NOVEL NEXT chapter 445 - Heaven's Interference
"… How long are you just going to watch while hiding there, my brother?"
Lucifer's voice rolled across the abyss like a mocking hymn.
At once, the other Sins stiffened. Their gazes sharpened, unease flickering in the depths of eyes that had seen the rise and fall of creation itself.
They knew.
They all knew.
For though they had fallen, though their wings had been blackened and their halos shattered, memory still chained them to their former selves. Once, before hunger, before rage, before corruption... they had been angels.
Lucifer, the Brightest, who reached for the throne when the Creator vanished, only to be cast down by Fate itself.
Leviathan, once the vigilant guardian, now writhing with envy of the Creator's unreachable perfection.
Satan, once Heaven's fiercest warrior, is now the embodiment of fury without end.
Belphegor, the brilliant inventor of Heaven, whose genius curdled into apathy and ruin.
Mammon, keeper of Heaven's treasures, twisted into a miser who would burn the world for a single coin.
Beelzebub, who once sang the songs of harmony, is now reduced to endless hunger and devouring void.
Asmodeus, the angel of purest desire, is now the corrupter who stains all passions.
They were demons now. They were sin incarnate. But once, they had been Heaven's glory.
And in that instant, at Lucifer's taunt, the truth cut through them like the memory of light.
There was only one being Lucifer could call "brother," Only one angel who had once stood beside him as equal, and whose shadow haunted him even now.
Michael.
The Archangel of loyalty, the Defender of the Throne, Heaven's eternal sword.
Lucifer's mirror, his opposite, his twin.
They had been born of the same breath, identical in form, but not in will.
One reached upward in rebellion.
The other knelt downward in loyalty.
The silence grew suffocating. Even the trembling world seemed to pause.
Lucifer's smile widened, too sharp, too cruel. "Come now, Michael. Will you truly remain a coward in the wings while our Creator's chosen toy tears reality apart? Or will you step into the stage you once swore to protect?"
Then...
A crack split the air beside Lucifer's throne.
Not the tearing of stone, not the rift of Hell's flames, but a fracture in reality itself, as if the fabric of existence recoiled at what was about to step through.
From the rift, he appeared.
Michael.
Radiance clung to him like a second skin, not the gentle warmth of Heaven's past but a cutting brilliance, like a blade that could sever both gods and demons alike. His presence alone pressed against the chamber, a suffocating reminder of the old order that even the Sins could not easily ignore.
His eyes fixed on Lucifer, unblinking. No nostalgia. No warmth. No recognition of the brother they had once been.
"What you intend to do, Brother," Michael said, voice cold as iron, "I will not allow it"
Lucifer's grin widened, sharp and playful, leaning back lazily upon his throne as if the weight of Michael's arrival were nothing more than an amusing breeze. "How cold~ Not even a greeting? After all this time?"
Then, with a sly flick of his hand, his gaze drifted to the other Sins. "And you lot... calm down, will you? Do you look ready to bare your fangs against family?"
The Sins hesitated, unease burning beneath their wrath and hunger.
Because even here, even in Hell, the presence of Michael, the loyal twin owas enough to shake them.
"…That's power," Michael said at last, his voice cutting through the chamber like tempered steel. He ignored the other Sins entirely, though each of them bristled, ready to strike if Lucifer willed it. His gaze remained locked only on Lucifer. "You know no one can control it. Your demon armies are gone, your legions scattered, and that thing runs rampant in your domain. What is it you intend to do?"
Lucifer's smile didn't falter. If anything, it widened. "I won't do a thing. Nothing at all"
Michael's brow furrowed. "…Then you won't mind if I act in your stead?"
"Please do," Lucifer replied without hesitation, reclining into his throne as though the matter bored him. "I won't interfere. None of us will"
For the first time, Michael's composure cracked, ever so slightly. His stare narrowed, sharp with suspicion. He knew his brother too well. Lucifer's ambition was endless, his hunger insatiable. Of all things, the power now carried by the Dafient was the one thing Lucifer should never allow to slip from his grasp.
And yet… here he was, offering it freely.
"…Do you truly think I would believe that, Lucifer?" Michael's voice dropped, laced with quiet accusation.
"I didn't ask you to believe me, Brother," Lucifer's eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, sly and unreadable. "I only asked you to remember who you're speaking to"
Silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken wars.
At last, Michael exhaled, his radiance dimming into resolve. "…Fine. Then hear me clearly. I'll do anything to stop the Dafient. If it means killing him, so be it. That power... " His hand tightened around the hilt of his blade, light bleeding through the cracks in reality itself. "... Cannot be allowed to escape beyond this place"
The chamber grew tense, every Sin watching, waiting for Lucifer's reaction. But the King of Hell only laughed softly, a sound that was neither cruel nor kind.
As if he had just set the final piece upon the board.
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The Ultimate Paradox had annihilated every demon in sight. Not through war, not through effort, simply by existing. His madness was ceaseless, yet he did not move like a conqueror. He merely was.
And reality bent to his presence.
The land fractured, collapsing into nothing, only to rebuild itself in the next instant. Mountains rose, then withered to dust. Forests blossomed and died in the same heartbeat. Time itself seemed drunk, stumbling between beginnings and endings, unable to decide which should come first.
Every step he took was a contradiction made flesh.
When his foot touched the ground, life surged, grass sprouted, rivers flowed, skies cleared. But in the next blink, death swept in. The grass blackened, rivers boiled away, the skies split into ash. Life and death, birth and decay, tangled together in endless repetition with every movement.
Even his breath was unbearable. Each exhalation made the fabric of reality shudder, as if the world itself could not decide whether to exist or collapse into a void.
And then, he stopped.
The battlefield went silent. The cycle of life and death, ruin and rebirth, froze in place around him, a grotesque stillness.
Inside, the battle was no less catastrophic.
[ SYSTEM WARNING!!]
[ Anomaly Detected. Override Engaged]
The System screamed, its voice a lattice of codes and commands, attempting to wrest control of Taufik's body. For the first time, it moved openly, no longer the silent overseer of his progress.
[ Host exceeded parameters... Containment protocol activated]
Taufik felt his own limbs twitch, his own vision flicker. His body was not his. It was the battlefield.
"No," Taufik-No, the power within him, the Ultimate Paradox growled through clenched teeth, though his voice fractured, as if echoing from a thousand realities at once. "You don't get to decide. I'm me, and it would never change!"
[Master is unstable... Master is incompatible... Master is expendable]
The words tore through his skull like nails. His head burned with static, every nerve screaming. His body jerked forward without his will, one arm rising, claws forming from shadows and light at the same time.
Taufik's consciousness pushed back, a defiant spark against an all-consuming machine. "You think I'm yours?!"
For a moment, his laughter cut through the static. Wild. Furious. Alive.
"…No. You're mine!!"
And with that, the Paradox shifted, light and dark bleeding through each other, when suddenly, a crash split the heavens.
*CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!*
Chains descended from the void above, forged of pure radiance, inscribed with words no mortal tongue could speak.
They struck like thunderbolts, coiling around his form, searing his abyss-flesh with the weight of divine judgment.
The Ultimate Paradox staggered, his body convulsing as the links cinched tighter with every twitch of defiance.
Slowly, he raised his head.
High above, framed against the burning sky, four figures shone like suns.
Michael, unwavering, his great blade already drawn, light pouring from it like rivers of eternity.
Uriel, his eyes twin infernos of justice, the chains in his hands glowing brighter with each command.
Raguel, stern and solemn, his aura heavy with the law of retribution.
Seriel, silent, yet radiating a purity so absolute it burned the shadows themselves.
Behind them, in perfect formation, the Legions of Heaven stretched beyond sight. Ranks upon ranks of angels stood ready, clad in armor of holy brilliance, spears raised as one. Their discipline was terrifying in its stillness, every wing stretched wide, every gaze fixed upon the abomination bound below.
The Paradox roared, not with sound, but with existence itself. The ground beneath him cracked, reality warping. Life bloomed and withered in an instant, the air alive with paradoxical creation.
His struggles tore at the chains, shadows, and light twisting together in impossible spirals.
But the harder he fought, the tighter the bindings drew, Uriel's authority grinding against his essence.
Each link sank deeper, branding his form with marks of law.
Michael's voice thundered across the battlefield, shaking the sky itself:
"Dafient! You walk the path forbidden even to the Highest! Yield before Heaven's judgment, or be erased!"
The angels echoed as one, their voices merging into a single, deafening hymn of war.
The Paradox's head tilted, a strange, fractured smile twisting across his face. His voice was layered, Taufik, the System, and something older still.
"…Erase me? Heh… Tr-"
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