"Mr. Zolial can you hear me?!"
Silence.
'Fuck me! What can we do to stop it, Ego?'
'I would have to be sent into his mind to confront the foreign consciousness before something dangerous happens.'
'But wouldn't that mean you would lose the backing of the Cosmic Structure? I can't let you endanger yourself like that.'
Ego smiled at the care Null showed for them, 'Don't forget. I have the power of the Emotions running through me. The prowess you've shown with the emotion-based energies is but a drop in the ocean.'
Null was still slightly worried for Ego but knew that there was not much time before Edmond's body absorbed too much spirit energy and exploded as a result.
By way of the connection the navy-blue tentacles, Ego traveled into Edmond and made their way through to his mind.
Because of the changes happening to him, he was unconscious during the process, but the same could not be said for the consciousness occupying his mind that acted as a parasite.
'Where are you?'
Ego searched the fractured mind of the pitiful teacher reborn as an imp in a wholly different plane for the mental parasite that sought to end him.
'There!'
An insanely bleak aura was leaking into the mind space of Edmond's while the perpetrator in particular noticed Ego's arrival.
"Who are you?"
There was no other way to describe the dark and dreary malevolent being as anything other than devilish.
His deep, raspy voice sent chills down Ego's spine and was filled with nothing but an overbearing weight.
The only reason Ego could understand the garbles of the dark figure was thanks to the peculiar way spirits retained knowledge from all sources.
'This is not going to end well. I might as well just try and feel him out before resorting to violent means.'
"My name is Ego," they said while remaining tense, "Who are you?"
The dark figure paid no heed to Ego's question as he asked another of his own, "What are you doing here?"
Ego played along for now, "I'm here to check up on my friend here. What are you doing to him?"
"Begone while I'll still allow it, Ego. I have plans for your 'friend' here that I cannot ignore," the figure arrogantly said while returning to releasing the corrupting aura.
'I guess that's it for negotiating then,' Ego mentally sighed, 'Time to get rough.'
They let Rage suffuse through their form while retaining clarity in their mind to harness the powers of the other Emotions.
The figure took heed of the change in Ego and paused once more to warn them, "You would be wise to halt your feeble attempts to face me."
Under the effects of Rage, Ego scoffed, "It would be wise of you to shut the fuck up and cease your actions on my friend."
They generated a violent crimson ball in their hand that was ready to be launched at a moment's notice.
Without realizing the danger of the crimson ball, the dark figure crossed the distance between them in a single step and swiped his clawed hands at Ego.
'So fast,' Ego was pressed to act quickly.
'But not fast enough!'
Before the claws could reach him, Ego detonated the crimson ball full of the violent energy with them in it!
Naturally, the energy would not harm its maker, but the same could not be said for the parasitic consciousness.
VZZRBOOM!
Without setting up a proper defense, the dark figure was blasted away and damaged seemingly beyond repair.
However, the dark figure would not be stopped there.
'Now that I think of it, these strange outsiders managed to breach my realm without me even noticing. If not for this vessel being related to them, I would not have found out about it.'
The figure was thinking to himself while healing his damaged form, 'Whatever the case is, this bountiful energy is something I desperately need if I am to finally get my revenge on that hateful, winged bastard.'
"You feel like stopping now or is your bitch ass ready for round two?'
Ego took to using more than just the crimson energy now, so they were not caught by surprise once more.
They were now filled with red orange Vigilance and chartreuse Calm which provided a perfect mental state to combat the unknown nature of the dark figure.
"Such impudence!"
Once again, the figure launched himself at Ego with the intent to erase them from Edmond's mind.
This time, Ego sensed his movement and winded up their arm to punch with all their might.
Rage fueled their destructiveness to which they met with the encroaching claws of the dark figure.
Another explosion rang out with the impact, but Ego stood firm with dark green Determination, and they took advantage of the distance to form the strongest Emotion: the pink petals of Despair.
Because of the slow nature of the petals, it was difficult to force one into the dark figure without them avoiding it.
Now that they were stunted by the grievous wounds this was the perfect opportunity.
Ego propulsed themself even quicker than the dark figure thanks to the purple Repulsion energy and swiftly planted the petal into the shadowy body of the dark figure.
As soon as the petal entered his system, all of his powers died out and revealed the true form of the dark figure.
'This feeling... I cannot bring myself to fight,' the figure was downtrodden.
Ego rapidly lost the feeling of Rage and was back to their normal clear spirit water self once they saw that the petal's effects were affecting the figure's dark aura.
When Ego saw the effects, they were surprised to see the reveal of the figure, 'This form... it could only be the top dog of this realm.'
Indeed, what he saw was a four-horned, pitch black scaled, muscular being that exuded a devilish aura.
"Looks like we found you before we even intended to, leader of the demons and the ruler of the Demonic Realm. I've already introduced myself, but you have yet to do the same."
The defenses of the figure were entirely shut down as the petal's energy circulated around their weakened consciousness.
"Wha-what have you done to me you insufferable ingrate. If it weren't for this being a mere wisp of my consciousness you would be dead!"
'Looks like there's no talking to this guy. I'd rather study his lingering aura and remove the aftereffects.'
Without hesitating, Ego walked up to the drained wisp and thought of something inspiring, 'If that dummy can consume souls, then I shall be the one to consume minds.'
They had already been combined with the entirety of the Emotions, so the concept was entirely feasible.
"Time to eat!"
The sudden change in Ego's tone frightened even their prey.
Alas, in the next moment they were engulfed by Ego akin to an amoeba consuming its food.
Within seconds, the wisp could do naught but scream as its form was being broken down into pure spirit energy.
"Thanks for the food."
And with that, Ego was free to remove the remnant foreign demonic energy that was left in the mind space.
Afterwards, the space shuddered as something was occurring on the outside prompting Ego to escape before anything could happen.
'Parasite destroyed,' they reported after returning to Null's mind space.
'Back already? What happened in there?'
Null wanted to know the perpetrator behind the mess that was happening to Edmond, but before Ego could relay the information, his body shuddered under the pressure of all the spirit energy.
At this point, Edmond had absorbed more than triple the amount any of the others had and was still going.
Thankfully, Null was able to halt the flow of energy and all they could do was wait for Edmond to conform to the new changes on his own.
He and the others were waiting for a while before changes could be seen physically as Edmond's body appeared to be bloated.
"Is that normal or...," Theef began, but was interrupted by a sudden explosion.
POOF!
Edmond's head burst like a watermelon leaving the crew stunned.
They did not know about his superior regeneration and were amazed to see his headless body still standing.
But before his head reformed, a new kind of flame burned from the missing portion of his body.
Unlike the purgatory flames, the new flames burned a bright yellow and radiated a pure aura completely opposite of the demonic presence Edmond had.
Even without his brain, traces of consciousness were born from his body due to the holy flame and his voice echoed, "Become the new Devil my ass. I'll dethrone a pitiful soul like you and take my rightful place among my angel, Evangeline."