Aeternus has seen that ominous glow several times. It happens after the body reaches its limit. The body needs to release the excess energy that is putting it in this unnatural state.
The specter told the dukes. "You better leave now if you want to live."
The dukes scrammed. The lord of chaos is not an emotional person. He allowed them to kill each other. Now he is telling them to leave now if they want to live. The seriousness of the situation cannot be more emphasized. Something extremely bad is sure to happen to them if they continue staying here. So they ran with all their might. They ran without looking back and as fast as they can go.
Behind them, Beelta's body suddenly collapsed on itself to become a large black sphere. It is the same sphere that entered her body except it is much bigger. The sphere expanded and initiated a massive explosion that rocked the plane. All of the dukes were caught in the edges of the explosion and suffered. Some of the dukes who were too slow died. That made their numbers become lesser than 60.
The dukes returned after the explosion died down. They found the red specter still there. It is unharmed but it has grown smaller. It had expended some of its soul force in surviving the explosion. It could have escaped but Aeternus wanted to collect first-hand data on the performance of the sphere through it. The specter is also reducing rapidly as it used its soul force to sense the environment and the changes that occurred.
'It is obviously a bust. Maybe I should just make it a grenade instead. I should stick to explosives. They are easier to do.'
Any outcome would have been alright. In fact, he has learned a lot from this failure than he would have gotten if he had succeeded. He wanted to bypass the normal protocol in which only demon gods can grant Authority. He created the black sphere just by thinking about creating something that can make demon lord beings more powerful. His system didn't acknowledge the upgrade so he decided to have a real test.
His failure has made him understand that he might be able to bypass rules but it might not work with others. It also confirmed Soverick's hypothesis that the black orb that they got from their near-death experience is not related to Authority. If it were Authority, the clones should be able to combine their Authorities into something more powerful. He should also be able to grant Authority to his dukes.
He has decided to develop the black sphere as a grenade instead since it likes to explode so much. That's how the other test subjects die. The black sphere feeds on them and gets bigger. Then it explodes.
The black sphere can explode without using others to get bigger. It is just that the power of the explosion won't be so high. That can change if he focuses on making it more powerful instead of trying to get it to make demon dukes evolve. It will be easy to do too. After all, destruction is always easier to do than creation.
Beelta's death was not in vain. She may have joined the cause because of a slight miscommunication that is totally her fault, but the undeniable truth is that she contributed something to him. Her death has inspired the production of explosives. He will give up on trying to force evolution on others unless he wants them to explode. It is the least he can do for Beelta. Let it not be said that the Lord Of Chaos is not a reasonable demon king.
He spoke to the dukes. "Xander gets the credit for the kill of the demon lord. She is not to participate anymore. The competition hasn't ended. It will end when a new demon lord is crowned. I'll leave you to it. Do your best."
Then the specter turned to ashes as it died. It has used up its entire store of Soul force.
The demon dukes looked around at each other and began fighting. The demon lord is gone. Now they can face each other with their full attention. Most of them are tired from fighting Beelta. The ones who were able to conserve their resources will have an advantage over others.
Baal smiled when the fight was about to begin. He smiled because he is one of the few who conserved most of their resources. He is also happy because Xander won't compete with them anymore now that she has earned a spot as a Herald. That has reduced the number of available spots but it also increased his chances of getting one.
They quickly formed into groups. A group will support a single demon as it tries to bind the energy well. They will protect that demon and disrupt the other demon duke's attempts at binding the energy well. It was a chaotic struggle.
The fight will be less chaotic if Xander were participating. Every one of them will act of one mind and focus on eliminating her first. What they have seen of her has made her the highest on their priority kill list. They will do their uttermost to eliminate her because they can't fight knowing that she can suddenly appear and kill them.
The competition continued for a long while. The demon dukes formed alliances and broke them. They went back and forth tussling for the position of the demon lord. Aeternus watched them and gauged their performance and abilities. He is honestly disappointed by their performance against Beelta but they have an excuse. Their stats are not up to par with hers.
His failure to create a means to upgrade his subordinates also means that he will have to be satisfied with what he has. He is most satisfied with Xander of all his subordinates. She is not the most powerful but she has special skill sets that set her apart from the others.