#fraud update

On the painting in 8-1, we can see that all of the archangels in the photo have gems of some sort on their armor, which are color coded to their halos. All but Gabriel have gems, which poses the question: Where is Gabriel's?

The answer is very simple:

"Distant eyes watched the formation of Idols with fascination, and were driven to attempt the same process of molding useless life into something beautiful."

Hell is a sentient thing is Ultrakill. A living, thinking realm. It is malicious, sadistic, but most importantly: a creator. It *makes* things. And this little blurb implies that maybe it's not even simply because it wants new awesome ways to torture people (though that is a motivator, definitely). It wanted to make "something beautiful". Hell's idea of "beauty" definitely does not fit our own (or really, anyone's), but the fact that it can be inspired by and strives for it is... I dunno. something a little humanizing. It inherits something from its Father, love for the act of creation.

"The result, however, could never have been the same, as the endless malice of their creator seeped into the Deathcatchers, whose shells were unable to withhold it, cracking them wide open."

This is kinda just a repeat of what we already know (Hell is Evil, wow!) but definitely made physical. It's malice is powerful enough to crack a Demon's stone. Not even V1's can do that, it explicitly has to aim for weak spots. Hell is so full of hate that even a small fraction of it placed within an extremely sturdy container breaks it.

"Unable to share the love that they were never given, the Deathcatchers cannot protect anyone, and in their vain attempts to do so, they can only form lesser caricatures from the blood of those who are gone forever, puppeting their shapes to continue their past actions, pretending that they're still here, that they could have been saved."

Idols create a protected sort of eternal life. No harm can befall a thing that holds the Idol's gaze. You won't die. Deathcatchers, by comparison, offer eternal life through death. You have to give up your life – a thing intertwined with Blood in Ultrakill – and you get to "live" forever. You always come back, as long as the Deathcatcher never dies. But it's not really "you". It's just your form, mimicked. A "lesser caricature".

The wording at the end, though, is really particular. "Pretending that they *could have* been saved" as opposed to "pretending that they *were* saved". It implies that everyone down there is Hell is doomed, automatically. That's the inevitable thing of all who enter (abandon ye hope, ect, ect). Which makes the next part interesting.

Why would Hell do that? Why would Hell want to make something "beautiful"? why would it want "eternal life"?It loves death and suffering and eternal torture, but the blood puppets Deathcatchers create are "caricatures", not real, thinking things. There would be no real "suffering" in having puppets kill each other forever.

I think it likes V1. I think it likes it a lot. If nothing else, it finds V1 very interesting. It makes an entire Layer for it (Starts with entering the TV, ends with changing the channel, the "live audience", the very deliberate calm ending compared to how bonkers the rest of Fraud is). It obviously knows V1 runs an unsustainable system. It literally shows that information to V1.

What does V1 not want to do? What is its primary, if not sole motivation in doing all this in the first place?

"I don't want to die"