GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

The faceless terror turned to him. Her eyeless head focused on him. He is the one that laughed first.

She asked him. "I recognize you, boy. You are Salazar's boy. What's so funny boy?"

He didn't answer her. She is a dead demoness walking. There is no reason to entertain her. He continued to prepare his grimoire for the fight. The other demon dukes started to get ready too but no one attacked. They are all wary of each other. Beelta is not the only target here. Attacking her means you become open to an attack. That's why no one has attacked her yet.

Someone has to attack her first and Baal decided to be that someone. Who knows? He might impress Lord Chaos that way and secure his position as Herald to a demon king. Baal flicked the cards that the pages of his grimoire turned into. The brown cards flew around him and expanded to become sturdy walls.

He turned his attention to Beelta after taking care of his defensive measures. She didn't look too bothered by his preparations. Then again, she doesn't have the facial features for him to tell. Having a maw for a face is not very good for body language.

He slammed his grimoire close and opened it again. The pages had turned red. He tore them from the grimoire and flicked them at Beelta. The red cards turned into red orbs which began to expand as they flew toward their target. They grew larger and larger until they dwarfed Beelta. Severely fireballs larger than 10 meters flew towards her. The resulting explosion from their collision would not be pretty.

Beelta responded by flicking the giant tongue on her stomach at the approaching fireballs. Her tongue snapped forward, elongated, and wrapped around the spell. It looked like a rope wrapped around a boulder. The fireball spell dwarfed her tongue but the spell didn't explode. It was subdued and drawn into the gaping maw with a sudden snap.

It happened so fast. Her tongue flashed forward and returned to her maw quickly like a toad catching flies. She did the same to the other fireballs. One by one, his attacks entered her maw without exploding. Then she gulped and swallowed them.

She belched before asking him, "Have any more?"

Baal groaned. He couldn't feel the cards anymore. The loss of 10 cards hurt him. Each card is precious. It needs the skin of a demon noble and years of treatment with enchantment. He certainly doesn't have more for her to eat. He didn't come here to feed her.

The other demon dukes used the opportunity to attack. They sent different attacks her way. Their attacks are mostly fire based so a tsunami of fire surrounded her and threatened to drown her. Infernox just arrived too. He ran forward to engage with her in close combat. His body was blazing in reddish-orange flames. His eagerness for battle spurred everyone else into battle. Fortunately, they chose to focus on Beelta first. Many demons followed after Infernox to pummel Beelta.

Baal muttered as he observed, "The outcome is set. She will fall."

The demon lord might have foiled him but her fate is sealed. It is a rigged game. She will die here. No, she must die here today. He is more concerned about who will bear the honor of killing her. That's why he is looking about for Xander as he shot yellow cards at the demon lord. The yellow cards are as swift as the wind and cut like sharp blades. They should be too fast for the tongue and if not, then they will teach the tongue a lesson about grabbing sharp objects.

What happened next was expected but it surprised him. More tongues appeared from the other maws on the demon lord's body. He expected her to have more tongues. There's no way that the other maws are empty of grotesque and nightmare-inducing spindly tongues. What he didn't expect is why she did with the tongues.

Two more tongues appeared in the large maw on her stomach, making three tongues. Then many more tongues shot out of her other maws. She became a toad with many tongues. The tongues from all over her body whipped around in a frenzy trying to disable the attacks. They formed a blur around her that began to kick up air to create a wind cyclone.

The wind cyclone defended her from the torrent of attacks while she simultaneously attacked. One of the tongues lashed at Infernox. He struck it away with his axe. Then the second one struck him while he was still mid-swing with his axe. He used his other arm to grab it. He was able to respond to the threat even though the tongues moved very fast. It is admirable of him. It was also a mistake.

A third tongue whipped at his outstretched arm while he was trying to pull the demon lord with it. The tongue cut through his arm like a hot knife through butter. It parted his rock skin, lava muscle, and infernal bones to sever the arm from the rest of his body.

Infernox screamed in pain. "AHHHHHHHHHH."

He bellowed in pain like a drum but that did nothing to protect him. More tongues came after him. They came for more of his flesh. He jumped back to avoid them only to watch his arm withdraw with the tongue he was grabbing into the maw of the demon lord. Then he had to fight his way back to safety with one functioning arm while the other healed slowly. He matched forward with his usual indomitable force but had to retreat lest he donates more of his body to the demon lord as snacks.

Baal watched all this happen with a frown on his demonically handsome face. Infernox was lucky from what he can see of the dukes that went close to the demon lord. At least he survived with most of his body intact.