A Sinner’s Chance

I struggled to open my eyes as my entire body felt weak. I was in a cold damp and lightless space, unable to see anything around me. The sound of dripping water could be heard somewhere behind me. Around my wrist and ankles was cold metal, and moving my limbs caused chains to rattle and only allowed a very small amount of movement from each of my limbs. While I wasn't able to see, I could sense the thread around my body still, and the dress I had been wearing for the banquet was in a state of disrepair, though it seemed I was unable to manipulate or create new thread at the moment. In fact, aside from a few passive abilities, none of my Skills seemed to work and no matter what I tried I was unable to pull up my Status.

In frustration I yelled out, only for solely my echo to return. Judging by the sound I was in some kind of cavern, and a rather large one considering how faint the echo had been. I couldn't understand what was going on, Reine had attacked me and now I was essentially imprisoned by my lonesome in some kind of underground place. However, more than my current predicament, I was more worried about what had happened to the others. Was this all part of Alcrem's plan? Had he always planned for Reine to do such, or perhaps he'd even orchestrated everything about her, and the Reine I knew was nothing more than a mask.

I couldn't understand what he stood to gain, or why he'd done the things he'd done if that were the case, if he'd wanted to confine me for some kind of experiment it would have been easier to do so when I was a child, and yet he'd let me do as I please until now. No matter how much I thought about it I couldn't connect the dots that were his actions into a coherent and sensical plan, and so I could only try my hardest to break my bonds or otherwise slip out of them.

The passage of time was impossible to keep track of, but after some time torches flared up and illuminated the space, as well as a single walkway. I was in the center of a dirt covered island, about thirty feet in diameter, with some kind of massive skeleton surrounding me and, rather than water in the surrounding lake, there was some kind of liquid that looked like mercury. The single pathway led to a set of doors on the other side of the lake of liquid metal, and as I looked at them, they opened, three figures I recognized emerged and walked towards me.

As I had suspected, one was Alcrem, and though I had wished there was another explanation, the one on his left was none other than Reine. The third member was however, a rather unexpected one. My adopted sister, who despite being a twin, was considered the eldest daughter, Gabriel, a smug smile plastered on her face as they all approached.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen. How does it feel to be completely suppressed sister? Or perhaps you'd rather me call you by your name? But there are so many to choose from. Vellithra, Velen, Velkis, Vellastria, and the list goes on, doesn't it you damned Outsider?" Her voice was harsh and filled with venom, and reminded me of the Archangel I'd seen not too long ago, something that sparked a horrifying thought.

I was however unable to voice my thoughts as Gabriel's boot slammed into my stomach, a sharp feeling of pain as my breath left me. I hadn't known if I would convert pain to pleasure, but it seemed that even that was being suppressed. She raised her boot off me only to prepare for another jab, only for Alcrem's voice to interrupt her.

"I don't believe you should subject her to such violence, Mistress, it might ruin the plans you've worked so hard to make." I almost couldn't recognize his voice with the extremely polite tone, talking to Gabriel like she was his master. Thankfully Gabriel listened to his words and set her foot back on the ground before gesturing at Reine.

"Bring it out failure." She said as Reine set down a pack that I hadn't seen her wearing beforehand. She undid the straps and pulled out a bizarre looking set of tubes and bottles and began to set them up around me. Gabriel must have seen my confused face as her smile became even larger. "Do you want an explanation? Well, it won't hurt while we wait for this defective product to finish. It's a shame that my sister's Avatar didn't properly manifest, but she never was one for the harder things anyway. I'm sure that you've figured out at the very least who I really am right?"

We stared at each other before I eventually nodded. "The first Archangel."

Gabriel nodded happily at my response. "That's right, I did just recently tell you that I would be the one responsible for ending you, so it would have been sad if you couldn't remember that at the least. You see, the entirety of the Celestial Host has been troubled over your existence for an extremely long time, almost since we took charge of the universe. Very little can stand against our might, and those that can have all joined us or gone into hiding, the sole exception being the She-Demon, Mynoghra. We thought we'd killed that good for nothing, but it turns out that she had a plan in place, one where small shards of her would become strong enough before either offering her sacrifice, gaining her believers, or rejoining her.

We've managed to stop many of those shards, yet you have plagued us for far too long, so me and my sister, who you met masquerading as the Queen of Hell, came up with a plan. You see, there is only one place in the universe that can contain those who break the laws of fate indefinitely, the very first place that sentient life came to exist in, however, that only applies if someone is willingly born there or invades.

As neither me or my sister thought you'd willingly invade, we spent countless lifetimes to erase your awareness of your heritage, slowly but surely creating restrictions on you, before tricking you into allowing yourself to be born here. There were of course certain concessions that had to be made, and certain plans didn't work out, but it should only be about another fifty years or so before the conditions for your true death are met."

A chill had crept down my spine as Gabriel talked about the fact that she'd essentially been messing with not just me, but many of my past lives and that it was all leading to my death, the one thing I had been trying to avoid this entire time. Gabriel didn't elaborate anymore as it seemed Reine had finished setting up whatever it was that she'd been ordered to. The entire contraption was rather small, with only a large bowl like funnel that was positioned just slightly outside of my area being anywhere near me, it seemed like it was meant to collect some kind of liquid and divide it into two separate types, but I didn't understand what it was actually for until Reine stood before me and reached an arm around to my back.

With a gentle press in the same spot I'd been stabbed, there was an intense pain as a small bone spike, perhaps the size of a finger, broke out from the inside of my body, extending from between my breasts, until it hovered over the funnel. If it weren't for the shackles keeping my arms from completely falling I would have collapsed. The long bony protrusion then began to break as flesh began to grow over it, until I was left with what looked like a small tentacle that kept its opening just above the bowl at all times.

Though I was unable to respond, I heard Reine mutter an extremely quiet apology as she separated from me and stood back beside Alcrem and Gabriel. They waited around for a moment, completely silent until a dark purple ichor began to drip from the tentacled growth and into the funnel.

I could only watch along with them as my blood was separated into two distinct liquids, one nearly black, with a golden sheen, the other, a vivid purple. I could clearly recognize the goldish black liquid as it was clearly the same as the Aspect Skills I'd gotten from Ellie, and it occurred to me that Gabriel had purposefully given me a token of Hathor's Divinity for this exact purpose, and had perhaps even planned on giving me the one's from Ellie if I hadn't gotten them myself.

I watched in silence as a vial of the vivid purple liquid was completely filled before Reine switched the vial for a large tank, with a spigot. She handed the vial to Alcrem who examined it closely, a smile spreading across his face before nodding several times and turning to Gabriel. "This is indeed the blood of a Phoenix, though its coloration is off, there is no doubt that it shares all the proper qualifications to be such. Once you've stripped her soul of everything, I still get to keep the body right? It would be such a waste for a living generator of my house's future to be stopped."

Gabriel shrugged as she looked at the small amount of goldish black liquid. "I care not for what happens to the body, do with it as you please. But that's a long time away, for now let us celebrate." Gabriel said as she began to turn away before pausing and turning back. "Ah, I suppose it would be best to dispose of the trash first." she said with a malicious grin as her hand flashed out and gripped Reine by the throat.

Reine didn't even struggle as she was held aloft, only a look of regret on her face as her eyes closed. "I don't regret my choice." she said with clear conviction, just before a cracking sound could be heard and her body went completely limp before Gabriel tossed it like a piece of garbage into the metal lake, Reine's corpse slowly sinking before disappearing from sight.

I didn't know what to feel upon witnessing the sight. It was clear that Reine had not been on my side, yet it seemed she had done something in direct conflict with Gabriel's and Alcrem's desires, but I didn't think I would ever be privy to knowing what it was, as the two walked away, the torches extinguishing as they left, once again leaving me alone in complete darkness.