Boss of the Providence south portal world in the Emerald Diorama DLC. Defeating her as Diva No. 5 Virginia with Song of Mana unlocks Imakoo. Inverse mode unlocks Mr. S.
awoooooooooo / tutelageregimenLiving Anguish is the boss of the Providence portal world in the Emerald Diorama DLC. The fight gates two character unlocks: Imakoo (defeat in normal Providence with specific weapon and skin requirements) and Mr. S (defeat in Inverse Emerald Diorama with any Diva No. 5 skin).
Living Anguish is a boss enemy added to Vampire Survivors with the Emerald Diorama DLC. The DLC is a SaGa series crossover developed in collaboration with Square Enix and was released as a free expansion in April 2025.
The 
Ars Gouda bestiary classifies Living Anguish as a portal-world boss. She is the gatekeeper of Providence, one of six portal worlds accessible from The Junction central hub. Per the Vampire Survivors Wiki: "Living Anguish is an enemy that appears in Providence as a part of the Emerald Diorama DLC."
"Constantine, is this fate? Or just destiny? What lies Beyond, unknowable, but forced to threaten the Conjoined Worlds. Remember the forbidden lyrics, find your voice, give us one last song and dance."
The lore quote sets up the song-and-dance theme that ties directly to the Imakoo unlock requirement. Imakoo's description is "End anguish with an otherworldly melody as the greatest mechanical songstress," and the unlock specifically requires Song of Mana or its evolution Mannajja in the player's inventory at the time of the killing blow.
Living Anguish spawns in Providence, the south portal world of the Emerald Diorama stage. From The Junction central hub, take the south portal to enter Providence. Living Anguish appears as the timed boss for that area.
Reaching Living Anguish requires unlocking the Emerald Diorama stage first. The stage opens after purchasing the 
Emerald Disk from the Cosmic Vendor in the Moongolow stage for 50,000 gold.
Emerald Diorama uses a portal-world structure. The starting area is The Junction (also known as Miyako City when entered for the first time). From The Junction, the player can access six different portal worlds, each with its own boss.
On a first playthrough, only one of the six portals will open. A parabolic light line guides the character to the active portal. The portal closes after the player enters and only reopens after defeating the boss for that area. Subsequent runs unlock the remaining portals.
If the player has the "Visually Invert Stages" option enabled while playing Inverse Emerald Diorama, the location of each portal world flips both horizontally and vertically. Providence (normally south) appears in the north when both options are active.
The Mr. S unlock requires Inverse Emerald Diorama specifically, so players hunting that unlock should check their visualisation settings before navigating.
Imakoo unlocks by defeating Living Anguish in normal Providence as Diva No. 5's Virginia alternate skin while having Song of Mana or its evolution Mannajja in inventory. Either weapon needs to be present; any weapon can land the killing blow.
Imakoo is a secret playable character in the Emerald Diorama DLC. Their description in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane reads: "End anguish with an otherworldly melody as the greatest mechanical songstress." The unlock is themed around music, ending the Living Anguish lore arc with Song of Mana.
The unlock has three conditions, all of which must be true at the moment Living Anguish dies:
| Condition | Detail |
|---|---|
| Character |  Diva No. 5 in her Virginia alternate skin specifically (NOT base Diva No. 5) |
| Weapon in Inventory |  Song of Mana OR its evolution  Mannajja must be present |
| Stage | Normal Providence (south portal world); NOT Inverse mode |
| Killing Blow | Any weapon can land the kill; only the inventory presence of Song of Mana or Mannajja matters |
Imakoo does not have a starting weapon. They are one of the small handful of characters in Vampire Survivors who begin runs with no equipped weapon, relying on stage pickups, level-up offers, and innate techs to fill the loadout.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Max Health | +20 |
| Move Speed | +10% |
| Might | +30% |
| Duration | -40% |
| Innate Techs | Hell's Fury and Blood Rage (active without glimmer) |
| Showstopper Bonus | +5% to +50% bonus Might whenever Showstopper triggers at critical health |
The +30% Might combined with -40% Duration creates a high-damage low-uptime profile. Hell's Fury and Blood Rage are aggressive damage-stacking techs from the Emerald Diorama weapon pool. Imakoo also benefits from the Showstopper mechanic shared across all Emerald Diorama characters: at critical health, Imakoo gains +5% to +50% bonus Might layered on top of the standard Showstopper bonuses.
Mr. S unlocks by defeating Living Anguish in Inverse Emerald Diorama with any Diva No. 5 skin (no weapon requirement). His starting weapon is Intuition. He has +20% Move Speed and +1 Amount per 20 levels until level 80 (max +4).
Mr. S is the second character gated by Living Anguish, but the requirement uses Inverse Emerald Diorama instead of normal mode. His starting weapon is the 
Intuition.
| Condition | Detail |
|---|---|
| Character | Any Diva No. 5 skin works (Virginia, Retro Pod, Battle Tank, Mover, Shanks, Paradox, base form) |
| Weapon in Inventory | No weapon requirement (unlike Imakoo) |
| Stage | Inverse Emerald Diorama |
| Killing Blow | Any weapon Diva No. 5 has equipped |
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Starting Weapon | Intuition |
| Move Speed | +20% |
| Per-Level Growth | +1 Amount every 20 levels until level 80 (max +4 Amount at level 80) |
| Tech Trigger | Triggers Emerald Diorama weapon techs with every attack once they are glimmered (instead of being placed into rotation) |
| Showstopper | Gains +100% Might, -100% Cooldown, +100% Luck, all glimmers triggered by every activation |
Mr. S's tech-trigger-on-every-attack mechanic is significantly stronger than the standard Diva No. 5 rotation. Once techs are glimmered, every attack triggers them, which scales massively with high Cooldown reduction and Amount stats.
Unlock Diva No. 5, then unlock the Virginia skin (fully evolve Super Missile with Ballistic Missiles tech). Bring Song of Mana, which is a base-game weapon easier to acquire than the Diva-side requirements. Take Crystal Cries (XII) arcana for survivability.
The Imakoo unlock has the highest setup specificity of any Living Anguish-related condition. Players need three things in place before the Providence run can register the unlock.
Diva No. 5 unlocks by fully evolving the 
Eagle Gun. Eagle Gun is Formina Franklyn's alternative starting weapon. The evolution requires Eagle Gun at max level plus the 
Spinach passive and the Falconfire Glimmer tech.
The Virginia skin requires fully evolving the 
Super Missile. Super Missile is Diva No. 5's base-form starting weapon. Pair it with the Ballistic Missiles tech to evolve.
Once Virginia is unlocked, she becomes selectable as a skin variant in Diva No. 5's character menu. Her starting weapon changes to Twin Dragon, and her stats shift to favour glimmer-based scaling.
If the Super Missile evolution is too time-consuming, the Virginia skin can be unlocked via the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane spell ttwosixtyg. The skin also has alternative spells avalonssongstress and mechwardrobe for unlocking all Diva No. 5 skins at once.
Song of Mana is a base-game weapon (not DLC-locked), making it the easiest part of the unlock chain. It typically appears in the standard level-up weapon pool once unlocked.
Either Song of Mana or its evolution Mannajja satisfies the inventory check. Mannajja is harder to acquire than the base form, so most players bring Song of Mana and let the unlock fire on the first available trigger.
| Slot | Recommendation | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Character |  Diva No. 5 Virginia (mandatory) | Required for the unlock check; no other character or skin works |
| Inventory Weapon | Song of Mana (any level) | Required inventory check; level does not matter |
| First Arcana |  Crystal Cries (XII) | Combo with Showstopper makes Diva Virginia nearly invincible during Showstopper periods |
| Second Arcana |  Out of Bounds (XII) | Bought from Trouser merchant; converts a clock-style freeze weapon into screen-clearing damage |
| Power Spike | Glimmer 11 techs as Virginia | Unlocks the Battle Tank skin AND grants the +100% Might/Speed/Duration glimmer stack via Virginia's skin passive |
Inverse Emerald Diorama scales boss HP with player level, so the goal is to keep Diva No. 5's level low while maximising weapon power. Game Killer (0) + Moonlight Bolero (VI) caps boss HP at the minimum. Crystal Cries arcana boosts survivability.
Inverse Emerald Diorama is one of the hardest stages in Vampire Survivors. Boss HP scales with player level, so straightforward levelling makes Living Anguish unbeatable. Multiple community-tested strategies sidestep the scaling.
Game Killer (0) prevents the player from gaining any XP, locking levels at 1 or wherever the player was when picked. Combined with 
Moonlight Bolero (VI), which provides passive bonuses without level scaling, this build keeps boss HP at the minimum threshold.
Per a community thread on the Vampire Survivors Steam discussions: "Since bosses scale with your level, keeping your level at 1 locks boss HP at their minimum. Even Living Anguish goes down (relatively) fast. Bolero also gives you a bunch of passives and upgrades to work with, and the map has a lot of active weapons to gather to use those upgrades on."
Crystal Cries (XII) drops healing crystals when the player takes damage. Combined with the Showstopper mechanic shared across all Emerald Diorama characters, this build makes Diva No. 5 functionally invincible during Showstopper triggers.
Workflow: take Crystal Cries first, buy Out of Bounds (XII) as the second arcana, find a clock-style freeze weapon (Clock Lancet or Castlevania DLC ice weapons), then exploit Showstopper triggers to reach full HP between fights. The Crystal Cries hearts dropped during Showstopper let the player heal back to full and re-trigger Showstopper repeatedly.
Silent Old Sanctuary (XX) provides a massive Might and Cooldown boost in exchange for a reduced weapon slot count. Per community testing: "A massive boost to Might and Cooldown make even level 1 weapons viable! By the time I did grab more weapons I had already grabbed an Empty Tome to reduce Cooldown further."
This build pairs well with the 
Empty Tome passive. The reduced weapon slots become irrelevant once the Might multiplier brings starting weapons to one-shot territory against most non-boss enemies.
Multiple community threads confirm Inverse Emerald Diorama is a grind even with optimal builds. One Steam thread noted: "Playing in inverse emerald diorama with diva no.5 it takes like 10 minutes to kill a single boss and I get overwhelmed before I can kill 3 of them."
Players hunting Mr. S without the patience for the run can use the Forbidden Scrolls spell tutelageregimen instead. The achievement does not register, but the character unlocks immediately at the standard purchase price.
Cast awoooooooooo in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane to unlock Imakoo without the Providence fight. Cast tutelageregimen to unlock Mr. S without the Inverse Emerald Diorama run. Both skip the achievement.
Forbidden Scrolls ShortcutsImakoo: Cast awoooooooooo to unlock without the Diva Virginia + Song of Mana setup.
Mr. S: Cast tutelageregimen to unlock without the Inverse Emerald Diorama run.
Both spells unlock the characters at the same purchase price as the achievement-based unlock. The tradeoff: the achievement does not register, and the character is purchased rather than earned through the boss fight.
The spell name awoooooooooo references Imakoo's "otherworldly melody" description and the song-and-dance theme of the Living Anguish lore quote. The Mr. S spell tutelageregimen references his role as a teacher figure in the SaGa source material.
Diva No. 5 has six skins (Virginia, Retro Pod, Battle Tank, Mover, Shanks, Paradox) plus the base form. Each unlocks differently and has different stats. Only Virginia is required for the Imakoo unlock; any skin works for Mr. S.
Diva No. 5 is the most complex character in the Emerald Diorama DLC. She has six skins (called "body types" in the game), each with distinct stats, weapons, and passive effects.
| Skin | Unlock Condition | Required For Living Anguish? |
|---|---|---|
Base /  Retro Pod | Fully evolve Eagle Gun (with Spinach + Falconfire Glimmer) | Mr. S unlock works with this skin |
| Virginia | Fully evolve Super Missile (with Ballistic Missiles tech) | REQUIRED for Imakoo unlock; works for Mr. S |
| Battle Tank | Glimmer at least 11 techs as Virginia | Mr. S unlock works with this skin |
| Mover | Glimmer at least 7 techs as Retro Pod | Mr. S unlock works with this skin |
| Shanks | Defeat all bosses in Emerald Diorama in a single run as Diva No. 5 | Mr. S unlock works with this skin |
| Paradox | Defeat all bosses in Inverse Emerald Diorama in a single run as Diva No. 5 | Mr. S unlock works with this skin |
The skin selection menu pose changes for each variant. Notably, Diva No. 5 appears mid-walk when the Candybox skin is active on Alucard (a separate Castlevania DLC reference) and the Virginia skin shows her standing in a glimmer-charged pose.
All six Diva No. 5 skins can be unlocked at once via three Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane spells: ttwosixtyg, avalonssongstress, and mechwardrobe. Casting any of the three spells unlocks the corresponding subset of skins. Casting all three covers the entire skin roster.
Showstopper is a Diva No. 5 passive that triggers at critical health: +100% Might, -100% Cooldown, +100% Luck, all glimmered techs trigger on every activation. The music changes during Showstopper. It can be re-triggered after a full heal.
Showstopper is the signature mechanic of every Diva No. 5 skin and is also shared with Imakoo and Mr. S. Understanding Showstopper is essential for both Living Anguish unlocks.
Showstopper activates automatically when the character's health drops to critical levels (typically 20% or below, though the exact threshold is documented as "critical" without specific numbers in the wiki). Once triggered, Showstopper provides four simultaneous bonuses:
| Bonus | Effect |
|---|---|
| Might | +100% (multiplicative damage doubling) |
| Cooldown | -100% (weapons fire continuously) |
| Luck | +100% (doubled drop and crit rates) |
| Glimmer Triggers | All glimmered techs trigger on every weapon activation |
| Audio | Background music changes to the Showstopper track during the period |
Showstopper can be triggered again once the character is restored to full health. This makes it stackable across a single fight: drop to critical, get Showstopper, deal massive damage during the period, heal back to full, drop to critical again, repeat.
Pairing Showstopper with Crystal Cries (XII) creates a near-infinite loop. Crystal Cries drops healing crystals when the player takes damage. Combined with the Showstopper Cooldown reduction, the character heals back to full almost instantly, which lets Showstopper re-trigger on the next critical-health hit.
Emerald Diorama has six portal worlds, each with its own boss. Living Anguish is the south portal boss. Other notable bosses include the Earth Dragon (Pulchra), Divine Wood Spirit (Miyako City), Specter of Iwanaga-hime (Yomi), and the Final Emperor (Grelon).
Each portal world in Emerald Diorama has its own boss with its own unlock check. Many of these bosses gate additional Emerald Diorama character unlocks similar to the Living Anguish + Imakoo + Mr. S structure.
| Boss | Portal World | Notable Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Living Anguish | Providence (south) | Imakoo (normal) / Mr. S (inverse) |
| Earth Dragon | Witchdom Pulchra (north-east) | Lita Caryx (defeat with  Tsunanori in inverse) |
| Divine Wood Spirit | Miyako City (north) | Kugutsu (defeat in inverse) |
| Specter of Iwanaga-hime | Yomi (north-east) | Dolores (defeat with  Siugnas in inverse) |
 Final Emperor | Grelon (south-east) | Final Emperor playable (defeat demon form with  Bonnie or  Formina in inverse) |
 Malevolent Door Spirit | Grelon (south-east, alternate) | Playable Malevolent Door Spirit (defeat while frozen with Out of Bounds (XII)) |
The Cursed Monarch is a separate timed boss who appears at 25:00 in any part of the map. Defeating Cursed Monarch unlocks Hyper mode for Emerald Diorama, which boosts player speed from +25% to +100%, gold bonus from +25% to +75%, and adds a +10% luck bonus.
| Date | Build | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 10 April 2025 | Emerald Diorama DLC launch | Living Anguish added as the Providence boss. Imakoo and Mr. S unlock chains established. Diva No. 5 added with five skins (Virginia, Retro Pod, Battle Tank, Mover, Shanks, Paradox). |
| 22 April 2025 | Emerald Diorama 1.1 | Fixed unlocks related to the Glimmer ability of Diva No. 5 not registering after completing requirements in online multiplayer mode. Fixed the Super Missile evolution and Twin Dragon level 6 unlock checks. Fixed Diva No. 5 Mover and Paradox skins being unable to fly. |
| 28 October 2025 | Update 1.14 | Adventure mode added across the broader Vampire Survivors roster. Living Anguish boss kit unchanged. |
Living Anguish spawns in Providence, the south portal world of the Emerald Diorama stage. From The Junction central hub, take the south portal to enter Providence. Living Anguish appears as the timed boss for that area. In Inverse mode with the Visually Invert Stages option, the portal flips to the north.
Defeat Living Anguish in normal Providence as Diva No. 5's Virginia alternate skin while having Song of Mana or its evolution Mannajja in inventory. Either weapon must be present at the moment of the kill; any weapon can land the killing blow. Spell shortcut: awoooooooooo.
Defeat Living Anguish in Inverse Emerald Diorama with any Diva No. 5 skin. There is no weapon requirement (unlike the Imakoo unlock). Spell shortcut: tutelageregimen. The Inverse Emerald Diorama run is significantly harder than the normal Providence run.
Fully evolve the Super Missile. Super Missile is Diva No. 5's base-form starting weapon. Pair the maxed Super Missile with the Ballistic Missiles tech, then collect a boss chest to evolve. The Virginia skin becomes selectable in Diva No. 5's character menu after the evolution. Spell shortcut: ttwosixtyg.
Imakoo starts with no weapon. Stats: +20 Max Health, +10% Move Speed, +30% Might, -40% Duration. Innate techs: Hell's Fury and Blood Rage (active without glimmer). Showstopper bonus: +5% to +50% bonus Might whenever Showstopper triggers at critical health, layered on top of the standard Showstopper bonuses.
Mr. S starts with the Intuition weapon. Stats: +20% Move Speed, +1 Amount every 20 levels until level 80 (max +4 Amount). His tech-trigger mechanic fires Emerald Diorama weapon techs on every attack once they are glimmered, which is significantly stronger than the standard rotation behaviour.
The Inverse boss HP scales with player level, so the goal is to keep level low while maximising weapon power. Game Killer (0) + Moonlight Bolero (VI) caps boss HP at the minimum threshold. Crystal Cries (XII) + Out of Bounds (XII) creates a near-invincible Showstopper loop. Silent Old Sanctuary (XX) provides massive Might and Cooldown for two-weapon builds.
Yes. The Imakoo unlock check only requires Song of Mana OR its evolution Mannajja to be present in inventory at the moment of the killing blow. Either weapon satisfies the condition. Mannajja is harder to acquire than the base Song of Mana, so most players bring Song of Mana for the unlock.
Boss location, unlock requirements, and Diva No. 5 skin chain pulled from the official Vampire Survivors Wiki on Weirdgloop. Inverse Emerald Diorama strategies cross-referenced with community-tested builds from the Vampire Survivors Steam discussions.
SaGa series source material verified against the Square Enix SaGa Wiki and the Emerald Diorama DLC pre-release press materials.
Sprite assets and stat data derived from the Vampire Survivors Wiki, hosted by Weirdgloop and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Vampire Survivors and the Emerald Diorama DLC are trademarks of poncle. SaGa and associated characters are trademarks of Square Enix. This guide is an independent reference and is not affiliated with poncle or Square Enix.