The third consequence, and the one the harmed the Insect race as a whole, was the wastage of resources and the low amount of True Lords. Due to their inefficient method of sharing resources halfway through, they ended up creating True Lords after Anansi much later than if they had shared things efficiently.
This led them to dry up the resources on Pokterr much faster than otherwise with fewer gains. They tried to ration things near the end, but the harm, had been done.
Of course, the True Lords did not see it that way. They were at the height of their power, and their hunger was gnawing at their minds and souls. They tried to move into the nearby seas for resources, and had some early successes.
However, Insects had poor compatibility with the sea, with very few able to survive long enough to bring resources back. Not to mention the monsters in the sea were not chumps that existed to be steamrolled.
The Insects were driven to a corner, and they decided to finally launch an invasion against the rest of Faust. Beelzebub was chosen to be a commander of troops, leading elite warriors to siege various locations.
Surprisingly, his fearful nature helped him. As one could imagine, the general modus operandi of the Insects was to swarm a place endlessly until they took over. Sure, you could resist 1 million bugs, but could you resist 10 million? 50 million? 100 million?
The answer was no. Especially not when the bugs fed on your deceased loved ones and comrades to strengthen themselves, consuming all your resources during the battle, even those you considered a waste while they continually powered up.
Beelzebub though, stood out. He had developed a special zerg tactic for the insects. He would send out a swarm of Amateur bugs that were almost uncountable to hamper and pressure enemies, also to consume what they could and power up.
The next wave would have Journeyman bugs that did the same and then Adept bugs. Unless necessary, Master bugs were not dispatched, but were always fed the best resources and maintained.
What made Beelzebub's tactics special was their effectiveness. Other bug armies - or rather, the typical Insect way - would be to indiscriminately swarm a place and eat what you could.
Sort of, every bug for himself. You could see Master-stage bugs rushing with Amateur bugs and the like. It was chaotic and nonsensical, which was ruinous for warfare as those who fought the insects developed ways to deal with them.
Every Master bug that was killed like this was a great loss to the army, Adepts too taking a chunk of losses. However, Beelzebub's method was flawless, because it checkmated the opposing forces.
After all, you had two choices. Ignore the Amateur bugs swarming and wait for the higher-ranked ones to be sent over, or waste your precious manpower and energy dealing with these endless small fries.
Amateur bugs could be spawned endlessly by Queens with the littlest resources, so using them as fodder was utterly perfect. The overall casualties the bugs suffered increased in terms of numbers, but the meaningful casualties plummeted greatly.
The opposing forces could not find an effective counter-strategy to this. Many tried to halt the growth of the insect armies using scorched earth tactics, but even burnt resources were still consumable by them, just to a lesser effect.
Many realized a simple fact after years of war against the insects while continually losing. The only way to defeat a race like this was to either kill them all at once, or starve them to death.
Both options were extremely difficult, because by this time, the Insects had taken 90% of Ludo, 50% of Fallon, 20% of Houto and Pan, 10% of Kiel and Unyris, as well as 5% of Elysium and Armadon.
Apart from Gravitas who used their advanced technology to isolate their continent, the rest of the world were sufferings. Not one continent or race was left out, and the plight was shared by all.
Apart from Ludo and Fallon, the percentages seemed small, but it was assumed that even gaining an inch of ground on these lands should be impossible.
Beelzebub had also risen to become the newest True Lord of the Insect race, far later than even his talented brethren. This further enforced the mentality that selecting using force was right, but the reason Beelzebub was so late was because he shared resources with his army equally.
Not really because he was far-sighted and wise, but due to fear that they would mutiny him if he hogged everything - which had happened to other bugs who let their greed go to their heads - as well as a strange feeling of not wanting to take from his own soldiers what they deserve.
It was also the same reason he developed his tactic. He sent the weak bugs first because they were many, allowing him and the stronger ones to observe things before joining in.
If anything and happened, he could run away with the protection of the higher-tiered bugs. Things like warfare tactics and the like were not even present in his mind.
Upon being crowned True Lord and gaining a wisp of Origin Energy from the Goddess, Beelzebub's power soared. He may have been the youngest, but his power was not the weakest.
However, newly birthed True Lords would have to integrate the wisp of Origin Energy to create something called a Domain or a Field. It was basically your strongest ability/power/trait that would become your 'specialization'.
For example, Thanatos with Death, Jack Frost with Ice, The Jade Emperor with Spirit Essence, or the Leviathan with water/the sea. Once one constructed their domain, it would be fixed and unchangeable.
Without more Origin Energy, it was impossible for True Lords to grow in power exponentially, but they could make linear growths by becoming more familiar with their domain and using various Faustian resources.
Beelzebub had a wealth of domains he could choose from, but he took one that could assure his survival, which was the domain of microcosm.
He focused on being able to split his body into multiple smaller forms, each containing a wisp of his spirit - or only a few - and escape or defend his life.
These smaller forms could attack, but they were only able to use swarm tactics. However, they could infiltrate body parts and consume foes from the inside, strengthening Beelzebub when they returned.
It was seen as a useless domain by his compatriots, but it was actually quite useful. When the enemy True Lords attack and overwhelm the Insect army, Beelzebub watched the people who once ridiculed him be killed with ease.
They screeched and screamed in their last moments, crying to be saved by could not do anything. They had chosen offensive domains with slaughter and devouring abilities, which allowed their power to grow rapidly and their hunger to be sated, but were flimsy before the carefully constructed domains of these top-tier True Lords.
Beelzebub was frozen as those he considered more powerful than himself died faster than he could follow. Even the first and oldest of them, Anansi, was sieged by three True Lords.
Despite the powerful trickster being able to hold his own as his domain was one of mysticism, he was eventually pushed to a corner. Beelzebub could see the despair and regret in the eyes of the Trickster Spider, not realizing that at the moment of his death, Anansi had recognized his flaws.
If only they had more True Lords! If so, even if their domains were weak, there would still be leeway to fight! If he had allocated resources more sensibly! That way, they wouldn't have had to invade so hurriedly and unwisely!
With every piece of flesh lost under assault, Anansi seemed to regret one more thing. Eventually, Beelzebub watched Anansi fall. He himself had been injured in a previous exchange and recuperating in their underground.
He only send out some segment of flies to act like his watchers for the battle in case he needed to rush out. So he witnessed the breath of Yuli'ann that wiped out all insects and even some of the True Lord's forces.
After that, he was cut off from the outside world, but Pokterr was soon sieged. That began his hellish days of doing everything he could to keep his race alive and float single-handedly, which forged him into a leader as opposed to the former coward.
And yet, at the end of it all, it came to naught. His last sight was of the three disappearing in yellow light, leaving him alone in this metallic chamber that was no different from the one where he suffered great trauma.
With his weak hearing, Beelzebub could hear a low hum resound in the room that built up with every second. Soon, it began to flash with a bright blue light that was mixed with white, electric arcs jumping all over from the devices Darius placed down.
'At least… I tried… my best…' Beelzebub thought as all the explosives went off at once, drowning him in their destructive payload.
BOOOOMM!
