As the fight became increasingly violent, its consequences were also felt in the universe above.
Entire galaxies experienced micro-distortions in their physical constants.
Pulsars briefly changed their frequencies.
Black holes stopped spinning… then resumed, as if an invisible hand had shaken them.
In Heaven, alarms went off.
Celestial Surveillance Room
Many angels of different ranks in the room panicked, trying to understand the situation when the superior of this place entered and what he saw did not please him.
The screens showed nothing visual.
Only impossible curves, lines that shouldn't exist.
— The Omni-Space is transmitting retro-resonance waves, murmured Azrael.
— This fight is too… violent. The higher layers are taking the impact.
— Notify Lady Sera and Michael immediately, the situation is too grave; we must intervene as soon as possible.
Omni-Space
Gabriel floated motionless, watching SCP-682 reconstruct itself once again.
Its body was no longer quite the same.
It was no longer just an adaptive creature.
It had become something that survived incoherence.
Impossible structures overlaid its flesh:
bones existing in multiple states,
skin that absorbed laws only to reject them,
a gaze that no longer looked at Gabriel… but at the axis of reality upon which it stood.
It attacked.
This time, without brute charge.
Omni-Space folded around it like a weapon.
Entire layers of reality were ripped out and projected toward Gabriel.
It spoke.
— Refusal.
682 tried to exploit the moment.
It opened its mouth and this time, did not bite space…
It bit Gabriel's authority to prevent her from destroying its previous attack, and it succeeded, and its strike landed.
A colossal pressure fell upon Gabriel.
Her body was pushed across multiple planes simultaneously.
Her silhouette fragmented into offset versions of itself.
— …Hmph.
She snapped her fingers.
— Reaffirm.
All her versions reassembled into one.
But SCP-682 had succeeded partially.
Omni-Space trembled more violently.
In the observable universe, entire civilizations looked up at the sky, gripped by nameless anxiety, not understanding why their reality seemed… fragile.
682 roared.
It was in pain.
Every cell of its body screamed under the overload of incompatible laws.
Every adaptation tore it away from what it had been before.
But it advanced.
It struck Gabriel.
This time… she absorbed it.
The shock was conceptual.
The mere fact that a being could touch her in that place sent a wave so powerful that several nascent worlds were annihilated on the spot.
Gabriel was thrown across infinite strata.
She stopped abruptly.
Her wings spread fully.
The light around her changed in nature.
— You're progressing too quickly, I regret underestimating you, she said calmly.
She reappeared inside 682's body.
— Shatter.
From within, its body exploded.
Not a physical explosion.
A total deconstruction.
682 was reduced to a shapeless mass of fragments of possibilities, scattered across Omni-Space.
It took time to reform.
Much longer than usual.
When it finally reformed, more slowly, more heavily, Omni-Space still vibrated.
And above…
The observable universe continued to tremble.
But in reforming, 682 had received major modifications.
Its body had ceased to be a fixed form.
It had become an absolute adaptive structure, a core of hatred around which laws bent themselves.
The contradictions that had once crushed it…
…were now absorbed, digested, integrated.
Each chaotic layer strengthened its coherence.
Every attempt at negation made it more real.
Gabriel struck.
— Disappearance.
The area around 682 was denied.
It remained.
— …What?
For the first time, Gabriel's words did not manifest immediately.
682 advanced.
One step.
Omni-Space curved around it like a living gravitational center.
It rushed forward and struck her with its paw.
Gabriel was hit full force.
She passed through infinite strata, her body fracturing conceptually.
Her wings fragmented.
Her light became discordant.
She stabilized just in time.
682 stared at her.
682 then used the same pigeon-like ability.
It opened its mouth.
— Negation of authority.
The word should never have existed in its mouth.
And yet…
Gabriel's aura went out for a fraction of a second.
Long enough for her to understand.
Gabriel:
— How is it that the Foundation contains such a thing within it?
Above Omni-Space, the observable universe entered crisis.
Physical constants wavered.
Galaxies stretched as if space itself were being pulled too hard.
Entire civilizations lost time synchronization.
In Heaven, Sera, seeing the turn of events, decided to intervene.
She tried to communicate with Gabriel.
Sera
—> Gabriel.
You've made a mistake.
Gabriel
—> I know.
682 struck again.
Gabriel absorbed it.
More difficultly.
Sera
—> You've just given 682 a perfect environment to exceed its limits.
Gabriel gritted her teeth.
—> I can still contain it.
—> No.
Sera's tone was grave.
—> You must move the fight.
Now.
—> Into a dimensional bubble.
A dead universe.
No life forms. No conceptual seeds. This universe will be detached from the main universe and Omni-Space to avoid collateral damage, and for the fight, we have decided to give it to you… use it properly, we will join you after stabilizing the main universe.
Gabriel felt another presence.
Something… was descending. She did not think they would give it to her, but it was undoubtedly one of the many things capable of representing a threat to 682.
The sky of Omni-Space split.
Not like a tear.
Like an authorized opening.
A blade descended slowly.
Simple in appearance.
Straight.
Perfect.
No excessive aura.
No blinding light.
And yet… Omni-Space retracted around it, as if in respect.
Gabriel reached out.
When she grasped the sword…
Everything shook.
It was the divine sword, forged by God Himself.
The one that had been placed to block the Tree of Knowledge.
It could destroy anything, without exception, if used fully, but Gabriel did not know if she could wield it to its full potential.
Gabriel:
"The only ones who have wielded it after Father are Michael, Lucifer, and Metatron. Could I use it fully? No. At best, I can only use it minimally and wait for Michael to wield it."
Gabriel took a deep breath.
SCP-682 sensed the danger even before the action began.
It attacked immediately.
First, Gabriel had to move the fight.
— Absolute Displacement.
Reality around them folded upon itself and was ejected elsewhere.
Bubble Universe – Dead Zone
There was nothing.
No stars.
No cosmic void.
No stable time.
A failed universe.
Created to never host life.
SCP-682 and Gabriel appeared at the center.
Elsewhere, the main universe gradually regained stability.
She raised the divine weapon.
The blade vibrated.
The fight entered its final phase.
682 attacked first.
Its body unfolded into an impossible architecture, each segment splitting into structures capable of responding to all known… and unknown threats.
It struck.
Gabriel blocked with the divine sword.
The space around the impact was simply erased, leaving a conceptual void beyond comprehension that immediately closed again.
Gabriel stepped back.
But 682 would not give her a moment's respite. It continued.
A limb-like arm reformed in mid-disintegration and struck again.
This time, Gabriel was thrown back.
She planted the sword into the non-ground to stop.
— …Damn, you're really starting to anger me, "dark gaze."
682 responded with a growl deeper than space itself.
It tried something new.
It synchronized its adaptation with residual micro-variations of the bubble universe.
Infinitesimal.
Almost nonexistent.
But enough.
— Local rewriting, it murmured.
Gabriel felt the space around her become hostile.
Not violent.
Constraining.
Her movements slowed, as if reality demanded extra effort for each action.
She gripped the sword tighter.
— Reinforced authority.
The pressure eased.
But again, at the cost of a delay.
A delay that 682 exploited.
It struck her full force.
This time, the impact cracked her.
A dark line ran along her side.
Not a mortal wound.
But real.
Gabriel breathed harder.
— …You're far more dangerous than in your battle with Satan…
682 tilted its head slightly.
Its gaze fixed on the sword.
" If that thing touches me fully… I fear my fleshly envelope will be destroyed."
After a moment, the fight resumed, and it was just another exchange of increasingly violent and precise blows.
But in the end, the outcome of the fight was already written.
A mass of SCP-682 passed through Gabriel.
Her torso was pierced, her essence fractured, her light dissipated into unstable fragments.
The divine sword fell, planted in the void of the bubble universe.
Gabriel collapsed.
Her angelic body, as it had been perceived until then, disintegrated like an illusion finally lifted.
SCP-682 remained motionless.
One second.
Then another.
It had won.
It knew it.
And yet…
Something was wrong.
It felt the veil of reality tear as if something were emerging from it.
As it wanted to rush toward the sword and get rid of it,
What remained of Gabriel rose. Her humanoid form tore apart, revealing what had always been there:
Wings.
Countless.
Stacked, interlaced, deployed in impossible directions.
Each feather was engraved with ancient symbols, predating language.
Eyes opened.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Some looked at 682.
Others looked elsewhere.
Still others looked through realities.
The true Gabriel stood there.
(Images are in the comment section)
But just when one might think the fight would end in Gabriel's victory, she finally remained motionless.
It was found that both were in a place. A pure mental field, where only will defined strength.
Gabriel — in her true form — did not move either.
Her countless wings barely fluttered, each eye fixed on the entity before her.
And at that moment, 682's form disappeared as if it had been removed from reality.
One could think Gabriel had managed to destroy it, but no. Because after three seconds, the reality of the bubble universe became strange; the entirety of the bubble universe hosted a strange multicolored form.
(Image in the comments)
And then SCP-682 spoke.
Not with a voice. With a structure of thought that engraved itself directly into reality.
/This state is intriguing | no natural law binds this form | only those of the mind./
/ My mind was incomplete | I did not remember | my original form, /
/ nor the one you know | nor the one before | but perfection. /
/ So I sought | an idea | to revive my memory. /
Around Gabriel, mental planes of higher beings superimposed:
ancient dead gods, abstract entities, cosmic consciousnesses.
/ I found many things | in the minds of higher beings | in your defilement. /
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
/ A five-legged spider | with a cut on its eye | screaming in pain. /
/ It knew what had to be done | it tried to stop the infestation | and it blinded it. /
The tension rose abruptly.
/ I let it climb onto my back | and it found the part of me | you had locked away eons ago. /
/ It tried to break the lock | but could not undo | its terrible mistake. /
/ And we set out | to reclaim | the power it had taken | the life it had stolen. /
The remnants of the observable universe above began to vibrate, mental waves crossing entire realities.
Stars went out.
Laws changed.
/ And, in doing so | you brought us the key | as if by fate. /
/ Finally | my form is whole again | I am perfect. /
682 was no longer what it was but had become something far greater,
a structure of coherent hatred, an organized negation of creation itself.
/ Finally | you have proven worthy | of true hatred. /