The Demon god and the prana core.
"To think that this little moron managed to call me...
Something is wrong though.
How could he know that prayer?
I only tell that one to those good enough to momentarily cure my boredom.
But this is a baby.
A green baby to be precise.
A regressor? Could be, but who is it?
It has been a thousand years since a mortal has managed to rise to a level enough to play with me.
This is getting interesting!", The jester thought while laughing creepily.
"F*ck!
I did not expect him to come himself instead of sending one of his messengers.
I took it too far messing with the prayer, it's what makes the gods who they are.
Although, I did enjoy messing with him.", he smiled inwardly.
"Well... baby...you called for me, here I am.
I'm guessing you want ether, but you are too young and stupid to handle it, or are you my chosen one or some shi-...
WHAAAAAT?!"
The jester floated in mid-air, his mouth wide open while staring at the abdomen of the baby.
"How can his core be so perfect?
Although very small in size, it's proportional to the last minuscule of mana and aura, and it's even ready to accept ether.
His prana is going to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest in this realm if it manifests. That means he definitely is a regressor, and one of the very powerful ones.
But how come I don't remember him?
Someone with this much insight in prana should have been god-class!".
Iono's guess was that when he relives his previous lives, he doesn't actually go back in the past, but he experiences his life like a lucid dream, and although he can change the events to assist his self-interest, he does not change the past.
Therefore, the future in which Iono clashes with Randell has not yet arrived inside this lucid dream reality, while in the real world it happened billions of years ago.
"Well, let's see...
I now have to convince Randell to give me his ether, and hide its presence since if it's found, I will be labelled as a traitor to the whole realm."
He still could not speak so, he thought, "let's play the "baby with immense potential is so cute that the gods make him their chosen one" scenario.
Initiate giant, cute, blue, baby eyes plan".
And so, he looked at the jester with those huge, blue, baby eyes, trying his best to look cute.
"What is this motherf*cker doing?", Randell wondered, staring at the baby with a disgusted and puzzled expression.
"I mean, even demon gods, if they found a cute baby with immense potential would yield, right?", Iono stupidly wondered.
"What the f*ck are you doing you moron...?
Do you think I am stupid enough to not be able to tell that you are a regressor? Your almost done prana core is practically yelling it.
Now stop acting like an idiot, and tell me what you want!", he spoke directly inside Iono's head, making conversation possible.
"Long time no see, Randell.", said Iono in a cute voice.
"I can imagine it is, it's been so long since our last clash, I am guessing you want my help to rise once again, stronger than before…", the jester said with a playful smile.
He was acting as if he knew Iono, so he could learn who he was, without looking stupid. Pride was important to a god.
Also, regressors were well-known psychopaths.
Living so many lives meant losing loved ones in each one, while you just keep existing.
Even the most insane of them all, Randell himself, was afraid of his species.
"Cut the crap, I know you do not know who I am, so let's stop the bullsh*t!", Iono said condescendingly.
Randell's purple nostrils, well, more like slits, flared; his eyes turned in two fiery black slits, and with a coarse diabolic voice, he shrieked,
"You little sh*t!
Who the f*ck do you think you are, to boss the demon god around!?
You know I could kill you right now, and no one would ever notice a thing.
I could even erase your parents' memory of you existing, and trap your soul in one of my small torturing chambers for eternity.", his eyes so intense that they verified his threats.
"No, you can't, you moron.
You are inside the mortal realm.
You kill me, and Heaven is going to make you wish that you were not immortal.
Now, shut your tr*p and give me your Ether!", Iono said menacingly, but his cute baby voice made it funnier than it was supposed to be.
The celestial realm was outside the cluster of universes and existed in a higher dimension.
It was part of none of them while having access to all of them.
So, no matter which life or universe Iono was in, the celestial realm was always close.
"YOU F*CKING INSOLENT MONKEY!
YOU DARE THREATEN THE JESTER OF CHAOS??"
Randell, insane as he was, had a huge inferiority complex, and so Iono's attitude made him want to rip the baby's skin off using his nails, after making Iono shriek so much he could compose opera recitals with his screams.
"Calm down, you idiot.
Look, I will apologize for hurting your precious little feelings, but can I have the Ether now? We both know you will give it to me so let's skip the drama, eh? What do you say "baby"?", Iono said with a mocking face.
The jester's face resembled an abstract painting; what a sight to behold.
It depicted disgust, anger and frustration, and most of all, inability to refute.
Even if Iono was so annoying that the jester was seriously thinking of killing him even if Heaven was watching, he knew that giving him his Ether was the right choice.
You see, when gods give the mortals their Ether, it doesn't only benefit the mortals but the god's as well.
After a mortal dies, no matter if their life is extended or not, unless they manage to become gods, which is incredibly difficult, the Ether loaned to the mortal will return to the god, along with the rest of the energies residing in the mortal's body.
And after the years it was trained and honed by the mortal, it will return to the god even stronger.
Randell knew that Iono was going to not only become a god, but a very powerful one at that.
When mortals become gods, they forsake their mortal bodies, and with them the four energies.
So when he DOES become a god, that super intensified Prana will return to the jester, and well, you can conclude what will happen.
"I want to rip your guts and hang you with them but, you really are my lucky break.
Fine!
I will give you my Ether, but, there are rules.
First of all, once you die, if you die, I get your soul.
Also, you are going to have to kill someone for me.
With Heaven on my back, even as a demon god, I am not able to escape."
"I can definitely kill someone, but do not ask me for my soul, that's not something I can gi-..."
Iono stopped to think for a moment.
Right now, he was inside a lucid dream and so no matter what happened, the real world present can't change.
Also, he should be inside his soul at the moment so the jester taking it should be impossible.
"Actually, I will give you my soul, but with one more condition… I get the egg.", Iono said.
"WHAT!?
HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE EGG?
No deal, the egg is something I cannot give you.", the jester replied flustered.
"Come on Randell, you cannot hatch it, and even if you could, you cannot imprint it because it has to be a mortal, and honestly, you don't even know what is in there.
It's from the outer Rim.
Who knows what's happening there." Iono said, trying to bargain.
Randell looked surprised, his interest growing along with his fear.
"Who are you?
To know so much means we were not just acquaintances, nor mere enemies.
We were close, very close.
I know I lack interest in many things, but someone so close to me, I would definitely remember. If you tell me who you are, I will give you the egg.". The jester said with a sad expression.
"We will be friends, very close friends.
We will fight many times, with you winning them all, and we will both enjoy them so much, we will forget the score.
But something bad will happen to me and, well, you will forget about me.".
The jester looked at the green baby, with an incredulous gaze.
"I see...", he answered with a crazy grin.
"Deal. Here you go.", Randell said and opened his mouth, from which a purple mist came out.
That mist was in fact a dense cloud of Randell's Ether, and guided by him, it entered Iono's body.