Lucifer felt something click, deep inside her being. 

Almost absentmindedly, she redirected the ball of fire Aindaeth had spat at her just moments ago.

“It's almost time.” 

“Already?” the lizard replied petulantly.

“We’ve barely started! I told you that you shouldn’t rush this.”

“I'm not rushing. I just know that it is time. Just one more thing and I'm ready. I've been procrastinating on this long enough.”

Lucifer took a long look around. She was standing in a barren plain, gray rock and dust as far as the eye could see. Directly to her back was the mountain range she had first woken up. The dragons' fall mountains were imposing spires of rock that towered over the surroundings.

If she squinted a bit, Lucifer could just barely make out the center most mountain peak, or rather what was left of it.

Before Aindaeths escape, it had been the largest of the spires, but now it was among the shortest.

A small breeze swept past, blowing a cloud of dust her way. Almost subconsciously, Lucifer drained the kinetic energy of the air around her, causing the wind to stop and the temperature to drop.

Turning around, Lucifer looked at the edges of the orc controlled plains. A sea of rust colored grass moved with the breeze, extending in every direction.

A few hundred meters away from her and Aindaeth, she saw two figures on a piece of slightly elevated ground. Under normal circumstances it should be called a hill, but it was too gentle and small for such a description.

Taking a deep breath, Lucifer prepared herself for what was to come.

With another deep breath, Lucifer drained more kinetic energy from her surroundings. A thin film of frost crept along the ground in a small radius around her, as the air stilled almost completely.

With a barely perceptible twitch of her legs, Lucifer shot through the air, arriving next to the siblings. Instantly, she bled off all of her kinetic energy, coming to a dead stop. The unused energy she transformed into heat, which she vented into the surroundings in a sizable puff of fire. A moment later a thunderclap followed.

“Still lack control and experience.” She murmured to herself.

“”Lady Lucifer!”” came the excited exclamation of the siblings.

Lucifer smiled as best she could. This would be difficult.

Revealing things about her person had always been a difficult thing for her. With Aindaeth she knew that she was understood, at least to an extent.

The dragon had been a victim of the divine, same as her.

An impatient bubbling came from her core, causing Lucifer to sigh in defeat.

A gentle touch on her shoulder and a feeling of reassurance urged her to begin.

With another sigh, Lucifer let herself fall onto her back in a decidedly undignified manner.

Looking up at the siblings, she gestured with her hand. “Please sit down, there is something I must ask of you.”

Asha and Grommash shared a quick glimpse, before sitting down next to Lucifer.

“As both of you are by now likely aware, I am not mortal.”

Lucifer heard Aindaeth scoff next to her, but chose to ignore her.

“I come from a very far away plane. One without mana and very different magic.”

Lucifer stole a quick glimpse at the siblings out of the corner of her eye, seeing them hanging onto her every word. With a smile she turned her gaze back towards the sky.

“One of the only magics that was properly available to me, was the manipulation of anima, or more broadly, souls.”

Lucifer felt the star in her abdomen begin to bubble and froth, causing an uncomfortable feeling. Her core was filled to bursting with energy. 

“Over a long war I gathered a truly staggering amount of souls. And when I mean long, I mean hundreds of thousands of years.”

Another quick glimpse at the siblings' faces, had Lucifer hurriedly add “ I asked every single soul if they were willing to help me. None were there against their will.”

“In the final battle against my greatest enemy….”

Lucifer took a moment to just breathe. She could already feel the beginnings of a panic attack. The feeling of reassurance from Aindaeth helped tremendously.

“In the final battle, I destroyed every single one.”

Lucifer heard grommash suck in a breath between his teeth.

“Although they consented to the end of their existence, it was nonetheless a great evil.”

Tears welled from the two eyes on Lucifer's face, immediately evaporating as soon as they were exposed to open air.

“With the sacrifice of thirteen billion souls, I destroyed my father until nothing was left.”

If Lucifer were in any capacity to care, she would have been mortified to know that she told the siblings that it was her father she killed, not some evil demon lord.

“I still remember the face and name of every single one of them. They haunt my every waking moment.”

Lucifer felt Aindaeths clawed hand stroke along her hair line, the feeling of her affection immensely calming.

“I used their souls as fuel for a blade of flame so hot it destroyed everything he ever stood for. The battle took place in his divine realm, but I know for a fact that it was felt even in the mortal world.”

The temperature around Lucifer rose slowly but surely. Unconsciously she controlled the heat, keeping it close to her body.

“Every single one of them had once been a person of incredible will. Not all of them were warriors, in fact more than half of them weren't. But every single one of them had a vision for a better future. And even after their souls themselves were used up in the furnace of my being, there are still remnants.”

Feeling the anticipation bubble in her core, Lucifer sat up in a lotus position.

“In my core burns a star hotter than anything you two can imagine. Among these flames are the remnants of consciousness these people left behind. They will never enter the cycle of reincarnation. Their souls will never fade into nature to live as a spirit. Their souls will never enjoy the afterlife that was so cruelly denied to them.”

An intangible weight began to settle around them. Lucifer felt the familiar feeling of the strings of karma settle around her. 

This would usually be annoying, but right now she needed all the help she could get.

Lucifer looked at the siblings. The grave expression on their faces told her that they too understood the weight of this moment.

“They call to me sometimes. Never in words, but impressions. They still carry the desires they held in life. Some just want to continue fighting for a better tomorrow. Some just want to learn as much as they can. They all want the afterlife that was denied to them.”

Feeling the ethereal pressure growing stronger, Lucifer pushed back by forcing a bit more of her true body into the real world. As more and more eyes opened along Lucifer's upper body, she saw the attention the universe held on this moment.

Around them raged a brutal storm of loose karma. Strings of all kinds of colors danced to an unseen wind. None managed to stick to her, but many stuck to the siblings. They flailed like loose hair in a storm, as one end of the strings connected to their bodies. The other ends were left to the wind.

Lucifer knew that she had many ways forward. Many actions were useful when interacting with karma, but words and exchanges worked best. The strings shuddered for a moment as she steeled herself.

Two mouths opened on the palms of her hands. Her right palm opened like that of a snake, unhinging until it was wide open. The left turned into the mouth of some canine beast, Lucifer's hand morphing to accommodate the shape.

With a quiet grunt, Lucifer focused on her core and called out. Almost by themselves, shapes of black tar began to separate from the crimson star in her abdomen. With careful control, Lucifer removed the shapes from the ever present gravity of her star, allowing them to leave its influence.

With the restrictions lessened, more and more of the shapes began to escape the star. They turned into a black mist that barely held the shape of a person. A storm of indistinct figures flowed out of her core and into her channels as hundreds of thousands of remnant minds were let loose.

Unconsciously, Lucifer opened herself to the strings of karma. Through open mouths, the strings that had attached themselves to the siblings entered her body and scoured through her channels, each string attaching to a single remnant.

The strings began to pull at the black mist, but Lucifer applied her will.

With another grunt of effort she divided the flow of black mist into two distinct halves.

Opening her eyes, Lucifer looked at the siblings. Both had sunk to their knees and were struggling as the invisible pressure intensified. They had trouble keeping their eyes on her, as even this tiny bit of her true form was straining their minds.

Lucifer firmed her control of her body, as to not accidentally smite the two.

Another deep breath. This was the moment.

Lucifer raised her hands so that both palms faced upwards, then extended her hands in the siblings direction. The canine mouth to Asha, the snake mouth to Grommash.

From the mouths a black mist seeped outwards that grew in intensity until it formed two spheres of solid black.

Lucifer could see the strings struggle against her control. They strained and grew taut with tension.

The black spheres slowly formed into two humanoid shapes, both familiar.

The one hovering above the snake mouths was the form of Bridget Bishop. A young woman that had studied the natural sciences in a time when she should have been nothing more than a broodmare. She fell in love with the wrong woman and suffered greatly for it, being burned at the stake for things outside of her control.

Above the canine mouth, the sphere formed into the image of an imposing warrior, clad only in furs, wielding two axes. Bjorn Ragnarsson had been a formidable warrior. One of the only “true berserkers” he had managed to keep control of his overwhelming rage even in the most heated of battles. Had it existed he would have certainly entered into valhalla.

A small smile crossed Lucifer's many mouths. Both of these were some of the most wonderful souls she had ever met. Their insistence on joining the others in nothingness had pained her greatly.

“They still cry for more. They were promised more and they were denied their right.”

Lucifer looked back at the siblings. Their struggles growing more intense by the moment.

“Right now they are nothing. They will only burden you. You will carry them in your souls for the rest of eternity. In a few thousand years they will be one with your souls, but until then, it will be difficult.”

Lucifer knew that she was telling lies. While carrying this burden would be hard, if they chose to accept, they would gain immensely from it. The addition of foreign memories and perspectives alone would be more than enough. Lucifer knew nothing of the magical effects this would bring, but from a purely soul focused view, the addition of different perspectives was a gigantic boon.

But she owed it to these remnants. They had given everything to help her, despite knowing that it would be their ultimate end. She didn't want to leave them in herself, letting them float in the endless heat of her core, or saddle them on some unwilling soul. She wanted the kids to take this willingly.

Lucifer watched as a determined glint appeared in Asha’s eyes. The young woman raised her head with great difficulty and looked at Lucifer. Asha opened her mouth but no words came, the pressure too great.

Lucifer smiled at her and nodded. 

Her nonexistent heart almost gave out the moment she looked at Grommash. His skin had taken on an unnatural gray hue, most likely the orc version of going pale. His teeth were clenched extremely hard and he had seemingly not noticed that he bit down on his lip. His remaining eye was unfocused, staring into nothing

Blood seeped from the wounded lips and from the half burnt crater that was Grommash’s nose.

Lucifer was just about to retract the remnants, when the spark in his empty socket blazed into a proper flame. Slowly but surely orange fire began to coat his right side as he regained clarity in his gaze.

With seemingly all the willpower he could muster, he managed to move his head in a tiny nod.

Relief flooded Lucifer's chest. With a proud smile on her face, she let go. 

With almost tangible force, the strings of karma ripped the remnants from her hands and pulled them towards the siblings. Once the masses of gray mist impacted their chest, it seemed to just seep into them through their pores.

Instantly the formless pressure ceased. 

The siblings collapsed to their knees with heaving breaths. Lucifer took a moment to observe their souls.

At the boundary of body and soul, the remnants unraveled. Before they had been a black mist, now they were pure white strands of anima. Like loose hair flowing in a breeze, the strands swept through their soul spaces, before being caught in the gravity of their souls. Slowly but surely the strands began to tangle around their souls, forming a cocoon.

Lucifer smiled genuinely. 

Just as the siblings had caught their breath, a new pressure rose. 

As if it had suddenly gone from a cloudy rainy day, to the hottest day of summer. Fire mana exploded outwards from Lucifer's form, flooding the surroundings and pushing away anything that wasn’t compatible. Small shrubs caught fire as the wood mana in their branches was overwhelmed.

As the pressure inside her abdomen grew more and more intense, Lucifer stood. She looked down at the siblings, before lowering her head and closing her eyes.

“Thank you! You could not fathom what this means to me.”

Lucifer looked to the side, to see Aindaeth already morphing into her true form. This far away from the orc settlements, her size would not cause issues. Lucifer looked into the dragon's eyes before nodding at her. 

“Please close your eyes, you wouldn't survive otherwise. Stay beneath Aindaeth if possible.”

 

With that final piece of advice, Lucifer's back exploded in a flurry of feathers as eight pairs of wings emerged. With one mighty movement of her wings she shot into the sky.

She enjoyed the freedom of flying for a moment. Right now her head felt incredibly clear. Everything felt lighter now that she was rid of a significant portion of the remnants.

They had weighed heavily on her mind. She could have incinerated them until nothing was left, but that felt like she would spit in the face of their sacrifice. This had the proper weight to it.

Now they could enjoy the life the siblings would lead. They could continue to love, to learn and to fight.

Before fresh tears could force themselves from her eyes, Lucifer decided that she was high enough.

Like struggling out of a pair of pants that was too tight, Lucifer shed her mortal guise completely.

Every aspect of her perception shifted as millions of wings unfolded themselves through nonsensical dimensions. With a final heave the facsimile of her head bloomed into crescent wings encircling a white flame.

Lucifer took a moment to revel in the freedom her true form gave her.

A rumbling from her core called her back to attention.

Lucifer took a moment to observe her core. The crimson star that had only recently become real, was now a true part of her. The surface of the star roiled and bubbled with unspent energy.

Now that Lucifer had rid herself of a large amount of the remnants, she felt that it was time.

A quick flex of her will brought the path to her mind's eye.

Name: Samael

Tier: 1

Race: True blood celestial 

Racial skills: 

Mortal guise

Endless growth

True Sight

Soul manipulation 

Promethean

Class 1: Acolyte of the first flame

Class skills: 

Pureflame manipulation (10)

Heat absorption (10)

Star core (10)

Dawnbringer (10)

The warmth of life (10)

Energy transformation (10)

Class 2: Autokinetic

Class skills:

Kinetic Absorption (10)

Kinetic Release (10)

Kinetic Sense (10)

Energy transformation (10)

(empty)

(empty)

General skills: 

Swordsmanship (99)

Dragon Bond (23)

(empty)

(empty)

(empty)

(empty)

Sunrise sword arts:

First Light(8)

Heat Haze(3)

Sky Splitter (10)

Dying Light sword arts:

Crucifixion(6)

She was ready. 

She did not need the information to know that, but it was always nice to look at.

Lucifer idly flapped her wings as she hovered in the air. A look down showed the incredibly large figure of Aindaeth. The dragon had her wings spread, likely in an effort to shield the siblings.

Lucifer flexed her wings, straightening them out as far as they would go, before she began to slowly vibrate them. 

Slowly at first, like honey, mana came flowing in through her wings. As the concentration around her rose, the speed at which she attracted mana also rose. Going from a faucet to an open dam in seconds.

Lucifer began to spin the crimson star with all the force she could muster. 

As more and more mana flooded her channels, they began to strain. The pressure only rose as the rotation of her core increased and it began to attract mana in vast quantities.

Once the deluge of mana reached her core space, the floodgates truly opened. More mana than lucifer had ever felt drained into her core. She spun it as fast as she could, helping the star absorb truly staggering amounts of the ambient mana.

The surrounding temperature dropped and even the sunlight felt less intense as Lucifer absorbed any fire aspected mana she could get her metaphorical hands on.

Once her core space was completely filled with scintillating multicolored mana, Lucifer decided it was time.

Taking an unneeded deep breath through multiple mouths at once, Lucifer threw the whole weight of her soul into her breakthrough.

As if the world around her had suddenly been gripped in a vice, it froze. Everything in a radius of hundreds of meters around her stopped as Lucifer absorbed the kinetic energy holding the very atoms together. 

Once she had a sufficient grip on the energy, she began to narrow her focus. The mix of ambient mana and pure energy flooded her channels as the world outside stayed frozen.

Lucifer scoured her channels, pushing everything she had into her core space. The mana fought back every moment of the way, but in the end it was all a question of will.

With the calm certainty that her will would be reality, no matter what, she squeezed every last drop of energy into her core space.

Lucifer looked at her core space with a manic smile. 

The outer boundary of her core space was struggling as the density of mana threatened to overwhelm it. The different colors of mana clashed as unstable reactions took place, but none of that mattered. Lucifer spun her core faster and faster. Its gravity began to pull at the mana surrounding her core, causing it to slowly begin to rotate.

As the surrounding mana picked up speed, Lucifer forced it to move closer to core, while also willing the crimson star to burn hotter than before. To pull with more Force. To generate more energy.

Outside the world began to move again. Lucifer had taken from the world all the energy she needed and now she was giving back.

Behind every eye, behind every feather and behind every mouth, an orange glow began to escape Lucifer, as the temperature around her rose drastically.

The air began to shimmer as the heat rose, all the while Lucifer continued to press everything in her core together.

Press and spin. Press and spin and burn hotter. Press and spin and burn hotter and pull more.

As the temperature outside rose and rose, Lucifer's core slowly began to change. The previously crimson core began to grow brighter with every bit of mana it absorbed. Its gravity intensified as it pulled harder and harder, causing it to pull more mana.

Finally, with the sound of breaking glass, the scintillating mixture of mana was sucked into the star, which turned a bright orange color.

Lucifer wanted to let the star slowly come to a stop, but the core itself seemed to have other ideas. From one moment to the next, it went from spinning rapidly, to dead still.

A moment later a deluge of caustic orange mana exploded outwards, flooding Lucifer's core space before exploding into her channels and out of her body.

Lucifer pulled her attention back to the outside world just in time to see a mass of black smoke exit through any available orifice, before an explosion of orange fire followed.

The feeling of this improved version of her mana, washing through her channels felt incredible. Lucifer let out an unconscious moan as the fires ripped through her, bathing her body in incredible heat.

Like a heartbeat the orange mana pulsed through her body, leaving behind a better version of herself.

Lucifer looked down, only to see Aindaeth staring at her incredulously, her entire body singed, the ground around her molten orange.

Somehow the massive dragon with such an accusing look in its eyes caused Lucifer to laugh.