Mammon threw the sack on the ground, exposing the three neatly severed heads, and smiled at the gathered men and women. Mav frowned when he saw the carnage, while some of the others were more interested in how the demon had managed to survive unscathed than worry about the death of their underlings. The three guilty individuals did their best to pretend that these deaths had nothing to do with them and were obviously ready to dispute anything that Mammon said. Everyone was waiting for him to say something to defuse this awkward situation.
Too bad the demon didn’t bother to speak. The three sweating individuals were only a few feet away from him, and with a burst of speed, Mammon was able to crash right into the nearest individual, snapping the poor man’s neck on impact. That was the benefit of surprise, no one ever expected such overwhelming violence out of nowhere, and the human mind needed precious seconds trying to decipher what had just happened.
Mammon used those seconds to crush the head of one of the remaining two guilty humans. Her head popped under the immense pressure exerted by the demon, which just left one more person. Much to the surprise of Mammon, Mav had suppressed the last man, holding him on the ground as he struggled uselessly to escape.
All of that commotion had alerted the various people waiting in ambush and the front door was kicked open. However, the goons froze in place, unsure of what to do once they entered and saw the rolling heads and the dead bodies of two of their bosses.
“What are you doing, help me!” the remaining man screamed under the weight of Mav. He tried to say something more but was gagged by the former leader. No one chose to heed his commands, it was abundantly clear who was in charge of the situation.
“Ah,” Mammon said with a warm smile as he flicked the blood and brain matter off his hands, “You’re in time for my demonstration. Now, I was just about to introduce myself as your new boss, but some unfortunate individuals,” he pointed at the dead bodies and severed heads, “had other ideas. They don’t have those now though, or any other thoughts now that I think about it. Do any of you fine ladies and gentlemen wish to join them?”
No one spoke up.
“Excellent!” Mammon continued, “Then let me officially introduce myself, I am Mona, and I will be in charge of the operations here from now on.” The demon saw that some people were clearly unhappy about his remarks. “Ah, please save any comments and concerns until after I am done here. As I said, I have a demonstration I would like to show the lovely people gathered here today. It’s an educational piece, so please try to pay attention.”
Mammon rolled up his sleeves and focused the energies again into his arm. Oddly enough, he never felt tired when using his ability, no matter how much he used it. Why, if it wasn’t for the fact that having his arms turn everything into gold was such an inconvenience, (hence the sleeve rolling) he would have preferred to have it on forever, but even Mammon knew that the source of this energy must come from somewhere.
Perhaps it was the ambient Greed that he was feeding off of, and since his current abilities were so pathetic, the expenditure was lower than the amount generated, but he needed more testing to be sure about that conjecture. Either way, Mammon’s left arm turned a beautiful gold and he slowly approached the still struggling man. The demon placed a hand, the right one, on his shoulders and nodded at Mav, telling him to let the man go. The downed individual’s struggles were so weak that they didn’t even register in Mammon’s mind.
The demon looked up and gave each gathered person a smile. “Now, let me show you all, first hand, what happens to those who wish to go against me.”
Mammon gingerly placed his other hand on the downed man’s own and began his work. What the CEO of Hell had realized earlier was that aside from the extreme pain that the humans endured as their bodies and cells slowly morphed into metal, there were no other adverse consequences if the areas affected were nonvital. The limb would even make a (near) complete recovery should he retract his ability. However, there were some caveats to this.
Now Gold, as beautiful as it was, had some flaws. It was soft and extremely malleable, which meant that even a decently strong human could manipulate its shape with their bare hands. Mammon could do a lot more, and so, he took the next half hour demonstrating his artistic talents on the slowly mutating man. Once he was satisfied with his work, he stepped back and addressed the anxious audience once more.
“Now watch closely,” the demon said, “because this is where things get interesting.”
With a snap of his finger - a lot harder to accomplish with metal hands - Mammon dispelled the transmutation and watched in glee as the fallen man’s golden limbs reverted back to their natural state, well, sort of. Flesh and blood replaced resplendent gold, sure, but the intricate decorations and sculpting that Mammon had done to the metal had remained, even in horrible fleshy form.
The man screamed as feeling returned to his arms, now entwined and stretched out to form a monstrous fleshy tree. His legs were bent in such unnatural angles that he couldn’t move no matter how hard he tried, and the more delicate roots that Mammon created broke and snapped under the man’s jitters.
“There!” Mammon exclaimed, “Sculpted by hand, by myself. I’ll call it… the Tree of Human Hubris, someone makes a plaque of that.”
Once again, no one else voiced an opinion, still morbidly glancing at the horror that became their old boss. No one dared to make any sound for fear that Mammon would demonstrate his artistic talents on them next.
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“Alright,” the demon continued, “Someone please take him away, alive, please, I need to display this masterpiece for my new subjects. Just remember to water and feed him once a while.”
Reluctantly, once Mav realized that no one volunteered for the task at hand, he grabbed a few other stunned observers and went to move the masterpiece. They flinched as they touched the strange fleshy thing.
“Ah, don’t worry, his voice should give out soon enough,” Mammon added, loud enough to be overheard from the incessant wails, “Just give him some time to readjust.”
“Aye, sir,” Mav replied grimely. It seemed like he was still the only one capable of doing anything at the moment, which Mammon supposed was a good sign. He didn’t think that anyone in this room would even consider betraying him now.
The demon nodded happily. “Now someone clean this mess up and take me to my new office, I have some things to discuss with the leaders of this little operation. Be there in half an hour, I don’t think I need to tell you what would happen if you choose to be late, yes?”
All of the surviving leaders shook their heads. Mammon didn’t expect anyone to be tardy here, not now at least. One of the men quickly went over to escort the demon out of the room.
“Oh, one more thing” Mammon added before turning to address the people once more, “Could someone please bring some refreshments over to my new office? Some snacks as well, I feel like I need to replenish some energy after all that excitement!”
“R-right away, ma’am!” one of the random ambushers answered before quickly scrambling away.
Satisfied with a job well done, Mammon followed his jittery guide and went to make himself at home in Mav’s old office. True to the man’s words, he had emptied it out and made it as presentable as possible for its new occupant. The demon sat down on the chair, put his feet up on the huge wooden desk, and allowed himself to relax for a spell. He was back in his element, behind a desk working on accumulating wealth and power. Sure, he was only the head of a tiny local gang, but it was not a shabby start given what he had to work with.
Before long, his snacks and drinks had arrived, although his minions might have gone too far since his desk now looked like a buffet with how many things they brought over, and he had to instruct them to clear most of it out so that he could have his meeting. The demon hoped that once the initial shock wore off, they’d be a little better at serving his needs. Either way, his office was cleaned, Mammon was full, and the local leaders all came over on time. Things were looking good.
“You may enter,” Mammon said as he felt the presence of the people behind his door. They did so meekly, each man and woman not daring to make eye contact with the demon.
“Please, take a seat, make yourself comfortable,” the demon continued, “But why are there only three of you here? I know Mav has other things to attend to at the moment, but there should still be one more individual.”
The only woman in the group, sweating nervously, answered, “I apologize, Lady Mona, but the last member ran away as soon as she was able to. We’ve already dispatched people to catch her, so please don’t worry. We’ll bring her back to you, we promise!”
Mammon shook his head and sighed. Here was someone else stupid enough to try to run away. Too bad the demon had the scent of each person he had interacted with, and there would be no escaping his Wrath. Mammon almost chuckled when he thought about that - he felt it just then, an unfamiliar Sin. Yes, it was similar to Greed, very much so, but paradoxically different. Mammon felt a different Sin manifest in his psyche, and he felt it resonate with his new soul.
A quick look into his mind palace and he saw a new strand of power feed into one of the empty branches on the tree, and a tiny new bud sprouted from this nourishment. That was when Mammon finally understood what was going on, and he laughed at the simplicity of it all. Seven branches, seven Sins, and he could manifest the abilities of all of them. That was something that he would need to look into in the future.
Mammon shook his head and refocused on the present. That kind of pondering could wait for later, he had a meeting to attend to.
“You have a week to catch the escapee,” the demon said with a smile, “If you fail to do so, I will have to act, and you really don’t want me to do that.”
“W-we’ll find her!”
“Good, now why don’t we start with some introductions?” Mammon continued, “I am to be working with you fine ladies and gentlemen, and let’s hope for your sakes that it’s for a long time.”
The first lady, a scarred and brutal specimen of the human species, spoke first, “I’m called Brick.”
“Brick?” Mammon asked with a raised brow, “That’s an interesting name.”
She chuckled nervously. “It’s a long story…”
“Then forget about it,” the demon replied, “What is it you do here?”
“Me, along with Sall,” She pointed to the man standing beside her. He could have been her twin for all the differences there were, “are responsible for managing our territory and getting our clients to pay up.”
Mammon nodded, “So extortion, racketeering, and violence, good to know. What about the other guy?”
The last man present, an older balding individual who looked more at home in a library than in a dingy criminal office, wiped his forehead before speaking. “I’m in charge of finances, ma’am. I’m the bookkeeper, they just call me by my title these days..”
“And that’s everyone aside from Mav?”
The old man nodded. “I apologize, we’re uh, short on staff since your arrival, we’ll get the other positions filled as soon as possible.”
“Perfectly understandable,” the demon replied, “And are there any mages among you?”
Brick raised her hand. “I’m an earth mage, so’s my brother, although we’re nowhere near as talented as you are. That… thing you did, your, um, art. That’s a dual-core ability, right? Earth and something else, Light or Spirit?”
Mammon had no idea what she was talking about, but he nodded in any case. It wouldn’t do to allow his new underlings to think he was ignorant of something so simple. Perhaps that was the Sin of Pride talking, causing him to act in a way that didn’t directly benefit him, but Mammon didn’t care. He’d have to learn the magic system in this world eventually, and he didn’t think these backwater nobodies had much knowledge to impart in any case.
“No,” the bookkeeper added, “Earth and Spirit can explain her ability to transform her own body, but not influence others. It’s either a unique Trait or she’s a tri….”
Now the others all looked at Mammon with admiration along with the fear. It seemed that whatever explanation they gave for his abilities was impressive, at least relatively so compared to this small slice of civilization. Mammon really did need to learn more about this world, perhaps there’s a library or the like he could visit, although he did recall how expensive and difficult it was to access knowledge before the invention of the printing press. It was more things to figure out about the world he now inhabited.
“Alright,” Mammon continued, addressing the gathered three once more, “Now let’s talk about the changes that will take place now that I’m in charge.”