"This contract is quite special; only Succubi of our lineage can use it."
Though she said "this lineage of Succubi," in reality, only she, her mother Sheila, and her half-sister Lucia remained.
Only these three knew the ritual, and only they could use this contract.
Maria continued, "Furthermore, the conditions for signing the contract are strict. It must be a night of the full moon, and both parties must enter the contract voluntarily."
Rias folded her arms, not rushing to reply. Instead, she asked, "Could you elaborate on the contract's terms and effects?"
Due to the change in the world line, Sheila had not yet been captured by Zolgear, so the succubus LOLI hadn't been threatened and had no reason to tamper with the contract.
Even if she had tried to tamper with it, it would have been useless.
Not only did Ethan have his Spiritual Contract talent, but Rias and the others were not novices like Basara Tojo and Naruse Mio.
Relying solely on the unreliable, lewd succubus LOLI for such an important contract would be foolish.
If Rias detected anything amiss, she would immediately interrupt the ritual.
"This contract is a type of Master-Servant contract. It has only one restriction: the servant cannot betray the master and must be unconditionally loyal to them. They cannot even harbor thoughts of resistance or doubt..."
Maria chuckled, a lecherous expression appearing on her face.
If it were a man, it would look sleazy, but on the petite, cute, white-haired LOLI, while odd, it wasn't repulsive.
Naruse Mio, looking disgusted, chopped her hand down, stopping Maria's fantasy. "Keep talking, stop spacing out."
After nearly a week together, she had understood the succubus LOLI's personality.
She possessed a cute appearance but spoke quite ecchi-ly and enjoyed recording obscene videos.
"Mio-sama, that's so mean... Can't I even imagine things now~?"
Naruse Mio narrowed her beautiful eyes, clenching her pink fists. If the villa hadn't been entirely female, the ecchi incidents of the past few days would have already ruined her reputation.
"Maria—"
A cold, menacing voice sounded behind her. The succubus LOLI immediately covered her head with her hands, not daring to cause any more trouble.
"Ahem, because it's a Succubus contract, if the terms are violated, the servant will be subjected to an aphrodisiac effect."
Maria quickly got back to the point.
"Be aware, this aphrodisiac isn't just simple arousal. It makes the servant constantly experience pleasure, and as long as they don't submit to the master from the bottom of their heart, this pleasure will continue indefinitely."
"The pleasure is very intense, possibly stronger than the actual act. Because it's a contract effect, it influences them completely, from soul to body."
At this point, the succubus LOLI paused and added, "Well, my mother told me all this. This contract hasn't been used in a long time. At least my sister Lucia and I have never used it."
Everyone pondered in silence. The condition of loyalty, being based on something as subjective as the will, was indeed troublesome. No one knew what the precise standard for judgment was.
What would happen if an action akin to a white lie was needed?
Not dwelling too long on this vague matter, Ethan spoke up. "Can this contract be broken?"
Due to his Spiritual Contract talent, he asked this question purely for Rias's sake.
If it could be broken, everything was fine—they could simply break it after the Rating Game. But if it couldn't...
Maria shook her head. Her answer was, predictably, no.
Ethan truly wanted to participate in the Rating Game to eliminate all unstable factors, but he couldn't make such a decision for Rias out of self-interest.
This was a matter concerning her entire life.
Ethan looked at Rias. She smiled faintly at him before speaking again.
"Maria, since the contract terms are so strict, its effects must be very powerful, right?"
"Of course! Once the contract is signed, the power of both parties will greatly increase, depending on the emotional connection between master and servant."
The succubus LOLI said proudly, "There's a very simple way to enhance the power: you just need to engage in lewd activities~"
This contract is a perfect match for Ethan's Dual Cultivation ability.
After hearing Maria's explanation, Rias and the other girls thought in unison.
At this moment, Ethan also recalled more information about the contract.
The succubus LOLI's contract effect mainly depended on the feelings between the two parties. A purely physical relationship was unlikely to maximize the effect.
But speaking of lewd activities...
The act of merging, penetration, and internal ejaculation was the extreme form of the act. Even if it couldn't fully unleash the contract's power, it wouldn't be far off.
Moreover, he was confident that his feelings for Rias and the others were also quite strong. The contract might even achieve 80-90% of its effect upon success.
Ethan subconsciously looked at the girls' fair necks.
He recalled that the contract formed a collar with a heart pattern on the woman's neck, similar to the family crests Rias and Sona Shitori had etched on his palm.
It would manifest when magic power was activated, and as the contract effect strengthened, meaning the master-servant relationship deepened, the collar would continuously change color.
If he remembered correctly, the order was red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple...
Ethan couldn't quite recall whether the progression went forward or backward.
Similarly, it seemed that once the contract was signed, there was another restriction on the servant.
Violating it seemed to have severe consequences, but his memory was fuzzy on that too.
While Ethan was struggling to recall, Rias had already made her decision.
"Tonight is the full moon, and tomorrow is the deadline for submitting the roster."
The red-haired beauty pressed her hands against the wooden desk, her exquisite body leaning slightly forward. Her full, ample breasts hung heavily from her chest, the beautiful curve dazzling to the eye.
"Without delay, let's prepare the ritual now. We will formally sign the contract as soon as the sky darkens."
Maria blinked, somewhat taken aback by Rias's decisive action.
She instinctively looked at Ethan. Judging from the previous snippets of conversation, Ethan was meant to be the servant.
For this kind of special contract, which hardly affected the master, the main requirement was the servant's consent.
Ethan nodded. Then, realizing the succubus LOLI might have misunderstood, he specifically explained the reason for the contract being necessary.
"You have that kind of ability?"
Maria clicked her tongue in wonder, but quickly moved on.
Having spent the past few days mingling with the girls, she and Naruse Mio had a general understanding of everyone's situation.
Compared to the Dual Cultivation talent, the Boosted Gear Sacred Gear, and Ethan's exaggerated rate of power growth, the Spiritual Contract talent seemed less impressive.
Because she also knew about Ethan's decadent lifestyle, the tsundere twin-tails, who had initially held a good impression of him, hadn't spoken to him much recently.
Ethan couldn't do much about this and could only let nature take its course.
It was unrealistic to say he didn't want anything to happen with Naruse Mio. But after being with so many girls, especially the women of the Occult Research Club, he wouldn't force anything.
Similarly, while he secretly wanted to sign the succubus LOLI's Master-Servant contract with all the girls to strengthen their connection and deepen their feelings, whether or not to sign the contract was entirely up to the girls themselves.
The saying goes, "A forced melon isn't sweet, but it quenches thirst."
Ethan agreed with the statement, but he wasn't thirsty at all now; instead, he was constantly flooded...
Just since returning from the special training, the 'Takahashi Family' orgies started promptly every night.
Were it not for the HP and MP recovery effects of his Dual Cultivation ability, even his SS-Class strength couldn't withstand being drained every day.
It was early June, and with the summer solstice less than half a month away, night fell late.
After preparing the ritual and completing their individual loose ends, the sky finally began to grow dim.
They waited for about another hour until the clear, bright full moon appeared in the night sky.
The soft moonlight shone through the window onto the wooden floor of the club room. The magic circle, drawn with magical materials, gradually began to glow bright yellow under the moonlight.
The warm light intensified with time. Once the entire magic circle was illuminated and the bright yellow light connected, Maria, who had changed back into her Succubus form, signaled to Ethan and Rias.