Stage 4 – Mom-mam's Level, Minarutos, Home of the Greed Devils

The four girls found themselves in the depths of Minarutos, the Fourth Level of the Infernal Hell. The cavern they entered was nothing short of a dazzling spectacle, filled with unimaginable treasures, lakes, and rivers of the finest boiling oil. While Reimu, Marisa, and Iku marveled at the opulence, Eiki wore an aggravated expression.

"Wow! Look at all of this stuff! Just how rich are these devils!? There's more money here than even a poverty god could spend!" Marisa exclaimed, eyes gleaming at the sight.

"Indeed. This is the Fourth Level of the Infernal Hell, Minarutos, Home of the Greed Devils," Eiki explained, frowning. "Ugh… I hate being here. Greed devils are the worst."

"Why? Do they not like your constant nagging?" Reimu teased.

"HEY! I don't nag! I just want people to be better, that's all! Anyway, it's more like they just refuse to change! They all like and want to be selfish, greedy, power-hungry snobs who look down on literally everyone else because they're rich! It's just depressing," Eiki sighed, "And their queen, Mom-mam Beatitudo Ignorantia Et Egestas… She's the worst of them all. And yet if you can believe it, her attitude is tame by greed devil standards…"

"Is she really that bad?" Asked Iku.

"Hrmph! If you don't believe me, you'll see for yourself when we all meet her. Trust me on this—MARISA DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Eiki warned as Marisa reached for some gold coins.

"What? I'm not gonna take much," Marisa protested.

"It doesn't matter! Marisa, trust me on this: You should never, ever steal from a greed devil. There's a reason all the poverty gods refuse to come here," Eiki cautioned.

"Oh yeah? What's the worst that can happen?!" Declared Marisa proudly but skeptically, "I've, eh, 'borrowed' plenty of things throughout my life, and nobody ever even tries ta catch or stop me! So what if they find out, ze!"

"And do you know what happens when they do find out?" Eiki said in a deadly serious tone.

"W-what, are they gonna kill me or something?!" Marisa nervously asked.

"Worse! First, they hunt you down and beat you until you're at the brink of death! Then, they take all of your valuables! Then, they bring you back to Minarutos and make you beg them for forgiveness! Then finally, they rip out your soul, put it in a gemstone, and put it in one of their statues that they use as security systems! And that's where you'll stay forever, forced to watch over the very things you stole from, with only the dim awareness that you've done wrong to keep you company!" Eiki's words sent a shiver down Marisa's spine as her eyes went wide.

"GYAH!" Marisa screamed as she ran behind Reimu and hid, "Don't let 'em get me, Reimu!"

"There, there, Marisa. They won't hurt you." Eiki said as she comforted the terrified Marisa, "Trust me, if you had stolen from a greed devil, you'd have known by now. Just-Just try to control yourself, OK?"

"I will, I will! So where's this Mom-mam's castle, anyway?" Marisa asked as she quickly regained her composure.

"It's that gigantic cross between a magnificent palace and a lavish mansion over there," Eiki pointed out, "Did I mention she has one of the biggest egos I've ever seen? I could've sworn I mentioned that"

"Wow!" Remarked the astonished Iku, "She must be really rich!"

"Hmph! That's an understatement, Iku! Mom-Mam is one of the most, if not the most richest individuals on all the Planes. Let's just get this over with. She, or at least her "possessions," already knows we're here, so get ready," Eiki urged as they headed toward the castle.

"…Possessions"? Reimu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Greed devils refer to everything they own as their possessions…" Eiki explained, "This includes those working for them. Mom-mam, of course, has the most out of all of them and they're usually very smart or very strong. Or both, mostly both."

As they approached, the castle doors swung open, and a beautiful young woman in a cherry-red maid's uniform with light green wavy hair with a dark blue stripe and deep purple eyes stepped out to greet them.

"Greetings, visitors. I am Senko Chikara Shuchu, the head maid of the great Mon-mam Beatitudo Ignorantia Et Egestas, the richest, the greatest, the richest, most powerful, the richest, most beautiful, and most of all, the richest being in existence. Did I mention just how rich she is?" Senko greeted with a polite curtsy.

"Yes! Why did you say it so many times?! She's rich. We get it," Reimu snapped.

"My apologies. My mistress and owner, the great Mom-mam, has instructed me to greet all visitors in such a way. It can get frustrating at times, I know. Shall we begin the tour?" Suggested Senko.

"Tour? What tour?" Questioned Reimu. In her mind, though, she was thinking Oh gods… This woman is going to be a nightmare. I'm already getting irritated and I haven't even met her yet!

"All visitors are required to have a tour of Mom-mam's magnificent castle. She loves showing off… A little too much, if you ask me. I really do wish she'd stop this sick obsession of hers. She's unpopular enough as it is! But, she pays us through the nose and takes good care of us, so it's not like we can just leave. …If it makes you feel better, I'll make the tour brief. Why are you here, anyway?" Senko inquired.

"Yes. Please. As for why, we need to speak with Mom-mam," Eiki explained.

"Ah. In that case, I'll combine the tour and meeting. If memory serves, she should be in her smallest money bin," Senko informed.

As Senko guided them through the castle, they passed various artworks depicting Mom-mam in dominant poses over powerful beings like the Sages, Lord Tenma, and Lord Tsukuyomi. But most numerous are the ones of her making Hecatia her slave, humiliating her or even outright killing her.

"She really seems to have it out for Hecatia. Why? What did she ever do to her?" Reimu couldn't help but ask.

"Hecatia? Nothing. She just wants to overthrow her, that's all, "Senko explained casually acting as if what she just said wasn't a big deal at all, "Overthrow her, and rule in her place."

"WHAT!?" Iku, Reimu and Marisa all exclaimed in unison.

"Seriously?" Marisa added.

"Eiki Shiki!" Demanded Reimu, "You never mentioned this! Why?!"

"Because there's nothing anyone can do about it." Eiki gave an annoyed sigh, "By the laws of Hell, we can't punish her unless she goes for outright rebellion. She's smart enough to know she doesn't stand a chance in a straight-up fight, so she uses more subtle means of taking over and gaining more power than her. Besides… Her attempts almost always fail, usually in a comedic and painful way. Honestly, I think just Hecatia lets her continue because she finds her antics amusing."

"…Yeah, that sounds like Hecatia, alright," Reimu agreed.

As Senko continued the tour, they eventually arrived at what looked like the vault door of a bank. The door was open, and they could hear a woman playing around inside. Senko turned to them with a smile.

"Here we are! My mistress is inside. This way…" Senko led them into the money bin.

Inside, they witnessed Mom-mam Beatitudo Ignorantia Et Egestas, the queen of the greed devils, doing the backstroke in a vast pool of treasure while singing soundlessly yet obnoxiously. Senko cleared her throat to get Mom-mam's attention. The queen of greed devils stopped her swimming, spread her six wings, and flew up to meet them, grinning smugly.

Mon-mam was wearing a suit of gold and silver armor studded with diamonds, rubies and sapphires over a very dark purple and pink Victorian-style dress with a red, blue and purple flower pattern on it. Clear white tubes that carry a light yellow fluid run up and down her arms, legs and torso. Her skin was tanned, her eyes were light brilliant arctic blue and she had long blonde, pink and white hair that was in the shape of a tufted flowering air plant. Underneath the "flower" were two long green ponytails that resembled thorny vines. She had on a dark red cape, dark pink heels, and pale, light grayish gold opera gloves. She had three pairs of draconic wings on her back that seemed to be made out of liquid gold, silver and platinum. She carried with her a rapier, a bladed longbow and spear, all of which were very dark purple.

This is her smallest money bin?! Thought Reimu, Eiki wasn't kidding! I didn't even know it was possible to be this wealthy!

"Senko, what's going on here? What is this trash doing here?" Mom-mam asked, disdain heavy in her nasally, sniveling, obnoxious, high-pitched voice.

"WHAT!? Who are you calling trash?" Reimu retorted.

"Well, yes. You clearly have far less money than me. I mean, just look at you! How can you not be low-born trash? But seriously though, why are you here?" Mom-mam demanded.

"We want access to the next Level, Mom-mam. A friend of ours, Tenshi, was taken, and we want to get her back," Eiki explained.

"Oh? And what's in it for me? You can't get something for nothing, you know!" Mom-mam declared pompously, wagging a finger as she spoke.

"Well… What do you want?" Iku asked cautiously.

"IKU NO! Never ask a greed devil that, least of all her!" Warned Eiki, but it was far too late. A huge grin grew on Mom-mam's face.

Mom-mam began to list off her demands, counting on her fingers as she went along."Hmmm… Well for starters, I want ten million yen from each of you, five years of servitude from each of you, and every month from now on, you have to give me 50,000 yen each. Oh, and you have to do everything you can to help me get what I want, when I want."

"WHAT!? THAT'S OUTRAGEOUS! If you don't let us pass, Mom-mam, the only thing you'll be getting is a gohei to the face!" Reimu spat, her fury growing by the second.

"YEAH! Just who do ya think ya are?!" Marisa added.

Mom-mam looked them all up and down and frowned, "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that? …Seriously, who are you people? I recognize the annoying nag," Eiki grumbled at this, "but you three are a mystery."

"You haven't heard of us? I'm Reimu Hakurei, and this is Marisa Kirisame! We're Gensokyo's primary Incident resolvers!" Reimu declared.

"Yeah, and I'm Iku Nagae. I serve Lady Tenshi and the other celestials," Iku added.

"Ohohohoho! YES! You two. Ririsu has told me all about you losers. You two are nothing more than worthless commoners who only win your battles because your opponents pity you, and said opponents are complete idiots for associating with low-born trash. Well, believe me, you'll get no such treatment from me because I'm rich, you're not and are, therefore, little more than garbage to me. So that's how you'll be treated! OHOHOHOHO!" Mom-mam laughed loudly and arrogantly. Her laugh was somehow even more grating than her normal voice!

As Mom-mam continued to speak, Reimu got progressively angrier. Then, she suddenly stopped and smiled deviously.

"Oh really? How about we have a Spell Card Battle then? And if we win, you have to let us pass. For free."

"Ohohohoho! Very well! For recreational purposes, we'll have your precious Battle. But if I win, you all have to be my slaves for life and give me everything you own. OHOHOHOHO!" Mom-mam agreed, gleeful at her apparently inevitable upcoming victory.

"Fine by me! Come on, Marisa: Let's prove this stuck-up jerk wrong!" Reimu accepted her challenge. To say she was eager to make this woman eat her words would be an understatement, to say the least.

"Oh yeah! I'm gonna enjoy this!" Marisa added.

"I'll teach you your place, you filthy vermin! This victory, like everything else in this world… It's All. MINE!" Mom-mam declared.

The fight began. Reimu and Marisa drew their weapons and charged at Mom-mam, who drew her sword and charged them in return. The fight began. Reimu and Marisa drew their weapons and charged at Mom-mam, who drew her sword and charged them in return. They clashed in the middle of the money bin, the power of each strike sending more treasure flying, and eventually swung her long bow at them, forcing the two girls to avoid the blades attached to the bow.

She promptly drew her rapier and began to swing it around fluidly and elegantly in ways that would impress even Youmu Konpaku. In fact, Mom-mam's swordplay was nothing short of masterful. She skillfully manipulated her blade, sending energy waves at her opponents with each swing as she shouted out the name of each technique. Reimu and Marisa, initially confident, found themselves challenged by Mom-mam's unexpected prowess. But without warning, the waves subsided, and she just stood there and did nothing. However, when Reimu sent another attack her way…

"PARRY!" Mom-mam shouted as she swung her sword at the Danmaku being sent her way, and the girls watched in shock as the bullets were wrapped around the length of the blade, and then were flung right back at them twice as fast!

"Damn it!" Cursed Reimu, "I didn't know she could do THAT! It's like that crazy Kuroshiro Shirokuro all over again!"

"Now that ya mention it," said Marisa, "she does have that same super-arrogant air to her that she did!" She scoffed, "Let's see if she can handle this trick!"

With a confident flourish, she unleashed a Spell Card, expecting to completely overpower Mom-mam. However, to her surprise, Mom-mam skillfully deflected that magical assault as well, sending Marisa's own magic rebounding towards her. Marisa let out a loud shriek of panic as she frantically dodged the star bits and lasers that were sent flying back at her.

Undeterred, Reimu seized the opportunity, striking Mom-mam from behind with one of her most potent Spell Cards. Because her guard was down, she had no choice but to take every hit. Reimu was elated by this victory. She idly wondered if Mom-mam would have the same breakdown the aforementioned god had when they had hit her.

Unfortunately for Reimu, she didn't. All Mom-mam did was swiftly turn on a dime and initiate her first Spell Card: Avaritia Sign "Platinum Breath". She raised her sword and a giant glyph formed underneath her feet. The space directly above her was filled with the body of a colossal dragon, breathing out an explosive inferno that incinerated everything in its path. The dragon then vanished, only for it to come screaming down at them from multiple angles, and a wave of treasure followed its path across the vast money bin.

Undaunted, Reimu and Marisa skillfully dodged the onslaught, countering with their own attacks. Mom-mam, however, was relentless. Mom-mam just fought back with an intensity that matched her disdainful glare. She flew up and pointed her sword at them, creating fists of treasure that rose menacingly from the ground in an attempt to grab or punch them. They flew around them and continued to blast away at her. She tried to parry the attacks again, but before she could, Marisa hit her in the back of the head with a dashing punch, causing her to be hit by both attacks at once.

"Why you little…! FINE! Here… CATCH!"

She started tossed exploding spears at the heroines, creating a chaotic dance of detonating projectiles.

She then gathered balls of treasure and hurled them at her adversaries. The impact against the cavern walls caused the balls to explode into smaller, sharper pieces, creating an additional layer of danger.

She finally took to the skies, drew her bladed longbow, notched it with an arrow of magic and fired. Her single arrow split into about 500 of them, making it rain arrows right at her foes. She followed this up by deflecting another one of Marisa's attacks and then used her second Spell Card.

This Spell Card was Avaritia Sign "Platinum Blood". Another glyph appeared, this time facing Reimu and Marisa, and they tensed, wondering what would come this time. A giant heart materialized, veins angling at them and vomiting forth waves of boiling oil filled with razor-sharp rubies.

When the oil and rubies subsided, the heart vanished, only for Mom-mam to start spinning with all three of her weapons outstretched, leading to more coins getting scattered in every direction before she went back to throwing her spears and shooting arrows at them.

The battle continued in this relentless fashion until Mom-mam unveiled her third Spell Card: Avaritia Sign "Platinum Song". A row of giant speakers emerged from a row of glyphs, releasing sonic booms, beams, and bolts of lightning shaped like musical notes. The symphony of chaos forced the heroines to navigate the storm of sound and electricity.

The speakers soon stopped playing, sunk into the ground and disappeared from sight, leading Mom-mam to shoot up into the air while flapping her wings, sending tidal waves of treasure flying at them that Reimu and Marisa were forced to blast their way through. They flew right at her, but she stopped flapping her wings, drew her sword and started firing even more sword beams at them.

As the fight persisted, Mom-mam was forced to use her second-strongest Spell Card: Avaritia Sign "Platinum Cosmos". An absolutely enormous glyph appeared in front of Mom-mam that she leapt into with an evil grin. An equally enormous swirling patch of space manifested where she stood, sending multitudes of small planets made of treasure hurtling right at them both at great speed.

This was very hard to dodge, but they noticed that some of the planets moved faster than the others, leaving them room to dodge. After at least 18,000 of these planets were released, the space warp shrunk down to nothing, spitting out an increasingly irate-looking Mom-man, who tumbled out of it and fell flat on her face. She scrambled to her feet only to be hit in the face by two of Reimu and Marisa's Spell Cards at once.

Mom-mam let loose a wordless cry of rage as she prepared to use her ultimate Spell Card: "Avaritia Sign Platinum Arrow". She took out her longbow again and shot 100 glowing silver arrows straight up, her arms a blur as she drew and shot each arrow. Each silver arrow multiplied itself by 1,000, and they all rained from above as Mom-mam, wielding both her rapier and spear, charged right at them, scattering waves of gold coins in her wake. This was even harder for heroines to dodge than the last Card, and it really pushed them to their limits, even as they deftly dodged and countered.

In one final attempt to stop this onslaught, Reimu and Marisa combined their powers into one overwhelming blast of magic and spiritual energy. The resulting explosion sent Mom-mam flying, tumbling head over heels across the great lake of treasure, carving out a large trench. She stood up clumsily, her clothes and armor in tatters, glaring hatefully at her triumphant adversaries. The spoils of her greed and the residue of magical warfare created an otherworldly atmosphere as the echoes of their clash lingered in the money bin.

Mom-mam began to rant and rave; clearly enraged at her loss. "You…! YOU…! HOW DARE YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!? I'm not going to let you LOSERS get away with this! How DARE you humiliate me, your superior in every. Single. WAY! I'm not going to let you worthless, low-born pieces of horse dung get away with this! I'm never going to let you leave here, do you hear me! I'll break you in every sense of the word, and make you my slaves, that I'll mistreat and abuse at every turn! I'll take everything you own, and everything you WANT to own! And as for your precious Tenshi… I'm going to track her down, hurt her, maim her, beat her, and kill her all while you're forced to watch! You will RUE the day you dared to cross the great and powerful MOM-MAM!"

Iku, Reimu, and Marisa glared at Mom-mam with pure venom in their gaze. They looked at each other, nodded, and proceeded to spend the next ten minutes beating Mom-mam like a red-headed stepchild. After the beatdown was over, Mom-mam was covered in lumps, cuts, and bruises and had clearly changed her tune.

"Ah… On second thought, let's just let bygones be bygones and forget the whole thing! You can all pass, for free, just as you said. Now if you'll excuse me… I need to heal. Ooogh… My aching everything…" Mom-mam groaned in pain.

The four girls smiled and nodded as Mom-mam summoned a large ring of pearls with a swirling white vortex inside of it.

"That was beyond satisfying. We should have just done that from the start." Said Reimu with a big grin on her face, sounding very happy at what had just transpired.

"You said it, ze!" Agreed Marisa, who sounded just as happy. Her smile was just as big as Reimu's.

They entered it, and as it closed up behind them, Mom-mam lay down on a bed of money as Senko started to heal her. Hearing the flapping of wings, she sees Ririsu descending from above, with a horrifically smug grin on her face.

"Ririsu? What are you doing here? ...You're here to gloat, aren't you?" Mom-mam's voice sounded beyond irritated. She always did this when she was proven right, or when she won, or whenever she had the chance, really.

Ririsu responded gleefully with a malicious glint in her eye, "Oh, you know me all too well, Mom-mam! I think I'll start by saying: I TOLD YOU SO! AHAHAHAHA! Now then, let's start with you saying that I was right and you were wrong! REPEATEDLY! AHAHAHA!"

Mom-mam, seemingly unfazed, called upon her trusted maid.

"Senko, dear, please take out the trash," Mom-mam commanded with a nonchalant air. Evil, obnoxious gloating was nothing new to her (she was very partial to it, herself) but people like Ririsu needed to be taught a lesson.

Senko nodded obediently and slowly and calmly walked over to Ririsu. In swift, powerful calculated motions, she without warning unleashed a barrage of blows, leaving Ririsu, who had no answer to any of the attacks, crumpled on the treasure-covered floor.

"Okay… That one was a seven," Ririsu muttered, quickly recovering from the assault by using her shape shifting powers to heal herself.

Senko, whose expression remained unchanged, simply responded, "My mistress is used to your antics. So, I went easy on you. Besides, she wishes to speak with you about 'the plan.'"

"Oh? What about it?"

"Well, how's it going so far?!" Mom-mam demanded her tone a mix of impatience and anticipation.

"Oh, you know Queen Lucy," replied Ririsu, sounding confident and smug, It's all going as planned. We've run into a little trouble, but Lucy has a way around that: Us!"

Mom-mam was very pleased by the response, and pressed further. "And the rest of Hell?"

"They don't suspect a thing! Isn't this great! Evil is winning!" Ririsu proclaimed, spreading her arms dramatically as she reveled in the notion.

Mom-mam, a sinister smile playing on her lips, felt a sense of impending triumph.

"Good... I can't wait. Soon, VERY soon, I'll get everything I want…" Whether you like it or not, Lucy. Ohohohoho!" She thought to herself with malicious intent.

Yes, Mom-mam couldn't wait to stab Lucy in the back as soon as her guard was down. Sure, she was going to get a lot of money from the Queen of the Pride Devils when this was all over, but that devil was dreaming if she thought that would be enough for her. No, no, no… It wasn't enough at all. It was never enough.