Chapter 12: Cheater's Poker

Hereticus and Angel were waiting for their Hellevator, they were in a large chamber with gold pillars all around them, the walls and floors were white and immaculately clean. People of all of Hell's races were there, families with screaming children and businessmen and women rushed around talking into phones as they hurried to their terminal.

This was the first time Angel would be in a ring other than Pride, it was rare for sinners to travel far. They were both sitting on a bench, Angel was looking at a nearby screen, showing the arrival and departure times of each elevator.

"I should explain to you why I asked you to come," Hereticus said, Angel turned his head to him, all Angel had been told so far was that Vox had been working for Mammon and Hereticus was going to try and stop Mammon from invading the Pentagram. "I'm going to challenge Mammon to a game, he's going to accept. He doesn't know me personally so I want to give him a false impression of my character, which will give me an advantage."

"What does that have to do with me?" Angel asked.

"Mammon usually broadcasts his games to all of Hell, you're quite famous, if I were to bring you along after Valentino's death it'd give him the impression that I'm the type to show off," Hereticus explained, there was a brief moment of silence between the two, Hereticus spoke once more, "sorry, I should've explained this at the Hotel, if that makes you uncomfortable you should go back."

"No, it's fine," Angel said.

"You sure?" Hereticus asked, "I don't need you to… flaunt. I only ask that you're there."

"Like I said, it's fine."

The Hellevator to Greed came sometime later, when they got in, the doors shut with a hiss. The whole way they could feel the room shaking around them. After about an hour, the journey came to an end, a ding sounded their arrival and the doors once again opened. Out the two stepped from the Hellevator and through the station, coming to face the Ring of Greed before them.

The sky was a sickly green, all around them were slums where windows and walls were cracked and broken. Bags of rubbish lined the streets. They could hear unruly dogs barking and police sirens wailing. As Angel looked around, he thought back to Pentagram city, which now seemed like Heaven compared to this place.

In stark contrast, a pyramid of pure gold stood on the horizon, it was so tall that it surpassed the clouds. It was difficult to look at, despite its impressive size the architecture was shoddy and generic, as if not an ounce of creativity had been poured into its creation.

"Stay close and watch your back," Hereticus said, "there's some real nasty people around here."

The two of them made their way through the city and towards the pyramid, everyone they walked past was as thin as a twig and looked to be made of only skin and bone.

They walked up some gold stairs into the pyramid and into a central lobby, where a thin succubus receptionist with a ponytail and large circular glasses sat at a white desk, there was a large golden door behind her. Angel and Hereticus walked up to her, she looked up from a computer at them.

"Welcome to Mammon's palace," she said with a voice appropriate for customer service, "please state your business."

"I'm here to see Mammon," Hereticus said.

The receptionist chuckled and gave Hereticus a cheeky smirk.

"The prince isn't accepting-" she began, however, Hereticus cut her off.

"I'm Hereticus, this is about the Pentagram."

She went dead silent and the smirk was wiped off her face, she picked up a phone and dialled a number into it, she covered her mouth as she spoke into it so that Hereticus couldn't hear what she was saying.

Not long after, the gold door behind her swung open and a man stepped through, his skin was yellow, he had a large bushy blonde beard and golden irises, he wore a long white toga and wore a pair of gloves made of a golden silk.

"Greetings," he said as he looked directly at Hereticus, disregarding Angel, "I am Midas, his majesty's viceroy and second in command." Midas extended a gloved hand for Hereticus to shake, "I assure you, despite what you may have heard, as long as I wear these gloves my curse won't be of any harm to you… or would you prefer a gold arm to a silver one?"

"I'll stick with silver," Hereticus said as he shook Midas' gloved hand.

"The prince wishes to see you now," Midas said, "please, follow me."

The two were brought through Mammon's palace, the sheer abundance of gold was painful to the eyes, blinding light reflected from every angle. The two were brought to an elevator and they ascended up it, making their way to the very top of the pyramid.

"So… who's this guy?" Angel whispered to Hereticus.

"That's Midas," Hereticus whispered back, "someone put a curse on him, everything he touches turns to gold, which, as you can imagine, the Prince of Greed took a liking to. Really, he's the one running this ring, from what I've heard Mammon doesn't really like politics, he'd much rather sit on his throne all day and reap all the rewards, so Midas does everything Mammon doesn't want to."

The three reached the top floor and the elevator opened, Midas motioned for them to exit and they stepped out, he, on the other hand, stayed in the elevator. The door closed and they could hear it and Midas moving downwards.

Before them was an enormous white and yellow throne room, at the end of which was a large velvet curtain. Mammon's sigil was plastered on banners all around the room, a yellow carpet was leading them forwards to the throne, an immense golden seat. Mammon was lying on it, with his feet on the left arm rest and his back against the right arm rest, he was munching down on a chunk of meat, its juices dripped onto the carpet below. Hereticus could see a thick gold ring on his right hand, the Ring of Greed itself, its golden gleam drew the eye, even when surrounded by all the other pieces of gold.

Mammon put up a finger, telling the two to wait as he finished his meal, he suddenly put the whole thing in his mouth and slid the bone out, with one huge gulp he swallowed the entire thing whole.

"Hereticus!" Mammon shouted with an enthusiastic grin, "just the man I wanted tah see!" Mammon turned his head and looked at Angel, "an' who do we have here? Angel Dust? Big fan! You 'ere tah show off yah newest trophy, eh Hereticus?" he laughed.

"I found your mark on Vox," Hereticus said, "you don't intend to invade the Pentagram, do you?"

"Course I do!" Mammon replied, being flat out honest about the whole thing, "but listen, here's the deal, lots a' people 'ave their eyes on tha' lil' town a' yours. So, I've got an idea, why don't you work fah me? We'll be the best o' mates! I 'eard you managed to take on Vox, quite the feat I must say, you mus' be quite the fighter!"

So, all you've gotta do is kill all the other Overlords and I'll let yah run the city, I'll even give you some o' my army to protect yahself and I'll make sure you get some seats in the Infernal Court, all I need you to do is cast some votes in whatevah way I want, deal?"

"No deal," Hereticus announced definitively.

"Wha' part of tha' don't you like?" Mammon asked, the grin on his face now missing.

"I'm not here to make a deal with you," Hereticus said before pointing at silver finger at Mammon, "I challenge you to a game!"

The mischievous grin quickly returned to Mammon's face.

"A game yah say?" he asked with excitement, "well then, step righ' this way!"

Mammon got off his seat and lumbered over past the curtain behind his throne.

Hereticus stepped forwards, moving past the curtain, Angel quickly followed behind.

The two were immediately met with the sounds of loud music as they suddenly entered a studio, lights flew about everywhere in an exciting fashion, to their left an audience sat in elevated seats clapped, in front of the audience were cameras, some pointed at Mammon, some at the audience and some at Hereticus and Angel. In the middle of the platform they were on, Mammon was waving and blowing kisses to the crowd and cameras. On Hereticus' and Angel's right was a large gameshow wheel with glowing lights and words written on them, above it was a glowing red arrow.

"Thank you! Thank you! Welcome to the show!" Mammon said excitedly to the camera. "We've got two very special guests today, our first guest comes straigh' from the Pride ring, he's jus' had a victory in Pentagram city and is lookin' tah try his luck, ladies and gentlemen can we get a round of applause for Hereticus?" The audience cheered and whistled, they clapped as stage lights shone on Hereticus, who cockily waved to the camera with a smug smirk on his face. "With him he's brought along Hell's most popular pornstar, give it up for Angel Dust!"

The lights then shone on Angel who simply stood there, looking around, he almost smiled and waved for the camera, maybe blow some kisses, but quickly he realised he was of no obligation to do so anymore.

"Now, what're we bettin' Hereticus?" Mammon asked.

"I wager my soul," Hereticus said, still wearing his smug smirk "you'll need to match that."

A collective "OOO" came from the audience.

"Alrigh'," Mammon said, his grin widening, "then I'm puttin' up my own soul to match yah." Mammon walked over to the wheel, "now, all we need to do is see what game we're playing, you know what that means folks it's time to…"

"SPIN. THE. WHEEL!" The audience cheered.

Mammon grabbed the wheel and spun it around, it ticked with each notch the arrow passed by. Angel looked up at the different points at which the arrow could land, on each was written the name of a game, Angel read each one that passed by the arrow. There was Sinner's roulette, Wrathjack, Envy dice and many more. The wheel began to slow, the ticks decreased in speed and it eventually landed on a game called Cheater's Poker.

"Cheater's Poker! My favourite!" Mammon shouted, the audience cheered excitedly as some of Mammon's servant's brought a round green table and two large leather chairs to the centre of the stage. A deck of cards sat in the middle and on each end of the table were ten chips, on one side they were green and on the other side they were blue.

Hereticus took a seat in the seat closest to him, the side with the blue chips, he threw his arm over the back of it in a relaxed fashion. Mammon took his seat at the opposite end, next to the green chips.

"Oi, Angel, you wanna be the dealer?" Mammon asked, "would be a shame to have such an esteemed guest just stand around."

Angel took a step forward and stood next to the table, he picked up the cards and began to shuffle them, after that he dealt them, giving five to each of them.

Mammon looked towards the nearest camera, "now, for all of you at home who don't know the rules of Cheater's Poker, it's like regular five card draw except there's a couple new rules. Number one, you bet only in souls, those green chips represent my soul and those blue chips represent our buddy Hereticus' soul, and number two, if someone's caught cheating whatever's in the pot goes to the person who caught the cheater. Did you get all that? Alright, let's begin!"

Hereticus picked up his five cards and looked at them, he had two queens, both of which had Lilith's face, a 7, a 5 and a 4. He had a pair of queens, which might not be enough, he intensely looked at Mammon's face, trying to figure out what he was thinking, but all he could see was his ever-present sadistic grin.

It was time for the first round of betting, Mammon pushed three chips into the middle of the table.

"Call," said Hereticus, who pushed three of his own chips in the middle, matching Mammon's bet.

After this, it was time for the players to discard whatever cards they didn't want to try and make a better hand.

"Give me two more," Hereticus said as he discarded the 5 and the 4, Angel dealt him two more cards, a three and another queen. He now had three queens, a fairly good hand, but did Mammon have better? He looked at Mammon's face, searching for any tells.

"Give me another one, sweetheart," Mammon said as he discarded one of his own, Angel passed a card to him but was disgusted by Mammon calling him 'sweetheart'.

Now it was time for them to initiate the second round of betting, Mammon pushed forwards another chip, meaning there was now four of Mammon's green chips and three of Hereticus' blue chips, Hereticus would now either need to call or raise the bet or fold.

"Raise," Hereticus said cockily as he pushed two chips forwards, from the audience came shocked and excited gasps.

"Call!" Mammon said as his grin widened and he pushed two chips forwards. There were now five of each cheap in the pot and the showdown was about to begin.

The two of them revealed their cards. Mammon had three 9s, very close to Hereticus' three queens, but nonetheless, Hereticus had won the first round. The audience let out various murmurs, some excited, others disgruntled.

Hereticus' cocky smirk widened, something Angel took note of. This was extremely out of character for him, was this part of the act? What was he trying to achieve by presenting himself in such an arrogant way?

Behind that cocky smile Hereticus was carefully watching. He was looking at Mammon intently, he watched for absolutely any change, his grin widening or faltering, the speed of his blinks. He looked for any tells of nervousness, for a twitch of his eye or for a drop of sweat on his hands.

Angel dealt them five more cards and Hereticus looked at them, a pair of 8s, a pair of 6s and a jack. Two pairs were a good hand, but could be better.

Mammon pushed forwards three of his green chips, the crowd murmured between themselves excitedly, Mammon was halfway there to losing his soul and yet he was still betting high.

"Call," Hereticus said with the overconfident voice as he threw three blue chips next to them, the crowd grumbled between themselves, rather than risking what he had of Mammon's soul he was instead throwing his own in.

"Give me another card," Hereticus said as he discarded the useless jack, if he was lucky, maybe he'd be able to get another 8 or 6, but found himself out of luck, instead, he got a 5.

Mammon looked at his own cards, he had a pair of 2s, a 3, a 4 and a king, not a very good hand, however, he had noticed Hereticus discard only one card, meaning he had four he didn't want to get rid of, that could mean he had either two pairs or four of a kind.

"Give me three more cards, lovely," he said to Angel, who passed him three cards while ignoring the comment.

He discarded the 3,4 and the king and ended up with another 2. Three of a kind, which would beat Hereticus if he had two pairs but not if he had four of a kind. His grin didn't falter, sure, it'd be a big risk, but luck had always been on his side, he'd built an empire with luck.

Mammon raised the bid, he threw in his last two chips, the crowd went wild, if Mammon lost now, that would be it for him, they murmured between each other asking the same questions. Was Mammon bluffing? Would Hereticus fold? Did he really have a hand so good he was willing to risk his soul?

"Call," Hereticus said with the usual cocksure voice as his grin widened, he threw two more blue chips in. However, under the mask he'd made he kept looking for any tells whatsoever, but saw none.

"KICK THIS COCKY BASTARD'S ASS, MAMMON!" Shouted a member of the audience right at the back, to which the crowd erupted into laughter.

The two then showed their hands and the truth was revealed, Hereticus' two pairs was beat out by Mammon's three of a kind.

The crowd cheered with joy, Mammon's play had paid off, and such a close call too.

"Thaaaaank you!" Mammon said as he swept the chips over to him. Now the two had exactly the same amount of chips, five green and five blue, half and half.

A drop of sweat ran down Angel's face and his breathe became heavier, Hereticus had just lost half his soul, he looked at Hereticus, who still had that cocky smile on his face like it meant nothing to him.

"Woah there, Angel!" Mammon said with a joking voice, "you gettin' hot an' heavier there, eh? Haven't seen you this worked up since 'The Sweetest Drink,' that one's one of yah best!"

The crowd laughed at Mammon's joke; Angel just scowled.

As Angel dealt out five more cards, Hereticus still kept his eyes locked on Mammon. This whole time, Mammon hadn't shown any signs, he'd need to do something that provoked a reaction, anything at all, something to make him either fold or cheat.

He looked to his cards, an 8, a 6, a 10, the ace of hearts and a jack. An absolutely terrible hand, nonetheless, he kept that smirk on his face.

Mammon looked at his own cards and his heart jumped with joy, three aces, a jack and a queen. A brilliant hand, he pushed forward five blue chips, tempting Hereticus with his own soul.

"Call," Hereticus said as he pushed forward his five green chips.

Mammon closed his eyes for a second, it was hard for him not to laugh. How did this guy defeat Vox? He was a complete idiot, Mammon had won this game against dozens of overlords, each of which thought that they'd be the one to defeat the Prince of Greed, that all the money in the world would be theirs. And yet each of them fell, all of them too full of themselves, each of them became a puppet on strings for him to use as he pleased.

Mammon opened his eyes, but before him was an entirely different person, that smug grin was entirely gone and instead there was a cold stare directed right at him, two eyes that burnt like dancing blue flames pierced him, looking into his very soul, yet Hereticus seemed just as calm, if not calmer than before.

Angel was also staring at Hereticus, wondering what had happened, why did he suddenly drop the mask? What was going on?

Angel motioned the deck of cards towards Hereticus as if to ask if he wanted to change any of them.

"These will do fine, Angel," Hereticus said, the cocky voice was now gone, in its place was a cold calculative manner of speech where the conceitedness was replaced by a true self-assurance.

Mammon's eyes were locked on Hereticus. What had happened? Where had that smug grin gone? Who was he sitting before now? It was like an entirely different person was there. Why wasn't he smiling anymore? Had Hereticus just given up? Or did he have an incredible hand and he was just faking it? He considered his own hand, he had three aces, the only ace he was missing was the ace of hearts. Fortunately for him, he'd come prepared, he had four aces up his sleeve, one for each suit, he had a safety net for situations like this.

"I'll have one more, sugar," Mammon said to Angel. As Mammon discarded one of his useless cards he slipped in the ace of hearts from his hand, now he felt much more assured.

Hereticus saw something though, as Mammon took the card from Angel he saw his lip twitch. Mammon was getting nervous. All Hereticus had to do was push him over the edge, get him to fold. It was time to up his bluff.

Mammon threw two more chips in. Yeah, he was nervous alright, such a low raise for the Prince of Greed.

"All in," Hereticus said as he picked up all five of his remaining chips and placed them in the middle.

Nobody spoke. The entire audience was dead silent, like a tiger had just walked on stage. Mammon's fan at the back who had the whole crowd laughing was biting his nails, practically tearing his fingers off.

Angel's eyes darted between Hereticus and Mammon. Hereticus was surely confident, right? He wasn't just putting his entire soul on the line, right?

At the Hazbin Hotel, all the guests and staff had their eyes glued to the screen.

"Don't fuck this up, kid" Husk said to the TV.

Alastor was chuckling to himself, thoroughly entertained by the stakes.

"Come on, Hereticussss, we believe in you!" Pentious said as he grabbed his top hat with painful anticipation.

Charlie stared, she couldn't take the suspense and tried using her light to see the future outcome. She saw glimpses of all different kinds of futures, some of them, Hereticus came out on top, while others she lost a friend forever.

Somewhere else in the Pride Ring, Lucifer himself sat in a comfy leather chair, watching a TV. His light let him see their exact hands, Hereticus was bluffing, he had a terrible hand. He waited to see whether Mammon would call the bluff or not.

In a hospital bed, Vox had woken up about an hour ago, his screen had bandages all over it, and Velvette was by his side. They watched a TV in front of them, waiting to see what Hereticus', and more importantly, Vox's fate would be.

All over Hell people were stuck watching the TV. Some of them were slaves of Mammon and wondered if their chains were about to be passed from one hand to another.

Mammon felt a lump in his throat, it was hard to resist swallowing it. He considered folding and letting Hereticus take his chips. No. This was just a bluff, Hereticus was just trying to trick him. He had four aces; he might not get a hand like this again. He couldn't show weakness now, he was the Prince of Greed, the world's greatest gambler!

"C-Call…" Mammon said with a shaky voice, finally showing his nervousness to the world as he pushed forwards his last three chips. Four towers of chips now stood in the middle of the table, each equally stacked with five chips.

Mammon stared at Hereticus, who showed no fear. Had he really not been bluffing?

The two slowly revealed their cards, time seemed to slow around them as the cards were revealed. Mammon's heart leapt as he saw Hereticus' worthless hand, Mammon's four aces beat Hereticus' high ace easily.

Mammon's grin widened as his victory was assured, any second now he'd feel a chain wrap around Hereticus' neck, he waited for his new slave's expression to change, for that stoic look to disappear and for Hereticus to grovel at his feet begging for freedom. He saw Hereticus' mouth open to say something, the pleas would be music to his ears.

"There's five aces," Hereticus said with an unflinching voice.

Mammon blinked as he tried to process what Hereticus had just said.

"What?" He asked.

"There's five aces," Hereticus repeated, "one too many, specifically, there's two aces of hearts."

Anyone else would've panicked. Anyone else would've been to preoccupied with the terror of losing their soul to notice such a small discrepancy. Not Hereticus though, he'd been waiting for this moment the whole game. Mammon had allowed his fear to control him and Hereticus caught him.

"You cheated."

For a moment Mammon didn't say a word, nobody did. The audience remained silent and the thickness of the room was palpable, every breath was a struggle.

"W-Well, who's to say I'm the one who cheated?" Mammon asked, "after all, it's your dealer, Angel could've given me all the aces while you took out one of your own so you can stage a-"

Hereticus listened to Mammon's words, waiting for him to slip up and say something he shouldn't, however, he also noticed Mammon fidgeting with his left sleeve.

Hereticus reached over the table with incredible speed and reached into the sleeve. When he retracted his silver hand, he had three more aces in between his fingers for all of Hell to see, the cameras zoomed in on them, showing the whole world Mammon's trickery.

Hereticus jumped to his feet as he felt the end of millions of chains suddenly in his hands, he felt every soul that was now connected to him, every soul he now owned. Mammon felt something cold squeeze on his neck like a cobra choking its prey.

"Look..." Mammon pleaded with laboured breath, "can we-"

"SILENCE!" Hereticus shouted, Mammon's mouth shut closed without his will. Hereticus then looked at the audience and the cameras, his gaze shifting between them. "Hear me, people of Hell! On this day, millions of souls pass from one hand to another as part of the endless cycle that enslaves you. I say NO. MORE!"

Hereticus then clenched his fists together, the chains in his hands suddenly broke and he felt all those souls he had in his hands suddenly be set free.

"I set you free! With your newfound liberation, take revenge on those who would seek to control you! Bring forth bloody justice! I will fight by your side and together we will take back what is ours!"

Hereticus looked away from the camera and walked off the stage, Angel followed along and they both left a disgraced Mammon behind, who was on the floor, barely able to lift himself up.