Lust and Pride sat rigid, their nerves stretched thin beneath Jester's widening, disgustingly delighted grin.Meanwhile, I just stood there, waiting for whatever "solution" he had cooked up—though honestly, there was no universe where this situation could be "fixed." You can't undo a death. You can't unkill an apostle. You can't unstart a war.
I exhaled slowly.
"So… what exactly do you have up your sleeve?"
Jester's smile curved into something monstrous.
"Lilith once told me she could defile angels simply by touching them. Especially the weak-willed."His eyes flicked toward the unconscious girl slumped in the corner."And our guest here fits that category perfectly."
That bastard.
Pride went still as stone. Lust's face emptied of emotion—too neutral to be real.
Pride finally spoke."You're suggesting Sammail can corrupt a high-ranking angel just because Lilith could?"
Jester nodded, grinning like a demon who'd stolen fire.
"He killed a Hell overlord with a scratch. Yes, it's a risk. But he's ready."Then he looked at me, straight through me."Aren't you, Sammail?"
For a moment, I couldn't speak.
This wasn't fear. This was… responsibility.We weren't talking about a wound.We were talking about twisting an angel's existence into something else—forever.
"Is that really the only way?" I asked.
Jester stepped closer, grin melting into rare seriousness.
"You know the other option. And she won't survive it."He shrugged."And even if you try this, she still might die. So at least give her a choice."
Pride and Lust both looked ready to argue—but nothing came out.
I inhaled sharply.A dark smile crept up my face.
"Then let her decide her fate.Send me where it all began."
Lust snapped toward me.
"You understand the consequences? If you succeed, Heaven's wrath will chase you until time collapses—just like your mother."
I looked straight at her.
"They're going to hunt me anyway, Lust. You just don't want me to kill the girl myself."
Something flickered in her eyes—fear, worry, pity, something softer.
I forced a smile.
"Don't worry. It's not the first time I've killed someone."
Pride laughed, squeezing Lust's hand.
"I believe in you, Son of Lilith."
"I hate that nickname," I muttered."...but thanks."
Jester clapped his hands, delighted.
The Temple of the Fallen
In an instant, we materialized inside the forsaken temple.Sylphia's limp body hung in Jester's arms.
This was my first time truly seeing the temple outside dreams or nightmares—and it felt disturbingly… welcoming.
Shadows bowed to me.Statues stared like old ghosts recognizing their heir.
But the temple itself was plain.No eclipses.No laughing clowns.No sky ripping open.
Jester smirked.
"Not like your dreams, right?"
"Kind of…"
He laughed.
"The eclipse, the clowns, the damned doing 'rituals'—that was Lilith's little farewell when she killed herself. She used those rites to bond your soul to the temple and transfer the sin."
That woman's desire to die really had no limits.
Jester conjured two decaying wooden chairs and placed Sylphia gently on one.
"So," I asked, "how do we wake her?"
He sighed.
"You'll regret letting me do it."
"Nothing good comes without regret," I answered.
Jester whispered ancient words—the kind that color the air wrong.
Sylphia's eyes snapped open.
Sylphia's POV
My vision swam.My body felt weightless.Where… where was Anveil?
Why was I seated?Why wasn't I in chains?Why wasn't I dead?
And that presence—
My sight suddenly cleared.
Two figures sat before me.
Not men.Monsters.
The first was the Mad Clown.His smile turned my blood to ice.His eyes pierced straight through to my soul.
The torturer of Heaven's Heart.The cursed jester whispered about even in the High Choir.
The second presence was worse—A weight so unbearable it made my vision blur.
Half white hair.Eyes black and red.A presence that sickened me to look at.
The Fallen Human of Corruption.
Why was I alive?Why was I here?
"Are you okay?" the cursed one asked softly."Jester… she can't remember anything. Her eyes are damaged."
"Oh, right."The clown snapped his fingers, muttering infernal runes.
My sight returned instantly.
And the Mad Clown… waved at me.Kindly.
The cursed one extended a hand to help me—
I spat on him.
Jester erupted in laughter.
"You having second thoughts, Sammail?"
I summoned my blade of light and drove it into the clown's skull—
But the blade died.Its holy glow rotted into black ash.
The cursed one smiled coldly.
"Now do you understand your situation?"
I trembled. I tried to run—
And Jester's presence slammed into me like a collapsing cathedral.
"Well," he said lightly,"The hard part is over. Mostly."
Sammail's POV
Sylphia trembled like a cornered kitten.Honestly? Understandable.
Pride was terrifying back there.If he weren't my friend, I would've shit myself too.
Jester and I lit cigarettes.
"So," Jester asked, "what's your name, little angel?"
"S-Sylphia…"
He flicked his eyes toward me.
I inhaled.
"Well… demons planned to torture and kill you, but we saved yo—"
Jester groaned into his own hand.
Fair enough. I suck at speeches.
He cut in:
"Your people abandoned you the moment they sensed us. We can't return you to Heaven. So if you've got ideas—talk."
Her face crumpled.
They abandoned her.Just like I was abandoned.Helpless, unwanted, thrown away.
Jester read her soul instantly and burst into laughter.
"They told you two could wipe out a bar full of demons, overlords, AND four Fallen Humans? And you believed them?"
Her cheeks burned with shame.
She whispered:
"We… we weren't pure angels.We were hybrids. Tools."
Disgust twisted in my chest.
Even Heaven discards the weak.
I leaned forward, voice low and sharp.
"So they sent you on a suicide mission.There was no army.Just you two."
Her tears fell.
Something inside me cracked.Looking at her felt like staring into a warped mirror of my own suffering.
I stood, knelt beside her, and gently took her shaking hand.
"I can't bring back your friend.And I can't return you to Heaven."
My eyes glowed blood-red and void-black.
"But I can give you something else."
Her breath hitched.
"Revenge."
I sliced my wrist open.Dark blood spilled freely.
"If you want to live—If you want to destroy everyone who abandoned you—Drink."
I wasn't sure she trusted me.
But she leaned forward… and drank.
And something inside me tightened.Her lips against my skin sent a strange warmth rushing through me.
Then the screaming began.
Her body convulsed violently.Her white hair blackened.Her wings tore themselves apart like rotten paper.Blood spilled from her eyes.Darkness swallowed her whole.
The temple roared.A broken crimson moon howled above her soul.
And in that moment—
an angel fell for the first time in centuries.