Chapter 3
The guards hauled me toward the Abyssal Gate, my shattered legs dragging twin trails of blood across frozen stone. Stripped of my divine core and reduced to mortal flesh, I could barely withstand the wind screaming through the Frozen Wastes.
They dumped me at the cliff's edge. The gale tore at my tattered robes. Freezing chains bit deep into my festering wrists, each movement sending fresh agony through my body.
Just as the executioner prepared to activate the transport array, two brilliant lights descended.
Gabriel landed with Irene in his arms, arriving like some kind of savior.
"Wait." Gabriel stopped the executioner and approached, his gaze sweeping over my mangled body without sympathy—only irritation and scrutiny.
"Cecilia, how long are you going to keep this up?" He frowned, tone condescending. "Look at yourself. Some war goddess you turned out to be."
"The Abyss is crawling with demons. Without divine power, you'll die the moment you fall. Just kneel and apologize to Irene. I'll use my authority to grant you parole."
Kneel? Apologize to the woman who'd just orchestrated my destruction?
I looked at this man I'd loved for a thousand years and found it laughable. Even now, he believed I was using my life to get his attention.
"Gabriel, do you really think I can't survive without you?" I raised my blood-soaked right hand.
On my finger sat the Soul-Bound Ring embedded with half his soul force—our covenant from a millennium ago. Once it symbolized eternal fidelity. Now it looked grotesque.
Right in front of him, I yanked the ring from my rotting finger.
Gabriel's expression changed instantly. Panic flickered across his face. "Cecilia! What are you doing? Put it back on!"
"Here—take it back."
No tears. No accusations. I stared at him and clenched my fist tight.
Crack.
The indestructible Soul-Bound Ring shattered. White powder trickled through my fingers, swept away by Abyssal winds.
Soul damage struck without warning. Gabriel gasped, clutching his chest as he staggered back, face going deathly pale.
He stared at the empty air, genuine fear flashing in his eyes. But glancing at Irene, he forcibly suppressed it, replacing panic with a furious laugh.
"You think crushing a ring will intimidate me? You think I'll beg?" He swept his robes aside, eyes ice-cold. "Fine. Suffer in the Abyss. We'll see who breaks first!"
The moment his words fell, the death knell tolled.
"Exile time has arrived!" The executioner activated the array according to law.
Two black iron chains shot forward—
Two muffled thuds. Cold, barbed hooks pierced through the stumps where my wings used to be.
The same spot where I'd blocked a fatal blow for him three hundred years ago. Now his subordinates drove chains through that wound again.
Bone-deep agony exploded through my nerves. My body convulsed as blood dripped down the chains, splattering onto the cliff.
In my blurred vision, Gabriel lurched forward half a step—then stopped. He stood frozen, that self-assured expression saying he was certain I was putting on a show.
The guards dragged me forward, leaving a blood trail across the ground, stopping me at the chasm's edge where hellfire churned below.
The observing angels whispered. Once, they'd only dared kneel before the war goddess. Now their eyes held nothing but mockery.
On the elevated platform, Gabriel stood in his Archangel robes, looking down at me.
According to celestial law, at the final moment of exile, a betrothed possessed one privilege: sacrifice half their divine soul to spare the condemned.
He would never sacrifice his essence for me.
He stood here waiting for me to break down and beg. As long as I lowered my head, he could use any excuse to keep me here, transforming me into something broken he could manipulate at will.
The executioner raised his staff mercilessly.
Even as I teetered on the brink of being cast into the Abyss, still biting down hard without uttering a word, Gabriel's brow finally furrowed deeply.
He lifted his hand, seemingly ready at last to exercise his privilege and speak up.
But just as he was about to—
"Ahh—!"
Irene, who'd been hiding behind her attendants, suddenly let out a piercing shriek of pain and collapsed, clutching her chest.
"My Lady!" Her maid screamed. "Archangel! The Holy Maiden's healing core—severe backlash! Her life force is collapsing!"
The command Gabriel had been about to speak died in his throat. He glanced back at Irene writhing in pain, then at me hanging by a thread. His expression shifted, struggle flashing in his eyes.
The decision took only an instant.
"Halt the exile!" He caught Irene and barked at the executioner.
The Guard Captain looked troubled. "Your Grace, once the Gate opens, it requires a sacrifice. Suppressing the array will delay it one hour at most—otherwise hellfire will backlash against Heaven itself!"
"Then delay it one hour!"
Gabriel cut him off, turning to me with that same righteous tone. "Cecilia, stay right there for one hour. Irene is critical—I have to save her first. Once I've stabilized her, I'll come back to spare you. This is your last chance. Stop this foolishness."
With that, he scooped up the frail Irene without hesitation, not even sparing me another glance as he hurried away, surrounded by his entourage.
Watching his retreating back, I swallowed down the metallic taste rising in my throat and smiled coldly.
He'd watched them strip away my divine core in the Tribunal. Now he left me dangling here with that same superior attitude.
He was so certain I wouldn't jump, certain I'd stand here like some pathetic creature, enduring the agony of hooks piercing my shoulder blades, waiting desperately at the cliff's edge for him to return and show mercy.
"Prisoner Cecilia, do you confirm the one-hour delay?" The Guard Captain looked at me expressionlessly.
"No need."
I spoke softly. Closing my eyes, I sank my consciousness into the deepest part of my soul.
There, one final soul bond remained—the Life-Death Pact.
This was the last spiritual connection between spouses, and Gabriel's greatest assurance that I wouldn't dare die.
"If I'm cutting ties, I'll cut them clean."
I summoned the last drop of heart's blood in my body, transforming it into an invisible blade, and severed that bond without hesitation.
BOOM—!
My soul tore violently apart. I spat blood. Above in Heaven's firmament, the star representing the Archangel's betrothed flickered, wailed, and exploded into nothing.
Terrified screams erupted from the crowd.
Severing the Life-Death Pact meant forever—through life and death—never to meet again.
I wiped blood from my lips, dragged my shattered legs forward, and pitched myself over the edge.
Ignoring the cries overhead, I spread my arms and plummeted toward the churning hellfire below.
Gabriel—you and your precious Irene can stay locked in this hypocritical Heaven for eternity.
Freefall engulfed me.
Before darkness swallowed me whole, the last trace of Cecilia vanished from Heaven.
Half an hour later, at the Abyssal Gate.
Gabriel had expended enormous amounts of divine essence to forcibly suppress Irene's so-called "core backlash." Without even cleaning the bloodstains from his robes, he rushed back to the execution grounds.
"Where is she?" Gabriel strode onto the platform, his eyes scanning the empty cliff's edge, his brow knitting tightly.
He assumed Cecilia must have been in too much pain and the guards had temporarily moved her aside to rest.
After all, without his divine soul pardon, who would dare actually push her over?
The Guard Captain dropped to his knees, trembling, not daring to raise his head. "Re—Reporting to the Archangel... Cecilia... she... she jumped."
