*Scene 1: The Silence of Clocks*
Obil's house was a paradox of soundless chaos. Hundreds of clocks lined the walls—mantel clocks, wristwatches, ornate grandfather clocks, broken alarm clocks stacked like forgotten memories. Not one ticked. Each displayed a different time, a different hour, frozen in place. None matched, and none moved.
This was no ordinary collection. Each clock was a monument, a tombstone to a life Obil had once lived—a father, a son, a soldier, a beggar. Centuries of reincarnation encased in glass and metal. He walked among them daily, reminded of every failure, every heartbreak, every death that had chipped away at who he was.
He sat in the dim center of the room, a faint shaft of moonlight spilling across his face. In his hand, a faded photograph. A young girl—smiling, eyes full of light—and beside her, a woman with kind eyes and tired hands. A family. His family. One of them.At least
He hadn't moved in hours.
And then—he felt it.
It came not like thunder, but like stillness broken. A divine pulse surged through his chest, warm and electric. For the first time in centuries, the breath in his lungs felt different—*alive*.
He stood slowly, eyes narrowing. "Azazil," he said aloud, voice calm but sharp.
The shadows in the corner peeled apart like wet paper. From them stepped Azazil, smiling thinly.
"You felt it too," Obil murmured.
Azazil nodded, the air around him dimming. "The divine seal has been broken. You may wield your true self again… no longer bound by the cage of flesh. The others do not know. Not yet."
Obil turned to him. For a moment—just a flicker—there was something strange in his expression. *Joy.*
Azazil noticed. "This is the first time I've seen that look on you."
Obil chuckled softly, like a man remembering how to laugh. "It's been a long time."
Without another word, Azazil faded back into shadow, leaving the Archon of Arrogance alone with his ticking silence.
**Scene 2: The Skyfall**
The air outside was thick with rain and neon. Obil walked with purpose, tracing the edge of the city's nightlife. The night buzzed with neon and noise as Obil walked toward the bar , *Crimson Veil*, its flickering sign bleeding red into the wet pavement. The best place to celebrate his achievement.
He was steps from the entrance when a thick-bodied bouncer stepped forward, arms crossed like a drawn gate.
"Members only," the man said, voice flat. "Private crowd."
Obil didn't slow. He looked the man up and down—unimpressed.
"Even if I were just a man," Obil said, grinning, "you'd still be dead. But tonight? I'm more. And you, lucky fool, gave me exactly what I needed—an excuse."
Seeing the bouncer's confidence he laughed—a low, rising cackle that echoed unnaturally in the air, growing louder."You just gave me one"he said
He reached out and grabbed the man by the throat. The bouncer barely had time to react before Obil's hand lit with divine force, and the world blurred around them.
They shot into the sky—an arc of godlike momentum tearing through clouds. The city below turned to a smear. The bouncer struggled in vain, gasping as the air thinned and wind howled like ghosts.
Obil held him like dead weight.
And then, without a word, he dove towards the ground at a velocity faster than the body of the bouncer could indure.The bouncer cried and screamed from the pain but it was shortlived.
They hit the bar.
The impact wasn't loud—it was final.
An apocalyptic silence, then thunder. Fire. Screams.
A crater, smoldering in the bones of the
The bar exploded in a storm of rubble, blood, and fire. Glass and brick were vaporized, bodies crushed. A crater bloomed in the earth, smoke hissing from its edges.
Obil rose from the center, untouched.
He spread his arms wide, letting the ruin breathe around him.
Still laughing.
Scene 3:The Echoes Of The Fallen One
**Morning — Haven's Rise Orphanage**
Avile tugged his coat tight, casting a glance over his shoulder. The children laughed in the courtyard, unaware of the growing unease clawing at his chest. Something felt… off.
He opened the front door.
The world shifted.
Light vanished. Gravity twisted. He didn't step onto the porch—he stepped into a **realm of shadows and flame**. An alien sky bled crimson, and a howling wind swept through a barren landscape of scorched stone and obsidian towers.
In the distance, seated on a throne of blackened bone, was **Lucifer**.
Azazil knelt at his side, head bowed in perfect submission.
Avile froze, heart hammering in disbelief. "No…"
Lucifer lifted his eyes.
"Surprised?" he said smoothly, voice silk over steel. "You look pale, Avile."
Avile stumbled back a step, but the **pressure** hit him—divine, suffocating. It forced him to his knees. A golden sigil shimmered beneath his skin, responding against his will.
"How are you doing this?" Avile growled, struggling to rise. "This plane—it's sealed. You shouldn't be able to touch it."
Lucifer tilted his head. "Ah, but I didn't. One of you did."
"You've already lost one."
Avile's eyes narrowed. "That's impossible."
Lucifer arched a brow.
"No Archon would dare," Avile continued, his voice rising. "And even if they wanted to, **they couldn't.** The seal is beyond us."
Lucifer smiled
It was a slow, deliberate thing. The kind of smile that **knew truths no one else dared whisper**.
That smile made Avile falter.
"…Unless," he whispered, cold realization settling into his bones.
Lucifer leaned forward slightly. "There it is. Thought you'd never catch up."
Lucifer raised a hand toward the sky. Above them, a star blinked out. One.
"Each virtue you abandon… dims the light a little more," he whispered.
"You've already lost one."
Then—nothing.
Reality snapped back.
Avile stood once more at the doorstep of Haven's Rise, sunlight spilling in. Behind him, **Amelia** stood with her arms crossed.
"You good?" she asked, suspicious. "You've been standing there like you forgot how doors work."
Avile blinked, disoriented. "I… I'm fine. Just remembered something."
"You sure?" she took a step closer, her teasing tone replaced with concern. "You look like you saw a ghost. Or ten."
"I'll be okay," he said, forcing a smile. "I should get going."
He stepped out, still hearing **Lucifer's voice echoing** in the back of his mind.
*"One of you did."*
---
**Later That Day — New Nerezza City, Crater Site**
Detective **Vale Rowan** arrived just as the final wave of emergency teams pulled back the barricades. A crater—deep and perfect—yawned in the earth, nestled where a bar once stood. The destruction was total.
No fire. No bodies. Just **absence**.
Vale showed his badge and ducked under the line. Several scientists were already buzzing about with instruments, thermal scanners, and drones.
A tall researcher approached him. "You the detective in charge?"
"Vale Rowan," he nodded. "What are we dealing with?"
"Well…" the scientist exhaled, "it's looking like a classic **airburst event.** A meteor enters the atmosphere, but instead of striking the ground, it explodes mid-air. The resulting shockwave vaporizes the object before impact—but the pressure? It still slams into the earth."
Vale raised a brow. "And that explains this?"
The scientist shrugged. "We've seen similar things—Tunguska, Chelyabinsk. But this one is... unnaturally precise. There's **no debris.** Just this crater. The blast pressure was unreal."
Nearby, a mother shouted, clutching a photo. "My son was in there! Where is he?! Why won't you find him?!"
Vale approached gently. "Ma'am… I'm sorry. But if it was an airburst… there may not be anything left to find."
Her sobbing quieted the rest of the crowd.
Vale turned back toward the crater, squinting.
That's when he **felt it**—a soft pulse deep in his chest. Ancient. Familiar.
**Divine.**
Later that evening, in the solitude of his apartment, Vale rolled up his sleeve. His **Soulmark**—dormant for lifetimes—was glowing faintly.
There was only one Archon he'd ever trusted enough to reach out to.
**Meanwhile — Avile's Apartment**
Avile sat alone, eyes glazed as Lucifer's smile looped endlessly in his mind. It wasn't just a smile—it was *certainty*. Calm, smug certainty.
*No one would dare…* he had said. *No one could even if they wanted to.*
And yet...
A sudden warmth pulsed just under his skin.
He looked down. Faint, ancient lines flickered across the inside of his forearm—his **Soulmark**.
Every Archon bore one. A divine seal etched onto their very being—not just a mark, but a tether. In their endless reincarnations, when the weight of humanity dulled their memories, the Soulmark remained. Faint. Dormant. But when two Archons came close—or when one reached out—it flared to life. It helped them remember.
This one pulsed with a familiar rhythm.
**Vale.**
Avile blinked, and then a rush of thought hit him. Not words—but a memory. A contact. Vale had found him once—many lives ago. They had spoken, remembered, *held onto each other in the chaos* of mortal lives. Vale had trusted him then, and apparently, still did.
And now he was calling again.
Vale (through the soul mark):
"Avile... it's been a long time."
Avile (closing his eyes briefly, focusing):
"Vale. I almost forgot what your soul felt like."
A pause.
"I didn't think any of us would reach out again."
Vale: "Neither did i but there is a situation here and i know as well as trust you the most because of our history."
"There was an explosion in New Nerezza. They're calling it an airburst. A meteor fragment entering the atmosphere, shattering mid-air before impact. The scientists are already at the site."**
There was a pause.
"But I felt it. Divine power. Pure. Controlled. Too precise. It left a crater… but no heat, no fragments. There was a bar there. Families were crying at the barricades—but there's nothing left of it. Not even a trace."**
Avile's pulse quickened.
**"I'm near the site. I'm stationed here this life—police work. I made sure the scientists went with the airburst explanation to keep the public calm, but Avile… this was one of *us*."**
The connection faded, the Soulmark slowly dimming.
Avile stared at the last flickers.
Lucifer's smile. The broken seal. Vale's words.
One of *us* has crossed a line.
And now… the balance was shifting.
Author's Note —
Thanks for reading! I know this chapter was a long one (i am trying to add more details), so if you made it to the end—you're a real one and thank you. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review or rating. It helps a lot.
See you in the next chapter!
— Yu