GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

Xander shook her head in wonder. "Beelta is a lot of things, but she is no fool. There was no way to anticipate that Master wouldn't end up in Armageddon, and there was no way to anticipate that a high rank demon could skip the demon lord stage and directly become a demon king."

Beelta didn't know that these things were even possible. She gambled with confidence but lost everything. Now the demon gods of the abyss are doing the same thing. They banded together to kill the Chaos King, only to realize that they were feeding him.

It was too late by that point. They had to gamble even more to get rid of the Chaos King, but they are only digging their graves deeper. Xander believes that if their losses continue, there will come a point where nothing the demon god can do will save them from the fate of total death.

"Who would have thought that just a thousand years ago, Master was running away from the abyss and had to give up his armies, but now it is the demon gods that are running away to hide?"

The threat of demon gods in the abyss has never been more clear than now. It wasn't clear because demon gods rarely eat when they are full. If their power capacity is full, then imbibing more energy won't help them in any way, so they rarely attack demons. But they can do so.

That was the threat of demon gods in the past. There is a possibility of being attacked by a demon god if they see you. But now, it has become a certainty that demon gods will attack anything in their sight. It is all thanks to the Chaos King.

Aeternus is only hunting demon gods and demon kings that appear in his sights. He disdains attacking weaker beings or even putting in effort to attack planes for demon kings. But demon gods, who have been fighting with their lives on the line for several days on end and are in desperate need of energy, will eat anything.

So it is not only Xander that is hiding in an abyssal plane. Many other demons are not stepping out of their planes. As if that will save them when a demon god comes knocking. It won't, but it is oddly working. They have Aeternus to thank for that.

The voracious water has been stalking the abyssal planes because he knows that they contain a lot of energy for desperate demon gods. So the abyssal planes have become his new bait. The desperation of the demon gods has made it into a tempting bait, which has in turn helped him acquire a morsel or ten thousand morsels from the demon gods who came for them.

The demon kings and weaker demons don't know this. They still think they can die at any moment, even when hiding in the plane. But they don't have any other options. In fact, Xander can easily become the demon lord of the plane she is hiding in, but she is pretending to be an ordinary demon so that she won't draw attention if a demon god comes knocking.

This is undoubtedly a good idea because demon lords or demon kings will be the first targets of demon gods that attack. Many demons know this. That's why many demon kings who created abyssal planes as their kingdom detached them from the abyss in a bid to escape. That decision might kill them, but it is better than getting eaten by a demon god.

It is clearly a bad decision to make, unfortunately, demon lords can't even do that. They don't have enough control over their abyssal planes to do that. They can only give up their position and become demon nobles again.

The thought made Xander chuckle. "They are finally doing what Beelta didn't want to do. It is a pity that it is too late now."

The effect of Aeternus gluttony and rampage through the abyss can be felt by every demon. Demon gods are hiding, and so are demon kings and demon lords. For a time, those three states of demons have become scarce in the abyss.

As for the rest of the demons, they can feel the impact of Aeternus's hunt in the turmoil of sin energy. This is because most of the fights with the demon gods have been in the energy sea or affected it in one way or another. This contaminated sin energy in various degrees and made the demons who live on it more violent, proud, lustful, gluttonous, slothful, or envious.

Xander wondered, "It is unlikely that Master can be stopped. So things will become worse. But what else could be worse than this?"

She doesn't want to know the answer to that question. Instead, she spent most of her time digging deeper into the ground of the plane. She can hide in the phantom realm, but demon gods can see her in it. She knows that because Aeternus looked at her after he was done eating the rest of his surbodinates and army.

So she needs a physical hideout to feel any modicum of safety. She, like most demons, including demon gods, is hoping that the Chaos King will become a world ender soon so that he will be kicked out of the abyss. It is only then that they will regain peace.

But they know that for that to happen, a lot of demon gods must contribute generously. She can't help in that aspect. But she will try to remember their names and their sacrifices, and one day she will tell other demons of them so that those brave and courageous demon gods will never be forgotten.

-----

The protector, the guardian of order, and the enforcer of rules in the void universe looked on with glee. Its gaze is upon the realm that holds most of its attention. Everything in the realm was clear to it, including what Monarch High Heaven was doing to prepare for the era of conquest and his true identity.