Infernox had matched forward to do battle and he was followed by eager dukes. He returned with a mild case of amputation. The others that tried to get close to the demon lord suffered more. Most of them lost more than an arm. Some lost their lives after the tongue rend them apart. Others were dragged screaming into her maws by the tongues.
It was a massacre. This was not the pummeling he expected. It is a buffet for the demon lord and she is not being shy or picky about her food. She is eating everything within reach and as fast as she can swallow it. He was opportune to see a demon duke that was struggling within one of her maws begin to melt as her acidic saliva began its work on the stubborn prey.
He admitted to himself. "This is not going as well as I thought."
He expected the demon lord to fight and hold her ground for a while before she finally succumb to the combined might of the dukes. Anything other than that will not do her terrifying reputation justice. His father had been afraid of the demon lord. Salazar always said that he would never want to be around the demon lord with his body. He had expected to see why Beelta is so feared but he is still surprised by what he saw. Anything close to her somehow finds its way into her mouth through the gentle nudge of her numerous tongues.
It brought to mind something Salazar had said when he had asked him why the demon lord is so strong.
Salazar had said, "Beelta is a demon of gluttony. She chose to disregard everything else including power and strength. She focused on only one thing and that is eating. She only eats, and she does it very well."
Beelta doesn't kick. She doesn't punch. She doesn't use spells. She only eats. All her sin abilities have been geared towards eating. She got seemingly useless abilities just so she could eat. Her sin abilities gave her a strong tongue and a strong stomach. She can grab anything with her tongue just like Aeternus can reflect anything.
She sacrificed a lot for her power. She sacrificed her speed so that her tongue can be fast. She sacrificed her senses so that she can digest anything. She sacrificed her physical and magical defense so that her tongue becomes very tough and difficult to break. She sacrificed her body's activity and healing so that even if her tongue broke, it can heal easily and she can create more.
All of that is because of a single ability called The Dedication To Gluttony. It enabled her to sacrifice her other abilities permanently to enhance her tongue and mouth. Then there is her Cycle of Gluttony. The more she eats, the more powerful she gets. This means her tongue gets stronger the more she eats and it inevitably increases what she can eat. It is a temporary boost that strengthens her the more she is eating at a time forming a cycle of enhancement.
The sin ability of Bottomless Gluttony makes her store an unlimited amount of power that she gets from eating. It is why she can grow so large but it is not only for show. It becomes terrifying when it is paired with The Power of Gluttony which boosts her the more power she has in store. This boost is permanent.
She herself is incredibly weak. Her body is fragile and she can be killed easily but any threat will have to pass by her tongue first. If they can't bypass her tongue, then they will enter her maw and make her stronger. What doesn't kill her makes her literally stronger.
Baal doesn't know all that but he does know what Salazar said about what can be done to defeat her.
Salazar had lamented about their loss in the war 10,000 years ago. Salazar had said, "Beelta is excellent at eating. She becomes more powerful the more she eats. She was surrounded by hundreds of demon nobles with Accumulation and she couldn't be put down. Instead, she grew stronger the more she fought. We didn't know back then. The prime demons were holding back from using Accumulation early so that their competitors will die. It was too late when we realized her situation. If only we had tried to overwhelm her before it became too late."
Salazar then laughed. "Then again, the same thing would have happened if we had known about her getting stronger the more she ate. In fact, we knew that demons of Gluttony get stronger the more they eat. What we didn't know is how fast she gets stronger and how well she could eat. She could even eat our attacks. Who could have expected that?"
Salazar paused to shake his head, "The same thing would have happened even if we knew how well she could eat. Demons are selfish. That doesn't change in the face of death. We always hope that it is our competitors that will die first."
Baal can see that situation repeating itself. The demon lord is surrounded and looks doomed but she isn't struggling at all. She is eating while the dukes are holding back because they fear for their lives. They are wary of the others just as they are wary of the demon lord. And they are not being paranoid either. Their suspicion is valid and real.
They know for certain that the other dukes can turn into their foes and try to reap their lives. They know with uttermost certainty that it will happen and it can happen at any time. What they don't know is when it will happen. They might be in the middle of attacking the demon lord when someone beside them decides to target them.
They are all enemies after all and being surrounded by enemies is not a good environment to perform well. Some people can't perform well under pressure so it is understandable that they can't perform well under the very real threat of betrayal.
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