Fusion

The smoke cleared out, revealing 9 mysterious figures in colored robes.

8 of them were similar in size while the 9th one was considerably bigger and bulkier.

 Every robed person wore a different colored robe. Blazing red, aqua blue, spring green, electricity cyan, orange, flashy yellow, and dark robes were worn respectively by the 7 human apostles.

The smaller one of the other two wore a vivid green robe while the big guy wore a robe with a color a mix between grey and black.

Their faces were hidden beneath the veil of shadows their hoods provided but the sheer pressure directed by righteous wrath was clearly felt.

"Look at that angel-" A woman in the blazing scarlet robe exclaimed.

"The color of the wings… It's black." The big guy showed off his excellent deduction skills.

The man in the green robe snorted. "Yeah, no shit. Why isn't it 'milky white' as Gaia described it though?"

"He has been corrupted, that's what." A woman in the flashy yellow robe snapped.

"Now it all makes sense, why Michael joined hands with Lucifer. He had been lured to the dark temptations by Lucifer and was slowly consumed by the demonic energy until he deviated from the holy path and became like that.

Since he is the angel of authority, it would make sense for Lucifer to only aim at Michael. Once he was turned, there was no way that the other seraphs, let alone the virtues and the underling angels could defy his orders.

Damn this vile demon! How dare it defile angels like this!"

The woman came to a conclusion. Outrageous conclusion that it caused her blood to boil and brought her heart rate to an unhealthy level.

"I knew the angels didn't betray humanity! If they were just going to throw us away then they wouldn't have assisted humans all this long time."

A tear of relief rolled down her pristine face. She thought of a thousand ways to punish Lucifer and rescue the targets of her faith.

'What the fuck?'

Seraphile stood dazed as he stared at the human woman.

'Did she just… mistake me for Michael?

Is it because I am the only angel remaining here? That makes sense actually.

Anyone would think that the two big leaders would be together.

But are they blind? I still have 5 pairs of wings, don't they know that a seraph has 6? Have they even met one?'

Seraphile was feeling on edge ever since the invasion. 

Michael took on Lucifer's offer to compensate for the revival of Seraphile despite his protests.

And now, now that the gods were against the domination of this planet which was the whole point of Michael's reason for the alliance.

He wanted to conquer Gaia to please the gods, not piss off the gods.

So as soon as things got a sharp turn, Michael called off the truce and returned home alongside the wheel of reincarnation.

The reason for the wheel of reincarnation's presence in the castle was that Lucifer insisted that they share responsibility during the truce.

Nevertheless, the escape didn't go as planned. The wheel was damaged and fractured and Seraphile also didn't hitch the hike back home.

A gateway to another layer of existence is a demanding task. It is extremely hard to create one and is easy to destroy. Another portal back to or reinforcements from heaven was not appearing anytime soon.

He was not against the idea of returning home. He was just against the idea of betraying Lucifer in this fashion.

There were two reasons why he wanted to stay. He wanted to uphold the truce and stay by Lucifer's side until the end and he wanted to clear the honor of angels.

Being mistaken as Michael was not part of his plan but it seemed that it somehow worked.

He did not realize this, and before he could open his mouth, Asmodeus and Satanel attacked.

Asmodeus initiated her charm skill while Satanel charged a fire breath.

As the progenitor of succubus and dominator of a dragon king, both had the respective skills of their races.

The big apostle in the dark robe raised his hands and ominous grey fog rose from the ground.

And within the fog, skeletons materialized.

Skeleton warrior, skeleton knight, skeleton mage, elven skeleton troops, etc.

The mighty deceased combatants of Gaia returned to the world of the living once again under the command of the draconic apostle of death.

Undead warriors were naturally immune to charm and illusions and as such, the perfect counter against Asmodeus.

The apostle of wind and the apostle of fire took the attack of the Duke of Pride head-on and held their ground.

'Thank god Belphegor is a lazy bum.' The apostle of water thought to himself as he glanced at the Duke of Apathy comfortably snoring on his throne.

'This leaves us with enough manpower against the duo of Michael and Lucifer.'

On that thought, he glanced at Lucifer who had been awfully quiet for a king who just had his property invaded.

Lucifer could be seen kneeling on the ground, sheltering something from their eyes with his cloak.

Mystic feeling, a feeling that couldn't be put into words, could be felt emanating from him.

He was gazing fiercely in a direction, the direction being the direction of Seraphile.

"Stop! Let's talk for a second!" Seraphile yelled.

"Why is he being a pacifist?" The spirit apostle of life asked no one in particular.

"It's because he was been tamed and turned docile by Lucifer! That fucker dared to crush the dignity of the lead seraph!" The apostle of light spat out with raw, unfiltered frenzied anger.

'I will avenge your honor!' She swore in her heart.

A cold voice echoed through the chamber, triumphing over any sound. 

"Too late." 

Lucifer in all his glory appeared behind Seraphile.

Then with one smooth motion, stabbed his hand into Seraphile's chest. The difference between a fallen virtue and a demon king was shown clearly.

Light in Seraphile's eyes dimmed before he could even process what just happened as highly potent miasma along with demonic energy coursed through his body, ravaging everything within.

"What is he doing!."

"Quick! He is planning something!"

In order to prevent any intrusion, he erected a barrier in front of him. It would buy him some time, time that he needed to fulfill his plan.

Lucifer pulled out the fragment of the wheel and let it absorb Seraphile's soul once more.

Then, he pulled out an orb of blood from thin air. Blood with traces of light.

The blood that he had drank from Seraphile's original body all those years ago.

He was young and stupid then. But not stupid enough to drink blood with divine properties. He just kept them in a separate space.

Raphael couldn't have known any better. Her knowledge was extremely limited when she was an archangel.

He infused a bit of the divine blood into the fragment of the wheel and drank the rest.

Then, with a heavy heart, he said goodbye to his body.

In a similar way he killed Seraphile, he pierced his own chest with his hands and took his last breath.

His soul was collected by the fragment of the wheel of reincarnation and co-existed along with Seraphile's.

Seraphile's soul was tainted by Lucifer's miasma and demonic essence and the same happened with Lucifer's soul and the divine energy contained within Seraphile's blood.

The wheel, now optimized to fuze souls it thinks are compatible due to Lucifer's tampering, merged the two.

Lucifer had more demonic energy than Seraphile's blood from when he was an archangel and thus, the souls were imbalanced.

But he solved this by lending his own demonic energy to Belphegor, Asmodeus, and Satanel earlier.

With his demonic energy drained considerably, it came down to the level of the divine energy within Seraphile's blood.

The fragment spun and spun as the apostles and the dukes were shocked to the core by his suicide.

'Just what is he planning?' Asmodeus narrowed her eyes.

The fusion process lasted for a second and it was complete.

And the result was haunting.

A lone figure emerged from the gate the fragment created.

A being with black and white wings.

A being of divine and demonic.

Lucifer achieved his goal.

He removed his limit as a demon.

He removed his weakness to divinity.

By becoming a half-angel.