"Turn against me?!" Lucifer scoffed, forcing a laugh. "Come on, he would never. Let's say we had a little misunderstanding. We'll sort that out the moment I rewrite his memories."
Gabrielle's eyes narrowed.
Not that she didn't know about her brother's power. Every archangel had a unique ability. But she wasn't used to him talking about it like that. Brazen, open, like it was no big deal.
And to admit such a lowly act?
"You're abusing what God has given you," she claimed.
Another laugh, more mocking than forced now.
"If you say so, dear sister," he said, pausing for a glare. "You, of all people."
"What?!" The audacity.
"How's the little martyr you've brought to this world?" Lucifer asked. "What's her name again? Erin? Erica? Wait, it's not this blonde down there, right? You've no right to school me, Gabrielle."
Eyna. He was talking about Eyna, and she had no real comeback.
This tone was—
Unexpected.
How? When did he become like this?
The always quiet, conflict-averse Lucifer. The weakest of the archangels—
How could he defeat Michael? Where did he find the guts to face his family?
Not by using his mind powers, for sure.
No heavenly ability could overpower another angel. But she could still stop time.
"I won't school you," she said, regaining her confidence. "Only deliver your punishment."
"Hah, I'd love to see you try."
Bold. As if he had a chance against—
A flicker.
Without her ability, she wouldn't have noticed it. But even as she did, it was almost too late.
Rather than taunting her from a distance, Lucifer was already in her face.
No warnings, no in-between.
His hands aimed for her throat, turning into talons out of nowhere.
But two could play that game.
On pure instinct, the archangel had frozen time and flown out of the way.
What was that?! Teleportation? Lucifer couldn't—
But she had no chance to think it over. Somehow, time restarted against her will.
Only one person could force this to happen before, but—
Talons raked across her wings. She closed them around herself in the very last second.
Too fast. Breaking both time and space at once?! Her brother had no business doing so.
That was her own, and Michael's unique abilities combined.
There was no stopping him with such powers—but that was impossible.
She was in a complete denial, even as her feathers rained down, her body thrown back.
And he was already behind her.
That next strike was something else. Its impact rattled every bone in her body.
If only this were her real one—but she never built this vessel to fight.
CRASH.
She had hit the ground.
"What's wrong, sister?" Lucifer asked, his voice coming from everywhere at once. "You came to punish me, but you're nowhere near the top of your game. Relax, I'll take the staff, and—"
Her eyes widened when she felt it, but it was already too late for him.
The only advantage Gabrielle's body had over her brother's was her perception.
She was in perfect sync with Kasserlane's atmosphere and weather. She noticed the sharp drop in temperature a split second before he did. And by that time, he couldn't escape.
She made sure of that.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Lucifer screamed, his body frozen solid. "That is MY staff."
Of course, it took him no effort to break the blonde necromancer's spell—but it still took him a moment. And for Gabrielle, that might as well have been an eternity.
Rewinding and fast-forwarding her own time at once, she could alter reality to her liking.
Harvest the power of the sun for centuries in a split second?
Focus all its strength into a single beam that could have disintegrated adamantite?
It was already done before he could blink.
At the moment the ice over Lucifer's body cracked, she hit him square in the chest.
A shame that angels were tougher than Kasserlane's hardest materials.
But he had definitely felt that. He crashed into the rocky ground at three times the speed of sound. The earth-shattering impact must have at least made a dent in that bastard's defenses.
She had to thank Stella later, but first—
"I'd like to suggest," she panted. "Mind where you leave your reality-breaking artifacts next."
Freezing the moment, she took to the sky again. Her wings were sluggish. Those talons must have been venomous—another ability he shouldn't have had.
But no flickering this time, her frozen sunbeam had finally got him good.
Except, when she got to the crash site, Gabrielle found Welf and the blonde Church girl alone.
Ah, there it was.
Another millisecond vibration in reality.
Lucifer was less subtle now, but deadly nonetheless. He was already behind her again.
"Everyone keeps ganging up on poor 'ol me?" he scoffed.
And her mind almost split.
Screams of the damned dampened her senses. She became blind, with only the faintest of voices reaching her. And those were screams, too—real ones.
She had the worst headache that ever existed.
The other two must have doubled over as well.
She underestimated his powers—but to think this fallen angel could do this?!
"That finally got your attention, huh?" Lucifer laughed, dusting his singed wings off. "Now then."
Her attack should have bloodied him—but her thoughts all dissolved in the pain.
It was over.
Yet, no finishing blow came.
"Are you for real?" A scoff came. Who was he talking to? "Don't point it at me. Think you're a deity to resist—idiot, hey!"
Gabrielle's hearing cleared up first, then her sight returned, too.
Her head still throbbing, she could only concentrate enough to freeze the moment.
But no matter how much she blinked, the scene made no sense to her at all.
Crows, already dead, surrounded her brother, their beaks pinching him. Hundreds of bloodied squirrels swarmed him from every side as well. Gabrielle had no idea where they came from.
But even if they couldn't do much—
They distracted him long enough to regain control over her mind.
Somehow, in that frozen moment, Stella was the only one still standing.
The staff she clutched glowed white hot.
What emanated from it made Gabrielle nauseous. That power was a mockery of heaven itself—but right now, it worked in her favor. All she could do was tolerate it until everything was over.
What a weird perversion of fate—Stella's mind shattered long before Lucifer tried to break it.
This was Gabrielle's chance to act.
"So you want that staff, huh?"
Reaching out to the cursed artifact, she felt it overheating. It was almost empty.
Wringing the life force out of the Church girl and the tribesman, it would've killed them both in a second. Such a reckless attack to buy her this short moment. But now that she had it—
She wrapped the staff in a time bubble, ripping it out of reality.
A little violation of heaven's laws—but at this point, much worse had happened already.
"If you need it, take it."
One second passed inside the bubble, and the artifact exploded. She rewound that moment before the forces broke free. And with that, nobody else could rewind it anymore.
Not even herself.
"Here you go."
She dropped the bubble around Lucifer, and right as his eyes lit up, clutching the staff—
It exploded. Again.
And again. And again.
Every time, right in his face.
A fraction of reality had crumbled forever.