spirits. The Ultimate Force interfering to make that idiot's harem bigger had not been a part of her plan. How the hell was she supposed to know that would happen?! Ugh! Now she was depressed. Down in the dumps. Miserable. It felt like nothing could bring her out of this funk, absolutely noth-

"How in the blazes did some unworthy average looking commoner wind up with a harem containing such beautiful flowers?!"

Ding! Basic human envy. Tasty like candy! Mara's head whipped up, and she found herself hovering over a mansion ground. Pretty swanky looking place, must be loaded with dough. She rubbed her hands together with glee: Okay then! If she couldn't interfere with Ataru's happiness then by Hild she'd get herself some contractual action going on with that rich dork down there hollering at the sky!

First thing's first. Got to make a good first impression. Or better still, an evil first impression. Get that brimstone going, get a bit of smoke billowing. Then cross her arms, spread some wings and put on her best wicked face.

"Greetings mortal!" Mara said.

Then she was tackled by about two dozen men in dark, snappy suits. Right. Rich and stupidly paranoid. Luckily they were mortals without any real spiritual power. All that she had to do was flex a tiny bit of energy and - whoopsie, away they went. Flying off her like someone had blown on a dandelion.

"As I was saying!" Mara coughed. "Greetings mortal! I, Mara have come to grant your every wish and whim! State your most cherished desire -"

Then she was bodied by another three dozen guards. And a tank. Okay! So, even richer and more paranoid than she'd assumed. Still! Easily dealt with! The weapons of man were as nothing compared to her power and before long Mara was standing atop that tank triumphantly glowering down at the boy.

"As. I. Was. Saying!" Mara yelled. "I'm a supernatural being -"

"I'll say you are with a face like that," the boy interrupted. "The merest glimpse of it has sent my guards scattered to the winds."

Guh! Was - was he hitting on her?! "I'm - I'm here to grant your greatest wish!"

"My greatest wish? What could be better than having you here, with me?"

Technically she could accept that. Then again, that would mean spending time with this idiot and quite frankly at this point the only reason she wasn't getting the heck out of here was stubborn bloody minded pride.

"Listen pal! I can make your wildest dreams come true! Anything you want, and I can get it for you!"

"I see," the boy nodded. "So... You are exceedingly wealthy as well?"

"No! I'm a magical wish granting being from realms beyond your mortal comprehension! Last month I snapped my fingers and the wisher got himself a giant solid gold statue of himself -"

By the time she'd finished, the boy had snapped his fingers and his goons had brought a solid gold statue... of Mara herself. Guh! That was really creepy, even by her standards.

"A gift, for you," the boy said. "Remember the name. Shutaro Mendo shall grant your every desire, for my family is among the scions who lead Japan's industry, if not the nation itself."

Oh boy. One of these types. A complete idiot given everything he had ever wanted from the moment of birth. In other words, the types that when there’s something they <b>can’t</b> get they will obsess over forever. In other words, the perfect Customer for Nelphiem!

“How droll, money. Anything you can buy with money can’t truly be worth much, I’d say.” Mara said dismissively, realizing the game she needed to play. This dolt wouldn’t be impressed by any display of power. she had to make him beg for her services. “I suppose if you lack imagination I’ll find another to offer my services to.”

"Lack imagination?" Shutaro sniffed. "The Mendo family lacks in nothing, save want! We have a surplus of imagination to spare, I will have you know."

Got him on the hook. Now to reel him in. "Then imagine something that you want," she said. "In exchange... A little cash, a drop in the bucket compared to what you're used to spending." In actuality it would be an increase in market share for Hell. Especially if it was a truly selfish wish, which this kind of idiot was bound to make.

"Well... It seems unfair, doesn't it?" the rich brat said, shaking his fist in frustration. "That a common boy like Ataru Moroboshi... that he could manage to have a harem of pretty girls at his beck and call... It hardly seems fair. It hardly seems right! Something is wrong with the world when he can have that and I cannot!"

Perfect. Never underestimate the power of a young man's libido. "Contract accepted," Mara said. "As for the price -"

"I want Moroboshi's harem all to myself!"

Uh oh. The moment he'd said that was right at the moment that she'd accessed Nidhogg and set in motion the contractual terms for the wish. It was in the system now, working its way through and all of a sudden she felt the compulsion to say "Thirty thousand, two hundred and 87 yen." A low price, but that’s how it it hooked them. As more complications came up the price would go up, and up, and up...

"It's yours!" Shutaro yelled, slapping her in the face with a big wad of cash and change that he pulled seemingly from nowhere. Oh hell! Now she was the one on the hook!

The terms of the wish were: Give Shutaro Mendo the harem of Ataru Moroboshi. Which meant the <i>entire</i> harem. All of it. At once. No picking them off one at a time, or the Ultimate Force would come down on her like... Like the Ultimate Force, there was nothing to compare it to! And worse yet she had to make sure that Moroboshi wound up having replacement girls for Moroboshi pretty much the second that she peeled off all those other girls - one of whom was freaking Belldandy do keep in mind - otherwise she'd be pushing the Ultimate Force on him having a harem!

Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. The only silver lining was that the Ultimate Force couldn't actually kill her... although you'd be amazed at what you can live through. Oh well. At the very least this couldn't possibly -

Nope! No, she didn't finish the thought. It didn't count. Hah! No Murphy's Law for her! Demons invented Murphy's Law, you think she was going to fall for it? No sir, no ma'am, no how, she wasn't falling for -

"Oh my goodness, my brother is about to bargain with a demon!" a girl slightly younger than Shutaro yelled, presumably his little sister. "Can I make a wish too?"

"Uh..." Mara started to answer, but she was then immediately interrupted.

"No, Ryoko!" Shutaro said. "First she has to grant my wish, and besides which she's clearly an angel. Not a demon."

An... Angel? Not a demon?! Mara bristled at the insult, but she could hardly harm a client!

Unfortunately for her, she was in the presence of a human being who might be considered as evil as a demon: Ryoko Mendo. This girl had immediately noticed what her brother had missed, that Mara had reacted with frustration to his description of her as an angel.

And so.

"Why brother, you're quite right!" Ryoko gasped. "Yes, I can see it now. The purity, the divinity... it runs off her body, radiating like a brilliant beacon. This is no demon, damn my eyes, but a truly good and holy being that has graced us with her presence."

Mara's eye twitched at the sound of such a thing. Now, she couldn't hurt the boy. But she could really hurt the girl. Oh, but she could hurt the girl! With a wicked grin on her face and power sparking in her fingers, Mara prepared to introduce this cheeky girl to a world of infinite pain and -

"Stop!" yelled a voice in her head that sounded almost like - Gulp! Mara stopped what she was doing. "Whoever that is, you're about to harm a tremendous source of profit.”

Well when your boss’s boss’s boss tells you do not do something you don’t do it if you have any sense whatsoever. Especially when it's a telepathic message beamed directly into your head specifically.

"My word! It seems as though this angel seeks to give me her blessing," Ryoko said. "I am a Mendo, but in this I shall show rare humility: I am not worthy, miss divine entity."

Right. That did it. She was enjoying this far, far too much. Mara hovered down in front of this cheeky rich brat and did the one and only thing that she could do in a situation like this that could possibly salvage her wounded pride:

"Do you want a job?" she asked. "Wanna work for Hell?" Not like she wasn’t already, this way she’d just get a paycheck out of it.

"Hrm?" Ryoko tilted her head. "Oh yes. That sounds... interesting. I was looking for a new challenge. Why, I might even wind up running the place inside of a year."

Elsewhere, in an entirely different realm of existence Hild began to laugh her head off and didn't have the faintest idea of why.

<hr>

Benten was a tough chick. She was rough, she was tough and she was proud of it. Which made it super important that she had a strong rival to contend with! For as long as she could remember that rival had been Lum. Well! This recent turn of events with her joining some Earth dork's harem, of all the absurd things, had just reached her about twenty seconds ago, and she was already dragging Oyuki through a time/space corridor so she could deal with this matter face to face.

"I fail to see what the big deal is," Oyuki coldly remarked. "This Ataru boy seems like he'll be much healthier for Lum than Rei ever could be."

"You're just sayin' that because you got a freaky fetish for underdeveloped civilisations," Benten growled. "I wanna see for myself what kind of guy this Ataru is, and if I don't like what I see -"

They emerged within a pretty spartan room compared to what they were used to. Didn't give Benten much hope for this guy being able to provide for Lum's needs. But even so, the Lucky God and the Neptunian Princess came to a halt at the sight before them.

That sight being: A pretty average looking human guy surrounded by three pretty dancing harem girls. One of whom was their friend Lum, but another was actually drawing Benten's attention even more. Wasn't that -

"See? How come you haven't asked us to do this?!" the Earth girl yelled while shaking her ass almost right in his face. "This is what a harem is meant to do."

"Hi Benten! Hi Oyuki!" Lum waved at them. “You just caught me having some fun with Darling!”

The final girl pulled the needle off the record player. “That was some fun exercise Ataru, you should join in next time.” She then turned towards Benten and Oyuki, giving them a genuinely gentle smile. "Would our guests like some tea, or perhaps some other refreshments?"

"That dancing did look like a lot of fun," Oyuku absently remarked. Standing next to her, Benten tilted her head and something went 'snap' inside her brain. She was, after all, a member of the race of Lucky Gods. This gave her a certain, shall, we say, kinship with the divine. Which in turn meant that little things like the Ultimate Force rather showed up on her radar pretty damn sharpish!

"Nope! Just leaving!" Benten hurriedly yelled, hauling Oyuki back into the corridor. "Nice to meet you bye!"

"Benten, how rude. We only just -"

"I said goodbye!" Benten interrupted, wide eyed and terrified. It took a lot to scare her. It took even more to make her ignore her usual concern for pissing off Oyuki. But something like the Ultimate Force? Yeah, that's gonna do it! "Not joinin' some Earth guy's harem. No chance, no how, no way!"

Meanwhile back in Ataru's room, Sakura stumbled inside with her priestess robes on. "I felt a disturbance in the - Were they dancing for your pleasure?! You fool! You have not earned the right!"

"This is why I didn't ask you to dance for me yet!" Ataru yelled, even as ofuda labeled “Moral Restraint” were slapped onto his forehead.

“These talismans will hopefully keep your mind free of impure thoughts.” Sakura said, “Much like your diligence in school they will restrain you until you-” The Ofuda burst into flame.

“Ahhhhhh get them off!” Ataru shouted. Flailing in circles and tugging at the burning ofuda on his forehead.”

“Hmm. It would seem that there are limits even to my power.”

1. Benten left it too late. Now the Ultimate Force is already moving to have her and Oyuki join Ataru's harem.
2. Mara somehow winds up contacting Benten and plots with her to 'free Lum and the others from the letch keeping them as his harem slaves'. Or something.
3. Ryoko starts her first day of work, and Benten winds up being her first contract.
4. Sakura steps up Ataru's training while Shinobu decides that the harem clearly needs to step up its game.
5. Something else