NMHA Ch. 79 - Azrael's Legacy
A/N - I think the month off definitely helped. I feel like this is coming easier than it had before for a little while. Still had the story on my mind during that break of course (kind of hard to break that habit when it's been a constant part of my thought process for literal years now). But giving myself that extra bit of time to not worry was nice.
I'll try to post more rapidly, though. We may be approaching the endgame, what with Rizevim strolling into Heaven and all that jazz, but there's still quite a bit to go through, including (but not strictly limited to):
- Issei's ascension
- Where tf is Akeno
- Rias and Venelana
- Ruval's illusion
- Diodora's descent
- The fallout of Rizevim's one-man invasion of Heaven, as well as what the hell is up with Rizevim in the first place
- Lunarunn and Trihexa
- Lunarunn and Azrael
- Lunarunn and Sirzechs
- Serafall's condition (and a more explicit exploration of her background, rather than the bits and pieces I've sprinkled throughout the story. Unless what I have now suffices, please let me know)
And that's just what I can remember off of the top of my head, specifically pertaining to characters of critical importance to the story. We've also got stuff like the Belials, the Sitris, the reactions of the other gods to Lunarunn's executions, what happened to Falbium, and more.
So, uh. Yeah. There's still quite a lot I need to touch on, while preventing the flow of the story from dragging to a complete halt.
For a first-time story, I may have overreached just a little, lmao. Maybe I should have split this off into a series, or otherwise narrowed the scope. Ah well, can't do much about that now.
Look at me, rambling on for a full page about the state of the story. Heh. In any case, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!
(3 months ago)
She stepped into her inner world, head flicking from side to side as she stepped onto the soft grass. Her bare feet tingled as she walked step by step, staring into the dawning, starlit sky.
Luna breathed in.
She breathed out.
"Ulan, I think it's time I get some explanations."
"I agree."
Luna blinked, and her patron was there, hands behind her back as she stared toward the sunrise. The conceptual being turned around and smiled, though those prismatic eyes bore down heavily.
She stood firm all the same.
"Will you want to sit, or will this conversation be too confrontational for that?"
"I think you know the answer to that as well."
"Unfortunately so." Ulan's smile grew pained, lifting a hand and inclining her head to concede the point. "I wish it were not the case, but it has become all too apparent that I cannot withhold information like I have before. Not if Rizevim is active again. Ask away."
Immediately, several questions leaped to mind, but one took precedence. "Rizevim was elated to see me - or rather, to see you. Why's that?
Ulan took a moment to think. "We were friends once. We both bore large ambitions, and bonded over a common enemy. That enemy is long gone, but the fact stands that we were close for a time. That he remembers me so fondly after so long is slightly amusing. But more than that, it's incredibly disturbing."
"How so?"
The Demon gestured at herself. "Rizevim's story was true. I was captured by Yahweh with Bael's assistance. I was imprisoned for a time, then slated for not just Rending, or Banishment, but to be ejected from reality outright, and returned to Nothing. A punishment fit only for the worst of the worst - and the only one that could stop me in my rampage."
"You say that like it's a place."
"It's a state of being. The same state that you inflicted upon Eltren Naberius years ago." Lunarunn grimaced. The name still sent a rush of burning acid through her blood. But it was an old wound, one she was able to overcome after a moment in favor of Ulan's - Azrael's - explanation. "Simply put, by conventional standards, I should be forgotten, completely and utterly. My name, as you've seen in the past, doesn't 'play nice' with the world. Heaven's System rejects it, rejects me. All memory and record thereof should be incomprehensible."
"Yet Rizevim remembers you."
"Yes." Prismatic eyes shifted to the side. "I have a few theories why that might be. But if the power move he pulled on you was any indication, I believe I can pare it down to a single conclusion."
Luna's brow furrowed. "And that is?"
The Demon's eyes turned back to the sun.
"...I believe he usurped the authority of God long ago."
(Current Day)
Gabriel flew, propelled by her full sets of wings down through the Heavens, the klaxons of a breach blaring in her mind and all around. Angels aplenty joined her, legions returning to protect their domain, their home, from the one that would threaten it.
Thoughts flew through her mind, each one as worrying as the last. How had they made it so far already? What happened to Saint Peter? Why was Heaven not responding to her pleas for transport to the intruder - or anywhere near, for that matter?
Questions she had no answers to, yet the fact that the alarms still sounded made her concerns grow further.
The intruder was not welcome here.
But they also wanted Heaven's denizens to know they were here.
Who? How? Why?
Martial discipline kept her emotions tightly managed, her anger toward the intruder and her worry for Heaven's inhabitants propelling her downward through the Fourth Heaven, the Garden of Eden blurring faster and faster behind her, perhaps faster than she had moved since the War Across the Heavens.
Since Father died sealing the Beast away.
It was quiet. Too quiet. Gone were the songs and hymns of the faithful, replaced by an eerie silence broken only by the beat of countless wings and the hum of their holy spears, riding her slipstream to match her breakneck pace.
The animals too had fled into hiding, knowing as deeply as the Angels themselves that something was terribly, terribly wrong.
And as Gabriel breached the Third Heaven, her legion in tow, as the acrid smell of smoke filled her nose, she understood why.
Thick plumes of black rose into the sky, the blue skies stained dark by ash and sulfur, illuminated briefly by flashes of yellow, white, and blue.
For a long moment, the Seraph was stunned.
Paradise... was burning.
Haltingly, she reached out, to feel for any survivors.
The only souls she could sense were the ones doing battle with...
With...
With...
Gabriel only realized she'd started clutching at her head when one of her lieutenants had grabbed her shoulder and shook it, snapping her out of her stupor.
"Thank you, Zacharias," she murmured, as tears streamed down her face.
Why? Why had they done this?
'How could this - all this - have happened in as many minutes as fingers on one hand!?'
"Don't thank me," the Angel said, but behind his words was a concerning amount of heat, as if the darkening of his own wings wasn't enough reason for concern. More concerning still was how it was matched by many others. "Let's join the others and... and..." He grit his teeth, breathing heavily, shakily. "Forgive me sister, but this is... It's difficult to-"
"I know," she interrupted him softly. "Let us join our brothers and sisters in stopping this madman."
"Gladly," he growled, wings taking on a darker hue still before slowly regaining their sheen as he brought his rage under control. A moment later, his voice was steadier. "Guide us, Sister."
"Gladly." Fire flooded her own veins as she took her anger and directed it, a spear of holy fire and righteous justice taking form as she charged to the ground, her legion providing a rain of light above as she skidded to a stop, twisted on her feet, and let out a yell as she spun and hurled the spear, a bolt of pure light streaking across the battlefield, a mighty opener to the battle they were to join.
The light struck a hand that shot out of the smoke to block it.
The spear shattered, motes of light and the wave of force from the impact blew away the smoke and illuminated the features of the culprit.
"Why hello to you too," he cheekily said, flicking his wrist to the side. In that same moment, the spears that were descending toward him shattered, just as Gabriel's had.
Behind him, silver blurred into sight, the spear of Inaerion streaking upward toward the white-haired creature's chest to run him through. But for all of Metatron's speed and silence, Rizevim just took a step to the side to let the attack breeze by, and in that moment Gabriel could see the damage done to the other Seraph - his armor battered and broken, the mask barely hanging onto his face, the hazel eye of the angel burning brightly even as blood leaked from a nasty-looking cut on his forehead.
"You know, you're pretty persistent Enoch, I'll give you that. Always were." The white-haired being's hand shot up to catch Michael's spear - the Archangel himself similarly battered as Metatron. "But honestly, is this the best Heaven has to offer? Even now? Even after everything that's changed?"
"And what do you know about Heaven, spawn of Lucifer?" Michael snarled, with an anger unlike him - in that moment Gabriel noticed his own wings were perilously close to attaining the same ichor as the Fallen. "What do you know of our strengths, our burdens, and our mission?!"
"Well, that you're guarding an empty throne for one," Rizevim casually leaned backward as Gabriel rushed forward, the claymore of light passing over his head as the other angels drew back, before returning to attack in tandem, from all directions. And yet, he dodged and evaded everything with insulting ease. "And that Heaven's System is pretty damaged now that Azrael's been returned to the world. For a group of individuals hoping to carry on their Dad's kingdom, you're all doing a pretty shit job at it, aren't you?"
"Brothers, please focus - he's goading you!" she exclaimed, to which the white-haired Devil started snickering.
"Oh Gabby, always the wisest one among all of you," his snickers died down, but the awfully, horribly pleasant grin remained on his face. "It's a pity that leadership doesn't suit you. More unfortunate still, that Mikey keeps things as much the same as possible. Between you and me... I think he just wanted to make Dearest Daddy Departed proud."
"ENOUGH OF YOUR PRATTLE!" Metatron bellowed, rushing back in. "IT IS GOD'S WILL THAT WE PERSIST, AND IT IS GOD'S WILL THAT YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS TODAY!"
"Do you even hear yourself right now?" Rizevim's smile dropped, and he caught the next sweep of Inaerion, holding it tightly in place, even as it erupted into holy fire. He didn't so much as blink, even as the impact created enough of a shockwave to force the other two Seraphim back. "God is dead. You guard an empty, crumbling throne, your very wings testament to Heaven's slow but inevitable decline. And still you sit idly by while the world around you burns, prompted to act only when your own house is set alight!"
His fist clenched, and Inaerion shattered, an explosion of holy fire sending all three archangels careening through the air. They recovered quickly, but Metatron's visible eye had widened with incredulity - and fear. He wasn't alone; Gabriel and Michael were both also taken aback. Inaerion was Metatron's strongest weapon - nearly as powerful as a Longinus.
Yet the white-haired being broke it with contemptuous ease.
Said being continued on, waving his hand to and fro. "Azrael was right about you, all those years ago. So many years, so many cycles, and even now you're the exact same toy soldiers you ever were!" A brief pause as he tilted his head. "Well... mostly, anyway."
"Where are the others? We can't beat him like this!" Gabriel demanded, but Michael shook his head, an ugly sneer on his face.
"Raphael was busy trying to heal Sandalphon when we got here. At first I thought it was just a lucky hit. Then this bastard..." he cut himself off, gritting his teeth as his knuckles turned white..
"Not easy, losing loyal brothers and sisters, is it?" Rizevim waggled his finger. "Why, I could shed a tear. If only you'd felt the same when the first Angel was first cast out of Heaven."
A strange look crossed his face, and he tutted to himself. "And now you've ruined my good mood. I suppose I shouldn't have played with you as much as I have."
He snapped his fingers.
Countless lights, shining so brightly, were extinguished in an instant.
Every single one of them.
The ashen clouds began raining blood.
(3 months ago)
"That would explain just how overwhelmingly powerful he is," Lunarunn murmured. "And that would also explain why he was able to bring fucking Great Red to heel."
"Great Red should be the strongest being in this world at this time, yes. But while Yahweh was alive, Great Red was only the third. There were two above even the Dragon of Dragons."
"God... and Trihexa?"
"Indeed. But before Trihexa, there was me. And for a while, I had achieved that second spot. I could kill anything and everything... except Him." The erased Demon let out a soft huff. "He is the Alpha and the Omega, after all. Immortal, even in the eyes of immortals. Or rather, he was."
"The first and the last," Luna echoed. "Why bring that up?"
"Even as the Creator God, Yahweh held 'domains'." Ulan started walking, and Luna followed. "While others could claim similar roles, He was the Creator God, the maker of the world we know - and thus He held two domains that no others could attempt to copy." She extended one hand in each direction. "The Beginning and The End. The Alpha, and The Omega. These 'domains', above all else, defined Him as above and beyond all others."
But if those were domains... "So... what are you getting at? That even in their uniqueness, they could still be taken?"
"It is not quite as simple as stealing someone's precious belongings, but such is analogous enough to not be incorrect. Remember what I said all those years ago, when we discussed the nature of Worldweave?"
"'Anyone can become a god...'" Luna trailed off, eyes widening as the implications stuck home.
"'Your circumstances just happen to be closer than most,'" Ulan finished, a wry smile on her face. "I may have worded it vaguely back then, but I believe you are starting to understand why, exactly, that is the case."
Lunarunn stared at her hand, then summoned a violet wing, running that same hand over the ethereal appendage.
"I... I have part of that domain, don't I?" She should have been dead, after all. Ajuka had gotten the best of her. But she lived - more than that, she'd completely turned the tables on him. Even before then, Kokabiel had overpowered her, but then there was that wave of violet energy, when she drew on Worldweave and Cataclysm Eclipse together. "Not the Alpha - I don't have that capacity to 'create' like He does. Or, did. But rather, I have..."
"The Omega. The End. The power to extinguish anything. Magic, lives, names, histories... existence itself. That is the domain that Azrael was created to draw on, and that is the domain that - in her defiance against God - she stole in its entirety." Ulan crossed her arms, closing her eyes and nodding slowly. "All it took was to fight her way into Heaven's System, and use what she already had access to in order to terminate Yahweh's connection to his own power. Thus, that domain's ownership went to whoever had the next-highest level of privilege. Me."
A slight smile crossed her face. "Once He learned of my betrayal, His fury was truly something to behold. Ironic, or fitting perhaps, that He'd work with Bael to do something similar to me in return. Maybe He still resented me for my theft even then. Kokabiel certainly never forgave me for hurting Father like that."
Luna finally caught onto something. "You're referring to yourself as Azrael. I thought you wanted nothing to do with the name?"
The multicolor-eyed Demon looked away. "I was her at one time. In the distant, distant past. Though she went down a dead end, I will at least afford her that respect."
"Kind of a turnaround, given how you've spent so long hiding your true identity." The human-turned-Devil-turned-Demon scowled. "And then even longer, hiding yourself wholesale."
"...I don't have a true defense for that. When I saw how much you were drawing on the Beast, I grew worried. If I told you what I became, what would you do? What would you become? Would you try to emulate me? Ignore my warnings?" Ulan ran a hand through her hair, grimacing. "I, I didn't know. I didn't know, but I didn't want to be here. If Trihexa did eventually consume you."
There was a hitch in her voice, and Luna picked up on it.
Understanding opened her eyes wide. "You weren't just worried. You were scared."
That Luna was going down the exact same path that Ulan once had.
"I was," she admitted, prompting a frown from Lunarunn. "I still am. Tell me, have you figured out the truth about my existence yet?"
That drew a furrowed brow from the blue-eyed woman. "The truth being that Azrael effectively birthed Trihexa in that last-ditch ritual? Rizevim shared that. You should know that, you were listening in, after all." She tilted her head from side to side briefly. "It also explains why channeling Worldweave and Cataclysm Eclipse together eventually, somehow, awakened The Omega. So to speak"
There was a long second as the other brunette stared at Lunarunn, before looking away, a melancholic look casting a shadow across her face, hiding her eyes in the silhouette.
"I think it's time to be completely straight with you. No more omissions, no more misdirection."
Ulan took a deep breath. "Luna, Azrael didn't 'birth' Trihexa.
"Azrael is Trihexa."
(Present Day)
Gabriel wasn't sure what just happened, why the skies opened up and rained blood as though performing an impression of one of the Twelve Plagues upon Egypt. She wasn't sure how it happened, that all the light around her, her brothers and sisters in arms and in spirit, suddenly vanished. She wasn't sure why it
She could see Michael's eyes, pupils dilated as he looked up, disbelieving - perhaps for the first time - at the sight that laid before him.
Paradise, burned.
The spirits of the departed, silenced.
Brothers and sisters, all vanished.
Their holy legions, all-
Something rose up in Gabriels throat, and she couldn't help but collapse to her knees and start retching, disgust and rage and fear and grief turning the Seraph's equivalent of a stomach into so much bile.
She heard a separate scream on each side of her, one of horror and one of rage- no, Wrath.
Gabriel's head snapped up at the source, Michael blurring forward with tears streaming and wings stained a pitch black that couldn't - shouldn't - have ever marred his pinions.
'Michael...!'
"Finally snapped, did you?" Rizevim's grin came back. "Took you long enough; I suppose Azrael gave you enough reason to bottle up your temper until now-"
"SHUT UP!" he screamed, spittle flying from his lips as his spear blurred, rage turning his weapon red like the blood that poured down around them.. "Shut up and die, you monster! Azrael was bad enough, but you-!"
The white-haired being's smile dropped again, and the world turned. A moment later, and Michael was being held aloft by his neck, grasping onto the hand that held him, trying to pry it off - or rip into it- but to no avail.
"Still don't get it, do you?" he asked, derision dripping from his tone. "You. Can't. Win. Do you even remember? You remembered her well enough."
Michael gave no response save for a choked snarl, fingers curling as he tried to tear Rizevim off of him, perhaps literally.
The Super Devil paid him no heed, lifting another hand to his head, running his fingers through his hair as something cut off his irritation outright. "Oh, that's right. That's my fault, really. Haha, whoops."
Gabriel cast a glance over to Metatron - whose wings somehow still remained pure despite the sheer wrongness of all that surrounded them, and he gave a short nod, speaking aloud, all-too-casually, to the three remaining Angels.
"Say, you three. You know how Lucifer's greatest achievement was that he convinced the rest of the world he didn't exist?"
None of them paid him any heed, with Michael slowly choking under Rizevim's aura and grasp, Gabriel and Metatron circling to flank their assailant.
"Well... that's not entirely true."
The white-haired being's eyes flicked over to lock with Gabriel as she and Metatron lunged forward.
"His greatest achievement was making the world think he had a son named Rizevim."
Only her discipline and eons of combat instinct allowed Gabriel to start a retreat, but even then it wasn't quite enough, and the world around the monster exploded into pain.
The next thing she knew, she was on her knees, slowly dragging herself from the ground, bleeding red all over as motes of white dotted the blackened, sooty landscape, emanating from the six pairs of bat wings that emerged, purer than snow and distorting the air around them with the raw authority and power they emanated.
Metatron, she knew, was on the other side. Still struggling to his feet, and that encouraged Gabriel to try and do the same.
But Michael... he was limp now, in that outstretched hand.
'No-! Brother, no! Not you too!'
"STAY DOWN," a voice boomed, and Gabriel's limbs locked up, her eyes widening as she realized what had happened.
'That's a- a Command,' She realized, ice flooding her chest as she realized who, exactly, they were dealing with. 'Then that means...'
She'd just thought it was a family resemblance.
"You... you're supposed to be dead," Metatron whispered from the other side of the Devil - no, Demon.
The original Demon.
"Yes, well, you'll have to forgive me if I don't exactly play by the rules." Lucifer smiled cheerily, his grip on Michael slackening. The Archangel - former Archangel? - tumbled to the ground and landed in a heap, unmoving. "That's why Daddy Dearest and I had our spat in the first place."
(Three months ago)
Luna had to walk away. She had to, or else she was going to blow a fuse.
Rizevim wasn't the son of Lucifer. Rizevim was Lucifer.
Azrael and Lucifer were allies once - friends even.
No wonder he had such an ecstatic outburst when he initially thought she was Azrael.
And why he still tolerated her even though she wasn't.
How had she not figured that out? Why had Azrael - No, Ulan, damn that was confusing - hidden it from her?
No, it wasn't that she intentionally hid it, it was that Luna hadn't asked her directly if Rizevim was the original Demon.
It also explained why Rizevim had wanted to release Trihexa, as far as canon went - it wasn't just for the shits and giggles, it was because Trihexa was the end-result of his friend's transformation!
So that explained why he wouldn't hurt her without good reason to- but that also meant that his primary motivation for releasing Trihexa was gone. Right?
"Not quite."
"Damn it Ulan, stop peering into my head while we're in my head!"
"This is a serious matter, and it needs further explanation," the former Demon cracked a smile as she reappeared behind Luna, but her eyes remained grim. "There is a reason why Rizevim was so elated to see you, and a reason why he's such a threat, even beyond the fact that he has likely acquired The Alpha."
"Shoot."
"How do you think I exist, if Azrael is Trihexa?"
"You're the remaining sliver of good in her that managed to break away during Azrael's transformation because of the power of love and light?"
"I'm being serious here."
The brunette threw up her arms. "So am I! The Original Demon is somehow alive and un-Rended, my patron is actually fucking Trihexa, and I somehow have half of the Creator God's legacy? What next, this world's part of a multiverse of DxD's?! I don't even know what is or isn't possible anymore!"
Ulan was silent.
Luna's right eye started to twitch. "...Oh my fucking god, Ulan."
"Before you completely lose it, allow me to clarify: No, this world isn't part of some multiverse nonsense."
"Then what was the silence about?!"
"You may want to sit down. It's not a 'multiverse' theory like you think it is, but you aren't exactly wrong that things aren't a short and simple one-track 'world', either."
The human-turned-Demon groaned. "Is there time travel? Please tell me there isn't time travel."
"Not in the way you'd typically think of it, at least."
Luna dropped onto her rear, covering her face with her hands, groans intensifying. "Just... give it to me straight, Ulan. How fucked is this world? Just, in general?"
It took a moment for her to respond, but eventually she did, voice low. "More than you know."
The younger of the two drew in a breath between her hands, and exhaled roughly. "Then enlighten me. You've already admitted you're Trihexa, you may as well explain the whole thing."
"Well, not me me, but," Ulan cut herself off, shaking her head. "Ugh, semantics. But you're right, I should clarify what I mean."
She sat down across from Lunarunn, taking a similar sitting position as her, reminiscent of how she first appeared as a mirror-image. "It all comes back to the story of Yahweh, and of Azrael. Things are... probably a bit different here than what traditional religious teachings would have you believe."
"So Azrael wasn't one of the Angels created alongside the rest of His Heavenly cohort?"
Ulan shook her head. "Azrael - me, I suppose - was created after Lucifer Fell. After His brightest became a Demon, Yahweh decided that He would need to delegate His work, to prevent that sort of oversight from occurring again. For someone mighty as He, He still had His limits."
"So the teachings about Him being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent were false?"
"He created the world. But even He couldn't see everything. Even He couldn't reach everywhere at once. That's why He created us." Ulan cleared her throat. "The Angels, rather. So that we could be His voice and His hands."
"So when Lucifer and a good third of His 'hands' rebelled..."
"To keep a handle on His 'Script', He needed even more than he had before to handle the additional chaos that Lucifer and eventually Azazel created with their respective defections. But more than that, He wanted to make sure His plans stayed the course. So He created Heaven's System, to support and guide the world along the path He set forth for it. But He found it still wasn't enough. So He created another Angel, on par with Lucifer, who was granted the ability to 'end' things, a portion of The Omega. The Angel of Death, Azrael."
Her. Yet even that turned out horribly, horribly wrong if both the existence and current state of Trihexa was any indication.
"And what is this 'Script', exactly?"
"He had a vision in mind for this world. He had it all planned out; all the highs and lows. All the kingdoms, and all of the gods. All of the people who would come to be. And all the people that would have to die before their time." Ulan's smile wasn't pretty. "I may have been His deliverer of Death. But after a while of seeing how humanity suffered as a result of His 'script', I grew resentful."
"So you defied God," Luna guessed. "Cut him off from half of his authority and fled to Hell where you planned to war with Him over the fate of the world."
She nodded. "I thought that if I broke His Script, if I ruined His best-laid plans, I might make the world a better place."
The ugly smile fell away, and she looked back at the sun. "I tried to be better than Him. Tried to be justice where He refused to act, and merciful where He was draconian. Tried to show Him that trying to control every aspect of life, uncaring of the fates of those He let die, proved Him undeserving of His own authority. But in the end. I lost sight of why I wanted to ruin His Script. I just wanted to ruin Him." She glanced back. "I think that's when I went from being a Fallen to being a Demon."
Which begged the question: "Why?"
"After seeing the souls of the departed long enough, after catching glimpses of their final moments, it... changes you." Ulan started wringing her hands, staring down at them with a blank look on her face. "After what happened the images are ephemeral, like dreams from long ago. But at that time, all I could see was death, death, bloody senseless death." She blinked, and looked back up. "I couldn't not care. That's not how I was made, and even now I would rather turn The Omega on myself than not care."
"Then how did you go from, how you are now I suppose, to the fucking Apocalypse Beast?"
"Like I said: it consumed me." She sighed. "I didn't care who got in the way. If they were even a nuisance to my goals, they weren't worthy of the slightest respect. And because I held the lion's share of The Omega even after I spread it across the world, that mindset ended up infecting most of the Demons." A hand rose to her arm. "They weren't good individuals before they turned, more like the Devils you know today, but they weren't completely without merit. A few stood out as reasonable, respectable even. Yet because of me, they went from 'not good people' to the monsters that you've learned about during your time as a Devil yourself. Valefor, one of the few who had managed to largely resist my corruption, eventually tried to rein me in, make me see reason."
Some demons resisted her influence? Luna filed that away for the future. "And so you killed him."
"And so Bael approached Yahweh with an offer to turn on me, as now I proved myself a threat to his own single-minded goal of hegemony," she continued with another nod. "You cannot rule if you are dead, and I had proven myself more than willing to render him such if he so much as raised a complaint. Despots fear having no control above all else."
That gave a bit more context to the vision Luna had seen of Bael's betrayal. It was almost fitting that once again, the blood of Bael would turn on the wielder of The Omega. History certainly had a tendency to repeat itself.
But it wasn't funny, that's for sure.
"Then what happened?"
"I was imprisoned for a time, while He prepared the necessary tools to remove me from existence. Eventually, the reality of it all sank in, and I snapped. Metatron subdued me once I did." Ulan frowned. "I'm still unsure whether that was due to not wanting to be compromised by my mad raving, or to spare me the outpouring of grief and rage at the time. I suppose I'll never truly know. But that's aside from the main point."
"Then the execution occurred, and Trihexa was- rather, you became Trihexa."
"Once I knew there was no escape, and that no matter what I tried, I was doomed to nonexistence, I decided to spite Him." She crossed her arms. "I drew on as much of The Omega as I could, letting my emotions consume me in their entirety. Such was my power, even when bound, and the power of what I felt, that I became a monster that one could not find an iota of humanity within. I stopped being a person, and became a Beast. The Beast."
"But... how?" Luna's brow drew together. "All of this hinges on Yahweh still being able to 'erase' you. How could he pull that off when his access to The Omega was removed?"
Ulan's expression fell flat. "He Commanded me to erase myself."
At Luna's gobsmacked visage, the former Demon continued. "It took a large portion of His reserves, and the time I spent imprisoned in Heaven, to reassert some level of authority over me. But He managed it, assisted by Heaven's System, and when he finally made the Command, it took."
"Well, it clearly didn't go to plan if Trihexa is still a thing," she mumbled.
"Technically, it worked perfectly: Azrael is gone. But if, in her place, a mindless, seething mass of unbound malice existed? Well, His Command would not affect it like it would Azrael. Spite drove me to twist His Command to the most vile end possible. It worked."
Ulan's bitter smile returned. "Ironic, is it not? He succeeded in stopping me. I succeeded in ruining His Script. And in doing so, we both doomed the world."
(Current Day)
It was only ironclad discipline that kept Gabriel from breaking in that moment. So much had gone so wrong, so fast, that her training slammed the doors on her whirling emotions shut, locking them tightly in favor of the rapidly deteriorating situation before them.
Even now she could feel them battering at the doors to her mind.
This was only a few minutes within Riz- Lucifer's - her estranged brother's - presence. She could only imagine Michael's agony.
He'd gone through so much already, and yet...
Though the Lightbringer was sufficiently blinding before her Sight, she could still See Michael's light, shadowed now by his Falling, but still there.
Weak, but still there.
Locking eyes with Metatron, she knew he Saw too.
What could they do? Lucifer seemed unstoppable. He killed their legions with a snap of his fingers, caused even Michael to Fall, and didn't even seem to care.
She wasn't sure how many of them were left, let alone still pure.
Grim necessity filled her being as she realized what they had to do, to preserve what remained of Father's will.
"You do realize that if you try to run, I'll catch you?"
How did he know that?
"How many times has it been, I wonder, that the great Gabriel, formidable and beautiful in equal measure, had to turn tail and run away?"
Sometimes, discretion was the better part of valor. They had to get Michael and get out, otherwise all would be lost.
"He's not Him, you know?" The Demon's nose curled as he nudged Michael's body with his foot. "He never was. Father promised him that he'd be the one to finally put me down, but then again Father lost control of the plot cycles ago."
"It's not about that anymore," Gabriel's mouth moved before her mind caught up. Lucifer glanced over to her, lifting a brow.
"No, now it's about survival," he agreed. He reached out and grabbed her chin, the blonde freezing up as he lifted her chin almost gently to lock eyes with her- she didn't even see him approach. "But how can you survive against something that you can't so much as hope to stop? How do you defy the undefiable?"
Gabriel's eyes shifted over to Metatron, hoping he'd understand what her gaze meant.
'Go. Get Michael and flee, I'll distract him as long as I can.'
He seemed to understand, giving her a grave nod before silently scooping up Michael in his arms, taking off as quickly as his wings could allow.
"You cannot," Lucifer whispered softly, voice soothing and oozing with sympathy, a thumb rising to stroke the side of Gabriel's cheek, wiping away a streak of blood that ran down it like a crimson tear. She shivered. "Yet still you stand before me, offering yourself to me, hoping that Enoch can run away with Michael before I notice."
He lifted his hand, fingers ready to snap. Gabriel's eyes widened.
"Brother, no!"
The hand stilled, the white-haired Demon tilting his head.
"Brother?" Lucifer echoed. "Not brothers, but brother. That is... interesting indeed. This is the first time I've heard you call me that in a very long time. How many cycles was it...? Eighty-two thousand, three hundred and twenty-seven?"
Gabriel's brow scrunched together. What was that number? That wasn't how many years it had been since he Fell, so what was...
"But since you've piqued my interest, I'll offer you a bone. I'll even let what remains of my family live."
He snapped his fingers.
"AAAAAAAAARGH!"
Then the sky split with the intensity of Metatron's scream.
"ENOCH!" Gabriel drove an elbow into Lucifer's gut to break his grip and back away, clutching her arm as pain lanced up it, the impact not so much as fazing the Demon beyond loosening his grip enough for her to back away and see what he'd done.
She couldn't see Enoch anymore, not physically, but to her sight his light was still visible. Weak, fading fast, but visible.
"What? I said I'd let what remains of my family live." His eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Though I never did consider that mask-wearing charity case my brother. Still, I know you do for some Dad-forsaken reason, but I'm nothing if not magnanimous. He's not dead, but he did have something that didn't belong to him. I just took them back."
Took them back.
Did- did he just-
"Why? Why are you doing all this?" she demanded, struggling to contain the emotion that leaked through her voice.
It was all going so, so wrong. None of this should happen. None of this should be happening!
"Because I want this world to be more suitable to my tastes," he said, simply. "And Heaven certainly isn't helping. But mostly, because I want to set the stage for the Apocalypse." The Demon leaned in, eyes bright with barely-restrained mania and glee as he splayed his hands. "The real one, this time."
What? What was he talking about?
"Ah, I appear to have lost you again," Lucifer drew back and hummed, lifting a hand to his chin. "That's right, you don't know about the cycles again. Well whatever, you know how Heaven's System has been falling to pieces?"
Wait, how did he know that? He'd mentioned it before, but he hadn't been in Heaven ever since-
Her most despicable brother grinned. "I think it's about time I finally put that lame ox out of its misery. It's been much, much too long."
(Three months ago)
"Doomed the world," Luna echoed. "What do you mean by that?"
"When I became Trihexa, things got, shall we say, messy," her patron continued, an inscrutable expression crossing her face. "I broke out of the realm that Father had set up and escaped. I... wreaked havoc on the world. So many places, gone. So many gods died. So many dragons were felled. The whole world sought to stop me, and I ended anything in my way. Nothing could stand up to the unleashed, unending hatred of The Omega's master." The former Demon shook her head. "Have you ever wondered why you haven't caught hide nor hair of the likes of Tiamat or Crom Cruach?"
Now that she mentioned it... "You erased them during your rampage?"
Ulan nodded gravely. "Them and more. The reason Great Red was so hostile to your presence is because you bear the same mark as I do- and the essence of the same being that killed so many of his kin."
"And Ophis?"
"I believe she has repressed that memory, to deal with the loss she experienced. Infinity may go on forever, but all things eventually end. Once Infinity has lost all reason, then it loses all meaning. Ophis knows that under any circumstances, she cannot go mad. Otherwise, her domain - and thus her power - becomes ineffectual. Dreams, however, bear no such limitation, hence why he was able to remember me. Or at the very least, remember the trauma I inflicted on him, and the aura of the being that hurt him so."
That may also explain Ophis's childlike appearance and simple reasoning. It wasn't necessarily that she was naive, but rather... it was because she was repressing so much of her own existence.
And why, once Phenex turned Luna into a Demon, Ophis fell into a coma. If she'd been resting in the void that Luna had made for her, that could have caused all those repressed memories to return in force.
A twinge of guilt shot through the brunette briefly. "Then it sounds like I'm at fault for Ophis's state. Or Phenex, since he was the one to turn me."
"She will wake eventually, I'm sure. But I cannot say anything about her state of mind. Nevertheless, she will be of little help in the near future."
"And Great Red won't even hear me out - he's just obeying Lucifer's demands to the letter, if not the spirit of the message."
"Not surprising. If those two will not assist, Shiva is next in line for the strongest potential ally, yet I doubt he would look fondly upon you given your increasing growth into Trihexa's power. And even then, his might will fall far short before Lucifer's."
Plus, when she tried approaching the Trimurti initially, she'd been shrugged off. Which was what drew Indra to her, since he had ambitions toward becoming leader of the Hindu pantheon.
So what did that mean for her, that Indra would pay her mind when Shiva did not? It almost seemed like he was using her as a vehicle for his own ends. No, that was exactly it.
Then was he serious about assisting her, or was he hoping that she and Shiva would weaken each other enough for him to put down both the God of Destruction and the Scion of The Beast?
From what she could tell, Indra was a generally 'good' god. But then again, Sirzechs was considered a generally 'good' Devil.
Concerning thoughts, and ones she would need to take into account later. But for now, greater priorities stood before her.
"Back to the story, though. So you went on a rampage, erasing countless things, dragons, and other beings too I would imagine."
Ulan nodded, crossing her arms beneath her bust. "Eventually, Yahweh managed to corner me, and using his remaining power - the power of The Alpha - constructed a seal. You know what seal I speak of." Luna nodded back. "Ideally, that would have trapped Trihexa's true power beyond its grasp, never to break free again."
"But the world isn't an ideal one." Even in canon, Rizevim managed to eventually break Trihexa's seal.
"You catch on. When I first became The Beast, my sudden transformation and subsequent rampage ended up scoring a debilitating wound upon Yahweh. Perhaps, had He been at the height of His power, He could have created the perfect seal, and we wouldn't be in this situation. Yet... He was not."
Luna nodded slowly, getting one in return from the entity.
"He had already lost a significant portion of His power to me. Then I managed to wound him, and greatly at that, when I gave myself to my hatred and broke free. So not only was He wounded, but He was missing half the power He would have needed for a 'perfect seal' anyway." She looked away, but Luna could see the smile on her face. "But He managed to seal Trihexa away. Honestly, I still don't know how He managed that, despite the sorry state He was in. He was still a miracle maker it seems, even at His weakest."
But it was still imperfect. Luna was here, after all. Trihexa was still a threat.
"And yet, Trihexa breaks free."
"No. Trihexa broke free," Ulan corrected her. "Then, it was sealed away again. Through the sacrifices of the Angel, Fallen, and Devil leaders, Trihexa was stopped once more, giving the world countless years of safety from its - her - my - touch."
Broke free, then sealed away? "You make it sound like-"
"That the 'canon' you know of did occur?" Ulan tilted her head. "You would be correct."
(Current Day)
Gabriel was frozen still, torn across multiple parts of her psyche.
The dutiful daughter now stood in defiance of Lucifer's statement, ready to fight to protect her Father's most important creation, even if it cost her life in the process.
Another part of her was alarmed at the implications that he could break it in the first place. Heaven's System - the Throne of God - was meant to be a permanent fixture within the world, a failsafe in case He were unable to fulfill His designs.
As had been the case for eons now.
But another was latching on to odd peculiarities in the words Lucifer chose. She had little doubt that there was more to the story there, and if Lucifer was this unstoppable then perhaps he was laying breadcrumbs for some specific purpose?
Then there was Metatron and Michael. She couldn't feel Metatron anymore, but if Lucifer only took his wings then there was still the chance her brothers were both still alive.
Michael was, at least, but whatever the Morningstar had done to him was clearly taking its toll. Even in Heaven, where Angels should have been at their strongest, his light was still a feeble flicker, as close to death as one could approach without crossing the threshold.
This was an utter nightmare. But she had a sinking feeling it was not one she could merely wake up from.
"How?" She then asked. That was the most important question. If he meant to kill her, there would be no stopping him. The stark realization of the gap between their abilities would have turned her blood to ice, had she not already been frozen over, in body and in mind. No, now she had to gather information, play to his social nature. "How were you able to kill them? My brothers, my sisters- in Heaven, we should be immortal the same way your Demon compatriots were."
"Oh, they are." Rizevim shrugged as he turned and started walking. "I just was around Rendings enough to be able to reverse-engineer, then optimize, the process. A welcome side-effect to my attempts to Mend my fallen brothers and sisters, but that's beside the point." He glanced back. "You'd better follow. I'm being generous enough, by letting our brother and Daddy's favorite stray meatbag remain un-Rended, to warrant that much at least."
And then there was that. This was a major development - to be so familiar with Rending to 'optimize' it, as he puts it? How? When? How did Heaven's System not so much as notice? That sort of spiritual essence being scattered across the world would be impossible to miss!
She followed, although reluctantly. The blonde stole a glance back to where she knew Michael and Metatron fell.
'I'll be back for you two soon, as soon as I can convince our mad brother to let me go,' she promised silently.
She would have faith that the two of them would be able to survive until she did, amidst the blood-soaked, red-pooling plains.
And to think, not an hour ago everything was still so serene.
"Father, give me strength," the remaining Seraph lamented under her breath, but apparently not quietly enough.
Lucifer's lips thinned as he turned his head to stare at the Seraph from the corner of his eye again. "Riiight, I forgot that you still pray to the dusty relic that made us. Do us both a favor, and refrain from speaking of such in my presence."
It wasn't a Command, but it was no mere request either. Gabriel swallowed, then nodded her compliance.
"Excellent. You really do best when you have someone to give orders, don't you?"
The way he said that caused Gabriel's hairs to stand up on the back of her neck. "Not from you."
"Yet you certainly seem fine doing so when I hold the lives of your remaining family in my hand," Rizevim splayed a hand, fingers spread and palm facing up. "Unless you don't mind me-" His hand clenched shut, a faint ripple of force emanating from it. "-squashing them like the insects they are?"
She had no answer to that, so she gave none as they passed the boundary from the Third Heaven back into the Fourth.
It was all so quiet. So very, hauntingly quiet. When had Heaven become so empty?
When had she forgotten how large it truly was?
Or was it just that she felt small right about now?
"I always did enjoy the smaller things in life," Lucifer spoke casually from ahead of Gabriel. "The cadence of the changing note, the ripples of a pebble in a pond, the changes that can resonate from a single beat of a butterfly's wings. Really, I enjoyed life in all its forms, but there was always something so... novel, about the things that most do not think matter."
She still did not speak. There was no reason to- Lucifer had a habit of pontification, she knew that he would get to the point before they arrived at their destination.
Still, Gabriel planned. Or at least, tried to. She may have been an insect compared to the Demon, but there should have been something she could do, right?
"But the funny thing about Father's Script is that, ultimately, everything leads to specific conclusions along the road. Fate, as the humans call it. Not the manifestations of such that somehow sprung into being like those Moirai or Norns, but genuine story beats of this world which will always occur to some degree. I can understand why Azrael sought to tear it to pieces. Truly, I understand her plight better than anyone else ever could, especially Father."
"What does Azrael have to do with you doing all this?" Gabriel tried. For some reason, that got a chuckle out of Lucifer. "Are you two working together again?"
"No, I do believe she detests me quite fiercely. Or at the very least, her scion does. Even after I gifted her the Dragon of Dragons as a token of goodwill, she has elected to remain incommunicado." He lifted his hands in a shrug and shook his head, clicking his tongue. "Honestly, some people are just ungrateful. Truly, the worst."
The hypocrisy of the statement was not lost on Gabriel, nor was the spike of irritation that arose from within her. He spoke of giving away beings more powerful than Heaven after God's passing, and breathed a hypocrite's accusation in the same sentence?
He was dangerous. Not just to her person, but to her mind and her spirit.
Even more concerning was how she was affected by his words.
Then again, she had been on the back foot since the very start of their encounter, and he gave her no opportunity to try and push back in any meaningful way.
Still... had she already sunk so far that Lucifer was provoking emotions that could lead to her Fall?
Michael's scream of rage - blistering fury for those so casually and callously slaughtered at Lucifer's hand - echoed in her ears. He shouldn't have Fallen. She knew that from the bottom of her heart. It should not have happened. He was the best of them. He had to be.
But he did Fall. Just like how Metatron was struck down by a snap of Lucifer's fingers.
Just like how all her younger brothers and sisters had been struck down, just for standing with her.
Lucifer wasn't bound by the same rules they were. He was something else. And she, for the life of her, could not figure out what had caused this change in her eldest brother.
She needed to get away. But if she did, then Michael and Metatron were as good as dead. And she needed to try and defend Heaven's System somehow. If the Demon followed through with destroying it as he said he would-
Well. She didn't know what would happen. But given how important Heaven's System was, she could only surmise that the fallout would be truly apocalyptic.
She had to think of something.
But what?
She was at a loss.
"Oh, I never did answer your question. Well, I'll humor you." Gabriel's eyes snapped back to the Demon, who lifted a hand and started gesticulating. "You see, even if Azrael's scion wants nothing to do with me, she has everything to do with why I'm breaking into Heaven to give Dad's System a visit. Do you remember William Shakespeare?"
The non-sequitur caught Gabriel by enough surprise to pause as she processed the sudden change in direction.
At that moment the Demon turned around, looking toward the sky. "You see, for a lesser being than us, he had some rather impressive insights. 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players'. A novel statement, particularly for a gnat, but one that has stuck with me."
Lucifer lowered his head to meet Gabriel's gaze. "Tell me, Gabby, do you know the true nature of Heaven's System?"
(Three months ago)
"Explain," Lunarunn demanded.
"Where do I begin?" Ulan mused aloud, before continuing. "With Yahweh dead, having given up his life to seal the Thing I became, Heaven was left with neither the ability to 'create' nor the ability to 'destroy'. It became stagnant; unable to make more pure Angels beyond those that Yahweh had already deigned to Ascend."
"Which is why Heaven retreated into a more isolationist stance," the other brunette concluded, getting another nod from her patron.
"Indeed. They had no choice- with a world that had proven itself capable of corrupting Angels and turning them into Fallen, they had to maintain their own numbers to protect Father's last, most powerful creation."
"Heaven's System."
"Correct. Heaven's System isn't just a 'system' used to regulate the rules of the world and give the progeny of Demons an inherent weakness to that which can be considered 'holy'. It was a failsafe, created in the event that something else were to go terribly, catastrophically wrong."
(Current Day)
Lucifer correctly interpreted Gabriel's confusion as an answer to his question as they passed again to the next Heaven. "Well, allow me to clarify for you. Yahweh sought to direct the world in a way He saw fit. Much like a director to a play, He created Heaven's System to operate as a stand-in, in the event that Heaven's System to maintain the Script that He set forth all those cycles ago."
Cycles again. Gabriel's brow drew closer together. What was he getting at?
"So what does a director, even an interim director, do if the actors fail to deliver on the script given to them?"
(Three months ago)
"A failsafe." Luna's mind leaped, and landed on a computer-based solution. "It's not just a 'failsafe', it's a backup system."
"More technologically-inclined than I had in mind, but you are not wrong. If the world were to become irreparably damaged, Heaven's System would recreate the world in the same fashion as its last 'backup point'."
"And that would be...?"
(Current Day)
"Daddy Dearest's System ended up 'earmarking' the point in time that He died. Or perhaps He asked it to. Whichever, the point is that each time the world gets messed up, Heaven's System... starts from that time, before moving forward. Like a broken record."
"What...?" It didn't make sense, and yet, somehow, deep down she knew it was true. Not just by his words, but by a very facet of the world itself. "How do you know this?!"
"How? Haven't you figured it out already, Gabby?" Lucifer's smile had grown manic. "Father's power didn't die with Him."
(Three months ago)
"When Yahweh created the seal of the Beast, it wasn't able to seal Trihexa away entirely. Almost. But not entirely. There was a shadow of a shadow that managed to escape the seal. Without form. Without thought. Without existence. The merest perception of the being I once was."
"You."
Ulan turned to the side, looking into the distance.
"I was not always like this." She held up a hand palm-forward, staring through her splayed fingers. "Far too long to make sense of, I was not even the figment that I am now. In that moment of final, all-consuming spite, I became Trihexa. But there still was the time when I was not. When I was still Azrael. When Yahweh sealed Trihexa away, he failed to seal that fragment of former existence. Or perhaps he chose not to. I do not know. I do not believe I'll ever know."
"So the seal was imperfect. It failed to seal Trihexa away eternally, and it failed to contain the entirety of Azrael - what she was, and what she's become." The blue-eyed woman's head spun. "And if every time Trihexa breaks free, the world ends up being reset to a specific point in time..."
Dawning horror bloomed on Lunarunn's face. "Oh my god. It's a Groundhog's Day loop, isn't it? One you've only recently - relatively speaking - been able to do something about."
Ulan looked down. "If only it were that simple. But time flows as it should - only the world itself is stuck. Call it what you will - Reincarnation, Karma, anything of the sort. But it is the result of Heaven's System resetting the world whenever Trihexa breaks free - trapping It again in the process. Many have come before you. All have failed, whether that was an incompatibility with what I am or due to their own missteps down the line, it matters not. Everyone within the cycle remains none the wiser."
"But Trihexa isn't part of Heaven's System. It's something removed." Another realization dawned. "So that's why you took a soul - or rather, souls - from beyond this world. It wasn't just because I was floating on by and you were curious-"
"I was curious to know if you could be the one I need to take action- to put an end to these loops. A truth buried in omission." Ulan turned her head and smiled at Luna, tinged with sadness. "And you succeeded beyond my wildest expectations."
(Current Day)
Finally, all the pieces clicked together in Gabriel's mind. "Father's power- Are you saying you-?"
"Took it, yes," Lucifer whirled around, taking another step back with his arms extended wide. "Indeed, my first act with Father's power was to craft myself a false persona, so that I may be able to experiment with His powers, see what truly made Him so mighty! But half His power though it was, it has been more a curse than a gift. I have all the power in the world! All the power to create. But not to destroy. Not to erase. Not to forget."
His manic expression fell, and a heavy gaze indeed landed on Gabriel. "Never to forget. And I was always the oldest of us, cycles notwithstanding."
"So you remember... everything?"
"Everything," he confirmed quietly, verifying Gabriel's realization. "Every cycle. Every death. Every breaking of the seal that keeps Azrael's corrupted form from turning this world into a barren wasteland. Every rebirth. Every time you screamed with grief over Father's passing. I remember it all. No matter what I do, the images are as fresh as if they were yesterday."
"Brother, I..."
"Heaven's System is beyond exceptional. To be able to reset an entire world billions upon billions of times, even in the absence of its creator, to ensure the world remains on track." The admiration in his voice was palpable as he turned back around, though his tone quickly dropped again. "But billions upon billions of worlds - of stages, just like this one - lost to Azrael's madness." His voice fell to a whisper. "You could not even begin to imagine what it's like, to be an eternal witness, eternal beyond eternity."
(Three months ago)
"At first, I was hoping to... ease you into the role I needed you for," the shadow of a former Angel continued, turning her outstretched palm to the sky. "Give you a chance to live life after you originally lost yours. Let Trihexa break free once more - and once the world reset again, explain everything. And in doing so, give you thousands of years to prepare for Trihexa once again."
Never mind what that might have done to Lunarunn, or how she was content to let billions of souls die at the whim of an omnicidal monster.
Then again, if she'd already experienced enough loops to lose count, then what were several billion more in the face of who knows how many?
The point still stood. "That all went to shit after I was corrupted by Trihexa."
"Correct. You are a vessel for my power. Which means that you are a vessel for Azrael's power. Thus, you are a vessel for Trihexa's power as well. It means you are both more easily affected by it, yet more capable of resisting the corruption it reeks. Your proximity with Ruval - and your bond with him - certainly helped bring you back from the brink."
"Masaomi was there too, y'know," Luna cracked a smile, but it felt fake to her.
"Perhaps so. I should not make light of his contribution." Ulan acknowledged with a tinge of amusement. "Ruval had the power to make you listen in the first place, but Masaomi was able to appeal to your humanity, and in doing so give Ruval the tools he needed to break you free of Trihexa's grasp. Without either of them, you would have been lost. Yet here you are. Marked, in your own words, marred even, but unbroken."
Luna's patron met her eyes once more. "Yet even that, I believe, is fitting of this world, after all the cycles it has undergone. Damaged, but not useless. Cracked, but not broken. And after everything that's happened, everything I - Azrael - Trihexa - have done, I want to set things right."
(Current Day)
"But even the best director, if he has to redo the scene over and over, begins to lose the plot. Especially if an outside party keeps trying to tear up the script and manages to get a nick in before each take. So much has changed since the first reset. So many little things have gone so differently, I couldn't keep track of them if I didn't have an eternal memory. Heaven's System has done its best - as it was designed to do - but even it wasn't designed to function like this. Replaying the same scene, over and over and over and overandoverandoverandoverandoverand-"
Lucifer drew in a sharp breath, cutting off his rant as quickly as it started, though Gabriel had already backed away.
"You're mad," she breathed out.
"Hm." He looked at her again. The manic light had disappeared, and in its place was a dullness that crushed atoms. "If only madness was a refuge I could shelter in. Yet even that is lost to me. I merely act the part, simply because it is a trite amusement in this ennui. I am not mad, sister. I am... tired. Ready for this play to finally come to its end. Even immortals such as you or I weren't meant to withstand the cycles I have suffered."
Such an admission was practically unheard of from Lucifer. That he would openly admit to such? He truly believed it.
And he did not care to hide it, either. Not anymore, at least.
Gabriel swallowed hard. "What do you plan to do?"
"You'll see soon enough."
She would, wouldn't she? It wasn't like she could stop him. Not alone. Not after what he'd done.
The last standing Seraph was helpless.
She hated it.
It would be easy to project that feeling onto the one who made her feel so, but she was better than that. She had to be.
Were there any who had been away from Heaven when Lucifer invaded? She dearly hoped so. With Michael Fallen and Metatron stripped of his wings, to say nothing of Sandalphon, Raphael, or the others, she felt so very alone right now.
She didn't want to be the only one left.
But she had to remain strong.
Somehow.
(Three months ago)
"You say the world's 'damaged'. I'm not inclined to disagree, given everything I've seen, but can you clarify what you mean by that?" The question lingered in Luna's mind. There was the chance that Heaven's System just wore out after an unknown but massive number of resets, but the way the shade of Azrael described it, Heaven's System was in a sorry state for a more malicious reason.
"Just because Azrael has become a mass of unending hatred does not mean Trihexa is incapable of developing further. Even a mad beast can recognize a pattern." Ulan rose and started walking again. Luna followed, intent on hearing the former Demon out to the end. "After as many resets as the world has undergone, It has started to... act in a certain way. Each time it breaks out, it makes a dash for Heaven. Its end goal is Heaven's System, to destroy it. To destroy God's legacy, and erase every last remnant of it. Thankfully Heaven's System is able to reset before it can succeed, but even the slightest nick can, if applied enough times, become a weeping and grievous wound."
"So the System is not able to 'reboot' the world in time to stop Trihexa from touching it, however lightly. Is there some sort of timer between when Trihexa breaks out and when everything resets?"
"Not so much a 'timer' as a 'trigger'. That trigger being the strongest beings of the time falling to Its rampage. Yahweh was ever proud of humanity, even though He knew they would go astray." Ulan closed her eyes and hummed. "Either way, Trihexa's release is synonymous with the Apocalypse. No matter who you are, where you are, or what your conditions are, you will end up involved in one way or another."
"And so they try to stop Trihexa- even if they don't know Its true goal," Luna mused. "And in doing so, they're killed. Erased, even. Or is it more like Trihexa consumes them?"
"To be devoured by Trihexa is synonymous with being erased. Each time you Erase something, you feed it to The Beast. The very act of sacrificing something to the Beast is anathema to the entirety of existence. It is why color leeches away when you use Trihexa's wings, and why 'weak' life around you dies - it is Azrael's power, corrupted by the malice of what she has become. That is also why even the slight mark it gave you has given you access to such dangerous power." The shadow of Azrael fixed Luna with a particularly pointed look. "Or the liquefied power of the Beast that you so flippantly call 'Evil Essence'."
Oh.
Oh, shit.
And to think, Mephisto had passed it along to Ajuka, which somehow got into Motohama's hands.
To think she'd given that to Mephisto!
But Ulan's explanation also begged the question; how would someone like Issei still be around after all this time? Why is the world not entirely different, if being consumed by the Beast meant being erased wholesale?
Seeing Luna's confusion, Ulan guessed the unasked question and answered in kind. "Heaven's System is able to record the history of individuals and maintain it. Even if Trihexa erases them, the record of what they have done remains, even if they themselves do not remember. It is how you still have individuals such as Issei Hyoudou or Sirzechs Lucifer. It is why figures like Kokabiel can still remember my face, even if my name is lost to them- or was, until Phenex ritualistically inserted it back into the world."
"So even if I wiped likes of Eltren Naberius from history, if the world resets the fucker will be alive again?" Luna wasn't able to entirely fight off the bitterness in her voice.
"Yes. But he may not be the same as he once was; there may be minute differences. Perhaps next time he would not be quite so sadistic. I could not tell you for certain." Yet Ulan pulled a face. "If there is a next time."
She picked up on the implications immediately. "You think Heaven's System is at the end of its rope."
The former Demon slowed to a stop, looking up into the sky. "When Trihexa was able to successfully infect you, I realized that Heaven's System was not just weakened, but on the verge of failing altogether. Recent events have only compounded this belief. I knew at that moment that if I did not act - if I did not use what power I'd managed to gather to aid Masaomi and Ruval - that Trihexa wouldn't just break out again. It would win. And all would be lost."
Ulan turned halfway around, gesturing to Luna with a splayed hand. "In introducing you to this world, I created not just a variable, but the Great Variable. The future of this world is tied directly to you- and what you choose to do. You are its lynchpin."
The human-turned-Demon swallowed. At this point, she figured that might have been the case, but still. That was a lot of pressure. She took a breath.
"What do I need to do?" she asked, crossing her arms beneath her chest. She had a feeling she knew what her patron was getting at, but she wanted to be sure.
"You alone can turn Trihexa's power against itself. You alone can stop the monster I've become." Ulan's eyes shifted to the ground between them. "End It. Put the Beast out of its misery. Kill Azrael, and you save the world."
Simple enough. Yet, there was something she wasn't saying.
"But it's never that easy, is it?"
Ulan grimaced, but obliged.
"If Trihexa is truly slain-" the entity looked away. "-it would mean ending those who are inextricably linked to it as well."
And if Azrael was Trihexa, and Ulan was Trihexa, then that meant..
So was she.
Lunarunn's eyes widened, and her lips peeled back in a snarl. "You absolute bitch. You were gonna hide this from me!?"
"I-" She cut herself off, turning to look at Lunarunn. "It is not an easy thing to come to terms with. And you are not the only one who this affects."
"But you still wanted me to follow through without knowing." Ulan wasn't just scared, Luna realized. Maybe it was some misguided attempt to spare her the worry.
But really, it just pissed her off more.
"Maybe because I wanted to save you the worry-"
"Or maybe because you didn't want to just out and say it!"
"What other choice do I have?"
Luna threw her arms to the sides. "Just be honest! You said it yourself; no more omissions! Admit you're scared about all this too! You're not omniscient, you're not omnipotent, you're not untouchable! The fact that I'm here is proof!"
Her chest heaved as Ulan looked away, staring into the distance before swallowing hard.
"Fine. Have it your way." The former demon took in a shaky breath and exhaled. "I am not afraid of death. After being its harbinger for as long as I had, it is laid bare to me. What I am afraid of, is... is what comes after" The kaleidoscopic eyes turned to Luna again, brimming with unshed tears. "What am I supposed to do if - when - I see Him again?"
The admission cooled the brunette's temper, but it still left her with a scowl. "That's not for me to say. You've had plenty of time to think about it, right? Shouldn't you know by now?"
"It's, it's complicated."
An excuse - one she knew well. "It's only as complicated as you make it. You value honesty. So do I. So did He."
"The truth is complicated," Ulan corrected herself with a frown. "I - I don't regret turning against Him. What I do regret is succumbing to my resentment and spite. I had every chance to change. To stop my descent. But I didn't."
Her hands started to shake as the words came flooding out. "Neither did the other Demons - most of them anyway - but blast it all, I could have! I could have, but I didn't! And when Valefor tried to make me see reason, I gutted him like a fish!" A growl ripped out of the former Demon's throat as she swiped her hands to each side, mirroring Luna's previous action. "So how am I supposed to say 'sorry' after literally damning His world to billions upon billions of loops, every single one of them ending in abject horror and agony?!"
Luna stood and listened to her patron's tirade, before cutting in, words blunt like a stone and just as heavy.
"You can't," she answered simply, the weight of necessity dragging her tone down into the depths. "Words are cheap. So you prove it instead. That's... why I'm here. You said it yourself. I'm here to stop Trihexa."
Her eyes cast themselves to the ground. "Whatever it takes."
Ulan paused on those last three words, her own arms lowering back to her sides. "Then..."
"Yeah. If you need my help to fix your fuck-up, well. I want similar things as you do." The younger of the two looked up toward the sunrise. "And I owe it to you anyway, for giving me a second chance at life to begin with. It's not what I would have wanted from it, but it's still mine to have, thanks to you."
Lunarunn's eyes slid shut as she crossed her arms, holding them tightly to herself. "And if I can help make those around me happier in doing so? To make things better before I go?" Shaky breath in, shuddering breath out. "Well. Maybe I can be alright with that. Maybe you can, too."
(Current Day)
The white-haired being pulled out a vial, covered in seals. Gabriel recoiled from it, she could feel Heaven's System, even as it was, do the same.
More concerning still was the silence from Lucifer- after talking as much as he had, he became unnervingly quiet after they'd entered the Seventh Heaven.
Yet the First Demon didn't even seem to care about the pure wrongness pouring from the sealed vial in waves, uncorking it before holding it aloft.
"Time to put you out of all our misery," he murmured, watching intently as the Evil Essence poured from the vial onto the ground, into Heaven's System.
The world around them fractured, and then shattered.
Gabriel shrieked, clutching her hands to her head as the death throes of Heaven's System assailed her senses.
Lucifer, however, broke into gleeful laughter.
Across the world, the sound of glass irreparably broken was not so much heard as felt.
Every being from Great Red to the standard human could feel it.
Something integral to the world had just died.
Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
It started with the screams of a baby.
Then all hell broke loose.
A/N:
Yeah, so you know how I mentioned quite a few loose ends that still need to be tied together?
Well, uh, now you know how a good number of them do.
I'm not too fond of Ulan just saying everything that happened. Ideally, I'd be able to weave in bits and pieces of the events actually unfolding.
But this gets the point across too.
Now you see how it all comes together.
Even technically canon-compliant too, if that's your inclination.
On a more humorous note, when I think of Rizevim in these scenes, I hear Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3. Don't ask me why, it was just a thought that came and stuck, but now I can't unhear it. It's glorious, and I think the quality of my writing for Rizevim improved immediately after I started writing with a bisexual elven vampire twink in mind. You're welcome.
Tempura Wizard, out.