Wasn’t This a Night Game

I’m Screwed

The colossal Asmodeus slowly reached out a hand to seize Mammon.

Mammon, enraged by the sight, unleashed a blast of power to push Asmodeus away.

It was unexpectedly strong power.

But not enough to defeat him.

[Dare you try to harm me from within? A mere babe, barely a year born into this human vessel?]

Mammon’s form began to swell once more.

In the blink of an eye, he was the same size as Asmodeus, unleashing a deafening roar.

[I fought on the front lines during the Celestial War, second to none! Do you truly believe you can overcome me? There is a limit to hubris!!]

Mammon threw a punch.

Asmodeus, during that same war, was only ever good for hiding in the shadows, striking from behind.

Mammon, in stark contrast, had battled the gods head-on in the thick of it.

A one-on-one, straightforward fight? He was more than confident.

Just as he was about to bring this predictable battle to a swift conclusion…

A burst of blinding light erupted from Asmodeus’ hand, and the sensation in Mammon’s outstretched right arm vanished.

[Ughhh!!!! aaagh!!!]

Mammon screamed, clutching his right arm as he stumbled back.

His right arm lay severed on the ground.

The light in Asmodeus’ hand had coalesced into the unmistakable form of a sword.

Divine Power.

Pure, unadulterated Divine Power, radiant beyond measure, held by the Demon Lord as if it were his right.

[Indeed, I am not even a year old. And though I’ve been gorging on overwhelming faith for half a year, compared to you, who has honed his power for three centuries, I am still quite weak. But I believe you have forgotten… what kind of power I’ve been absorbing these past months.]

Asmodeus chuckled, picking up Mammon’s severed arm from the ground.

The intense resentment and divine essence clinging to Mammon’s arm were absorbed into Asmodeus’ body, vanishing without a trace.

[Faith. Mammon. I am indifferent to it, but you, even a simple prick, are excruciatingly vulnerable to such pure faith. I may be weaker than you, but a child can still kill an adult with a well-placed stab, no?]

[You!!…You parasite!!]

Asmodeus laughed, relishing Mammon’s shriek of agony.

[And the location of this battle… is also most unfortunate for you.]

The lustful one, wielding his sword of light, lunged toward the severed-armed avaricious one.

Mammon’s arm regenerated in an instant as he roared, refusing to be outdone, and charged at Asmodeus.

[Do not underestimate me!! How many times do you think I fought the gods of the Pantheon!! You think I would fear such paltry Divine Power?!….]

And in the next instant.

Asmodeus was gone.

The sword of divine power, once so brilliantly radiant.

The divine presence of Asmodeus, once exuding such overwhelming force.

Neither could be felt anywhere.

While Mammon was bewildered.

[Where did he g- ARRGH!!]

A sour sensation, and this time, his left leg was severed clean off, thudding to the ground.

Asmodeus, who had materialized out of nowhere, swiftly snatched the fallen leg and absorbed it once more.

[Forgotten? I can disguise myself more perfectly than anyone. And we are fighting within your divine aura, are we not? If I perfectly mimic your divine power, you will have no means to detect me.]

[You! You b*stard!!…]

Enraged by Asmodeus’ words, who spun his sword of light mockingly, Mammon regenerated his left leg and readied himself to fight again.

[Besides, what reason would I have to engage in a head-on battle I am certain to lose?]

But Asmodeus vanished again at those words, disappearing into thin air.

Invisible.

Looking around, all he could sense was his own divine aura.

Direct confrontation be damned; the opponent was simply nowhere to be seen.

[Wh-where are you? Where are yo- GaaaH!!]

This time, it was his left arm.

Before the severed limb could touch the ground, Asmodeus reclaimed it and devoured it whole.

[Such pure and intense grudges. Your divine power is quite delectable, Mammon. Thank you. Because of you, I am growing stronger at an accelerated pace.]

[No! No! It is mine! What I have gathered! My divine power that I have collected! You cannot simply take it!…]

Asmodeus vanished again.

Nowhere to be seen.

Mammon felt fear.

There was no way to win this fight.

But all was not yet lost.

Mammon’s eyes turned to the soul of Saint Amael, lying serenely on the floor far away.

Small and insignificant, but imbued with Asmodeus’ power.

If he destroyed that, he could win.

The decision made, Mammon charged forward with terrifying speed.

Even if his limbs were to be severed, he would not stop.

He had to seize that one as hostage, to banish Asmodeus.

But the situation did not unfold as Mammon wished.

[I knew you’d pounce.]

With a *shrrk*, Mammon’s body was sliced into dozens of pieces, scattering across the floor as if disassembled.

A scream barely escaped his lips, lost in the horrific pain.

As Mammon, in fragments, slowly turned his gaze, he saw dozens of strands of holy power, stretched taut, filling the air.

A trap.

To charge into such a place at full speed – no wonder his body was severed.

[It was so obvious you’d target Saint-Ppittbi. I set up traps around him in advance.]

[You, you b*tch….]

[You should have chosen the battlefield more wisely. It was your arrogance, thinking you could simply devour me, and the greed that desired my divinity and authority, that sealed your doom.]

Asmodeus rapidly began to absorb Mammon’s divinity and grudges scattered on the floor.

And as he did, Asmodeus, with his muscular, angular face, slowly began to change.

Absorbing the intense powers Mammon had gathered over three hundred years, he began to reveal his true form.

His muscular body began to slenderize.

Wings sprouted from his once bare back.

His short hair lengthened, and the hand clutching a sword softened.

And before long.

Asmodeus had transformed into a form familiar to Mammon.

A beautiful angel with four pairs of wings.

Two pairs of wings on the left, twisted more grotesquely than anything else, and two pairs on the right, more radiant than anything else.

Looking down at Mammon, who was trembling and staring up at him, Asmodeus burst into laughter laced with a saccharine sweetness.

[It’s good to see you like this. Greed. Crawling around like a worm. It’s truly hilarious.]

[Why are you doing this?! Why? With that much power, you could have returned to Pandemonium! Is it ambition? Are you doing this because you also have the ambition to surpass Lucifer?]

[No. I told you. Saint-Ppittbi… it’s because you touched Amael.]

A ridiculous laugh escaped Mammon’s lips.

[You’re going this far for just that one? Do you think Pandemonium will leave you alone?]

[Go ahead and threaten me. Do you think that will change the fact that you will be eaten by me?]

Asmodeus had already absorbed most of Mammon’s divinity scattered on the floor.

Now, only a scant few remained.

[Shouldn’t have touched him in the first place.]

[Negotiations!! Let’s negotiate! There’s no need for this! Lust! Let’s execute my plan together! I’ll give you half the lingering resentment that comes from it!]

[No. I’ve already decided to devour you. Besides, Amael wouldn’t like the world to burn. I can’t help with that.]

Asmodeus playfully waves her hand.

[Farewell, Mammon. I won’t miss you.]

[No!! This can’t be happening! No way!!]

Before even that last, meager divinity could be absorbed, Mammon attempts to flee.

Gathering the last of his resentment and divine essence, Mammon hastily tears a hole in the air and desperately crawls through.

[Where do you think you’re going?]

Of course, he doesn’t get far before Asmodeus seizes him.

She quickly begins to absorb Mammon’s last remaining divinity.

[Goddamn it!! Motherfucker!]

The Demon King of Greed was forced to make a choice he desperately didn’t want to make.

At the cost of abandoning every last scrap of resentment and divinity, Mammon finally managed to escape from the mental realm.

[Ugh… aaagh!!]

The human realm welcomes Mammon.

A basement where time stood still.

Within, a mass of flesh formed from the combined bodies of three followers writhes and screams.

[My, my divinity!!! My resentments!! No!! No way!! This can’t be happening! This just can’t be happening!!]

Is this what it feels like to be swindled out of your life savings of three hundred years in one go?

As Mammon weeps and screams in injustice, rage, and a despair that had crossed the threshold.

The time stop that had gripped the entire world unravels.

And then.

[No… No, you b*tch!! aaagh!!]

Light erupts from Amael’s body.

A colossal pillar of light bursts from his body, rising endlessly into the sky.

Piercing through the basement where the labor activists hid, tearing through the building itself, the pillar of light became so immense that everyone in the city could see it.

“Let’s not back down! Don’t fear the police!! We have our Saint!”

“Whether we’re beaten to death by the cops or return alive, what difference does it make! We must fight and win!!”

“Arrest all these subversives! They’re labor activists! I authorize lethal force!”

“Open fire now! ……”

The police and workers, locked in struggle, froze.

“Put them down, now! What did I make you police chief for?!”

-B-but, Councilman, the number of workers isn’t small. If blood is spilled here, the strike could escalate into a riot.

“I don’t give a damn!! Can’t you see our factories are at a standstill? Use the harshest measures, put them down now! ……”

The councilman and police chief, bellowing, also stilled.

“Wh-what is this……”

“Comrade Renaro! Retreat!!”

The labor activists gathered in the basement, too, ceased.

All of them, eyes fixed on the pillar of light, stopped their actions, lost their words.

The gentle, warm light illuminated every corner of the scrap yard, equally, without discrimination.

No wall could stop the light from bathing humanity.

The wealthy and the impoverished.

The sick and the healthy.

The sorrowful and the joyful, all gazed upon the light pillar.

Slowly, in the empty air, the pillar began to inscribe a single sentence.

A sentence shaped like a weeping eye.

The emblem of Lilia, Goddess of Grace, was etched clearly into the air above the scrap yard.

And witnessing this spectacle.

Mamon and his followers screamed.

[Anathema!! Anathema!! My, my body burns!! aaargh!!]

Mamon’s corporeal form began to crumble.

As he crumbled, he screamed in agony.

[You wench!! You wench!! I won’t forget this!! I will never forget!!………]

With that final death cry, Mamon’s body completely collapsed and turned to dust.

Karl Renaro and the labor activists collapsed under the god’s horrible screams.

They thrashed on the ground for a long while, and only after about ten minutes were they able to regain their senses and rise to their feet.

They looked at each other.

I gaze upon Mammon’s form, melted, strewn across the floor.

Then my eyes rise to Amael, radiating light from within.

The deliberation was brief.

Though the laborers loathed the capitalists, despised those in power, they still knew what the correct decision was in this moment.

“Contact the capital! Contact the White Order and the Black Fortress!!”

Kal Renaro screamed, his voice a ragged edge.

“Demon worshippers are in the city!! Request immediate deployment of troops!!”

And at nearly the same instant.

“Demon worshippers!”

“Contact the White Order at once!! There are demon worshippers and dark mages in the city!”

The factory owners, nestled in their opulent mansions, were shouting the very same thing.

Perhaps for the first time ever.

A moment of consensus between the laborers of the Scrap Yard and the capitalists.

*

[Massive experience gained!]

[All owned skills leveled up!!]