Hell had always been Lucifer's kingdom, but never his prison. That distinction came later—earned the moment he drove Azrael's Blade through Uriel. He had made the only choice he believed could save Chloe, yet that certainty never dulled the memory. Every scream, every widening pair of eyes, every drop of blood followed him.

When he returned to Hell to retrieve the antidote's formula, the guilt waiting for him proved stronger than his own will. Instead of ruling the damned, he became one of them. His punishment was simple, elegant, and merciless: relive Uriel's death again and again. Months blurred together until time itself became meaningless.

His family remained out of reach. Amenadiel, Mother, Maze, and the others were stranded on Earth, unable to reach him. Even God never came. Instead, Father created someone entirely new.

You.

Another loop began.

Lucifer's hand closed around the blade before he even realized he was moving. Uriel stood before him, saying the same words he had heard thousands of times. The knife plunged forward.

Then reality fractured.

Someone else stood inside the loop.

Not Uriel.

You.

Lucifer froze.

The blade slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the stone floor, a sound he had never heard before. Every loop had been identical.

Until now.

His heartbeat, something he had almost forgotten, thundered through the silence as he stared at you, unable to understand how anyone could have entered the one place no soul had ever reached.