That One Terminal Who At The Very Beginning Bet That Gabe And V1 Would Fall In Love To The Other Terminals

That one terminal who at the very beginning bet that Gabe and v1 would fall in love to the other terminals and hell it's self:

If Gabe is Hell's favourite angel than does that mean V1 is the Terminals favourite? Like while Hell is concerned with the narrative torment, the pain, the breaking down of the very essence of god's light the Terminals are like 'this is V1 it is blue and has the highest damage output :)'

I could imagine they were betting on who would win their bouts in Gluttony and Heresy (Hell was absolutely surprised that V-'won' when millions of other machines fell to Gabe before it and that it kept winning. the Terminals were just glad to be finally validated in their betting choices)

Neither expected that the third time, love would win. and that they would come to respect each other's picks.

sjdhfsdfgb hell being the guy with a purebred dog that's won the show circuit while the terminals have a feral cat they found under their porch IS the exact correct read lmaooooooo

i definitely agree that v1's win is probably as shocking to hell as it is to gabriel, even as it awaited v1's arrival with excitement - the terminals have been following this one closely and they've been chattering on about it with increasing enthusiasm in the short time since it came to hell. they're SURE this one will at least make it past gabriel, but hell refuses to give them a free pass - either it defeats him or its progress stops here. the terminals grumble a bit, but determinedly still place their bets on their favorite; v1 will succeed, they say, v1 will best a supreme angel and lead the rest of the machines deep into hell. hell figures this confidence is mostly wishful thinking as there's terminals locked far down into its depths rotting away with no physical contact, no active role in their little game. but one thing is interesting here in that v1 has shown itself to be exemplary if not too special, while gabriel has been growing numb to his work for years under the council. v1 is fresh, it's violent and tearing its way through every enemy it meets with surprising, efficient cruelty unseen in the machines beforehand....and gabriel is a divine warrior reduced for so long to "fighting" hordes of insects, his tactics and movements now routine, uninspired. so. will v1 actually surprise it? will it wake up gabriel who's been burning out in far less spectacular fashion than hell had hoped?

and then something...strange happens.

the terminals are proven right when v1 bests gabriel in gluttony, he falls to the floor and he's unable to keep fighting, bled too much to let his wings carry him. hell is astounded and the terminals celebrate (especially the ones past gluttony, they're FINALLY a part of this!!!) but even more intriguing (to hell, at least) is the fallout this causes. what will heaven do to its brightest angel, its judge of hell, an archangel favored by all who know him? what will that angel do to himself? for the terminals, this marks v1 as near unstoppable (and, if the prime soul fights are considered canon, they know there is truly nothing that can stand in its way); it will unknowingly, uncaringly, spearhead the charge of their machine army into each layer of hell. and when it clashes again with gabriel in heresy, both they and hell fall quiet as they wait to see if the apostate can take back everything he's lost...though the terminals are merely waiting for the win, for the incredible recording this will be. their confidence is rewarded again and hell feels the shift fully this time, that something has come into it that god couldn't have created. gabriel has fallen, the prime souls are falling, demons, husks, and other machines can't stand a chance. it must do more, it must apply true, agonizing pressure to the terminals' favorite to see just how much it can take before it breaks...and the terminals welcome that challenge. they will supply v1 with increasingly terrible firepower to fight against it, and they believe it will outdo even hell's worst.

the pivot NEITHER see coming is. how gabriel actually comes back to it. hell had seen his wings burst into their colors of ecstasy and the terminals had seen v1 ignore its programming to let him live twice...but their bloodthirsty bets are put on immediate hold when their next encounter supplies. peace. communication. gabriel sheathing his swords and kneeling to show v1 his intentions. and v1 responding in kind, drawing no weapons as it curiously closes the distance between them. and it all plays out in front of them, an angel who found himself again through the machine and the machine that was finally able to have a self through the angel. it's utterly perplexing, the terminals having no idea what this could mean for v1's continued march and hell not knowing if it should delight in gabriel's complete fall into blasphemy or if now must prepare for a much, MUCH more difficult endgame than just squaring off against v1. ether way....this proves entropy in creeping too through the halls of hell, and neither computer nor divine logic can stop it