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"None of you will guess what happened to me today!" Mammon said angrily as he took a seat next to MC.
"Judging by the sour expression on your face, I guess nothing good..." MC handed him the portion of food they had saved for him.
"Those jerks from my latest modeling gig just told me that I am no longer part of the subject." Playing with his food, Mammon continued. "No explanation, no nothing! When I got there, they just told me I was not needed anymore, and they basically kicked me out!"
"That's certainly weird..did you try to scam one of the demons in charge by chance?" Satan inquired.
"Since I've had this contract that paid well, I had no reason to think of a new scheme. Tho, with how these guys have treated me today, I should have done it!" Seemingly losing his appetite as he thought more about his situation, he pushed his plate aside. "Damn it, I really wasted a good opportunity to make money."
"Still, the fact you were basically kicked out of the project without as much of an explanation does raise some concerns..." Lucifer mused over what his younger brother had just said.
"I will just ask them for an explanation tomorrow, then! They can't just toss the Great Mammon aside like that!"
"I don't think you'll have to do this anymore. Look." Asmo handed his phone to Mammon before he could make any other comment.
"Seems like they replaced you with Zephar." Asmo said the demon's name in a huffy voice, clearly annoyed at having to think about that demon.
"You don't seem to like him that much.." Beel comments while stuffing his face with food again.
"Of course I wouldnt' like someone as unsightly as him! He is known to start drama with others in order to make himself look good, and not only that." Asmo snatches the phone away from Mammon, ignoring his brother's protests.
"He also stole some of my designs, claiming they were his!" Showing his brothers photos from one of Zephar's older modeling shows
"He is probably after Mammon now, trying to do something similar."
Yawning, Belphehor finally seems to be interested in the whole situation. "So what you're saying is that Zephar is trying to get Mammon to react in order to start drama?"
"He just has to ignore him, right? Sure, he lost this modeling gig, but by not reacting, he should get bored of Mammon and leave him alone." Levi suggested it without breaking his concentration from his game.
"If this guy went as far as to get the others to kick me out of this show, then I am sure he is not going to leave me alone." Mammon commented while playing with his fork, the food long forgotten, "It's not the first time I've worked with these kinds of demons, but they sure never get less annoying to deal with."
As the dinner went on, the demon brothers started to shit talk about Zephar, even after there was no more food for them to eat. It wasn't until the human chimed in that they shifted the topic of discussion.
"What if we plan something so he will leave Mammon alone for good? We might as well get some sort of revenge for Asmo too while we're at it." MC said after getting all of their attention. At the mention of getting back at Zephar, all of the demon brother's attention moved onto forming a plan for it.
After a week of planning and pulling some strings with the help of Diavolo and Lucifer their plan could finally start taking shape.
"Who would have thought we could make it in time with our plan so we could hold a runway show around the same time as Zephar?" Asmo said as he was taking Mammon's measurements.
"Still...we only have a few days to plan and make all the outfits, we will need to pull some serious all nighters" Levi added, rather nervously. He and Asmo were the only ones who really knew how to make outfits from scratch, while Mammon, MC and Belphegor could help only to a certain point.
"Just the fact that we've announced a runway show around the time of Zephar's show is enough to get that asshole all rilled up." Mammon assured his younger brother. "Especially with you as the star model and Asmo as the main designer... I am just worried he will try to start something," MC raised their concerns. Everyone was aware that by announcing a show in partnership with Majolish, they would garner a lot of attention, whether unwanted or not.
"Oh well, that'll be a bridge to cross when we get there. It's not like we didn't knew what we were getting into." Mammon commented, and with that everyone went back to doing their respective tasks.
"Everyone, I have some news related to Zephar." Satan hurriedly came into the room, getting everyone's attention. "An acquaintance told me that rumors about Mammon have started to spread around."
"What kind of rumors!?" Levi blurted out as he made his way to Satan along with the others.
"Apparently there is someone spreading rumors about how Mammon treated everyone badly at the last agency, and that's why he was kicked out. Some even said that he looked down on some of the other models. " The forth born seemed in deep thought as he explained everything. "While other demons don't really know where all of these rumors started from, I think we all know the source."
"Mammon may be a money hungry idiot that scams people, but he would not treat his coworkers badly!" Asmo started to rant loudly, putting any clothing material down so he wouldn't damage it during his angry rant.
"Geez, thanks for the compliment, if I can even call it that."
"Mammon, you look oddly calm for someone who is getting their reputation tarnished." Levi chimed in, seeing his older brother being unimpressed by the whole situation.
"Well, it's not like I didn't expect that, especially after Zephar tried to confront me in person not too long ago." Mammon merely scratched his head while the others fell silent.
"He came at you in person? When? And why didn't you tell us sooner?" MC tried to make sense of whatever was going through Mammon's head.
"It was just some lame attempt at taunting me. He was most likely trying to anger me so he could use it against me later on but it didn't work, so he left quite upset." Mammon continued recalling the whole thing like it was nothing. "It felt pretty good to see him getting all upset at his failed attempt."
"You really should have mentioned this earlier. Anyway, I already got in contact with some demons in order to keep these rumors as low as possible." Satan pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to not get even more angry at the whole situation.
"Aren't you worried that Zephar will act out even more now? If someone was coming at me that way, I would probably just dig a hole for me to die in!" Levi tried to argue, visibly shivering at the thought of being in a similar situation.
"Don't ya worry too much, it's not my first time dealing with such demons, I've got everything under control." Making his way back to continue working on the outfits, the second born turned towards the others. "We really should get back to finishing these if we want to put Zephar back in his place."
Everyone looked a bit shocked at how calm and serious Mammon was about the whole thing. Satan left the room while the others went back to making the outfits for the runway. Seeing Mammon be so sure of himself made the others have more faith in his plan.
° ° °
Designers, make-up and hair stylists, and their assistants were running back and forth, making sure all of the models were ready to go face the public.
The runway show was held in one of Majolish's biggest buildings, where multiple catwalks and stages were set up with some of the more elaborate set ups they had. Both longer runways and shorter ones were scattered symetrically around the building. Still, at the center of the room, there was the longest and most intricate of the stages, where the more eye catching clothing and accessories would be presented.
While a lot of models and designers of Majolish decided to take part in the show, Mammon and Asmo were still the most advertised out of all of them.
"Lord Asmodeus, I am surprised you're not one of the models participating in this event." One of the make-up artists that was making the final touches on Mammon's make-up said.
Well, you see, this is Mammon's show, and if I were to take part in it, I'm afraid everyone would pay attention to yours truly~" Asmo winked at the demon taking care of Mammon's makeup while ignoring the sour expression his older brother is giving him.
"He should really be more thankful to have such an amazing and generous younger brother such as me," Asmo explained, capturing the lesser demon's full attention and earning an eyeroll from Mammon.
Yeah, yeah, I'm so grateful for your help, oh dear younger brother of mine." While his voice was full of sarcasm, Asmo could tell that Mammon was genuinely grateful for all the help he had gotten from his brothers. The make-up artist didn't seem to catch the sarcasm in his voice and looked pleased with the second born's response.
In the midst of Mammon and Asmo's banter, the doors got thrown wide open, revealing a really paniked Levithan, who looked like he was on the verge of fainting.
"Asmo, Mammon, we have a problem!" Hurrying to sit next to them, he starts explaining what got him all panicked.
"A good part of the outfits are gone! To be more exact, the ones that Mammon was supposed to wear and Asmo created!"
While Asmo's eyes widened as some of Beel's plates, Mammon looked unbothered by the whole thing. "MC and Beel went to investigate the whole thing and try to catch any suspects, but we might not find everything by the time the runway starts." Levi finally finished explaining everything, looking just a little more relieved after telling his brothers about the situation.
While Leviathan was catching his breath, Mammon got up and made his way towards the door. "Mammon, wait! Where are you going? Now is not the time to run around during such a dire situation!" Asmo said annoyed at his older brother's seemingly uncaring demeanor.
"I've got something to check, so don't worry about me."
Neither of his younger brothers seemed convinced by his words, so he continued. "I've made a plan just for this situation. You two go start the show as planned, and when my turn comes, put on this video to play on one of the projectors." The greed demon throws a memory stick at Leviathan as he leaves the room.
Looking at one another, both Leviathan and Asmodeus still looked worried but decided to go ahead with the plan, after all, it was not every day they saw Mammon look so sure of himself and coolheaded.
The runway starts just as planned, with the models making their way first from the smaller stages first, and then gradually coming out to the bigger catwalks, drawing the crowd's attention towards the biggest catwalk, where Mammon was supposed to come from.
All of the lights pointed to where Mammon was supposed to come out from, but no one was there. The crowd seemed both surprised and annoyed at the lack of presence from the main star. Whispers started to spread around, some trying to make sense of the situation while others downright slandering the avatar of greed's name.
The whispering went on for a minute or so, and Levi was getting ready to set up the video he got from Mammon to be played until screams could be heard from the entrance. The doors flew open as a bunch of crows flew into the room, flying in all directions and scaring the guests.
As the crows started to sit in different parts of the room, the view cleared for all of the guests to see none other than Zephar, kneeling down in front of the main runway, trying to catch his breath. Both Beelzebub and MC were standing up on either side of him to make sure he would stay where he was.
"Everyone, I am sorry for the messy scene you had to witness." All eyes moved from Zephar to the main stage, where they could see Mammon walking down on it, in the outfit that Asmo created. "We had a situation with a clothing thief who tried to ruin our show." Mammon said as he was pointing towards the demon kneeling down on the floor.
"That's absurd! I was dragged by these damn birds and those brutes in the back!" Zephar shouted as he pointed towards Beelzebub and MC. "I would never lower my level so much to the point of stealing from another runway show!" He was visibly shaking with anger and wheezing for all the crowd to see. Guests started to talk among themselves as flashes of cameras were going off in the background.
"That's a bold claim you just made, especially considering that they're all just lies." Mammon's voice raised just a bit, not daring to let it slip just what kind of words he would like to tell Zephar. "Levi, play the video I gave you earlier."
Murmurs from the crowd could be heard, but once the video started to play everyone fell silent. The video not only showed Zephar clearly stealing the outfits and accessories but also all the attempts to get Mammon angry and even Zephar talking with some other demons about how he wants to ruin the show and put Mammon in a bad light. Everything, from the fake rumors to the nasty words and the plan to ruin the show, was caught on camera for everyone to see.
"What was the whole 'dragging you here by force around'? again" Asmo made his way next to Mammon, crouching down to look at Zephar. "What's with the look on your face? A model as popular as you shouldn't make such pathetic expressions."
Zephar tried to lash out at Asmo in a fit of anger, but before he could even reach the scene, Beelzebu dragged him down while MC put on some magic chains on him. He tried to free himself from them but that quickly stopped once they started to glow. MC got down to his level.
"If I were you, I would be careful; the more you move, the hotter they'll burn, and it would be such a shame to have burn marks on that body of yours. Unless the chains melt through your body before that." Standing up with a smug expression, they looked up at Mammon and winked at him as a sign for him to go on.
"As you can see, Zephar has been harassing me for quite a while, trying to ruin my reputation in the name of starting drama." Mammon spoke up to the public.
"Not only did he get me kicked out of my previous modeling gig but he also tried to ruin this whole show." Gesturing to his crows, he continued his explanation. "I used my crows to spy on him in order to get this whole thing on camera for all of you to see. I kind of hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it doesn't matter now."
Everyone looked at him in awe. The audience, because they just witnessed the whole thing, and his brothers, cause they didn't know Mammon could act so calm and collected, only MC had a smug smile on their face as they looked up at Mammon.
"We'll take it from here now." From the same doors that Zephar burst into the room, Satan , Belphehor and Lucifer make their way towards him.
"You've really got some guts, coming after my brothers like that." Lucifer looked down on him, smirking a little at the shameful state of the demon beneath him.
"We have also looked into some of your history, so the whole situation with Mammon that you've started isn't the whole thing you'll have to worry about." Satan explained as he motioned to Beelzebub to pick Zephar up.
"Man, can you get any more lame than you are already? I'm surprised you made it so far with how sloppy you were with hiding all of your stuff" Belphegor yawned while trying to mock him.
"Guess that's our cue to leave." Beel tightened his grip on Zephar. To everyone else, it looked like the sixth born was just having a more secure grip on the model, but in reality, he just did it in order to warn Zephar that he would eat him if he tried anything.
After Zephar was dragged away, Asmo got everyone's attention. "I am truly sorry for the delay of our runway. I hole you've enjoyed the show that we just put on but now is time to get back to the main show!"
Before making his way to the backstage area, Asmo turned towards Mammon with a big smile on his face. I can't believe we actually pulled that off, do you think the others are putting the fear of God into him right as we speak?"
Mammon, no longer being capable of hiding his grin replied. "I am sure they are doing so much worse than that"