Chapter 68
The massive Asmodeus slowly extended a hand to seize Mammon.
Mammon roared in fury at the sight and shoved Asmodeus back.
It was... stronger than expected.
But not strong enough to win.
[You dare attack me from within my own domain? A creature born into a human body not even a year ago?]
Mammon’s body began to grow once again.
In an instant, he swelled to a size equal to Asmodeus, unleashing a deafening roar.
[I fought on the frontlines during the Celestial War! More than anyone else! You think you can defeat me? Don’t overestimate yourself, worm!!]
Mammon’s fist shot forward.
Back in the Celestial War, all Asmodeus did was slink in the shadows and strike from behind.
Mammon, on the other hand, had faced the gods head-on.
In a one-on-one fight, he had no doubt who would win.
He meant to end this predictable match quickly—
But then—
A radiant burst of light exploded from Asmodeus’s hand—
And with it, Mammon’s right arm lost all sensation.
[UAAAHHH!!! AAAARGHH!!!]
Mammon screamed as he staggered backward, clutching his shoulder.
His severed right arm had fallen to the ground.
The light in Asmodeus’s hand had taken the form of a gleaming, holy sword.
Divine power.
Unthinkably pure, radiant divine energy—
And it was being wielded, naturally, by a Demon King.
[You’re right. I haven’t even existed for a full year. Even though I’ve absorbed immense faith over the past six months, compared to your 300 years of power, I’m still weak. But… you seem to have forgotten what kind of power I’ve been feeding on.]
Asmodeus chuckled as he picked up Mammon’s severed arm.
The intense resentment and divinity lingering in the limb were absorbed into Asmodeus’s body, vanishing in an instant.
[Faith, Mammon. You don’t care, but for you, even a small stab from it is agonizing. Pure, fervent faith. Sure, I’m weaker than you… but just because an adult gets stabbed by a child’s knife doesn’t mean it doesn’t kill.]
[You… you damned parasite!!]
Mammon screamed, but Asmodeus only laughed.
[And let’s not forget—this battleground couldn’t be worse for you.]
Sword in hand, the embodiment of Lust charged toward the wounded embodiment of Greed.
Mammon roared, refusing to yield, as his severed arm regenerated instantly and he charged forward once again.
[Don’t underestimate me! I’ve fought countless battles against the gods of the Pantheon! You think I’d fear some measly divine pow—!!!]
And then, in the very next moment—
Asmodeus vanished.
The blinding sword of divine energy.
That suffocating, overwhelming divine presence.
Gone without a trace.
Mammon was stunned.
[Where did he go…?! AAARGH!!]
A sickening sound—his left leg was now severed and hit the ground.
Asmodeus had appeared again in an instant, snatching up the leg and absorbing it just like before.
[Have you forgotten? I’m unmatched when it comes to perfect disguise. And remember—we’re inside your divinity. If I mimic your divine presence perfectly… you have no way of detecting me.]
[You... you son of a...!!]
Asmodeus spun the divine sword mockingly between his fingers, taunting Mammon.
Enraged, Mammon regenerated his leg and dropped back into a battle stance.
[Besides, why would I engage in a fight I’m destined to lose face-to-face?]
And once again—Asmodeus vanished.
He couldn’t be seen.
No matter how Mammon scanned his surroundings, he could only sense his own divine presence.
What good was a head-on fight when the enemy couldn’t even be seen?
[Wh-Where are you?! Come out—AAARGHH!!]
This time, it was his left arm.
Before it could even hit the floor, Asmodeus snatched it out of the air and absorbed it.
[Such pure and delicious resentment. Your divinity is exquisite. Thanks to you, Mammon, I’m getting stronger by the second.]
[N-No!! No!! That’s mine! I gathered that divinity! That’s my power! You can’t just take it like it’s nothing—!!]
Asmodeus vanished again.
Gone. Nowhere in sight.
For the first time, Mammon felt fear.
There was no path to victory in this battle.
But that didn’t mean all hope was lost.
His gaze turned toward the far side of the battlefield—
To the soul of the Saint, Amael, resting quietly on the ground.
Small. Fragile. But infused with Asmodeus’s divine authority.
If Mammon could destroy that soul, he could win.
The moment he came to that conclusion, Mammon launched forward with terrifying speed.
Even if his limbs were severed again, he had no intention of stopping.
He had to take that one hostage—
It was the only way to force Asmodeus out.
But things didn’t go the way Mammon wanted.
[I was wondering when you’d make your move.]
Shhlick.
With a single sound, Mammon’s body was sliced into dozens of pieces, collapsing to the ground like a puppet cut from its strings.
The pain was so intense, he couldn’t even scream.
From where he lay in pieces, Mammon slowly turned to look—
Only to see dozens of glowing, divine threads stretched tightly across the air like a deadly web.
It was a trap.
He had charged straight into it at full speed.
Of course his body was shredded.
[Going after the Saint was too obvious. I set a little surprise in advance.]
[Y-You b-bitch…]
[You should’ve chosen your battlefield more carefully. Your arrogance—the belief you could consume me so easily—and your greed for my divinity and authority… that’s what led to your downfall.]
Asmodeus began rapidly absorbing the fragments of Mammon’s shattered divinity and seething resentment from the floor.
And as he did, the muscular, square-jawed form he wore began to shift.
Absorbing the potent powers Mammon had cultivated over 300 years, Asmodeus began revealing his true form.
The burly frame narrowed.
From his once-bare back, wings began to sprout.
Short hair lengthened. The hand gripping the sword softened.
And before long—
Asmodeus had transformed into a figure Mammon knew all too well.
A beautiful angel with four pairs of wings:
Two on the left, grotesquely twisted and monstrous—
And two on the right, radiant beyond words.
Asmodeus looked down at the trembling Mammon and burst into a laugh laced with mockery and sanctimony.
[You look great like that, Greed. Crawling around like a worm. It’s hilarious.]
[Why are you doing this?! Why?! With power like that, you could’ve returned to Pandemonium without issue! Is this about ambition?! You’re trying to surpass Lucifer too, aren’t you?!]
[Nope. Like I told you. This is because you laid a hand on the Saint... on Amael.]
Mammon let out a stunned, almost ridiculous laugh.
[All of this… over that one brat? You think Pandemonium’s just going to let this slide?!]
[Threaten me all you want. But do you really think that’ll change the future where I devour you?]
By now, Asmodeus had absorbed nearly all of Mammon’s divine essence.
Only a few traces remained.
[You shouldn’t have messed with him in the first place.]
[Wait! Let’s negotiate! There’s no need to go this far! Lust! Let’s carry out my plan together! I’ll give you half the resentment that will come from it!]
[No thanks. I’ve already decided—I’m going to consume you. Besides, Amael doesn’t want to see the world burn. I can’t support something he’d hate.]
Asmodeus gave a playful little wave.
[Goodbye, Mammon. I won’t miss you.]
[No! No, this can’t be happening! Stop!!]
Before the last remaining fragments of his divinity could be absorbed, Mammon made a desperate attempt to escape.
Gathering the final scraps of his resentment and power, he tore a hole in the air and scrambled toward it with everything he had.
[And where do you think you’re going?]
Of course, he didn’t get far. Asmodeus seized him again.
She began absorbing the final remnants of Mammon’s power.
[Damn it! Fck!!]
The Demon King of Greed had no choice but to make the one decision he desperately didn’t want to make.
In exchange for abandoning every last piece of his resentment and divine power, Mammon finally escaped the spiritual realm.
[Ghhhrrkk!! Aaaaghhh!!]
The mortal world greeted him with agony.
Time was still frozen in the basement.
There, inside the grotesque mass of flesh made from the fused bodies of his three followers, Mammon writhed and screamed.
[My—My divinity!!! My resentment!! NO!! This can’t be happening! IT CAN’T!!]
It must’ve been like losing a fortune he’d spent 300 years building—ripped away by a single con.
As Mammon howled, caught in a storm of injustice, rage, and the soul-crushing weight of despair—
Time resumed across the world.
And then—
[No… NO, YOU BITCH!! AAAAAAGHHHH!!!]
A brilliant light burst from Amael’s body.
A towering pillar of radiant light shot skyward, growing and growing until it pierced through the basement ceiling… through the entire building…
It rose so high, so vast, that every soul in the city could see it.
“Don’t back down! Don’t be afraid of the police!! We have the Saint with us!”
“Whether we die to their batons or cower and survive—it’s the same! We have to fight and win!!”
“Arrest these traitors! They’re labor radicals!! I’m authorizing live fire!!”
“Fire at will!!...”
Even the police and workers, who had been locked in violent conflict, froze in place.
“Suppress them immediately! You think I made you police chief for nothing?!”
—“But Senator, the number of workers isn’t small. If blood is shed here, the strike could escalate into a full-scale uprising.”
“I DON’T CARE!! Don’t you see our factories are idle?! Use force—now!!”
Even the screaming city officials and commanders fell silent.
“Wh-What… is that…?”
“Comrade Lenaro!! Fall back!!”
Even the labor activists gathered in the basement.
All of them turned to look at the pillar of light, mouths agape, frozen in awe.
That warm, gentle light illuminated every inch of Scrap Yard without discrimination.
No wall could block it from reaching the people.
The wealthy and the poor.
The sick and the healthy.
The joyful and the grieving—
All looked up at the same light.
Then, the pillar began to carve something into the sky.
A symbol—of a single, weeping eye.
The emblem of Lilia, the Goddess of Grace, shone in the air above Scrap Yard.
And at the sight of it—
Mammon and his followers screamed.
[ANATHEMA!! ANATHEMA!! MY BODY’S BURNING—AAAAARGHH!!]
Mammon’s flesh began to collapse.
Even his screams were shredded by the pain.
[You… YOU BITCH!! I WON’T FORGET THIS!! I SWEAR I WON’T—!! ……..]
With that final dying shriek, Mammon’s body crumbled to dust and vanished.
Karl Lenaro and the labor activists collapsed, overwhelmed by the terrifying screams of a dying god.
They writhed on the ground for a while—
And only after ten full minutes could they finally catch their breath and rise to their feet.
They looked at one another.
They looked at Mammon’s liquefied remains on the ground.
And then, they looked at Amael, whose body still glowed with divine light.
There was no debate.
Even if they hated the capitalists and despised those in power—
They knew, in this moment, what the right decision was.
“Contact the capital! Alert the White Order and the Black Fortress immediately!!”
Karl Lenaro shouted as if his life depended on it.
“There are demon worshippers in the city! Request immediate military support!!”
And at that very same time—
“Demon worshippers!!”
“Contact the White Order now! The city’s been infiltrated by cultists and dark sorcerers!!”
The factory owners, shouting from the safety of their mansions, said the same thing.
For the first time, perhaps—
The workers and the capitalists of Scrap Yard agreed on something.
***
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