Lucifer continued, his voice heavy with regrets:
"I acted selfishly for a long time… but it's over. I've apologized to Satan for all the harm I may have caused…"
He slowly raised his head, his gaze fixed on Erasa, a sad smile floating on his lips:
"It's strange… I had never realized how much simple actions, done out of self-interest, could destroy the lives of some."
Satan watched him in silence, her hair struck by the strange wind of this world, oscillating like moving shadows.
Lucifer continued, his voice low but sincere:
"Satan… she suffered so much… because of me. And you, you could have followed the same path if you hadn't turned to Mü Thanatos."
He lowered his head, his fingers brushing the divine ground of this strange place:
"I beg you… accept my apologies. Understand that if I was a bad father, it wasn't out of malice… but because I didn't know what it means to be a father. I wasn't made for that. I conceived you solely to command my army of Ineffables… that was, in my eyes, the purpose of your birth."
Lucifer raised his head again, his gaze becoming more intense:
"Would I have done wrong in letting you sprout a life? Perhaps… I should have taken you from birth, before you could develop emotions. Yes, Erasa… for part of your life, you didn't really know what emotions are. You didn't desire to devour souls like the other demons… it wasn't a coincidence. You were a weapon I had created, with Lilith's complicity, to dominate my army."
He lowered his head again, the weight of his words saturating the air:
"I know that, said like this, it may seem cruel to you… but it's the truth, Erasa. Don't hold it against me. I was nostalgic for the original Nothingness, I wanted to return there… to become myself again. The Dream is just an illusion, a prison… nothing real for me."
Lucifer's words were heavy with gravity, each word like a hammer on the silence of the Immortal Echoes. Bakuzan, Sakolomeh, and Leon watched, motionless, each lost in their own reflection. Satan remained silent as well, while Erasa kept her masked face, impassive.
Erasa raised her eyes to her father. A part of her understood him: it was true, she hadn't really felt emotions before meeting her human tribe, those who had taught her everything. If Lucifer had taken her at that moment, depriving her of those instants, the fact of having been instrumentalized might have meant nothing to her…
But now, it was different. She had chosen her own path, and those emotions, those bonds, had become a part of herself that no apology could erase.
Erasa turned her head toward Satan. She too had been instrumentalized by Lucifer. After all, for him, the beings of the Dream were only instruments. Even Lilith, Erasa's mother, who had carried her in her womb, was nothing more than a means in his eyes. The child she had brought into the world was, according to Lucifer, the only one worthy of leading his army of Ineffables.
Satan, however, was one of the most tragic figures of the Dream. She belonged to the oldest creatures, existing already when the Dream was still just a sketch, built in fragments in the lower zones, up to the fourth zone. She was the primordial serpent, the one who had initiated the original sin by making Eve bite the forbidden apple… under Lucifer's manipulation, of course. She was unaware then of the terrible price it would cost her.
The result was cruel: she was cursed by the Father God. Beings struck in this way are inherently unstable and broken, their destiny fragmented and rotten. And as if that weren't enough, the gods of the Dream tended to eliminate those who were cursed. But Satan had received a partial gift from Lucifer: every time she died, she resurrected. Even if those deaths were innumerable, horrible, and atrocious, she came back to life. This infinite suffering plunged her into a deep conceptual depression. She had never wanted this life, she had been manipulated, betrayed by those who should have protected her.
She had tried to beg the gods to stop this infernal cycle… but nothing ever stopped. She died again and again, each time more cruelly. She had experienced all possible forms of death. But over the ages, the suffering became rage, the rage became strength, and Satan transformed into a symbol of Terror and Sin. Her purpose through the ages was no longer just to survive, but to tarnish Lucifer. Azazel wasn't the only one to impersonate him… Satan had done it too.
She had lived through countless eras, spreading hell not only on humans, but on every creature that dared believe in her "goodness." She had plunged beings like Raktabīja Rāvana into madness, finding in the suffering of others a perverse form of satisfaction. She had killed even divinities: Sata, Erashia, Hinata… and many other names she bore over the centuries. Her appearances always took unpredictable forms: girl, man, creature capable of driving one mad.
Later, she was defeated by Apollon. But as a primordial god, Apollon did not seek to kill her. He recognized her pain: Satan suffered from a broken destiny, cursed by forces beyond her. Learning that Lucifer, the true author of her suffering, was alive and unpunished drove her mad with rage. Yet, she did not demand his death. What she wanted was recognition. An apology. And until now, Lucifer had never made the slightest gesture in that direction; on the contrary, he had often taken pleasure in humiliating her, even despite her power.
But today, things had changed. Lucifer was there, facing her, and he had finally acknowledged his faults. For Satan, that was enough. She was still a victim, her destiny remained cursed, but this recognition brought her a semblance of respite.
Satan was just one victim among many others. Among them were also the Ineffables that Lucifer had trained to serve his army, like Ravena and Neru. All had been manipulated, shaped by his ambitions, but each had found their path or their own rebellion in their own way.
Erasa exhaled slowly, then removed her mask.
"So… that was it."
Her gaze settled on Lucifer, still crouched, motionless, as if crushed by the weight of his own confessions.
"For you, the Dream is not real…" she murmured. "It's just an illusion."
Lucifer did not respond. Head bowed, he waited, silent.
"I can feel what you feel," Erasa continued. "As an apostle of Mü Thanatos — who belongs to the same category of existence as you — I can understand it.
But you should know one thing…"
Her voice grew firmer.
"If for you the Dream is just an illusion, for us who were born in it, it is perfectly real."
A shudder ran through Lucifer.
Behind them, Sakolomeh sketched a discreet smile. Satan did the same.
"To tell the truth," Erasa continued, "I don't yet know what to do with you.
But if you have truly abandoned the idea of bringing back the Nothingness before the Dream… then it's not impossible for me to turn the page."
She paused.
"For if the Dream were to disappear, you, the original gods, might perhaps survive…
But the other entities of the Dream, no."
Erasa placed her hand on her chest.
"Perhaps, if the Dream were entirely destroyed, we, the Ineffables, could still exist, since we have transcended it.
Perhaps even the part of Mü Thanatos of which I am the apostle could keep me in the Nothingness prior to the Dream…"
She slowly shook her head.
"No.
Even transcending the Dream is just an illusion.
If the Fog disappears, we will disappear too.
We, the Ineffables, carry a part of it."
Her gaze hardened.
"The Fog is what allows the Dream to be the Dream.
The primordial interface.
What gave you a role, to you the original gods, by reducing you… by making you compatible with existence."
Erasa sighed.
"No matter… You should understand that—"
The divine ground suddenly began to tremble.
Sakolomeh displayed a sly smile.
"It seems Azazel is approaching."
Bakuzan smiled in turn.
"Finally… We'll be able to settle the problem that brought us here."
He turned his gaze toward Lucifer and Erasa.
"Sorry, but your discussion will have to be put on pause.
Just long enough to finally free the souls.".