The sudden advancement left Angel's mind blank for an instant.
Although she had obtained the potion formula and ritual for advancing to "Apocalypse" from the Demoness card, and the prophesied apocalypse was now close enough for her to meet the Promotion Ritual's requirements, she still lacked the most important thing:
A Beyonder characteristic.
There was no shortcut when it came to the main materials for a Sequence 1 potion. It required one of the only three Apocalypse Demoness characteristics in the world, and all of them were currently inside Cheek, the Primordial Demoness, who had already become a god.
So... how exactly did I advance?
Under Antigonus's astonished gaze, beneath the scrutiny of the countless enormous eyes of Suah the Abomination, filled with malice and desire, and in the anguished, struggling gaze of Tolzna, the Chained God who was about to descend, Angel forced a faint smile onto a face that had become even more beautiful, so much so that even the marionettes below could not help looking up at her.
That smile made the black giant hands Suah was reaching toward the sky clench into fists, almost entranced by it.
Only then did Angel appreciate how advancing to Sequence 1 had strengthened her existing abilities. Even a frown or a smile could move devils, make mutants' hearts race, and inspire a Mystic Seer who had lived for thousands of years to serve her.
Through Mind Communication, she roused Antigonus, whose hesitant movements showed that he, too, had clearly been charmed. Taking advantage of that brief opening, Angel tightened her grip on the iron-black pole of Salinger's Blood Banner and pulled up the scorched, bloodstained flag, simultaneously gaining control over some of a Conqueror's power.
Unlike before, her connection to the Red Priest Uniqueness, whose true form was in Molora