"You have committed a grievous act," God's voice boomed, filling all of Heaven. "You have challenged a high-ranking Archangel. You sought battle. You claimed superiority over one above you. This is a grave sin."
Lucivar fell to his knees, trembling. "Please, Messiah… my Lord… forgive me," he begged. "This was my first sin. I have never acted so foolishly. I swear I will never speak or do such a thing again. Please… have mercy."
"No," God replied coldly. "A sin is a sin." His voice carried an unyielding weight. "You are the tenth Archangel to cross the boundary. The first was Lucifer—cast down and reborn as a demon. Now you will follow."
"Before you are cast down," God continued, "you will endure punishment. For one hundred years, you will suffer bloodlust, endless pain, and agony beyond mortal comprehension. Only then will you descend to Earth, reborn as a devil."
Chains of holy light wrapped around Lucivar's arms and legs. He screamed, the fire of divine justice searing through him.
"Please… forgive me!" he cried, tears streaming down a face that had never known such torment. "This was my first sin! I beg you! I will never do it again!"
God said nothing.
Two Archangels seized him, carrying him toward a vast chamber beneath the heavens. Lucivar's body convulsed as divine light tore through him, burning wings, shattering bones, rending flesh. When they threw him into the chamber, endless and lightless, his consciousness was forced into a deep, unnatural sleep.
And yet there was no rest.
Pain consumed him. Not just of flesh, but of soul—endless, deliberate, crushing. Time lost all meaning. Seconds stretched into years. Years into eternity.
Lucivar screamed.
"Damn it… damn it all! Curse this! Curse everyone! Curse the omens themselves!"
"I committed a single sin… just one! And for the first time, I faltered—and realized I was wrong. And yet I stand here like this. I will not accept it!"
His fury burned hotter than his torment. "I am to be cast into Hell as a devil… not even a demon. Every other Archangel who sinned became a demon. Me… a devil. Damn everyone! Damn the Creator! Damn all of Heaven!"
His scream rang through the chamber, a sound of pure rage and anguish that seemed to pierce its very foundations.
One hundred thousand years passed.
The same two Archangels returned. Without a word, they dragged him through Heaven's gates. A portal opened beyond, and they hurled him through it.
Lucivar plummeted. His wings were gone. His glory stripped.
He drifted among the clouds for a brief moment, instinctively reaching to fly—but he could not. Instead, he slammed into the ground. Pain exploded through him.
"This is… annoying," he muttered, voice rough, teeth gritted against the agony.
Slowly, he pushed himself up, one hand clutching his head as waves of pain pulsed through his skull. Vision blurred, he looked around.
"So this is it," he said bitterly. "Screw everyone. Screw all of it."
A broken laugh escaped.
"I sinned once. Just once. We were the ones who guided humans, protected them. And even if a human sins a million times… they are still forgiven. But me? One sin. One mistake. No matter how small… unforgivable."
His hands trembled as he felt his chest rise and fall.
He reached behind his back—nothing. No wings. No divine warmth.
"For a hundred thousand years, I suffered. They stripped me of my glory, threw me to Earth like filth," he growled. "This… is absurd."
He looked around. A frozen desert stretched endlessly, cracked earth buried beneath snow. The air was dead and silent.
"Where do I even go?" Lucivar whispered. "Where do I begin?"
He inhaled sharply, the cold burning his lungs.
"I'm no longer immortal," he said quietly. "I am now… mortal."