[Earth in the past]

Jade closed her lunchtop. That was not a conversation she was hoping to wake up to. She felt more agitated and disoriented than ever. She decided to consult her reminders to get her bearings on what to do next, however she couldn't remember what they meant at all. She had a feeling that these were all useless now and as such decided to ditch all of the strings on her fingers. All of them but one purple one on her index finger. She didn't remember what it was for, but it reminded her of something nonetheless. Something she couldn't believe she forgot about.

That was when it hit her. John! He had been falling in her dream and she had tried to save him. She hoped he was ok.

She looked up at her house and realized her cool satellite tower bedroom was gone, much to her disappointment and frustration. That was when she noticed something floating up in the air next to it. Finally she realized someone must have connected as her server player, and she had a pretty good idea of who it was. As such, she happily began running back towards her house.

Unfortunately, she was mistaken about who it was doing this. John was nowhere near a computer at that moment. Instead it was the Artificial Intelligence, V.E.G.A. acting as Jade's server player operating as a stand-in for John due to the fact he was currently otherwise occupied fighting a corrupted version of himself from an alternate timeline.

Since the Witch of Space was still asleep at the moment, as far as he was aware, V.E.G.A. decided to take it upon himself to begin setting everything up so it would all be ready for her by the time she woke up. Not seeing a clear enough space that was readily available anywhere else he placed the Cruxtruder down in her living room, being careful so as to not wake up the eyeless, white, glowing, wolf-like creature that was currently sleeping in the middle of the floor. Needing a bit of extra space for the totem lathe and alchemiter and seeking to avoid moving any of the Witch's property unless he absolutely had to, he instead decided to expand Jade's garden room slightly before placing the lathe and alchemiter down in the new expansion of the room.

After heading inside Jade went to her living room and immediately tried to message John.

- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ghastlyThrasher [GT] -

GG: john are you there?

- Error -

- Err$#%= #%$=#^%^&+%&^#+ !&**=^%$#+ !#+$^=&%^* -

- V.E.G.A. [V] began communicating with gardenGnostic [GG] -

V: Hello, I am V.E.G.A., the sentient intelligence created by ex-seraphim Samur Maykr and assigned to the Sentinel flag-station known as the "Fortress of Doom".

V: Unfortunately the Lord of Rage is currently otherwise occupied.

V: As such, I am currently operating as your server player in his place

V: If you require anything, do not hesitate to ask and I shall attempt to assist you to the best of my abilities.

GG: oh... shoot!

GG: sorry, i don't mean to be rude but i just woke up and was hoping to talk to him about what happened in our dream...

V: Very well. I shall inform him that you wish to speak with him as soon as he is once again available.

GG: thank you, i would really appreciate it!

V: It is no issue, I assure you.

V: I apologize if it appears as though I am rushing you however our time for casual conversation is rather limited at the moment.

V: Do I have your permission to use one of the objects located in this room in order to open the Cruxtruder that is in front of you?

GG: sure. i guess you could use this globe here if you want.

V: Thank you, Witch of Space.

GG: you know you could just call me jade if you want.

GG: oh and for convenience sake i think i'm going to switch this to a voice call, if you don't mind.

V: Very well, Miss Jade.

The green house shaped cursor appeared floating in the air before hovering over to the globe Jade had specified and picking it up. It then dragged the globe over to the Cruxtruder and dropped it on top of the cap, successfully knocking said cap off the top of the device. However the globe bounced off of the top of the Cruxtruder and in the direction of Jade. Sensing Jade was in danger, Becquerel immediately woke up and teleported itself and the falling globe far away from her.

"Oh, Vega, you mentioned our time for conversation is limited, so do you know exactly how much time I have left before the meteor hits?" Jade inquired as soon as she switched to voice call.

" Approximately ten minutes and twenty five seconds. " VEGA responded.

"Hm... I wonder what the significance of that number is." Jade hummed to herself in thought.

" It was the amount of time you had left approximately five seconds ago. "

"I know that ! I mean what significance it has other than how long I have left!" Jade huffed in slight irritation.

" Very well. Any other significance that number may possess is currently unknown. Now, what would you like to prototype with your kernelsprite? "

"I don't know... There are so many possibilities." Jade muttered half to herself half to VEGA. After a couple moments of thinking to herself she said, "I guess we should put something in it that would make the monsters weaker, but what?"

" By my calculations it is highly unlikely that anything you could possibly prototype with the kernelsprite would make the common rank and file enemies you will have to face any weaker. No matter what you put in said object is almost guaranteed to be weaponized in some form. The only possible alternative is to keep your enemies as powerful as they are currently by not prototyping the Kernelsprite at all. However, I would not advise this course of action as the ramifications of doing so are currently unknown. " VEGA advised.

Jade sighed in frustration. "Great, so no matter what I do I'm going to be making our enemies stronger, and not putting anything in at all isn't really an option either…"

" So it appears. You now have eight minutes and forty two seconds left. If you are unable to decide at this time, I would strongly advise considering it while immediately proceeding upstairs. "

Jade said nothing in response but picked up her lunchtop and proceeded to head to her stairwell.

" Why is there an effigy of the being known as Yaldabaoth covering your transporter? " VEGA inquired, sounding a bit confused despite the fact he probably shouldn't have been capable of feeling any emotion let alone confusion in the first place.

"Ugh… It's some sort of terrible creature my grandpa hunted. He called it the Yaldabaoth minion and said he nearly died trying to kill it. I always hated it!" Jade explained, kicking the stuffed corpse of the massive red worm-like creature.

" Do I have your permission to move it temporarily so you may access your transporter and save time ascending and descending your tower? "

Jade shrugged and said, "Sure. You could even move it permanently if you want. In fact, please do!"

" Very well. I shall remove it now. One moment. " The green house-shaped cursor appeared and began dragging the massive stuffed corpse out of the room. VEGA then proceeded to drag it out of the building and carefully set it on the ground behind the tower.

" I have finished setting the stuffed Yaldabaoth minion on the ground behind your tower for permanent disposal at a later date. Are you upstairs? "

"Yes." Jade responded.

" I have left the cruxite dowel by the totem lathe as well as punched the card depicting your entry item. You are free to make it whenever you are ready. However, please be sure to let me know what you wish to prototype with your Kernelsprite before you enter the Medium. "

"Hm… I still don't know. Since John's busy I think I'll try asking Rose. She's really smart so she might be able to help me out. Give me a minute."

" As you wish. "

[Meanwhile on HORAV]

Jack Noir was battling a sword and puppet wielding warrior and the Sprite of the Knight of Time. Unfortunately the battle wasn't going as well for him as he had hoped when he flew to this Outer Gods forsaken planet. He was getting his ass handed to him in one of the most humiliating displays he had ever been forced to endure.

Quickly becoming fed up with it, he burst away from the fight and into the air with his sword and ring held high above his head. He then proceeded to unleash the Red Miles, wreaking devastation across a large portion of the planet. However, that portion of the planet was already thoroughly devastated by the insane demons that rampaged across it. Thus ultimately the Red Miles did very little to the planet itself over all.

[Meanwhile elsewhere on HORAV]

Rose was floating off to the side looking into a crystal ball she had made back in the Land of Light and Rain while the Wraith spoke to the leader of the Loyalist Night Sentinels in an attempt to convince him to help the two of them with an assault on the Crypt of the Doom Slayer. She did not like what she saw in the Crystal ball. A huge portion of the Hell of Rage and Violence was being devastated by red tendrils of unknown origin. Not that that was unusual for HORAV, from what she knew about the place but the fact she could see quite a few of the tendrils way off in the horizon was still quite disconcerting.

That was when she received a message for a voice call on pesterchum. It was from Jade. She had been expecting this conversation for a few minutes now.

"Hey Rose! Are you free to talk right now? If so I would really appreciate some advice." Jade said as soon as Rose answered the call.

"My time is a bit limited at the moment, but I should have enough for a short conversation." Rose responded.

"Great! So I'm a few minutes away from entering, and I need to decide what to do with this Kernelsprite. I really don't want to mess up and do something stupid. I was thinking about not prototyping at all, to not give the monsters any new powers. However, Vega — this really helpful A.I. that's apparently friends with John and is acting as my server player in his place since he's apparently busy with something right now — says it's not a good idea since we don't know what will happen. So I thought I'd ask you what you thought since you're really smart and are writing a walkthrough for the game." Jade explained.

"Let's put a pin in the topic of John and friendship for the moment as I'm afraid I have some bad news in that regard." Rose told her with a slight frown. "As for your Kernelsprite, I should preface this conversation by saying I know exactly what you are going to do. However I am hesitant to tell you anything about the future for fear of the ramifications it may have on the timeline. That being said, I guess I can permit myself to tell you this, somewhat definitively. You should listen to this A.I. that's helping you. Failing to prototype the kernel is the absolute worst thing that you could possibly do. Like, ever."

"Dang it!" Jade grumbled to herself.

"We would come into possession of all the disasters. Exhaustive possession. Monopolization, in fact."

"Then I guess I won't do that. Why is it so bad though?" Jade inquired.

"Because the battlefield will not be able to heal, and then transform. It will not reach the stage which allows it to become ready to receive our universe." Rose explained.

"Alright… Then if I have to prototype it with something, what should I use? Vega says everything I could use will just make the enemies stronger."

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you that lest I risk compromising the timeline." Rose said somewhat apologetically.

"Alright. I guess I'll sort out this prototyping silliness myself then." Jade huffed in frustration. "Now what was that bad news you said you had about John?"

"Oh right… That… Well, it would appear that whatever he saw on Skaia in his dream has had somewhat of a negative impact on him psychologically."

Jade was silent for a moment. "Okay… Negative in what way?"

"Well… He told me rather indirectly that while he still sees us as close allies, he no longer truly considers us his friends. I asked the Wraith why this is and apparently it has nothing to do with anything any of us did and it has more to do with John himself, his role as a Lord of Rage, and a personal sacrifice he had to make. It's a bit of a personal matter for him so if you want any more details than that you'll have to ask him yourself later… Assuming he's even alive at that point... " Rose quietly added under her breath.

"O-oh… That's… Wow…" Jade said, sounding quite hurt by this news. "Thank you for telling me… Well… I guess I should go try to find something to prototype… Talk to you later, Rose." With that Jade ended the call.

Rose frowned and shook her head, wondering if she could have handled that better somehow. However before she could think any further on the subject, the Wraith began floating back towards her followed by a group of Night Sentinels.

[Meanwhile on Earth]

Feeling a bit dejected by Rose's news about John, Jade picked up the punch card that was on the ground next to the totem lathe and examined it for a moment, wondering what it was. She then inserted it into the totem lathe and carved the totem for her entry item. Finished with that she had a thought. The more players that entered the game the more difficult to use the entry items seemed to become, sort of like Dave's entry item was. With this in mind, she decided to try to contact Dave to help her think of how to activate hers once she made it.

- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] -

GG: dave!

GG: are you busy?

GG: i dont have much time!

GG: i am about to make my entry item, and its a little confusing

GG: i think the more players we add, the trickier they are to... um...

GG: activate!

GG: like yours was

GG: i figured we could brainstorm about it

GG: helloooooo?

TG: nak nak nak

GG: :o

TG: nak nak nak nak nak nak

GG: :\

GG: whaaat...?

TG: nakka nakka nak

GG: dammit dave!

GG: this is really urgent!

TG: MY GLASSES ARE TALKING TO ME MY GLASSES ARE TALKING TO ME

TG: naknaknaknaknaknaknaknaknaknaknaknak

GG: ._.

- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] -

With a sigh Jade proceeded to stand up, walk over to her Alchemiter, and make her entry item.

" Miss Jade, you are rapidly running out of time. Have you decided what to prototype yet? " VEGA inquired as a blindfold appeared on Jade's face, preventing her from seeing what her entry item was.

"No, I haven't. Just pick something at random for me, please?" Jade said while testing the blindfold on her face and finding it too difficult to remove in any timely fashion.

" As you wish. " VEGA stated. He then picked up one of the stuffed mannequins in Jade's living room and began dragging it towards the Kernelsprite. However before he could place it inside, Becquerel appeared in the middle of the living room and teleported all of the items, including the mannequin VEGA was about to prototype into the Veil. It then proceeded to jump into the Kernelsprite and prototype itself. It then proceeded to fly out of the tower and up towards the massive meteor that was about to crash into Jade's island, which it then obliterated with a massive beam of green energy that obliterated the rest of the surface of the planet while leaving Jade's island completely intact.

Meanwhile Jade was using her rifle like a bat in an attempt to smash her entry item, yet ended up being flung out a window by a pulse of energy from her entry item when she was finally about to hit it. Switching her grip on her rifle she attempted to aim while still blindfolded and pulled the trigger in a last ditch effort to destroy her entry item. Becquerel then teleported the bullet to the entry item.

[HORAV in the present]

The Wretch had just finished baptizing a seriously injured Baron of Hell named Caedes that he and Ira had managed to defeat and successfully convert after being sent away by John when a metal band on his wrist beeped to inform him VEGA had news for him. The Wretch pressed a small button on the metal band and asked, "Yes, artificial one? What news have you of the Holy Lord? Has he defeated the Unholy Abomination he faced atop the divine spear?"

" The Lord of Rage has successfully ascended, however I have news you will find both good and bad. Which news would you like to hear first? " VEGA inquired.

The Wretch frowned and looked at the Lord's two newest disciples who both stared back at him with similar expressions on their faces.

"If I may, Wretched Priest, I would suggest listening to the bad news first as bad news usually tends to be the most important." Caedes suggested, bowing his head respectfully.

" Yes. While unpleasant it is unwise to put it off any longer than strictly necessary. " Ira hissed in agreement.

The Wretch sighed and looked at the ground. "Very well, my apprentices, I suppose you are both correct in this matter. Artificial one, we wish to hear the bad news first as we fear it may be the most pressing."

" Very well. The Lord of Rage's ascension has not gone as intended. He has successfully ascended however the version of himself that became a Hell-god in an alternate timeline died on the bed alongside him and has ascended with him. By my calculations there is a 50% chance that they ascended into separate beings and a 50% chance that they merged into one singular entity upon ascension. Both are exceptionally negative outcomes with potentially disastrous results. " VEGA explained.

" By the Slayer… I-I believe I may know which one came to pass… " Ira gasped in horror.

Both the Wretch and Caedes looked at her in surprise. "What?! How?! No, more importantly which one is it?!" The Wretch demanded.

" I… I'm not certain how… Ever since you first baptized me and I became a disciple of the Great Slayer and the Holy Lord of Rage, I believe I began sensing the pain and emotions of every living being in this plane of existence. That is how I teleported us to this place after the Holy Lord sent us away, I chose one of the beings I sensed at random and brought us to it thinking an Injured Baron of Hell would pose very little threat to one such as you, Wretched Priest. The Holy Lord and the Unholy Abomination's emotions in particular stood out like galaxies if not entire universes compared to every other being who were but mere candles, bonfires, or stars compared to them. However they both felt very distinct from one another. Then a few moments ago I felt both of them flicker and vanish and another even more distinct and powerful source of emotion appear far away in the direction of Skaia. Not as two separate sources but as one. As such I… I strongly fear they may have merged into a singular entity. " Ira explained.

"I too have noticed something odd as soon as I devoted myself to the Great Slayer and the Holy Lord. I somehow feel my strength has become tied to my own Rage. If I am not mistaken now the angrier I become the stronger I become, and my capacity for anger has increased exponentially. " Caedes stated, looking at the Wretch. " Perhaps we too have been granted blessings by the Holy Lord similar to your blessing which allows you to induce feelings of guilt and remorse in those who stare into your eyes, Wretched Priest?"

"So it would seem…" The Wretch agreed with a small but very proud smile, elated that the Holy Lord had seen fit to bless both of his newest disciples just as he had blessed the Wretch. Then that smile fell and was replaced by a worried frown as he once again thought about the Lord's current situation. "This is indeed a most unfortunate situation. Artificial one, what are the best and worst possible outcomes of this if it is indeed true and the Holy Lord and Unholy Abomination have indeed merged."

" The best possible outcome would be if the Lord of Rage's personality is strong enough to dominate the Hell-god's and remains unchanged save for the fact he now has the power of a Hell-god. That is also the most unlikely outcome. The worst possible outcome is the opposite, where the Hell-god's personality is strong enough to overwhelm the Lord of Rage and he now has the power of a fully realized Lord of Rage on top of his power as a Hell-god, in which case he will have to be destroyed. This has a higher chance of occurring however there is one more possibility that I calculate is even more likely. The third and most likely possibility is that neither of their personalities are strong enough to overwhelm the other and it is a continual battle for control between the two either for eternity or until one side gains enough strength to completely overwhelm and destroy the other. " VEGA explained.

"I see… Then let us pray that the Lord is strong enough to overcome the Abomination and if not that we may aid him in growing stronger until he can, for the alternative is too horrific to imagine…" The Wretch said solemnly. "Now, you said you had good news as well?"

" Indeed. You will be happy to know that The Seer of Light, with the assistance of the Elemental Wraith that was freed by the Lord of Rage earlier today, has freed the Doom Slayer in order to save the Lord of Rage. The Slayer is the one who used the Unmaykr in order to kill the Hell-god. He is currently still atop the Celestial Spear at the moment, and appears to be gathering all of the Lord of Rage's weapons and equipment. "

"Truly?! Then this day is as much a blessing as it is a curse! Praise the Great Slayer and the Blessed Seer who freed him from his ancient prison! May she forever be known as a saint for her miraculous deeds she has accomplished today!" The Wretch cheered. Caedes and Ira both roared in agreement. "Under normal circumstances I would say we must go and greet the Great Slayer and welcome his glorious return immediately, however I fear the Holy Lord's current situation must take precedence for the moment. When this is all over, however, we must work with the Loyalist Night Sentinels in order to host a grand celebration for this momentous occasion! Until then, Ira, please use your blessing in order to bring us to the Lord."

Ira nodded and grabbed both the Wretch and Caedes by the shoulders before using her newfound abilities in order to teleport them to the Lord of Rage.

[Meanwhile on Skaia]

John opened his still solid crimson eyes and immediately began screaming as truly infinite amounts of "Rage" coursed through every fiber of his being down to his very soul, he began to sense all the "Rage" of every living being in existence as if it were an extension of his own body and his own "Rage", and the memories and personalities of the two sides of himself waged all out war against one another for control over their now shared body. He alternated between violently clutching and tearing at his head causing his blood which was now an abnormally dark shade of red to run down his face as his new knifelike claws tore deep trenches into his flesh exposing the bone beneath. This horrific display went on for a few minutes until John eventually managed to wrest the majority of control over his shared body from the truly demonic side of himself, if only barely. Even so it continued to be a constant struggle for dominance between the two of them.

Barely in control of himself, John stared in horror at his now clawed and bloody hands for a moment before reaching up to feel the curved demonic horns on the sides of his head and running his tongue across the needle sharp fangs that filled his mouth in place of his teeth. He then moved on to examining his new attire. Both sides of him were annoyed by their overly long cape grabbed it and ripped it with their bare hands making it a much more manageable size.

Needing something else to break, to destroy, to rip and tear apart with his bare hands and sensing each and every last one of the insane demons that remained on Skaia and instinctively knowing he was effectively omnipresent wherever "Rage" — which they all had an extreme over abundance of — existed, he began appearing next to them and ripping them apart with his bare hands one after another. Each demon lasted only a matter of seconds, if that, before they were killed and John moved on to the next. There were only a couple dozen or so left on Skaia, as such it didn't take long for John to kill them all.

Pitying the insane demons, the demonic side of John wanted to use demonic magic to kill them in order to end their suffering even faster but both sides instinctively knew that magic in general would either no longer work or would at the very least be severely weakened anywhere even remotely near them, including their own. The only thing even remotely close that could potentially work around them were Divine Powers, which were completely different then magic. Of course normal Hell-Gods also had divine powers on top of the ability to use demonic magic, but neither side of John wanted to use them unless they had absolutely no other choice. The Demonic side of John had always hated the powers of a Hell-god as he thought they took all the fun out of everything whereas demonic magic, on the other hand, left some room for fun as long as he didn't go overboard with it. The demon slayer side of John, however, was absolutely repulsed by the idea of using the powers of a Hell-God or even just a Demon in general and absolutely refused to do so even if he had the ability to.

Having run out of insane demons to kill on Skaia, John was about to go to HORAV and start killing them all there when suddenly there was a flash of purple light and three figures suddenly appeared in front of him. Two of them he recognized as the Wretch and Ira, while the third was a heavily injured Baron of Hell that he didn't recognize at all. Upon seeing him, both Ira and the unknown Baron of Hell immediately proceeded to kneel before him, while the Wretch gasped in horror and fell to his knees. "Oh Holy Lord, what horrors have been wrought upon you… The artificial one had informed us that you may have merged with the Unholy Abomination, but I had not expected it to have defiled your divine form in such a way…"

John struggled to restrain the Hell-god half of himself who wanted to torture and kill the three demons that kneeled before him as traitors to Hell. Clenching his fists as tight as he could, causing his knife-like claws to stab him in the palms of his hands, and gritting his now razor sharp teeth with the effort it took to restrain the Hell-god within him, John said, "Yeah… It's completely awful… You have NO IDEA ! Grrr... Sorry, that was him, not me… It's not easy to keep him CHAINED LIKE A DOG! STOP INTERUPTING ME!" John roared before engulfing his entire body in enough agony to drive a high ranking Archdemon to complete and utter madness for a few seconds knowing full well that the demonic half of him would feel it too.

He could sense the unease and terror welling up in Ira and the injured Baron of Hell that he still didn't recognize, as well as the steadily growing sorrow and shame that absolutely permeated the Wretch. He could have erased it had he any desire to, but he honestly didn't care enough to even bother. He had more important things to worry about at the moment, such as the Hell-god that was constantly trying to rip control over their shared body away from him.

"I see… Might there be anything any of us can do to assist you in overcoming the Unholy Abomination within you?" The Wretch asked.

"YOU TRAITOROUS WORM! ARG…! The Wraith! Is the Wraith still on top of the Celestial Spear!? It knows a lot, so maybe it will know how to fiiiiiix thissssss!" John struggled.

The Wretch pressed a button on a metal band on his wrist and asked, "Artificial One, this is urgent. Is the Elemental Wraith still with the Great Slayer atop the Celestial Spear?"

" Indeed. The Elemental Wraith and the Seer of Light currently appear to be waiting for something. " VEGA responded.

"Excellent, it would seem they know we are coming. Hopefully they have warned the Slayer not to attack us on sight. Ira could you please bring us there? There is no time to lose."

Ira nodded and opened her mouth to speak but by the time she did John had already locked onto the Doom Slayer's Rage and appeared next to him. He then immediately began approaching the Wraith and Rose. Fortunately the Slayer did not attack him on sight, though John could definitely feel how much he really wanted to. An urge which John did not blame him for, thus he did not use his powers as a Lord of Rage to erase the Slayer's desire to kill him. He could also sense Rose's disgust, horror, and slight sadness at his new appearance, which he also completely understood, except for the sadness part. He honestly couldn't comprehend why she would ever feel sad for him considering they weren't even friends any more. However, he decided not to erase that sadness as he felt controlling the emotions of his allies like that would be both morally and ethically fucked up, not to mention the fact that it risked making them lose all trust in him.

"Wraith! I need you to tell me how to destroy this damnable insect that's controlling my body! Grrrr… KILL THIS DEMON THAT'S INSIDE MY HEAD!" John shouted while clenching and unclenching his fists over and over again — inadvertently repeatedly stabbing his own hands with his new claws in the process — in order to help him focus on retaining his somewhat tenuous control over his body. At this point his three servants/cultists appeared directly behind him in a flash of purple light.

The Wraith sighed. "Unfortunately, this is something that you must either overcome or fail entirely on your own. I am not certain but at least in theory it should be possible for you to kill it, in a sense at least, but to do so your will must be strong enough to completely overwhelm and consume it while retaining your own personality. I suppose, if it helps, you may think of it as a test of sorts. Quite possibly the most difficult test you shall ever experience. One which will determine whether you are truly worthy of your title as Lord of Rage or not. The fact that you are the one in control of your body right now rather than the Hell-god and that control appears to be fairly consistent is both a very good sign as well as an excellent first step. This means your personality is already slightly stronger than it is. Though, there is no guarantee it shall remain that way forever."

John cursed furiously before marching over to his own corpse which was still laying on the stone bed next to his Hell-god half's carcass. He then proceeded to take his sylladex back from his corpse. He then grabbed his corpse by the head and said, "Vega! If this broken fucking helmet is still working and you can hear me, I need you use the armor's ability to change shape to make it fit my new form."

After a moment John realized that he managed to say more than six words without his demonic half trying to interrupt him and demanded, "Why the hell aren't you trying to interrupt me, mother fucker?! Every time I talk to someone you won't shut the hell up, what's so different about this time?! The difference is that I have nothing to say and no reason to interrupt as I actually agree with the decision to reclaim your armor, damaged though it may be, you worm! Oh well whoop-dee-fucking-do, now I'm tempted to abandon this shit just to spite you! How immature… Not that I would expect anything less from a worthless insect like you!" With that John once again engulfed himself in reality shattering agony for a few moments knowing that his Hell-god half felt it as well. The demon slayer half of him knew that inflicting pain on himself was stupid but to him every bit of the pain he felt was more than worth it just to spite the Hell-god half of him, while the Hell-god half of him simply found the entire display idiotically self destructive.

"Uh… John?" Rose said, walking up behind him.

John turned to face her. Fortunately the Hell-god half of him still saw Rose, Dave, and Jade as friends and thus didn't want to hurt her so neither side of him had to attempt to restrain the other side from trying to attack her. "Hello, Rose." The Hell-god half of him greeted. "What?" The demon slayer half of him grumbled irritably.

"The First and I are going to be returning to my planet soon, but before I leave I just wanted to give my condolences for the fact that this happened to you. I hope you are able to beat this infernal creature and permanently banish it from your mind. Oh and while I know you don't like it when I psychoanalyze you, if I were to do so in this scenario I think I would diagnose you with a very extreme form of Split Personality Disorder or something very similar." She said somewhat jokingly in an attempt to lighten the otherwise quite grim mood.

"Thanks…" John muttered in a tone that was still quite irritable. He recognized the fact she was joking in an attempt to make him feel better, unfortunately his mood did not improve in the slightest.

Rose frowned, disappointed her attempt had failed. "Alright, well in all seriousness there were two other things I wanted to mention before I go. First the Doom Slayer has been picking up all of your weapons that were scattered across the ground and I don't know if he is going to be willing to return them to you. However, he still hasn't found that energy sword the demon had been using against you earlier though I think he may be searching for it. I saw it laying at the bottom of the crater just behind me. Second, Jade has prototyped her Kernelsprite and managed to successfully enter the game thanks to your A.I. which has allowed the battlefield to heal and then transform. It has reached the stage which allows it to become ready to receive our universe."

"Universe? I thought we were doomed to fail!" John growled.

"We are." Rose nodded.

"So why should… Grr... I care?"

"Because if or rather when you inevitably return to Skaia you will need to retrieve the treasure hidden in its core and deliver it to me."

"What treasure?"

"It's called The Tumor. I promise you will know it when you see it. Now I must be leaving. I'll talk to you later John." With that she turned and began flying away alongside the Elemental Wraith.

John turned to look at his armor again and saw that VEGA had indeed been able to hear him and had changed the armor's shape to fit his new form. From the looks of it he had turned the missing chunk of the helmet into two seperate holes for his new demonic horns to stick out of. VEGA had also changed the helmet so it now had what looked like two very angry glowing red eyes instead of a glowing orange circle in the center of the now much more demonic looking skeletal faceplate, and he had altered the top of the helmet to make it look as though it were wearing a nearly vantablack crown that was studded with purple jewels. Furthermore VEGA had changed the color of the armor from white, red, and gold to several different shades of purple and a bit of black, with the symbol of Rage emblazoned on the chest where the hole where John stabbed himself in the heart had seemingly already sealed up. Unsurprisingly, however, it was still missing the right arm and equipment launcher and was still quite damaged from John's fight.

The demon slayer side of John was extremely annoyed by several of the modifications that VEGA had made. The crown was far too gaudy for his tastes and the faceplate now reminded him far too much of his new form, which he absolutely hated with the passion of a thousand dying universes. The Hell-god side of him approved of the modifications. To him all of the changes were a drastic improvement over the armor's previous appearance which reminded him far too much of Urdak, the Father, and the Maykrs who he despised just as much as the demon slayer side of John utterly loathed Hell, the Dark Lord, and the Demons with every fiber of his being.

John used his sylladex in order to instantly remove the armor from his corpse and to just as instantly put it on. Then he turned and began walking over to the crater that Rose had indicated and picked up the Demonic Crucible.

Feeling a massive source of Rage standing directly in front of him John looked up at the Slayer who was looming over him menacingly as if demanding he hand over the Demonic Crucible. The Hell-god half of John was too terrified of the Slayer to continue trying to fight John for control of their shared body, at least for the moment. The demon slayer half of John, however, was not intimidated in the least. He was fully aware that he had absolutely no chance of defeating the Doom Slayer if they were to come to blows, he just didn't care. "I know you hate me, I hate me too, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let you steal all of my fucking weapons." John growled in cold fury.

" Lord John, I would strongly advise against provoking the Doom Slayer, especially in this regard. The Demonic Crucible is the single most powerful demonic artifact in existence, having been handcrafted by the Dark Lord himself as a counter to the Unmaykr made by the Father. I would recommend allowing me to open a portal to the furthest ring, throwing the Demonic Crucible inside, and allowing the Outer Gods to deal with it. That way it will be effectively impossible for anyone to find it ever again. " VEGA stated through the speakers inside both John and the Doom Slayer's helmets

"Fine then. How about a compromise? You give me back the Unmaykr and I'll do as VEGA suggested and permanently dispose of the Demonic Crucible. You can keep your shotgun, my damn chainsword, and even restore whatever bullshit that Samur did to lock the Unmaykr to its lowest possible setting for all I care. Just hand it over." John growled. He should still have the cruxite totem for his Demon Slayer's Chainsword back home somewhere and he had already written down the captcha code for the Doom Slayer's Super Shotgun anyways, so he could just make new ones later. The Unmaykr, on the other hand, didn't even have a captcha code in the first place, at least none that he could actually see, so he couldn't just make another one if the Doom Slayer were to keep it.

The Doom Slayer begrudgingly took out the Unmaykr — presumably from his strife deck considering he had apparently spent some time on Earth in the past — did something to it and dropped it on the ground between the two of them. "Okay VEGA. Open the portal." John ordered.

After a moment a portal appeared next to the two of them and John threw the Demonic Crucible through it while simultaneously captchaloging the Unmaykr just in case the Doom Slayer intended to try and trick him.

Their exchange concluded, John proceeded to begin looking for the arm he had ripped off during his battle with the Hell-god half of himself. It didn't take long for him to find, though he was surprised to see the armor covering the severed had changed to match the rest of John's Praetor Suit despite the fact it was no longer attached to the rest of the armor. As such, he just picked up the arm, pulled it out of the armor, tossed the arm away, and proceeded to slip the armor onto his new arm like a sleeve or a glove. As soon as it was back on, the armor began to merge back together. Seeing his Equipment Launcher not too far away he walked over, picked it back up, and reconnected it to his armor in much the same way.

Thinking about what he should do next, John remembered the other two Elemental Wraiths were still imprisoned and Samur was still in the clutches of the most sadistic of the Arch Demons. He could feel Samur in mind shattering agony and distress somewhere around the Well where the Wraith's were imprisoned. Likely due to the fact Carreau was assigned to guard the Well and he couldn't stray too far away from it. So that's where John decided to go next.

"WRETCH!" John roared. "I'm going to free the other two Elemental Wraiths and save Samur… Gah! You shall try and you shall fail, worm! AS I WAS SAYING, I want you and the other two…Grrr... to keep anything weaker than a Baalgar demon away frommmmmm... me while I'm fighting Carreau! Understand?!"

"Of course, Holy Lord, we would be more than honored to fight alongside you. However, oh Great Slayer, will you be joining us in this endeavor? I'm certain we could more than use your assistance in this most holy of endeavors!" The Wretch asked, bowing reverently to the Doom Slayer.

The Doom Slayer said nothing and just glared at Ira and the Baron of Hell John hadn't bothered to ask the name of.

"You needn't worry about them, oh great one. Ira and Caedes are you and the Holy Lord's newest disciples. I managed to sway them from the path of darkness with the glorious blessing that the Lord has bestowed upon me." The Wretch explained.

The Doom Slayer then turned his head and began glaring at John. "Hey, don't look at me. I don't remember ever "blessing" anyone." John said, the Hell-god half of him still too terrified of the Slayer to dare try to interrupt whenever John was talking to him

"Truly? Then it must not be something you are ever consciously aware of for who else but the Lord of Rage could grant me the ability to cause feelings of regret and sorrow in whomever gazes into my eyes? Who else could grant Ira the ability to sense the pain and negative emotions of others even over vast distances and allow her to travel to any of these individuals at will? Who else could grant Ceades the ability to grow stronger the angrier he becomes? Furthermore, we have only gained these abilities after swearing our undying service to you and the Great Slayer, oh Holy Lord." The Wretch said, his faith not faltering for even a moment.

"Uh-huh… Weird… I'll have to talk to the Wraiths about that after they're free... They shall never be free! NO ONE ASKED YOU! Anyways, are you coming with us to free them or not, Slayer?!" John demanded.

The Doom Slayer just glared at him for a couple moments longer before finally taking out his Super Shotgun.

"I believe that is a "yes", Holy Lord." The Wretch stated.

"Yeah, no shit sherlock." John growled. "Whatever. If you're coming with us, you'll have to let Ira teleport you. She's on our side so don't fucking attack her or I will not hesitate to start destroying all of that god damn rage and aggression inside you until you're as good as fucking sedated! Are we clear, Slayer?!" The Hell-god half of him was screaming at John inside his head, terrified of what the Slayer might do if he took offense to John's rude and defiant behavior.

The Slayer glared long and hard at John but eventually gave him a slight nod of confirmation.

"Good!" John huffed, sensing nothing but the truth in the gesture. With that, he shifted his presence from the top of the Celestial Spear to directly next to Samur Maykr, who was in the middle of being tortured by Carreau. Though what John saw when he arrived was not quite what he had been expecting to find.

End Notes: Hey everyone! I hope John's arguments with himself aren't too disruptive to the flow of the story. If they are just let me know so I can at least TRY to alter them somewhat. Other than that, I don't really have all that much to say this time.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much if not more than I enjoyed writing it! Please feel free to let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is more then welcome! I can't improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong, after all.

Stay safe out there everyone!