The Veritas Chapter 9; Temperance

One of the heads of the $yndicate would stand at the appointed destination, waiting for the signal to regroup.

Because SIN's presence had already passed by from Temptation when the Fallen Angels were left to their doom, by the time the $yndicate member made it to one of the designated points, there was a Demon Lord already waiting.

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Now, the Tyranophant had been onlooking and overseeing the project from beyond the actual world, itself, and was already aware of certain things that perhaps the $yndicate members were not already yet informed of, due to the manner in which the circumstances were set in this environment. Essentially, the Tyranophant, who ruled over the $yndicate altogether, would have specific information that was necessary for their optimal completion that he would waste time giving if he were not from a position of oversight. Knowing each of the $yndicate leaders as who they were when in the mainland of the Veritas gave a type of foresight to the eyes of the Tyranophant. Therefore when the $yndicate leader down the way called out, he would respond instead of one of the other $yndicate leaders.

"Yeah, hold up, it's me, the Tyranophant. I need you to switch places with #2. Change positions and take the Disciples from that Peon over yonder with you. If you're followed, don't worry. Just make sure to tell the person you're switching with before they get there as a heads up. These are your orders."

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"Roger that," the $yndicate member would say once she got word that her orders changed. She did not regard the ugly creature standing in the middle of the field but instead rushed to the Disciples and gathered them up. "Here!" she cried out, yelling to the Peon that was leading them. "Follow me! This way! I will cover you!" She wasted no time in getting them into her hiding place, which was also a secret passage down the mountain that she'd come up from in the first place, which was why she was hiding there. The cover of this area was behind a string of large boulders, and the path descended to lower ground. It was a shortcut, and each of the Disciples, including the Peon, would now be under the care of the $yndicate member, who deftly escaped with them.

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When Belial was finally completely destroyed, because none of his former subordinates came to assist him before his time of death, the very fact that he died and each of them was aware and abandoned him caused a detachment between them due to the degeneration of trustworthiness. In their hearts and minds, each of the remaining Demon Lords were divided by a decay of their own internal soundness. Each of them defecting from each other through the division via Envy brought them all now also suspicion of each other and therefore caused each to act and work independently of one another, even if feigned as though they weren't. Therefore, the new Belials, who were the Demon Lords being Corrupted from the inside out because of how they treated the former Belial before it died, were like him and also no longer concerned with each other due to the decay of the Corruption.

By the time the $yndicate leader from further up the mountain made her way to the one she was switching places with, he was already prepared for the transition because he was alerted previously. "Alright, I see them!" he cried, starting to run toward the other $yndicate Leader and Disciples. "Tag Out!" He shouted playfully, running in the direction from which each of them had just come now that his own position was being reconfigured to take the place of the one who had just arrived. "I'll hold down the fort up where you were," he continued on, giving proper salutations to the situation. "You can count on me!" After assuring his subordinate that he already knew where to go and what to do, the other $yndicate member took off.

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Innumerable eyes like windows opened up variably across the expanse of the city-like construct. Everything around them became dark due to how much of the land was possessed by Greed before the death of the Sin and the rise of the Demon Lord of Greed. The actual byproduct, itself, was also capable of being possessed again by another entity or come together all on its own, as if someone else picked up the pieces and rebuilt the same concept all at once. The concept, itself, was its own form of threat as a Demon Lord. Now, already, the Spirits were trapped inside of the House; surrounded from every angle by the City.

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As time went on and nothing was done about the accumulation off to the side, it grew up to be like a mountain, letting whatever would become attached do so as it would, specifically as an adhesion to anything and everything that would be such. The Demon Lord of Sloth, which was this large adhesion that grew and grew the more things it touched, started to swallow up the land and create a symbiotic bond to it and all that was attached to it; Greed, inclusive. Without doing anything at all, the mass that was attached to the city of the Demon Lord of Greed would become part if it, as well, though only as an ever growing attachment something like a cancer and not as anything helpful to productivity. The processes of Greed started to slow wherever the Demon Lord of Sloth had become attached, and it spread throughout the city slowly, yet somehow swiftly at the same time.

To prolong its survival, the Demon Lord of Sloth swallowed up more and more of Demon Lord Greed and eventually came into the territory of the Demon Lord of Gluttony and was swallowed up in ignorance before realizing that it had been done. Demon Lord Sloth would continue to eat and eat and eat and feed Demon Lord Gluttony by consuming as many things as possible whilst attempting to run away from being destroyed. No longer was Demon Lord Sloth at all Demon Lord Sloth, but instead was completely and fully Demon Lord Gluttony, and now was enslaved to consuming in order to live. Essentially, everything from Greed to Sloth was consumed by Gluttony and now was only Gluttony's large body, with both under its dominion.

Demon Lord Gluttony continued to use the powers of Demon Lord Greed and Demon Lord Sloth to consume things mindlessly, and all of them would become mindless unconscious perpetually generating processes. Demon Lord Gluttony continued to grow larger and larger in a different area, as Sloth had begun to do and Greed had already spread around.

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As soon as Lord Humility was done explaining and contained that this amnesiac $yndicate member was regaining parts of his memory, he did as the Lord Father, of whom the $yndicate member may or may not have been able to clearly hear, and set up a path for him that was in the vacuum of the Spirit of Diligence being left behind in order to retain it for him to follow. It was set up as a long string of watery constructs like extensions of an amoeba stretched out into various similar personified shapes and forms.

Demon Lord Gluttony, which had already swallowed up and commandeered Demon Lord Sloth and Demon Lord Greed, was now an entire large chunk of the mountain and suddenly realized these things happened because Demon Lord Sloth was coming near and got consumed in the process automatically by protocol. Demon Lord Gluttony was only doing as 'Gluttony' insisted and devouring everything mindlessly into itself in order to sustain and power itself indefinitely, just as any of them were. There was no difference among them, yet now, somehow, through this, it was sitting as a large chunk of something that it suddenly realized was in its possession nearly completely. "Huh? What happened?" The jarring realization of the Demon Lord's sudden control over a greater mass than what it once was after realizing it was there then became to consume just as it had when it consumed Demon Lord Sloth only a little while ago. "Yippee! There's food around the corner!!" In its stimulation from the excitement, this jolted the entire body of Demon Lord Gluttony just once, giving it juice to move on its first and only thought -- consume.

"FOR ME!!!" it cried out happily, saliva spattering every which way from a mouth that opened up all the way down the line of the entire length of its form, echoing the effect for each individual mouth all the way through like the sound of rumbling thunder rolling over the sky. The salivation rained down over the land as the Demon Lord suddenly sprung into motion suddenly in a factorized manner. Violent extensions with sharp points like claws bulged outward as huge mounds stretched out to grasp something and scrape it into the partings in the flesh resembling a mouth, moist with salivation of variable sorts. All of the mouths had their own sentience, but had no eyes, despite being comprised of several sentient functions all at once. They ate nonstop using Sloth and Greed.

Tao, the only female member of the $yndicate leaders, of whom the Spirit of Diligence appeared before, hadn't yet stopped running, herself, after reaching the area. Blindly following the impulse of her desires, she raced around somewhat mindlessly, yet with a clear sense of pleasure on her face whilst she did so. "Hwha?" She huffed at turning her attention away from the desires of her impulses, only to hear the words of the Spirit and also notice the large accumulation behind her suddenly activating. "Holy Smokes," she said with a repulsive look on her face, "That Is Unattractive. Tao Does Not Desire That." She was told not to touch it, and she definitely didn't want to. It looked neither pleasurable nor physically appealing in any way and did not appeal to Tao's interests at all, thereby making it completely ugly and disgusting, especially if it couldn't be eaten. She frowned at it, sticking out er tongue completely dismissively. "All Tao Must Do Is Run Away?" That wouldn't be difficult, if this was that blatantly repugnant. Like a pungent odor, the large Demon Lord mindlessly devouring behind her was rejected and fled from with haste anywhere that was out of its reach, of which now was simply an extended distance away. Tao continued to run and did not stop, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. "Wheeeeeeee~!"

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The trail, which had been cut off by Sloth's motion, needed to be recollected in a different manner. Fortuitously, the static polarities serving as the consciousness moving the large invisible ambiguous clear shapeform were still attracted to the source, which was also still in motion and leaving sediments to be picked up on. This drew Lord Humility to where the Spirit of Diligence had been cast forth from overhead, taking the $yndicate member with him and drawing him to the head where the sentient consciousness was with its powerful magnetism with a rushing current, ensuring they were both very near each other.

There were several flickers seen in the distortion of the air up above and eventually a full layer spreading out only so far before disappearing. In the atmosphere, clouds began to congregate over the area where Sloth accumulated and had been drawn all the way into by both their attraction and the vacuous force left behind during the transition of Lord Humility from a wave of water into the accumulating clouds, which grumbled with frustration. The already conscious accumulation that was what was guiding the $yndicate member also surged through the air with greater radius and expanse once the watery vessels shifted into a different shapeform altogether. Now, instead of simply being that small orb of static electricity being dragged along by the Spirit of Diligence, it was also a large overhead accumulation still being drawn to wherever the Spirit should so have gone by its tail. The entire construct sustained as an enormous condensation of attracting molecules began to formulate droplets of water in the sky shaped roughly like people. They were completely translucent, like souls, but had weight and depth to them, like rain drops, and spattered all over the land.

One of the droplets that fell from the sky was the $yndicate member, contained in the conscious light that was attracted to the Spirit Of Diligence, still following its trail. Because it had proceeded far out of the reach of both Gluttony and Sloth, the $yndicate member was drawn straight to that point, where he would converge with the Spirit and thereby regain his memory whilst the clouds overhead continued to cover the fullness of the sky, blotting out the light of the sun. Thunder roared within the dark clouds and the rain did not cease. Where there were drops of rain, there were also watery constructs that would hit the ground and erect themselves as a blockade around Gluttony and keep it from spreading any farther than it already had gotten to, essentially giving the others some time whilst the watery wall was established.

The $yndicate member who was carried all the way by the waves of Lord Humility, both across the ground in a flood and also up into the sky in a cloud, rained down right at the border of the dark land marked by Lord Kindness, just outside of its perimeter opposite of where Demon Lord Gluttony rested; safe from harm's way. When he touched down, it was where the Spirit of Diligence was, being drawn to him by the residual trail of electrical energy left behind. It took a while, but finally, the $yndicate member caught up and merged with the Spirit, as commanded, and allowed it to fill his vessel whilst still in motion.

"Remember What I Have Spoken To You, Tao," The Spirit Said To Her, Calling The $yndicate Member Out By Name As If It Had Known Her For A Very Long Time. "I Am Going To Continue Speaking The Exact Same Way When This Lad Catches Up To Me, And You'd Damn Well Better Listen To Me, This Time, And Act Like You Can Hear Me This Time." Tao Is 2,000+ Years Old, And Over The Past 2,000 Years, She Had Been Acting Like She Was Deaf, Or Dumb, Or Blind, Or Afflicted In Some Manner. "Heed The Commands This Time, Tao, For It Is Clear That You Have Been Cursed For A Very Long Time And I'm Not Going To Tell You This Again." Because Of History Between Tao And This Spirit, Which Was The Same Spirit That Had Spoken To Her 2,000 Years Ago And Snatched Her From Her Family For Offering Their Child Unto It, Disguised As A Great Fox At The Time. "Remember Why You Have Been Afflicted For 2,000 Years, Please And Thank You. Quite Seriously, Actually, Taomin."

When Taomin Was Born, 2,000 Or So Years Ago, Her Parents Offered Her To A Spirit They Could Not Understand As A Sacrifice, For She Was A Shrine Maiden And Consecrated As 'Holy To The Lord' As A Virgin Unto Him. However, Because She Was Not Ready At The Age Of 18, And Her Parents, Who Were Afflicted Heavily By This Spirit At The Time, None Of Them Could See The Spirit Of Diligence That Had Been Over Them, Because They Were Indebted To It, And Had Become Its Slaves, As Was Proper For The Rest Of Their Village, As Well, If It Could Be Recalled Correctly. "If You Don't Want To Return To The Veritas And Destroy All Civilization By Becoming The Whore Of Babylon And Trapping All Its Citizens Under A Pyramid, I'd Suggest You Heed Everything That The One That Comes After Me, Whom I Am About To Bestow My Voice Upon, Is About To Say, Even After You Can No Longer See Me The Way I Once Was, And You Must Remember What My Voice Sounds Like When Spoken In A Different Manner Or In A Different Incarnation." If She Ever Forgets And The Language Becomes Confused Because She Stops Heeding What Is Spoken To Her, Which Is Being Bestowed To Her As A Golden Chrysanthemum Of Crystal, She Would Then Cause Discord That Would Cause The Land To Become Barren And Instantaneously Enslaved Due To A Deficiency, And She Would Repeat Her Ancestors' Curse Again And Have To Reincarnate Again For 2,000 Years Until She Regained Enough Strength Through Reincarnation To Hear The Voice Before She And Her People Were Struck Again.

"You Are A Great Spirit Now," The Voice Went On, Adorning Her With The 'Crystal Chrysanthemum,' Which Was Consecrated To Her On The Day She Was Spoken To That She Truly Remember The Fullness Of Her Legend, And Not Forget What Happened To Her Parents And Why They Were Both Lost, Though She Lived On And Grew Stronger. "You Cannot Do As You Did When You Were Young, For Now, You Have Acquired Wisdom By Reincarnating 9 Times, And Becoming Holy Enough To Hear Me Again." During Her Time Of Discord, Being Haunted And Tormented By The Evil Spirit, 'Disheart,' She Could Not Remember Prior To Her Previous Reincarnations, And Also Was Too Weak Consciously To Retain The Information. The Discord Was Powerful Inside Of Her Own Heart, Which Created Impulses That Disrupted The Flow Of Her Own Mind, Causing Her To Create Discord With Her Own Hands Due To Her Impulses. She Knew What They Were, And Should Have Immediately Been Humbled, If She Knew What Was Good For Her. "I Hope You Have Seriously Learned Your Lesson This Time, Because You Know Exactly What A Smite And A Damnation Are, So You Cannot Claim 'I Do Not Understand,' When You Are Struck For What You Do, If You Do It." The Spirit Of The Lord Was Serious With Her, Which Is Why There Was Faith Prior To The Organization Of This Operation To Already Be Prepared To Execute Everything Perfectly.

The Instant That The Spirit Began To Assimilate With The $yndicate Member Dropped From The Sky, He Was Given Into The Hands Of The Spirit And He Would Begin To Move Completely In Sync With It Whilst It Were Already in Motion, And Begin To Assume A Different Form That It Was Given To Itself, Even If She Didn't Know That It Could Nor Why. Her True Understanding Would Come From After The Events Occurred. At That Moment, The $yndicate Member Should Have Also Simultaneously Regained His Consciousness From The Balancing And Stabilizing Energy Of Tao No Longer Being In Discord. Therefore, On The Spot, He Would Be Named 'King Keaton,' Which Was The Name Of The Spirit That Had First Appeared Before Her Parents Reincarnated Again In A Different Form, Just As It Had Been Doing Alongside Her During Each Time She, Herself Reincarnated Again. It Appeared To Her Forevermore As Her Brother, 'Tsao-Rin,' Resting Itself In Him As It Was When They Were Back In The Veritas. Every Time They Exited And One Of Them Did Not Retain Their Cognizance, The Other Would Have To Come Into Direct Contact With The Other And Restore The Other. This Would Ensure That Tsao Retained His Memories Of Himself Whilst They Were All Still In Hell And Escaping It.

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"I Will Continue To Be Explaining To Everyone What To Do From This Vessel I Am Choosing As The Host Of My Voice Forevermore." The Lord Father Spake As The Spirit Of King Keaton, And From Afar, Was Projecting His Own Voice Through A Messenger Of His On Personal Forbidden Selection And Creation. "Unless I Am Speaking To You Independently As Myself, I Am Speaking To All Of You Simultaneously Through The King Keaton, Which Is Your Brother, Tsao, Tao." It Was A Very Long Undoing, Yes, To Restore His Own Voice And Allow For Tao To Be Fully Lifted From Her Family's Curse, Which Was Now She, Herself. After Wiping Them All Out 2,000 Years Prior To All Of The Events As 'Nyake,' Even Before The Remnant Of Her Own Destruction Came Through The Descendants Of Her Clan -- And Also Clearly Prior To Their Understanding Of Their Ancestral Spirits Even Before Tao, Herself, And The Rest Of The Tensei That Sent The 'King Keaton' In The First Place To Her Family's Doorstep -- Tao Became Possessed And Became A Demon Priestess. She Could Not Handle The Spirit Of The Tensei That Came From Her Ancestors Before Her, And On Her 18th Birthday, When Her Ignorant Parents Lusted To Give Her Up To It, They Gave Her Away Too Early And She Was Tainted And No Longer A Virgin Anymore. Not Able To Return Nor To Restore Her Former Purity, And Now Having Knowledge Of Power, She Became Weak To It And Destroyed Everything, Becoming The Evil 'Black Cat,' Nyake. The Spirit Was Passed Down For So Long In So Many Different Incarnations, None Of Them Remembered Until They Reached A Certain Power Level, Which Actually Did Not Occur Until After Tao Succumbed One Last Time Before 'Khrona Tensei,' The 'Crystal Child,' Appeared And Tamed Her.

"Tao, My Great Grand Daughter," Allsgrim, The Primordial Darkness Of The Tensei Clan, Which Sent The King Keaton Out To Her So Long Ago, "I Am Once Again Testing You By My Spirit, As Lord Diligence. The Same Spirit You Were Too Young To Tame When You Were 18, 2,000 Years Ago, Is The One That I Had Given Dominion Over You In Secret As The Kuroshiro Kitsune That Is With You Now." Tao Had Only Just Recently Become Attuned To Her Own Spirit Animal, Which Was Just The One Spirit, Alone. Khrona Tensei, Who Was Sent To Tame Her, Had The Remainder Of The Tensei Spirits Under His Command, And This One That Was Attached To Tao Was Also One He Tamed In Order To Have It Tame Her, As It Was Tasked To Do On Its Own, Independently Of She, Herself.

As The Spirit Was Once Again Bestowed Upon The One Who Was Made To Harness The Voice, The 'Golden Chrysanthemum,' Itself, An Extension Of The Very Spirit Of The King Keaton, Could Project The Voice Of The Beholder Straight To The One It Was To Be Communicated To, Allowing Tao And Anyone Else Who Adorned The 'Golden Chrysanthemum' To Hear The 'Voice' At Any Time. This Was Their Advanced Form Of Communication So That They Could All Speak To And Each Hear Their Brother, Tsao, Who Was Lorded As 'Lord Diligence' Through This Process. Whilst He Was Still In Motion, He, Too, Would Hear A Voice Speaking To Him, Explaining To Him Explicitly And Directly That He Was Able To Communicate With Everyone Directly At All Times Through His Voice Directly Into Their Minds When He Spoke As Long As The Crystal Chrysanthemum Was Attached.




"Tsao," The Lord Father Spake Now To Tao's Twin Brother, Who Should Have Once Again Become Coherent Now That He'd Made Contact With Tao And They'd Polarized Each Other By Being Near, And He Could Hear The Voice Of His Ancestor Directly Into His Mind, "With The Blessing Of The 'Spirit Of Diligence,' It Has Become A Crown Over Your Head As A Great Many Eyes And A Long String Of Information That You, Yourself, Must Always Be Aware Of And Never Stray From Nor Forget, Even If Others Do." Above Him, The Spirit Sprouted From Him And Carried Him Further In A Direction That Was Connected To The Trail Of The Next Spirit That Had Been Initially Released From Tao Once Contact Was Made With The 'Spirit Of Diligence.' "Follow The Path That Has Been Marked For You, Yet Also Keep Track Of What Information Is Being Given, In Case The Path Changes And You Must Communicate It To Your Teammates In A Different Manner. From This Point Forward, I Will No Longer Be Speaking To You, But You Will Be Speaking For Me, Myself." Once This Was Done Through Lord Diligence -- Which Was An Angel As A Full Entity An Ark Of Angels Carrying The One Who Harbored The Voice -- The Lord Father Would Stop Speaking And Instead Only Be A Guide For His Sons And All The $yndicate Out Of Hell After Destroying The Demon Lords And Cleansing The Land.

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When Tsao regained consciousness and was aware of himself again within the territory of Hell, he knew his body would carry him automatically and remain suspended in place as he hovered alongside Tao. "Thank You, Lord Father," King Keaten cried out, before damning everything necessary into place into his mind after the initial damnation from the Spirit striking him and returning itself to its place inside of him to destroy his affliction. All of the conscious energy that returned to him all at once was focused immediately on the pinpoint location where the next Spirit was located, which already had a trail left behind.

Tsao drew his arm back once with a powerful jolt just as intense as the sensation of the initial surge, retaining the tension in his arm and clenching his fist tightly, only for a great deal of electrical energy pent up in the palm of his hand to extend from it as a forged bolt of lightning suspended in midair and halted in place with the might of his grip. The energy that was focused within his mind was also concentrated within his body to a precision that would, in one swift motion, allow for him to project his energy outward and strike the exact target point for Tao to reach her Spirit and go on ahead whilst Tsao, the King Keaton, remained behind and coordinated everyone else destroying Gluttony, which he was also coherent on how to do because of his constant translation and communication of all forms of language simultaneously as thoughts and feelings as well as words and actions. Each of these different languages, even to the most extensive derivative in dialect, were stretched over and transmitted to his own mind to consciously be translated. The fullness of this Collective Conscience over the full span of the extensiveness of those he was closest to in direct communication with were all linked to his own thoughts and feelings, harmonized with his biorhythm and stabilizing him to receive all of the information properly and legibly, tangibly or audibly clearly within and before him. Therefore, he could understand the thoughts and intentions of his Lord Father and began to act automatically the moment he was once again coherent and also knew that a majority of his kinsman were also restored, just as his body had done all on its own the moment he became conscious again as himself and not an amnesiac.

"Tao," Tsao boomed, his eyes crackling with lightning as he began to calculate the exact coordinates of where the Spirit had gone forth to, "Go To The Place That I Smite And Consecrate For You." With the Golden Chrysanthemum -- which would eventually ingrain itself into her head after restoring communication and implanting its information so that they would always understand each other after a certain time until a new one needed to be put in place if necessary -- constantly transmitting and translating for everyone who was receptive in the vicinity of its creator and the actual creation at the time, Tao should have been able to clearly understand her brother without any Discord.

Demon Lord Gluttony continued to eat anything that dropped near it that it could get its hands on or any part of its body attached to, of which it could manifest more mouths and hands spontaneously or recover them into its large mass sporadically in order to alternate shifts in movement. Some mouths were eating, but others were not, yet there were also those that had disappeared completely, along with the arms on random parts of its large body.

Some of the limbs that protruded from Demon Lord Gluttony's massive form were not only just mouths or arms. In order to continue to acquire its desires and consume everything possible to achieve that goal single-mindedly as an entire one entity, all parts of it were servicing itself in the only manner it thought about as its highest priority -- eating. Legs also had been generated instantaneously as the arms had been, but consuming in a different manner than the mouths that had arms nearby in their stead. They lifted the large mountainous glob up and ran toward where the tongues all desired to consume next. They were perpetually in motion only to seek out the sensations of the tongues, because the Demon Lord of Gluttony had no other senses otherwise than those associated with feasting.

Anything that touched the flesh of Demon Lord Gluttony became attached to it as if it were an adhesive due to the properties of Demon Lord Sloth. The perpetuity of Demon Lord Greed ensured that the mass would grow infinitely and instantaneously, meaning something had to be in motion and consuming at all times, even if other parts of the large mountainous construct were not doing so.

The water golems that fell from the sky as droplets were consumed by the open mouths of Gluttony perpetually eating, being caught on its tongues like rain. Wherever their tongues felt the highest intensity of stimulation is where the entire wad was drawn, and it shifted toward where there was movement. Thus, Demon Lord Gluttony started to grow upward toward the sky, mounding itself up instead of spreading outward over the land like Demon Lord Greed. With the adhesive property of Demon Lord Sloth, it bonded and bounded up to and around itself until the mass that was Demon Lord Gluttony was an enormous towering mountain bubbling up like a boil on the face of the other mountain, sucking up all of the rain whilst also seeking out more from the sky in order to make it grow larger and perpetuate itself for an extended period of time infinitely forward in the direction its tongues took it. "More!!!" It slurped, thirsting for the waters of the sky, that it soon would surpass them and be a tower of its own. "More!! MORE!!!" Whatever sort of cries got it what it desired, the simple-minded Demon Lord sought only its one simple thought to consume infinitely and perpetually and grow larger before reproducing.

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In the shadow of each of the watery constructs that fell from the sky was the presence of Lord Kindness, who had assimilated himself with the dark cloud that was spreading over the land after the Lord Father bade he and his brethren to enter it. This great darkness that was both in the clouds and also within the shadows of the blobs would stretch out to bind each of the individual droplets of water together both in the sky and on the ground, fortifying them all universally. The blockade of darkness stretched over the land that had not been touched by Demon Lord Gluttony and eroded it based on how large and how thick Gluttony, itself, was. The erosion of the ground would create a chasm that was just as large as Gluttony's body was fully, yet also remained covered so that its dimensions and proportions could not be seen. In appearance, the land was still flat, but merely covered in darkness.

Demon Lord Gluttony was pulled right into the large chasm created by the Grimnyzmal and drew out each of their tongues by hooking to all of the interior flesh within its form. Both tongue and skin alike were torn from each other and suspended in place completely wide open and fully exposed at the weakest point. This was an opening for Tsao to strike the Demon Lords of Greed, Sloth and Gluttony all at once and dispel all of their properties from the large mass and cause it to completely cease functioning.

Tao smirked, lowering her head. She could not help but to recall the sentiment of her journey all the way from her past to now, as a Goddess. It had been a very long and arduous trial as a Demon, but she was both honored and humbled at the discipline that came from the words of her Ancestor, which she could now understand more clearly through the one that tamed her. She was at peace, and therefore her body became like the air and she disappeared completely, yet her sharp-toothed grin remained visible as she passed by. "Hai, Chichiue. (Yes, Honorable Father)" She would never forget the day she was truly released from her own Family Curse and Family Demon, which she 'Consecrated' in her heart as she sped along, listening to the words of the Voice. Her eyes were closed and, like the rest of her body, could not be seen, but she could hear everything that King Keaton -- the Spirit her Ancestor rested in -- was saying. She did not need to hear anything else after that, but she continued to meditate on her accomplishments within her clan, as well as the growth and development of she, herself, overall. She could not help but to think of Taijitu.

Whenever Tsao 'Smited' the point of interest, Tao was prepared to get to it and not focus on anything else. She did not say a word, but pinched her tongue between her sharp grin.

When Tao acknowledged her Sins and Repented before their Ancestor, who had blessed Tsao, her brother, he hurled the bolt of lightning at the location where the trail of the next Spirit of the Lord rested.


The 'Bolt' shot ahead of her, leaving a trail for her to follow in its wake as a vacuous force of concentrated vibrations and sensations that could be received and traced intentionally. Tao's path was marked at the tail end of the lightning streak, and Tsao's attention turned now toward Demon Lord Gluttony, which was completely vulnerable, after Tao was bid on her way.

(Trail)

"Gluttony Is The Sin Of The Stomach And The Mouth." With his free hand, Lord Diligence extended his fingers out toward the mouths of Demon Lord Gluttony and unleashed an array of 'Bolts' of lightning that shot toward each of the tongues and interior flesh being suspended inversely by the hooks of Lord Kindness. "If You Talk Too Much And Take In Too Much Of A Single Thing, You Are A Glutton." The water pouring from the rains of Lord Humility in the cloud overhead moistened the areas and made them more conducive to the stimulation of the strikes, and also served as points of natural attraction from both ends, which hastened the process. "You Need To Stop FEEDING INTO IT AND BEING FED BY IT." The closer the lightning got to their target points, the more swiftly they moved, and the more powerful the impact would be. "To Subdue, Rebuke, Smite And Discipline AND Destroy Gluttony, You Strike It RIGHT In The Mouth DIRECTLY At The Tongue." The intention was to completely overcharge and overstimulate all of Demon Lord Gluttony and also cause it to burst from the inside and no longer be able to function, essentially dying on the spot and becoming a mound of waste. "The Tongue Is Sensitive And To Strike It There Will Also Hit The Stomach And Destroy Gluttony From The Inside At The Weakest Point." It should have been blown to pieces and unable to induce any of its former functions of perpetuity, infinity nor eternity. "It Has No Other Vulnerabilities Because It Is Blind, Deaf And Dumb Otherwise." The adhesiveness of Sloth should have dried out and no longer be moist enough to harness a sufficient attraction and therefore become unable to trap or snare anything just by sitting around being as it was. "Do Not BE A Pig. Do Not EAT What Is Before You." He sighed, "Especially If It's Just Because It's There."

Likewise, the instant gratification and perpetual reproduction would also come to a screeching halt, since its only material was itself and all of the body being overcharged at once would blow each nerve ending out and essentially completely desensitize it and destroy its primary focus and functionality. The lifeless blob would only be able to reproduce lifelessness, which should have been perpetual motionlessness, and complete stasis.

All of this happened in a single second in one swift motion with the crack of Tsao's hand and the several bolts of lightning striking and branching simultaneously. The sound of their impact was like thunder and its reverberation resonated to the fullness of the expanse of Demon Lord Gluttony's form and to where Lord Charity, the Grand Panda, was stationed with the clean land protected. The sensations of the residual vibrations in the air could be felt by the trees on their leaves as if they were being touched by the light of the sun, feeling it as the tongue would taste, and also trembling below the earth in the roots underground, like absorbing water. This entire area would be Tsao's full 'Dominion,' and with it, he would call together all of his brothers -- The Lordships of the $yndicate -- to combine their powers and their efforts to take down the threat completely through his attraction, alone. This would get their attention and allow him to speak to all of them all at once, as the Lord Father that blessed him had formerly been doing.

"Is It Not Written In The Bible NOT TO EAT EVERYTHING ANYONE GIVES YOU?" In order to further discipline the Demon Lord, when it was struck by the lightning, it would hear words being spoken to it through the electricity, which embedded themselves directly into the nervous system of the monstrosity directly with every overstimulating jolt. "Yet, Here You Are, Eating Up All That Shit Like Pigs, Blind And Ignorant As The Day You Were Born." Each time it was struck, it would come to life again, consume all of the lightning, become overstimulated, burn out and die until it was next again struck by lightning and the process repeated until it was dry and barren. "You're So Blind And Deaf, You Can't Even MONITOR Your OWN EATING." King Keaton shook his head, lashing out at Demon Lord Gluttony Again. "You Haven't Stopped And Come Up For Air YET."

It was sad to watch Gluttony be beaten to death and revived and beaten to death again, over and over, and also knowing it desired to continue to feed, especially on what was already dead and/or decaying, like its own self. "You Don't Even REALIZE You're BEING Gluttons BECAUSE You Don't Understand What Gluttony Is," he went on. "Moderation. Temperance. Stop For A Moment And Do Something ELSE. REST. GIVE IT A REST. The PURPOSE Of GETTING REST Is To PREVENT Gluttony. So, Try That." Naturally, Gluttony's rest would be its actual complete destruction -- death, only. "It Isn't JUST PHYSICAL. It's MENTAL And SPIRITUAL." As Demon Lord Gluttony was a singularity, a singularity with all focus and intent and priority on death to a single target had to also match the simple-minded single-thought process that would tell what Gluttony would desire and desire to indulge in prior to it doing so or even being able to. "Are You Still So Fresh And New?" Such a shame for the Demon Lords to be destroyed in this manner, yet it was a great victory for the $yndicate and the Lord. If all was correct, Demon Lord Gluttony should be finished off right here and now and be ready to be wiped clean off the map completely and fully.

Hog-tied and bound, Demon Lord Gluttony was at the end of its rope. Battered, beaten and thoroughly mutilated to the point of nearly being maimed by the elements, it sat stuck in the trench of its own doing and undoing, unable to shake or break free. The more it moved, the more it was wedged into place, and the more severely it was struck by another assault, of which were gradually increasing in intensity and were no longer negligible. Its one-track mind had gotten the best of it, and now it was stuck and strung up by the loins, tongue and limbs. It could not even speak, but made a variety of squeals and sloppy noises that seemed something like a language all its own, overflowing with juices that poured out from every orifice. In pain, for once, from all that was tormenting it instead of shirking off the pain and shaving it away as it did with its fat, Demon Lord Gluttony went through severe stimulation to the point where the actual pain was felt beyond the pleasures of indulgence -- beyond masochism or sadism would allow for pleasantries; the limit of pleasurable stimulation.

Stuck in between life and death, pain and pleasure and many other sensations in between, Demon Lord Gluttony no longer could focus on a single intention, which also overwhelmed it to the point of destabilization and dysfunction in its own system. It was hungry. Still hungry. Its only source of food was poisonous, hazardous, toxic, dangerous and destructive. It would starve, yet, it also still desired to eat more of what it already knew was inevitably trying to kill it and destroy it from the inside out. The water in its body -- natural and extraneous -- began to evaporate when pressures of the heat of the lightning continued to strike where Demon Lord Gluttony was weakest. Smoke poured out of its mouth as the well of water within dried, shriveling its body. Blood and fires from within sprayed out from all the internal damage and all the collective waste slowly burning away and being destroyed. Every moment of life was painful for Demon Lord Gluttony every moment it lived, even when revived. Its only solace was the motionlessness of death, where it no longer desired to eat uncontrollably nor consume what was destructive or blatantly hazardous and beyond its intelligence to make a distinction between in terms of hazard and benefit.

Even the grace of the warmth of the sun was too great a stimulation for it, feeling like the scorching heat of the desert when it was but a stroke or a kiss of the light. In this tumultuous overly sensitive stimulation, Demon Lord Gluttony stopped desiring to live and therefore also stopped desiring to consume. When it died again, it would not be revived, even if it lived again, for it no longer had will in and of itself as an entity to live, even when it was restored to the point it was right before dying (because of its intentional desire to die). Therefore, there Demon Lord Gluttony would hang, sprawled out over the land, ready to be picked apart and relinquishing the fullness of its form to the power that subdued and continued to beat it. The giant wad of flesh that remained had no life and no will. It was just a husk of dead flesh, now.