It took 15 long and agonizing minutes for the people to assemble, too long for the enraged Mammon’s patience to stand, but he forced himself to remain as calm as possible. He did use that time to explain the situation to Dust, almost ordering her to help in the rescue operation, but the rational side of him won out in the end and he decided that her efforts would be better spent finding the hidden mages. Perhaps there was some connection between the two forces, although Mammon seriously doubted that.
No, the main reason why the demon was able to call off on using Dust to resolve the issue, even though it would have been the most local approach, was because he didn’t want anyone else to get in the way of his personal revenge, consequences be damned. Somewhere in Mammon’s mind, he understood that if something did happen to the boy, then it was quite likely that his stay in this world would end, and everything that he had accomplished so far would have been for naught.
He knew that the best course of action was to dispatch all of his resources into rescuing the boy, even if that meant delaying his other plans. The demon understood this logically, but that all-consuming rage and the desperate need to punish the people responsible was so strong that the demon couldn’t bring himself to do the logical thing. No, like he thought before, the consequences be damned, because the demon would make the kidnappers suffer, and nothing would stop his Wrath.
The last thing that the demon did before he readied to set out was to ensure that the people responsible had not secretly infiltrated the guests here. After committing such a Sin, it would have been impossible for them to escape the notice of the demon, but whoever was responsible for Wren’s disappearance was smarter than to stay at the site of the crime. Aside from the ambient Sin prevalent in every guest here, there was no one that stood out.
“Is this everyone?” Mammon addressed the few individuals gathered.
“Yes, sir!”
The demon nodded at the small crowd. He tried to be as discrete as possible, but news of the kidnappings and the failures of the security to stop them had already spread. Other rich and influential individuals, especially those who didn’t have ties to this town, had decided to search for the culprits on their own, and thus several search parties had formed in the span of minutes. With everyone working on their own, the effectiveness of their search would inevitably be impacted, but the demon couldn’t fault the others for wanting to take action directly. Too bad they didn’t have the demon’s advantage of knowing the rough location of where the children are, and Mammon was never the sharing type.
“Then we head out now.”
The men and women, a total of only 8 individuals when all was said and done, followed Mammon with determination in their eyes. The demon supposed that they wanted to impress him since much of the mess was due to their negligence, but he didn’t have the time to care about their vain attempts to make up for their mistake. Instead, Mammon used all of his focus on the weak link between him and the boy. He walked with focus, and when the way was blocked by buildings or other obstacles, he would simply jump over them instead of finding an alternative path.
“Wait, lord Amon!” one of the men shouted, “We can’t follow you if you go that fast!”
Mammon cursed under his breath. He didn’t have time to waste babying these idiots; the only reason why he decided to take them along in the first place was because he thought a few extra meatshields would come in handy, but what purpose would they serve if they couldn’t even catch up with him? Still, he couldn’t just ignore them entirely, not this early on when the demon’s position and power weren’t stable. Reluctantly, the demon took out a map of the town from his pouch and concentrated on the location of Wren again. He circled roughly where he thought the boy would be held and threw the map toward the lead guard.
“They’re held somewhere around there,” Mammon said with a grunt, “I’m going ahead.”
“But-”
Mammon ignored them and ran toward his destination. He had done the bare minimum needed to ensure his role as Amon wasn’t impacted, and he had no obligations to do more for the fools who failed their only task. Eventually, the link between the summoner and demon led Mammon to a mostly empty corner near the outer boundaries of the town. The walls protecting the settlement were just around the corner, and only a few impoverished people were living so far away from the town core. Strangely, when Mammon arrived at the spot where he was sure Wren was located, no signs of the child were seen.
Wren, can you hear me?
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Mammon waited for a response - any response, but there was nothing.
Wren, I don’t know if you’re there or not, but I am coming for you. Keep calm, and wait for me. I’ll get you out of there if it’s the last thing I do.
Again there was no response, and the demon cursed under his breath. There was nothing wrong with the link between the two of them, at least none that he could sense, but something was clearly obstructing his communication. Mammon wished that he knew more about the strange magic that permeated this world. He knew far too little about the way that this world works, and he was already feeling the consequences of his ignorance.
Mammon initially thought that he could perhaps extort some of the locals here to see if they knew anything about a kidnapping, but quickly thought against that. The dredges that lived here looked like they were anything but reliable, and it was highly unlikely that the culprits would allow themselves to be seen. There was no world where they could somehow avoid Mammon’s detection but fail to escape the notice of drug addicts and the insane.
Instead, another idea entered the demon’s mind. Sure, it was true that the kidnappers were using some kind of unknown magical means to escape detection, one that was completely unfamiliar with Mammon’s knowledge, but surely that weakness would go both ways. If the demon couldn’t interact well with this world’s magic, then he doubted the mages here knew how to counteract demonic meddling.
Mammon found an isolated spot and took out the Contract that began all of this. Technically, the demon had fulfilled all of his obligations to the boy, and all that was left was to collect Wren’s soul. Of course, if he actually did that now, then chances were that he’d be forced back to hell, so that wasn’t what he planned to do at the moment. Instead, Mammon wanted to use another function of the Contract. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone wanted to run away from the denizens of Hell once it was time to collect, and as far as the CEO of Hell was aware, there was nothing in all of creation that could hide a contractor from their due.
The demon concentrated on the meager reserves of demonic might that were still left to him and felt for the connection between him and the boy. The Contract served as the medium for his purposes and did most of the heavy lifting, and Mammon smiled as felt the connection between the two strengthen. Soon, as if an invisible path was opened before him, Mammon could see the path that the kidnappers took Wren. He followed it slowly, step by step, until he reached an inconspicuous wall on an equally inconspicuous house. The contract was telling the demon that there should be an entrance just behind that wall, even though every other sense in his body told him that there was no such thing.
The demon nodded to himself as he inspected the brickwork; he touched it and exerted some pressure as well, but nothing was out of the ordinary as far as Mammon could tell. The magic system in this world is quite formidable if some backwater mage could manage such a glamour, and a knot of worry started to form in the demon’s stomach. Was his initial plans too ambitious if the state of this world was more dangerous than he thought? No, Mammon mused, that doesn’t matter. If the world is dangerous, then all he had to do was accumulate more wealth and power to counteract any threat he would face. The only thing that this revelation changes is the scope of his plans, nothing more.
Gathering his energy, Mammon placed his hands on the cold stone wall and pushed. Given his absurd strength, the wall should have been destroyed in a heartbeat, but the simple red-bricked structure remained unaffected as if the CEO of Hell was but a child throwing himself against the building.
Frustration welled up in Mammon’s heart and soul once more as he was denied his will. That frustration quickly boiled into unending, blinding Wrath, and the demon channeled every last molecule of his anger into his glowing hands. The blazing, crimson fire started to scorch the wall, the outer layer bubbling off from the intense heat. As the ambient temperature rose, the snow and ice around the demon started to sublimate and a thick haze formed around man.
The few unfortunate individuals who were curious about the strange man coming to their neighborhood would have seen the silhouette of something truly terrifying masked under that fog, for as Mammon’s unbound rage grew, his grasp on his human form was slowly dissolving like the ice around him. It was only when the demon felt the walls - or more accurately - the enchantment surrounding the walls buckle under his might before collapsing entirely that he stopped to notice the changes in his body.
He frowned as he saw blackened scales cover his hands, and the long talons where his nails used to be; Mammon swore under his breath. The Sin of Wrath was something that clouded his mind of all rational thought, and without a better grasp of this new sensation, Mammon risked losing all coherent thought and turning into one of those idiot berserkers that he mocked back in Hell. It seemed that this new power that welled up in his soul was more troublesome than he thought, he had to learn more about each Sin if he was to use the new abilities that they provided, and he had to do that fast.
But for now, rescuing Wren took priority. Mammon had to collect his adrenaline-filled heart for a spell to ensure that his mortal disguise was uncompromised before he ventured into the newly created entrance. He also needed a moment to collect himself so that he would be ready for battle; there was no way that Wren’s kidnappers didn’t notice the demon’s entrance given how violently he broke the barrier.
Again Mammon had to curse for allowing the rage to take control of his actions, if it were his earlier self, he would have taken the time to survey the situation and think of a less intrusive method of entering the kidnapper's stronghold. The demon could have perhaps dug his way underneath the wall or found a weak point in the structure to exploit - he could think of a dozen ways to infiltrate the area now that he was thinking straight again - but instead, the demon had foolishly chosen the most direct path, and he would have to pay for that lapse in judgment now.
It was too late for regrets now, so instead of dwelling on his failures, Mammon channeled his growing rage into his fists and descended into the opening. Since there was no going back, the demon allowed his rage to consume him; he didn’t need rationality for what he was about to do next.