MORNINGSTAR.

"Why do I refuse to kill humans? Let's clear something up. It's not that I can't kill them. I could obliterate a mortal with a single thought, snuff out their existence like a flickering candle in an endless abyss.

But why would I? Humans are.....fragile, predictable and barely worth the effort. To kill one of them would be meaningless as stepping on an ant. I don't refrain out of mercy, nor some misguided compassion. It's simple. They're beneath me, not worth the inconvenience.

Let that be the end of it..."

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Lucifer confronting Mazikeen inside LUX, Los Angeles.

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Oh, Gaea—Mother of all that breathes, the mighty keeper of life itself. This is what you bring to me? All that grandeur, all that talk, all that confidence, and yet, here you stand, defeated. I'd almost feel pity… if it weren't so disappointing."

My eyes never left her form, yet the frown on her face fueled my victorious ego... My hands crossed behind my back and I turned around, only to find Death out of sight. Had she been scared off by the demonstration of my might? Probably not. She was a comic being after all.

"Do yourself a favor, Gaea. Never cross paths with me again. I have no desire to waste my time on an opponent who couldn't handle even a fraction of my true power."

There was no smile on my face as I regarded her. Yet, she took in the threat and exhaled, the corner of her lips curving into a smile before she raised her head defiantly towards me.

"Laugh now, Samael, savor this fleeting triumph," She hissed, her voice laced with the fury of eons. "You may have felled me today, but you have no idea what forces you have stirred. My fall will not go unanswered.

"You may have won this day, but you have sown the seeds of war—a war that will scorch the Heavens and bring ruin to all you hold dear."

Her voice intensified, the very stars trembling as her defiance shakes the heavens, yet I was nothing more than amusement to me at this point. The words of a defeated foe unable to accept her loss.

"You think your precious Heavens are beyond the reach of vengeance? That your so-called 'divine' order will stand unchallenged? I will bring every force of nature, along with my Primordial brothers and sisters buried deep within the cosmos, to wage war upon your kind. I will summon storms that will tear your celestial halls asunder and bring life itself to rise against you."

She let the threat sink in, her words dripping with fury and finality. "This is my vow to you, Samael, The heavens will burn, and you—" her gaze narrows, piercing through the void, "—you will watch your kingdom crumble to dust." She finished her bitter words -- words that failed to struck the chords she had hoped to.

"Go ahead then, summon your precious Primordials, your storms, your fury. Bring every last drop of power you can muster from the depths of creation. And watch as they fall just as you have—just as every so-called 'force of nature' inevitably will before me and maybe my brothers." A smirk tugged at the corners of my mouth.

"I welcome your fury, Gaea. Let it fuel you. It will make my inevitable victory that much sweeter when I crush it—and you—beneath my heel."

I watched her cast a hateful look towards me, before disappearing in an angry cosmic storm.

But before I could even rebel in my victory, a beam of light fell right before my face, as aether particles gathered into the mundane form a pure white skinned young man.

"Uriel, do you always descend with such blinding fervor? Couldn't you have announced yourself with... less spectacle? Some of us prefer the quiet."

I exhaled sharply, shaking my head, a faint smirk tugging at my lips. I knew exactly why he was here. My little battle with Gaea wasn't exactly hidden. Most of the hosts probably spied on us yet none of them interfered, in the same way a lot of Gaea's brethren also spied on our battle.

"Still, I suppose it's fitting for you. Always the radiant one, always aflame with excitement. Fine, I'll bite—what do you want this time? Or have you just come to sing my praises and shower me with endless questions, as you always do?"

"Samael! Brother! The heavens tremble with this news! You—have done what none could dream of! Gaea, the eternal force, the Mother of the Earth herself, bested by your hand? By your will? Oh, the stars burn brighter for this! Tell me, how did it unfold? How did you overcome her roots, her unyielding fury? Was it your cunning? Your strength? Surely, the cosmos will sing of this day for eons!"

Uriel was ecstatic, like a young boy who had just been bought a toy. The battle with Gaea had fired him up in more ways than one.

"Gaea? She was formidable, I'll grant you that—ancient, unyielding, and full of fury. But her strength was her flaw, Uriel. She is bound to the cosmos, rooted in her precious creation. Her title as the mother of All binds in many ways than one - a strength and a marvelous weakness.

And me? I am unbound. Untethered. Wrath given form. Her defenses, they sought to constrict me, to drag me into the dirt. But she forgot one crucial truth..."

I leant closer, a smirk of pure arrogance playing across my face.

"Fire consumes. I am not like her delicate storms or shifting singularities, I burn until nothing remains. Her precious divinity cracked and withered under my might, her essence crumbling as she tried in vain to overwhelm me."

I leant back, folding my arms, my tone dripping with mockery.

"Did she truly think she could endure me? That her ancient wisdom would outlast my fury? I almost pitied her, struggling so desperately to hold me back. Almost."

A sharp laugh escaped me at this point, as I watched Uriel watch me passionately with admiration. Beating Gaea seemed like a big deal to him, and yes, he was weaker than her by a mile, as was most of the host. But as an Archangel just like myself, his potential was boundless, and he could even reach extreme levels of power.

The only reason why he was weaker at this point was because the Primordials were literally embodiments of the elements of Khaos, meaning all their powers and divinities were inherited right from birth, while the host differed fundamentally.

We needed to learn, practice with our virtues and divine concepts, we needed to integrate with cosmic concepts. They were not granted to us right at birth, we needed to strive for perfection.

"The Host will look to you now, Samael. Even I, who has seen your wrath unleashed a thousand times, stand humbled. Gaea was no mere foe; she is nature incarnate, unending and unyielding. And yet, here you stand, triumphant. Tell me, what does victory over the earth itself feel like?"

He asked, as if expecting me to rant about how good it felt to best one of if not the strongest Primordial in existence, yet, I shook my head. I felt nothing. Of course it was a huge boost to my ego, but in the end, I am the Lightbringer. There was nothing or no one more powerful than me in this world, save my Father.

"Inconsequential, Uriel. She could barely hold a candle to me. I didn't even need my divine form. I feel nothing."

I shook my head in nonchalance, as Uriel and I began to stroll, a palpable silence reigned between us for a moment, until I sighed.

"They sent you to summon back didn't they?"

We had walked for a while, but a sigh from me broke the silence between us.

"They did indeed, brother."

Uriel nodded back, his face solemn as he turned his head sideways to look at me.

"Who was it? Michael? Gabriel? Metatron? The council?"

I questioned, but the expression on Uriel's face wasn't telling me what I needed to know.

"It was none of the brethren, brother. A divine oracle came to Gabriel. It wasn't the council that summoned you brother - Father himself did."

His words struck me and I stood there gobsmacked for a moment. Apart from Metatron who basked in Father's glory all day long, none of the brethren, none of us, have ever been summoned by Father or even received a word directly from him.

Not me, not Michael. Since the beginning of time, Gabriel was the mouthpiece of the oracles, the one whom Father spoke through, and the rest of us had to abide by whatever he said, but this time, Father summoned me Himself, to the throneroom of Aether.

It was supposed to be a woundrrous occasion for me, yet I couldn't quench the dread in my heart. As if I was going to face the judgement of infinite realities and the multiverse itself. For the first time and the last, I, Samael, the Lightbringer was frightened.