GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

Salazar is a prime demon, one of the only 8 in the entire plane. It is proof of his talent. With that talent comes ambition and thirst for power.

He was grooming Bael into another prime demon noble like him so that the two of them will have a better chance of making Salazar the demon lord. But now that Bael will probably die, he has to look for another window of opportunity. What window of opportunity can be greater than the demon lord abdicating?

"Are you still going to join hands with us?" He asked the demon lord.

The demon lord answered. "Yes."

He thought about why he didn't want to attack Aeternus when Alkazhi just died. He felt it was like gambling. If you start and you lose some of your resources, a desire compels you to gamble more and recoup your losses. You might get back your resources or you might lose everything. He wasn't willing to gamble more resources just to kill Aeternus. It wasn't worth it.

But that has changed. If there's something that he can lose everything over, then it will be for the rare chance of becoming the demon lord. It is worth it and he has a higher chance of success if the demon lord joins the gamble on his side.

He said to everyone. "I agree that we need to put Aeternus in his place."

No one disagreed with him. Of course, they agreed but capturing Aeternus is a tall order. How were they going to get it done? That's what they're agonizing over.

"If we do what you say and send high-rank demons to fight him then what will stop Aeternus from infecting them with his ability?" Someone asked the demon lord.

Another one agreed. "That's true. We might as well be sending him more participants for his selection."

The demon answered, this time she wasn't so assured of herself. "I heard that the high-rank demons couldn't move at all during the process of being infected. I believe that if they can resist then they can prevent themselves from being infected."

"And how do we make them resist the pressure of a demon duke?"

This time the demon lord didn't have an answer.

Salazar sighed and spoke. "Even if we can make them resist, there's no guarantee that it will work. This has to be done right. We can't just send more high-rank demons to him to do with them as he wishes. Even demon nobles with Accumulation aren't safe from him much less high-rank demons. I propose that we wait for him to get to the domain of demon nobles. Then we can use the full power of our house and ourselves to capture him."

It was what he proposed to do in the face place against Aeternus back when Alkazhi died.

The demon nobles agreed. "That's a good idea."

"Yes, let's do that."

There was no disagreement over his plan. The only one that hasn't agreed is the demon lord.

Salazar asked her. "What do you think demon lord? Your plan is hasty and full of holes. You just have to be patient and you will get him."

She sighed and agreed. "Fine."

The demoness of lust spoke, "Why don't we sign the contract now? We wouldn't want you to change your mind in the future."

The demon lord conjured a contract reluctantly. She promised to abdicate the throne as long as they bring Aeternus to her alive and mostly well. There will be a truce between all of them and the demon lord during this period which will last until the demon lord abdicates or for 1000 years. If Aeternus hasn't been captured in 1000 years, the contract will be void and open for renewal.

If Aeternus is captured, he must not be tampered with, interrogated, or asked questions about his source of strength. All of the possessions found on Aeternus has to be handed over to the demon lord. He must be brought to the demon lord immediately after he is captured. It is not a must to put everything on the line to capture him, but they mustn't help Aeternus in any way or hinder the demon lord and her forces from getting him in any form.

The demon nobles scrutinized the contract and made some changes. They made it so that the demon lord will have to abdicate even if she manages to get Aeternus in another way or on her own. She also must not interfere with the selection process after she abdicates and must leave the plane immediately.

The demon lord was unhappy throughout the process of drafting the contract and signing it. She asked them numerous times if there was really nothing they can do against Aeternus immediately instead of waiting. The 8 demon nobles placated and coerced her into seeing the necessity of the contract and signing it. All 8 demon nobles and the single demon lord signed the contract.

After they were done with the signing, they debated about more things such as if they should inform the other demon nobles or not. They finally agreed to inform them and add them to the effort to capture Aeternus.

They don't want to let the other demon nobles know that the seat of the demon lord will become available soon so they won't start planning but these 8 also want to minimize their loss and prevent the others from siding with Aeternus knowingly or unknowingly. They might cower if Aeternus asks them to help him if they don't know that the established noble families and the demon lord are against Aeternus.

The meeting dispersed on a happy note. The 8 prime demon nobles felt happy about how the meeting ended. They will be surprised to know that the happiest demon turned out to be the demon lord.

She was smiling to herself as she thought about how the meeting went.

If she had offered to abdicate without a concrete reason then they will suspect her motives. Why would the demon lord give up her throne just so that an upstart demon won't get her throne? It won't make sense. But she made them "come up" with a good reason for her. Aeternus has something linked to a demon king and it is enough to tempt her to give up her throne.

It sounds like a reasonable motive. It is also a motive that is beyond them. If they can't become the demon lord then there's no reason to compete with the demon lord over an opportunity that might make her a demon king. If they didn't have this mental assumption, then they might think they have a shot at whatever Aeternus has. The truth is that they do have a shot at it, but there's no need for them to know that.

Then they also "came up" with a better plan to get Aeternus for her since her plan was "hasty and full of holes." Is her plan hasty and full of holes? Yes. What if her plan is to make the demon nobles join her in the war against Aeternus once he reaches the domain of demon nobles? Her plan will be hasty but certainly not full of holes.

Her plan will be hasty because she just thought of it. Her initial plan was to wage war on the demon nobles while she tries to nab Aeternus as soon as he reaches the domain of demon nobles. That plan is because the demon nobles will realize the unique characteristics of Aeternus and the full extent of the opportunity that he represents when he enters their domain.

None of them have met Aeternus because they can't leave their domain and so have not experienced the longing of their mark of sin for him. That will change once Aeternus ventures into their domain. They will be able to make full contact with him, inspect him and realize the situation. Then they will fight her for him, hence the war.

But now, they will fight him for her and all she has to give up is something she wouldn't need if she gets her way. She already doesn't need the energy well anymore after upgrading her state of existence to half-divine rank using divinity. She has just been selfish and unwilling to give up power.

Her consciousness faded after saying one last thing. "The smarter they think they are, the easier it is to fool."

A good way to fool people is to withhold information from them, let them make assumptions based on incomplete information, then propose an absurd plan. They will correct you based on their incorrect assumption while thinking they are right and that you're a hasty fool.

She did it to Aeternus too. She gave him incomplete information. He assumed she didn't want him to die in someone else's hands and that she would like to eat him herself so she wouldn't aim for his life or endanger him. He expected her to pressure him at most and not ambush him. He was wrong.