GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



WRATH spoke after all the 9 demon gods had finished swearing the oath. "Now that the unpleasant part is over. Let's get down to business. I will put the creation of the Coalition up to vote."

WRATH sent a tendril of energy into the dark orb at the center of the ring formation. The tendril contains an intent that was delivered to the will of the abyss. The will of the abyss then put the intent up for voting. All the demon kings and demon lords must cast their vote in a period of a minute. 

They can choose to vote for it or against it and no one will know what they voted for. Those who don't vote at all will be counted as voting against it. That means every dead demon king or imprisoned demon king like a certain comfortable throne, is voting against the intent. The intent will be accepted when two-thirds of the total influence of the abyss agrees to the intent.

The intent says, "Let there be unity of the abyss through the formation of a coalition of all those that agree and vote for this coalition to be formed. The coalition will work together with the will of the realm of High Heaven to ensure the victory of the realm of High Heaven in the era of conquest. The members of the coalition cannot act against the interests of the realm of High Heaven as pertaining to the era of conquest." 

"The members of the coalition will be rewarded based on their contributions to the victory of the realm tree. The coalition will have a lowered requirement for contributions and will have access to every possible reward. The existence of the coalition means that there will be a place for demons in the realm of high heaven if it wins in the era of conquest. The coalition of demons is..."

The intent continued on and on. There are a lot of clauses and conditions that come together with that single intent. The demon gods didn't come up with these specific clauses. They came from the realm lord and were part of the deal he offered them. They also came together as a package deal so they have to agree to all of them. Nothing can be changed about the intent.

Aeternus read through the intent carefully. He wants to know what exactly he is voting for. It will be disastrous if he somehow signs his soul away. He would rather have the demon gods chase after him than do that. 

Fortunately, he didn't find anything fishy about the intent. It is mostly according to what WRATH said. There is no obligation apart from the fact that those who are part of the coalition cannot act against the realm tree concerning the era of conquest. The rest are harmless and are just there to ensure fairness for the demons. 

But Aeternus doesn't feel like agreeing to them easily because he is not making the decision for only him. He is part of a whole so this agreement might affect every other clone of Legion. It is not that he wants to sabotage the realm of high heaven. But he wants any clone of Legion to be able to if the opportunity arises. 

After all, benefits are the priority, not loyalty to the realm tree. It is certain that some people will try to bribe the forces of the realm of high heaven and he wants Legion to be able to take advantage of the war. In a way, he is very greedy like some other demon god that cannot be named. 

"It is not being greedy. It is just being practical. It is better to have the option to betray the realm of high heaven and not need it than to need or want to betray the realm and not have the option to." Aeternus said to himself. "That's just being practical."

The outcome of the war doesn't affect Legion as a whole. They just want to be there so that they can benefit from it. This agreement might ensure that they have to help the realm tree if they want to get any benefit. The alternative is to be like GREED. He can just refuse to vote and walk away.

Unfortunately, he is not so brave. GREED doesn't fear the other 9 demon gods because killing it will be very difficult. But Aeternus is very easy to kill right now. Legion should be safe if he commits suicide successfully. But it will be another thing entirely if he fails to kill himself before a demon god gets him. So he sighed and voted in agreement.

The abyssal orb at the center of the ring formation began to glow darkly after a minute had passed. It signified that the intent was passed successfully. Another intent entered the abyss and exited the abyss. It was the will of Mother High Heaven. The coalition has formed and it was agreed that it will work together with the will of the abyss. 

"Look at what we have become." He shook his head and said to himself. "We have lost our honor and prestige. We were supposed to be feared but now we have become hired lackeys of the realm. We sold out. The realm lord doesn't need to be careful of us anymore. What a letdown. What a shame." He lamented because of the fading honor of demons.

This is the first time that mother high heaven has entered the abyss. She doesn't have any right in the abyss and has no control whatsoever over demons. That has changed now. She has become their partner. Worse, she is sort of their boss now.

Mother High Heaven worked together with the agreement of the will of the abyss to reach out to everyone that voted. Each one of them was then given a brand. It is a brand that Aeternus is very familiar with. It is similar to the marks given to those that attend the trial of heaven. It is also similar to the one that Soverick had for the Unified Skill Index competition.