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SVBeyond the portal… there was no sky.
There was no wind.
There was no song of the stars.
Only an infinite void, cold and silent.
It was a place where light had never been born.
For a long moment, Lucifer stood motionless. He surveyed that deserted vastness.
There were no mountains.
There were no seas.
There was no life.
Only darkness.
Then he smiled.
“If the Father created a kingdom of light… I will create a kingdom that makes His tremble.”
He slowly stretched out his hands. The black flame in his chest began to burn with an intensity never seen before.
The shadows answered his call.
The ground began to crack. Immense mountains of black stone rose from the void. Rivers of fire cut through the darkness. Storms of ash swept across a sky that did not exist.
Silence gave way to an endless echo of lamentation.
It was as though the void itself had awakened.
At the center of that new world, an immense fortress began to rise. Its walls were made of dark stone. Its towers seemed to pierce eternity.
And in its great hall, a throne of broken swords took shape.
They were no ordinary weapons. Each had belonged to an angel who had chosen to follow Lucifer during the war.
Swords that had once defended the light.
Now they bore the weight of the first king of darkness.
Lucifer slowly sat down. There was no pride on his face.
There was determination.
Before him, a lake of black water appeared. Its surface lay still.
It did not reflect his face.
It reflected the Celestial Kingdom.
Through that lake, he could see everything that happened within the Father's Dominions.
He saw Leo trying to restore hope to his brothers and sisters. He saw Nerea weeping in silence for the brother they had lost. He saw Tarus bearing the weight of a decision he had never wanted to make.
And he saw Agnis.
Alone.
Her sword still wreathed in flame.
A slow smile spread across his face.
“So Heaven bleeds too…”
He laid a hand upon the lake's surface. The image began to ripple.
“Leo tries to hold the family together. Tarus bears a guilt that is not his. Nerea drowns in her compassion… but you…”
His eyes fixed on Agnis's image.
“You are different. The warrior who never doubted. The one who swore always to obey the Father. The one who condemned my rebellion without hesitation.”
His smile widened.
“And yet… you were the first to break one of His commands. One decision. One doubt. That is all it takes to break a heart.”
He rose from the throne. The shadows seemed to bow as he passed. He crossed the fortress's vast corridors until he reached a hidden chamber.
An angel was held there in chains.
It was Caelum.
Dark marks covered his body. His wings had lost all their radiance. His eyes, once filled with light, were now two black abysses.
When he saw Lucifer, he began to laugh.
An empty laugh.
Desperate.
“Did you see them…?” he asked between bursts of laughter.
“Yes.”
“Are they destroying themselves?”
Lucifer slowly nodded.
“They have only just begun.”
Caelum laughed again.
“Leo is too weak. Tarus too noble. Nerea too sensitive. But Agnis… Agnis nearly destroyed your plans.”
Lucifer laid a hand upon the fallen angel's brow.
“That is precisely why she will be the first.”
A thread of darkness slowly emerged from Caelum's mind.
Fine as a needle.
Dark as night.
Lucifer caught it in a small vial of black crystal. He studied it for a few seconds.
Then he smiled.
“Guilt… there is no more powerful weapon.”
At that moment, one of his generals appeared. His wings had been torn away during the war. Scars covered his entire body.
His old name was Serak.
No one called him that anymore.
They all knew him as Hatred.
The general bowed.
“My king.”
Lucifer handed him the vial.
“Take it with you.”
Hatred held it in his hands.
“What does it contain?”
“The seed of a fall.”
The general looked up.
“Who will be our first victim?”
Lucifer turned his gaze back to the lake.
“Agnis.”
“The strongest?”
“No. The most dangerous. Because she believes justice has only one answer. And anyone who believes they possess the whole truth… can easily become an executioner.”
Hatred remained silent.
Lucifer continued.
“Do not whisper hatred to her. She will recognize it.
“Do not speak to her of vengeance. She will reject it.
“Speak to her of perfection.
“Make her believe she must never make another mistake. That every failing deserves punishment. That every weakness must be eliminated. That mercy was the mistake that allowed my fall.
“When she believes she is serving the Father more faithfully… she will already be walking toward me.”
Hatred bowed his head.
“It shall be done.”
The general vanished into the shadows.
Lucifer slowly returned to his throne. He looked into the lake once more.
This time, it no longer reflected the Celestial Kingdom.
It showed a small world covered in mud.
The Father was beginning a new creation. Small figures took shape beneath His hands.
The first human beings.
Lucifer watched them with contempt.
“Was it for them that You replaced me…?”
His voice fell to a whisper.
“Creatures made of dust… who can make mistake after mistake… and still receive Your forgiveness.”
He slowly clenched his fist.
The waters of the lake began to freeze.
“When Agnis descends to guide them… she will not see children. She will see future sinners. And the day she can no longer distinguish justice from mercy… she herself will open the gates of my kingdom.”
Lucifer leaned back upon his throne. A dark smile spread across his face.
He did not need to conquer Heaven with an army.
Not yet.
First, he would conquer hearts.
For he understood a truth that even many angels did not.
The hardest fortresses to destroy… are not made of stone.
They are made of faith.
And a single doubt… was enough to bring them down.