The old man had simply rubbed his white beard with a strange smile back then, watching the Insects proliferate, before he had raised his hand and struck out. The heavens and earth had overturned as a giant palm shape would crush endless Insects in one blow.

His mighty Heavenly Pam Strike was all the mighty Jade Emperor had needed to use. Even True Lord Insects had not been spared under his attack.

​​

However, the true devastation had come from a single one of Yuli'ann Castoro's yawns.

Due to all the noise, the Ancestor Dragon had woken up. Mildly intrigued he had faced the direction of the continent of Pokterr, the location of that last battle.

His yawn then traveled over, transforming into a Wind Tribulation of the highest degree, forcing the four overpowered True Lords to flee as well as the Fake Lords who had been around.

The Insects and the various mortal forces had no such luck. They had been directly obliterated by this yawn, ending the war on the spot.

This was the truth of how everyone had suffered losses to their forces in a single war.

Yuli'ann, speechless by his unintended interference, had simply turned his body around, facing the other way. No one could pester him about consequences if he was asleep, right?

Naturally, the various True Lords and Gods had only been able to swallow down their dissatisfaction with bitter smiles, no one had the guts to go and make trouble before such a powerful entity. As such, everyone took that 'L'.

Beelzebub had been the only one to survive because a single slash from Susanoo had left him on death's door. He had fled underground to recuperate, allowing him to miss the devastation.

He, alongside some other rather fortunate Insects, were what made up the race today.

That last battle had seen them lose 99% of their number. What Darius was dealing with today was merely 1% of their true power.

One could imagine the shock and horror Beelzebub had felt when he had inspected the battlefield later.

His fate was not much different from someone born and raised in Nagasaki, who just so happened to have traveled to Taiwan just before the bomb had dropped.

The realization that he was supposed to die, but due to circumstances lucked out, while all his other friends and family were gone, would forever scar the True Lord of Faust.

Beelzebub had been guarding the Insect race ever since, preventing them from being truly genocided as he knew that they didn't have the strength to resist the Gods on their own.

As for the True Lords, those didn't care.

They had only come out back then to protect Faust as a whole. Now that the Insects were a mere shell of themselves, they could continue to decline into nothingness.

Even if they did rise again and were stupid enough to launch another campaign, nothing was stopping the True Lords from easily quelling them just like before.

It was only the ignorant Gods who gave too much stock to the Insect race due to how weak and stupid they were in comparison to True Lords.

All of this had culminated into this current moment where Darius began reaching the conclusion he wanted, slowly approaching it like a spider to its prey.

"When I went to visit Thanatos, can you guess what he did? He called me an Agent of Vena, and realized that my reason for coming there was to claim the First Resurrection Stone. Let me give you a brief rundown of what it is and its history." Darius began explaining the lore behind his first Quest, the steps he took and how it ended.

He omitted the ownership of the stone and claimed it had been sent back to Vena, as it was something belonging to her. He wasn't going to tell this True Lord that he could reincarnate three times or more thanks to it.

"… and so, that is what happened. You understand, don't you Lord Beel? Why did Thanatos act in the manner he did? And why you are acting as you are now?" Darius spoke in a serpentine manner as he slowly circled the shrunken body of Beel like a drill sergeant inspecting his latest recruit.

Beelzebub for that matter, stood stock still while sweating, but he understood what Darius was getting at.

"Fine, I get that Vena sent you to Thanatos to retrieve the Stone, but what are you doing here? My Insect race has never stolen anything from her possession, nor should we have anything she may want!" The Lord of Flies stated. His tone was a mix of worry, confusion, and defiance.

This was something that puzzled the other Insect Lords, for they felt the same. They had consumed pretty much anything that could be devoured for their own, so they didn't have anything like a treasury vault or a stockpile.

Darius burst into a peal of uproarious laughter. For some reason, Beelzebub felt that he should not allow Darius to speak what he would next, but it was too late.

Darius suddenly dashed back to where he had originally stood while gazing at the group of Insects with a smirk.

"Of course not. The mission given to me is quite simple. I must…"

"NO! STOP!" Beelzebub shrieked with horror as he channeled his speed to rush at Darius, aiming one of his legs at the fellow to pierce through his scalp and destroy his brain.

"… kill every member of the Insect race within half a year." Darius finished with a smile.

He did not react to seeing Beelzebub's sharp leg aimed towards his right eye, inches away from piercing his brain and killing him. He just watched the True Lord with mockery and victory on his face, while Beelzebub trembled in hatred and regret.

He truly regretted not having killed these three the moment he had encountered this strange place. He regretted having come here himself with such loud fanfare instead of using a sneak attack. He regretted not having truly investigated this foe and letting his hunger take over.

Now, he would never get that chance. He could have killed these three and feigned innocence later, or even captured them and played them to death in the way he had originally planned, but now that the cat was out of the bag, his paths to success were cut off.