hi i want to uh talk abt what tf the ascension ceremony is and how it worked and why things went wrong
anyway i know i mentioned it once but like the reason agnus isn’t like. dead - dead is uuuuh you can destroy a physical form but it isn’t that you kill the being? because he’s not one of those bayonetta style angels, and by this i mean regardless of whether or not those are the angels of the world lore-wise, agnus does not serve jubileus, he serves God. he is not affiliated with the hierarchy of laguna, he is affiliated with the choirs of heaven. he holds the rank of cherub, and his powers revolve around “giving blessings".
which is what the ascension ceremony was meant to be: a way to give blessings.
the ascension ceremony involved alchemy, yes, but beyond that, it involved divine power. agnus had been living a “human life” prior to finding himself in the order, he has nico?? his daughter with A Human and that was not miraculous anything, it was “the way humans love other humans”, but i digress.
until the ascension ceremony, agnus had been able to keep his true nature as a cherub under wraps. he was seen as a powerful alchemist who was incredibly religious; he was bullied for being socially awkward and people said he had the personality of a sparrow so of course they didn’t ever think he was some unbelievably powerful entity second only to seraphim and God. but for the ascension ceremony, he found it wouldn’t work on alchemy alone. so he had no choice but to unleash his holy abilities and clearly, that caused a lot of trouble. because now he was a cherub and of course sanctus did horrid shit and agnus’ mental state ended up in shambles.
people went through ascension and some of them were deemed worthy . most of those became angels of the ninth choir ( human in shape, but gained their own wings ). a small handful gained powers similar to archangels ( the eighth choir ), and two people genuinely became dominions. one of those is credo.
others went through ascension and weren’t deemed worthy. they became ‘demons' and agnus tried to fix this by giving his wings. he could negate the demonic powers of most of them, as they gained demonic power to oppose an angel of the corresponding choir. unfortunately, sanctus had power like a fallen seraphim and agnus, the cherub didn’t have the power to convert that demonic power to holy power
the third group of survivors of ascension were for lack of a better term, relatively unchanged. they gained no new powers from God, but sometimes inner powers were awakened. arguably, nero would fall under this category. he gained no New Powers, only had dormant ones come to the forefront.
the fourth group were those who died, which happened more often than any of the others. agnus would give proper burial to the dead, and always hoped their souls would reach heaven.
