"Alright. Everything appears to be the way it should. You are free to go." The Khan Maykr informed, speaking to her latest patient.
Ever since early last night, all seven Khans were busy at work giving examinations and treatments to demons of Lucifer's circle. However, despite how many hours have passed, they were not close to being done. The procedures themselves took a VERY long time to complete due to how thorough they were, and when combined with the number of demons they had to treat, it was going to take the rest of today, maybe even some of tomorrow, to get done. Admittedly, the number of demons would've been vastly smaller if it hadn't been for Verosika because once she invited her people, they did the same with some of their people, and the chain just kept growing.
Without her inviting her groupies and other assorted individuals, the combined number of Nobles and Overlords at the banquet would've capped at about fifty or so. But now, because of the few phone calls she made, they were looking at almost two hundred people. Thankfully though, Lucifer and Lilith were present to help keep everyone calm and to maintain order in this chaotic situation. And as for Helsa, the hostess of this banquet, she was so distraught by unknowingly exposing people to the vile evil that was Valentino, she REFUSED to go before anyone, demanding to go last as a way for her to make amends.
"Next patient!" She called out after the last demon left her station. Her predecessors all close by at their stations treating others.
"Right this way." Lucifer directed the next person waiting in the adjacent room into this one.
Watching them hesitantly approach the Khan, once he was sure she had a handle on it like the others, he closed the door.
"This is going to take a while." He said with a sigh, "How's everyone holding up, hon?" He asked while looking at his wife.
"Surprisingly, not too bad." She answered with a smile, "Once we got some food, drinks, and furniture. There haven't been many complaints." She said.
"That's good. Still, I do feel bad for all these people. They're probably scared out of their minds that some alien worm creature is attached to their spines." He replied as his expression saddened, "I can't believe that bastard was here this whole time. I should've-"
Before he could say anything else, his wife cut him off, doing so by planting her lips on his in an attempt to make him feel better.
"Don't do that. Trust me; there's nothing to be gained from it." She told him, "And, in case you have any doubts, take a moment to ask yourself this question. HOW would you have found him? Increasing the frequency of the Authorities' patrols wouldn't have made a difference. Searching abandoned buildings or districts of the city wouldn't work either because he'd leave the moment he saw them coming. The only option you could've chosen to try and find him IF you somehow had a suspicion he was here would've been to make the Authorities force themselves into people's homes. Which would quickly make our reform and us look like a dictatorship employing its secret police force. Even for the devil and his wife, that is NOT something that looks good on us." She said.
"You're right, as always." He agreed, making her smile, "It still burns, though. I feel like we should be doing more than what we are to help." He confessed.
"I know. But for now, we have to focus on making sure none of these people have a massive, terrifying parasite inside of them." She responded, causing him to chuckle.
"That we do." He said just as a thought occurred to him, "I wonder how the others are doing? While we're busy here playing nurse, I bet they're having the time of their lives hanging out with Will in a futuristic fantasy world." He suggested.
"If they're not getting the life beaten out of them in their training, then yes. I bet they're having a great time." She replied.
Meanwhile, On The Sentinel Homeworld...
"THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!" Blitzo angrily shouted while staring up at Vega.
The method used to determine who would use the divinity machine next and what the proceeding order would be was as old as time itself and never failed, Rock, Paper, Scissors. After holding a short tournament, the results came back as follows:
Blitzo, Angel Dust, Cherri, Millie, Vagatha, Charlie, Stolas, Moxxie, Vox, Velvet, Alastor, Husk, and Sir Pentious.
The last name on that list, Sir Pentious, has an unfortunately embarrassing story behind why he got last. Turns out, the snake demons BLOWS at even the simplest of games such as Rock, Paper, Scissors. So when it came time to play against Alastor and Husk, who was barely trying because they didn't care about updating their appearances, he still managed to lose in a hilariously lousy fashion. Anyway, after yet another blow in an ever-growing list of attacks against his pride was struck, resulting in Velvet and Vox trying their best to comfort him, they resumed their intended use of this time.
As for Loona, Octavia, Stella, and Nifty. They weren't participating in any training. So they had no reason to use it, apart from Nifty wanting to look like her former self. But Vega promised that after everyone else had their turn and were able to return to their required tasks, she'd be able to go inside, which made her squeal with joy.
However, now that the events leading up to the present have been recounted, we're left to focus on the outburst of Blitzo, who stepped out of the divinity machine a few seconds ago. And the reason behind his current mood, which was anger quickly building to murderous rage, is because when he exited the large technological dome and looked himself over, he discovered that...he was no different than when he stepped inside.
"VEGA!" He shouted while pointing to the machine, "What the FUCK is going on?! Did it fucking break after making Katie sexier?!" He asked, pissed off to high heaven that he didn't look like one of those assholes on the covers of romance novels, which is what he was unrealistically expecting.
"Blitzo. Didn't you listen to a word I said before?" Vega responded, unsure as to how he'd be confused.
"YEAH! YOU said that this machine would make us look the way we want to look. And yet here MY red ass is still short as shit and nowhere near as sexy as her!" He exclaimed, moving his finger to point at Katie.
"Pardon the interruption, Vega." Moxxie interjected, "But may I explain it to him? I'm used to dealing with this sort of thing. I might be better at it than you, in all due respect." He suggested.
"Of course, Moxxie. By all means." Vega agreed.
"Thank you." He replied before walking over to Blitzo, "Okay, sir. I will break it down for you one more time, but a LOT simpler. So your tiny acorn-sized brain can process the information without catching fire." He told him, forcing Stella, who'd returned with Gabriel, to stifle a laugh, "KATIE. USED TO LOOK. LIKE THAT." He spoke slowly and loudly for emphasis, "But when SHE came to Hell, her appearance CHANGED because that's what HAPPENS to HUMANS." He continued, "But YOU were BORN in Hell. YOU have ALWAYS looked like THIS. So the reason WHY YOU DIDN'T transform is that YOU have NEVER LOOKED DIFFERENT." He finished.
"Huh. Thank you, Moxxie." Blitzo replied before calmly taking out his flintlock from his pocket, "Now, since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you a five-second head start before I shoot a new asshole into your backside." He offered.
"There will be no shooting in this place," Vega told him as he grabbed the pistol from his hands and took it away, "Unless, of course, you want to have a one on one conversation with a Templar." He added.
"Oh, come on, Vega!" Blitzo exclaimed defiantly," First, I don't become the irresistible sex magnet I was hoping for! Or, at the very least, a couple of feet taller! Now you won't let me shoot Moxxie for talking to me like I'm a retard!" He said.
As before, Stella had to use all of her willpower to keep her beak shut, as she wanted to be respectful towards the Sentinels and the Maykr angels present.
"Again, Blitzo, did you not retain a single word I said to you moments ago?" Vega asked.
"If Moxxie says ONE more word in that stupid voice of his, I WILL rip out his tongue and play jump rope with it." He answered with a warning.
"So, no." Vega said with a sigh, "Blitzo, now that your soul possesses Argent energy, there are limitless ways to use it to your benefit. Which includes giving yourself an extra few feet of height." He told him.
"...Really?" Blitzo questioned.
"YES." He asserted, sounding irritated, for even God himself had his limits.
"...Shit. Sorry." Blitzo apologized genuinely. Now feeling like an absolute asshole for behaving the way he did.
"It's fine..." He replied though he didn't sound too convincing, "But keep in mind. You WILL need to master your new capabilities before attempting that. If you're reckless, you could wind up altering yourself in such a way that would benefit no one. Especially you." He advised.
"Got it. Wait until Will works us through the crash course of being a badass first, THEN get taller." Blitzo understood, FINALLY.
"Okay, I'm asking this without any sarcasm or hate. WHAT do you see in him?" Stella asked, whispering to her ex.
"Everyone has moments...Blitzy just...happens to have them a bit more frequently than others..." Stolas whispered back, doing his best to defend his lover.
"Alright. Now that Blitzo's had his time to be a drama queen. Can I go?" Angel Dust asked.
"Yes." Vega answered, "But know this Angel, and this is to be remembered by all of you. Do NOT try and force anything to happen, understand? Katie let the process do what it is intended to do. I am telling you this for your well-being and to ensure we do not waste any time." He told them.
"Gotcha, Vega. All I have to do is stand there, get flash banged as Will said, then walk out of that dome with my new powers and my new appearance. Don't try to be a dipshit by being flashy." Angel Dust responded.
"Very good. Well done, Angel." He praised.
"Try not to come out of there a bigger slut than you were going in!" Cherri teased as he headed for the machine.
"Bitch, please. This thing can't do the impossible." He replied with a playful smirk before stepping inside.
As they had seen twice now, once he was at the center of the divinity machine, the door then closed, allowing the angels to do what they needed to.
"Grandpa, I have a question," Charlie spoke up.
"Yes, dear?" He responded.
"Where are the purity and the third energy source coming from? I understand that we provide the corruption, but is the machine pulling the other two from elsewhere?" She asked.
"Ah, an excellent question to ask, Charlie." He began before pointing to the area below the machine, "For those of you who are curious as well, look down there. The angels are handling canisters containing both powers. We had them prepared in surplus to give to everyone participating in the training. And those of you who may want to obtain it yourselves after seeing the results." He answered.
"Wait, do you mean us?" Octavia inquired, referring to herself, her mother, and Loona.
"I am." He replied.
"But...surely we aren't worthy of receiving such a powerful gift, sir. The others need it, for they will be fighting, but we have no reason to possess this...Argent, you called it?" Stella said, not sure if she remembered the name correctly.
"The fact you are standing here in one of the most important places to the Sentinels shows how much I trust each of you. If I had any doubts, suspicions, or otherwise that you'd misuse this gift, I wouldn't have allowed you to follow us here." He assured.
"Wow...I...thank you...God?" She responded, hesitant to call him by that name as she knew he had another.
"You may call me Vega, Stella. I much prefer it over God. The latter is far too formal and fueled by ego." He told her.
"Alright, then thank you, Vega." She corrected with a polite and appreciative smile.
"The process is nearly complete." An angel spoke up to inform them.
Hearing them say that shifted the entire mood as everyone glued their eyes to the chamber door to anticipate what he would look like. After another minute passed, everything went silent as the machine slowly powered down. Angel Dust undoubtedly needed to gather himself as Katie and Blitzo had, which is why he didn't come out immediately. But soon, the door would open, and out stepped Angel Dust 2.0.
Physique-wise, the change was far less drastic for him than for Katie. The most notable alterations were his face and legs, as both returned to their former human structure. With the former, his head was no longer wide and flat in shape or appearance; besides looking like a human face, it was rather slender and feminine. His knees were back to facing the front for the latter, and he didn't have permanent high heels for feet, unintentionally leaving him barefoot, which allowed the others to see that his feet were also back to normal.
In addition, his body had a bit more weight to it, similar to Katie's, but he still possessed a tall slim figure that turned heads when he walked. And, as a personal win for him, his posterior seemed a bit ampler as well. But beyond the increase to his already enormous sex appeal came changes to his hair, fur, eyes, and skin. The most easily seen difference was his fur, which became his skin and retained its pure white color.
This change was honestly something the others expected, for even Angel himself had said on multiple occasions how much of a BITCH it was to keep a whole body of fur clean all the time, ESPECIALLY back when he was a pornstar. Moving onto the hair that rested on his head, although it looked the same, it was positioned differently than before the transformation. The long tuft that rested over his left eye was now in front of his new face, not hiding it entirely, but giving it a sort of sensual mystery as if to invite whoever looked at him to "peek behind the curtain." As for the tuft that was on the right side of his head before, it now hanged behind his head, reaching down to the base of his neck and the top of his shoulder blades.
Finally, there were his eyes. And surprisingly enough, it was his left eye that became both, as each eyeball was now a dark red with a hot pink pupil. Yes, sir, this Angel Dust managed to be sexier than the last somehow, so temptatious that even if you were a woman who played for the other team, it'd be near impossible to keep from having THOSE kinds of thoughts.
"Whoa...Angel...you look amazing!" Cherri exclaimed before she ran over to give him a closer look.
"Thanks...I'm winded as shit...but glad to know I look good..." He replied, still recovering from the procedure.
"Good doesn't do you justice! If you were a bombshell before, you've upgraded to an atom bomb!" She carried on before noticing something strange, "Um, Angel. Why'd you keep that fur?" She asked while pointing to his chest.
Following her gaze with his own, he was surprised to see that he still possessed his "bust" from his old self.
"Huh, I dunno. Guess I got so used to having it, it'd feel weird without it." He guessed with a shrug, "Feels a bit heavy though; maybe the energy did something to it?" He suggested as he gave it a poke.
However, when he pressed his finger against his fur, it stopped. But not because he gave it the lightest poke in history, but rather that his chest fur was...solid...
"...Um...Cherri..." He said, his eyes now wide and his expression a mixture of shock and confusion.
"Yeah? Something wrong?" She responded.
"Touch me." He told her.
"Whoa, dude. You're sexier and everything, but that's a little much, especially with all these people around." She whispered to him.
"CHERRI. If there was EVER a time you NEEDED to touch me, NOW IS THAT TIME." He insisted, his voice matching the alarmed look on his face.
Although this was the weirdest Angel had ever acted with her, they were best friends, and by God, if you don't touch your best friend when they insist like this, what kind of friend does that make you? So, she reached out, put her hand on his chest, and...wait...it stayed there...she wasn't able to press it into his fur at all...WAIT...
"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" She shouted out loud as her eye shot open, "ANGEL! YOU'VE GOT TITS!" She exclaimed.
Hearing her say that brought EVERYTHING to a standstill, even the stoic Templars who stood in the room stumbled in place a bit after she announced that.
"...Grandpa?..." Charlie asked as she slowly looked at him, everyone else staring silently at Angel Dust and Cherri, the latter lightly squeezing his chest to ensure it was real.
"Huh...it appears that...we should've done some testing before we tried this..." He responded, for yet another mystery presented itself for him to solve.
Back In Lucifer's Circle...
"Hey, how're you holding up, Helsa?" Verosika asked as she sat down next to her friend.
Ever since the Authorities showed up at the estate and explained what was happening, the ordinarily strong and in control Eldritch was shaken to her core.
"Fine..." She answered. A cup of coffee that had grown cold held in her hands.
"You didn't drink the coffee I brought you." Verosika pointed out while rubbing her shoulder, "Plus, you look like a corpse. So I know you're lying." She added.
"Sorry...usually I'm good at that..." Helsa replied with a small, dry chuckle, "Everything's just gone too shit in the span of a few hours...Octavia and Stella get attacked by that fucking rapist...then we learned he sneaked into the manor somehow and shoved parasites into people...I...I feel like I should've done more..." She confessed.
"How? Your family has the BEST security in ALL of Pentagram City. Excluding the Magnes, of course. That douchebag probably used some evil Doom magic or something. There's no way you could've known about it or stopped it." Verosika assured.
"I appreciate that, Verosika...and I really do mean it..." She said, "I know me, and Stella give you a lot of shit...but the truth is beneath that pop star glitz and glamor...and all the horny...you're a good person..." She complimented.
"Okay, now I KNOW you're out of it. Because I am FAR from being a good person." Verosika replied as a smile came to her face, "But thank you. That means a lot coming from someone as powerful and important as you are." She admitted.
"It's no problem..." Helsa assured before holding out her cup, "I'm sorry to ask...but could you get me another coffee? I DESPERATELY need the caffeine." She requested.
"You got it." Verosika accepted as she took it from her.
Watching the succubus stand up and walk away. When Helsa was confident, she was alone. Her entire demeanor changed.
"Well done." A deep voice spoke to her, but not the Dark One's. Instead, this voice belonged to one of his Marauders.
"I am to please." She whispered, "So, what do I do now?" She asked.
"Wait for her to return. Then, when she leaves, you will have the perfect opportunity to do what is needed." It answered.
"Right. Find a device called the Slipgate. Then I open a portal for you to use that will allow you to access Urdak." She said, going over the plan again, "But there's something I don't get; HOW do I use it? I've never interacted with something like this before." She mentioned.
"Once you've located the device, I will take control via the worm. I have used this technology before, so there will be no issue." It replied.
"Got it. Anything else?" She asked.
"Of all the people you must avoid, it is Samur. If he suspects anything, he will react to it. He is the most diligent of the Maykr race and the creator's servants." It answered.
"Understood." She said, ending their conversation.