Ariel didn't move when Gabriel stepped away.
She just stood there, eyes fixed on Lucifer, chest rising and falling, fingers twitching at her sides like she was trying to hold herself together by force alone.
Lucifer watched her in silence.
Michael had stepped back, not far, but far enough. Gabriel was gone from the center now. Khaos sat near the others, quiet. Exousia said nothing. The sleeping champions remained where they were, like all of this had nothing to do with them.
But it did.
It had everything to do with them.
Ariel rolled her shoulders once. "I'm not backing down."
Lucifer nodded. "I know."
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you already know how this ends."
He tilted his head slightly. "You don't?"
Her jaw tightened. "You think I'm scared of you."
"No," he said. "I think you're angry."
"I am angry."
"I can see that."
She let out a laugh, but it had no humor in it. "You always do that."
"Do what?"
