Location: House of Lamentation / Leviathan's Room

Leviathan:...All right, enough. This is starting to depress me.

Anyway, I didn't bring you here to tell you about TSL.

I don't think there's any harm in just coming out and saying what you already know is true: Mammon is a complete and utter scumbag.

It's very important that you understand this. So I'll say it one more time.

Mammon is a hopeless

 worthless

 scumbag.

I lent that scumbag money, and now I want him to pay me back.

But being the scumbag that he is, he won't do it.

I wish I could force him to, but despite what a rotten waste of space he is, Mammon's still the second oldest.

As the third oldest, no matter how hard I try, I don't stand a chance against him.

You say you want to know how Mammon and I first became enemies? Well, it's a long story, but sure. I'll tell you, human.

Once, a long time ago, Mammon won a prize in a convenience store promotional campaign. If you bought something, they let you reach into a box and pull out a piece of paper that told you what you'd won. And the prize Mammon won was a Seraphina figure, something I would've died to have. But, despite the fact that Mammon had no interest in it at all, he refused to give it to me. Why, you ask? Because I wanted it...that's it. That was the only reason. I wanted it, and he said no just to torment me. I mean, how awful is that?! So, I got to thinking... Mammon's going to end up treating Seraphina like some random piece of junk. That much is a given. I can maybe handle it if he at least leaves her in her original packaging, but what if he actually takes her out of the box?! He might just do it! And if he does, he'll get dust on her, won't he?! I decided I had to save Seraphina, so I snuck into Mammon's room in the middle of the night. And what do you think I saw there?!

You're not gonna believe it. He didn't open the box... No, it's way worse than that. He hadn't even taken it out of the plastic convenience store bag, which he'd tossed on the floor of his room. THE FLOOR! He actually left SERAPHINA on the FLOOR! The Queen of the High Elves Herself! Sure, she seems cold and prideful at first, but once you get her alone, you find out that she really wants affection, she just doesn't know how to admit it, and it's soooo cute! Yet Mammon just threw her on the floor! And I don't think he'd cleaned it in three months. It was covered in junk. Old empty cup ramen containers, tissues with dried snot and...and boogers in them. Stuff was strewn everywhere. And there she was, lying there amongst all of that! On the FLOOR! Tossed aside like so much junk! How COULD he?!

It was so awful that I just lost it, and flew into a rage. I walked straight over to Mammon, who was lying on his bed asleep. Then I raised my leg up into the air over him and brought my heel down onto his stomach as hard as I could. But the next thing I knew, he wasn't there on the bed anymore. It all happened so fast. He moved with incredible speed. He grabbed me, picked me up, and slammed me headfirst onto the floor in a pile driver. And the worst part is that he was STARK NAKED!

...As I started to lose consciousness, I remember thinking...why does he have to sleep in the nude? He could at least put on some underwear.

I don't remember anything else after that...

You've seen just how fast he is yourself, haven't you? No one aside from Lucifer or Beel has that kind of speed.

But if, say, a human made a pact with Mammon, and bound him to their service...

...then he'd have to do whatever that human told him to.

Which means that if you make a pact with Mammon and then ordered him to give me back my money...

...he wouldn't have any choice but to do it.

What's a pact?

A pact, with a demon... Haven't you seen that in movies and such?

The demon lends his strength to a human to make their wish come true in exchange for their soul.

✧

I don't want to give up my soul!

That isn't always necessary. It depends on what's in the pact.

But, well, you need to give SOMETHING to the demon to make it worth the exchange, so it's pretty much inevitable.

If you don't want to give up your soul, then I'll tell you how you can negotiate with Mammon.

That's so cool!

Your reaction is kinda worrisome considering I didn't even tell you about the risks yet, but oh well!

Using demons sounds cool, right? You wanna give it a try?

✧

Also, I'm sure it would be useful having him as your servant. I mean, despite how awful he is, he's still a powerful demon.

But I bet you feel worried, being dragged down here to the Devildom and all.

So, I don't think it would end up being a bad deal for you, either.

Don't you agree?

✧

Yeah! All right, I'll go give it a shot!

...Are you really optimistic by nature, or are you too stupid to know what you're getting into?

I'm not sure I could manage to do that.

Hey, don't give up before you've even tried! I thought humans weren't quitters. I thought your kind had guts, resolve! You'll stand for hours on end under a blazing hot sun in an endless comic-con line, enduring crowds worse than a rush-hour subway car, stepping over the bodies of those who've collapsed from heat stroke, all to get your hands on some new comic you have to read no matter what. It's horrible—awful, even! But you have to overcome it, and you succeed! THAT'S what humans are about!

How would I go about doing that?

I take it this means you think this plan of mine could work, right? Excellent.

You may be a human, but still...you show some promise!

✧

Regardless, if I'm being honest, I don't really care what you think.

What's important is that I have a plan, and I'm going to explain it to you now.

So, shut up and listen.

If you just walk up to Mammon and ask him to make a pact with you, he'll never agree.

No, you need some leverage...a bargaining chip.

You're going to offer him something in return...

Something he wants so badly that he'd do ANYTHING to get it.