System's POV

Chapter 1424: Faceoff Between Two Calamities [Part 2]

Rain continued pouring, and thunder still rolled in the distance. However, the world between the two Immortals seemed to hold its breath.

Mammon’s golden eyes narrowed as he stared at the Sea Fiend before him.

The golden pillar of light surrounding his body pulsed faintly, reacting to his irritation. The once thriving city of trade was now a mess. Merchants fled their stalls in panic, leaving their wares—some were merely in disarray, but a significant chunk were broken.

This was all damage to property, which Mammon had to pay at a later time.

Not wanting to escalate the issue any further, Mammon forcefully took a deep breath in order to calm himself down.

When he regained a bit of his composure, he stared at the Immortal Fiend and decided to end the matter once and for all.

"You didn’t come here just to trade insults," Mammon said coldly. "Spit it out, Forneus. What do you want?"

Forneus tilted his massive head slightly, as if genuinely considering the question. Then, a wide, toothy grin spread across his draconic face.

"Oh? Is that how you ask a guest?" Forneus sneered. "No welcome gifts? No tribute? Have you gone poor since the last time I saw you?"

Mammon’s jaw tightened. He was very tempted to summon a giant golden coin and hammer it on the head of the bastard who dared to call him poor!

"Fine. How much do you want?" Mammon didn’t lack gold coins. Although giving the annoying serpent some money annoyed him, the Greed of Fiend would consider it as a bargain if it meant he’d get out of his territory!

"How does a billion gold coins sound?" Forneus asked. "See? I’m being very reasonable right now. I would have asked for more, but I don’t want people calling me greedy all of a sudden."

Mammon pointed a finger at the Sea Fiend, his voice shaking with barely restrained fury.

"You think I don’t know what you’re doing? You come crashing into my city, terrorize my people, damage my port, and then demand payment like you’re some kind of extortionist? What’s next? You’ll call yourself a pirate?!"

Forneus laughed. He had missed this feeling of messing with the Fiends and Celestials.

He had been sleeping for hundreds of years to recover from his injury. But now that he was fully healed, the urge to annoy the bastards who ganged up on him steadily rose inside his chest.

Mammon might not have played a role in that battle, but it didn’t matter. They were here to cause a commotion, and he would be damned if he didn’t live up to his reputation as the most fearsome Fiend in the world.

Just when everyone thought that Mammon would snap and take the initiative to attack Forneus, a voice filled with unrestrained amusement reached everyone’s ears.

"To think I will find you here, Forneus. You are truly a sight for sore eyes."

The Fiend of Many Faces, Dantanian, had finally arrived, which made Thirteen sigh in relief.

The main purpose of this chaos was to let Dantanian know their location so they could have a proper talk with him.

Dantanian eyed his two acquaintances before sensing something in the distance.

His gaze locked onto the teenage boy, who was standing on the roof of a warehouse. Although this was the first time he had seen the young man, Dantanian knew this Wanderer was one of the people he was looking for.

"Talk about coincidences," Dantanian muttered.

He had come to know about Zion due to the rumors and gossip being spread about him.

Now that he had finally met the other in the flesh, the Fiend of Many Faces could feel some kind of mysterious power emanating from the teenage boy.

To his amusement, the other party was looking calmly in his direction.

"I’ll let you off the hook with a million gold coins, Mammon," Forneus said. "It has been a while since the three of us met. Consider yourself lucky."

"Deal!" Mammon snapped his fingers, and a pouch containing one million gold coins flew towards the Sea Serpent’s direction.

He was afraid that Forneus would change his mind and demand more, so he readily agreed to this compromise.

"How about the three of us calm down, and have a proper talk?" Dantanian proposed. "Since we’re already here, can you be the Host, Mammon? Throw a feast for your old friends, won’t you?"

"Might as well," Mammon grumbled before ordering his subordinates to prepare a feast.

Forneus dispersed the rain clouds in the sky and returned all the seawater that had invaded the city.

The citizens of the city were finally able to breathe in relief. Finally, the danger had passed.

Although it would take a while to sort out the damages the merchants and the city suffered from Forneus’ entrance, Mammon didn’t lack the money to pay for everything.

Forneus sent Thirteen a mental message, telling him to lie low for a while.

Dantanian did the same, asking the teenage boy to not leave the city because he wanted to talk to him in private.

With everything settled, Thirteen returned to the inn where her brother and sisters stayed.

Since Dantanian was here, he would definitely try to ask for Mammon’s and Forneus’ help to stop Zaphiel from their goal of opening Pandora’s treasury.

Inside the shared room of the Leventis Family...

"You really gave me a fright, Zion," Mikhail sighed. "I thought Mammon and Forneus were going to fight for real."

"If that happened, the city would be in danger," Shasha commented. "Mammon would not allow that, so he would force Forneus to fight him at sea.

Remi didn’t join the conversation and simply held onto Zion’s arm. She was still feeling a little anxious, but being by Zion’s side made her calm down a bit.

"What now, Zion?" Mikhail asked.

"Now... we wait," Thirteen replied.

He didn’t know if Mammon had sided with Zaphiel or he simply didn’t care about what the aftermath would be.

The Fiend of Greed was a merchant. He chose profits first.

And nothing was more profitable than war.

If the Fiend of Greed was going to be their enemy, Thirteen needed to change his plans. Unlike the other Fiends, Mammon also posed a danger that he would be unable to ignore.