They entered the Hollow Crown.
Not through any door, but through perception.
One moment Ramiel and Alec stood on cracked obsidian; the next, the world folded. Unlike a portal, but as if reality itself was a page turned by an unseen hand.
The chamber around them stretched outward, impossibly tall, impossibly still. Hundreds — maybe thousands — of mirrors hung in air without anchor. Some floated, some turned slowly, some wept.
Every reflection was true.
But none were real.
The floor was smooth silver, constantly shifting — each step showed the walker as they were not. Alec glanced down and saw himself older, blood on his hands. He looked away.
"Don't look into anything too long," Ramiel said flatly. "Lucarion likes to show you things you haven't earned. Or feared."
Vorakiel bowed once — and vanished into the mirrors.
A sound came.
Not a voice.
A reverberation — like a choir trapped in glass.
Then came the Throne.
A tower of spiraled crystal unfolded from the air. On it sat a figure draped in mirrored robes that bent the eye. His face was not hidden, but refined beyond memory — beautiful in a way that hurt to stare at. He was still.
And then he smiled.
"You brought a child into my court, Ramiel. Is this a dare?"
Ramiel inclined his head. "He's a witness."
Lucarion stood without moving. The throne shifted with him — like it obeyed the gravity of his will.
"You always were fond of symbols. And defiance."
"I was fond of truth," Ramiel said. "But then I walked into your realm."
Lucarion's eyes — cold — flicked to Alec.
"And the boy?"
"Collateral."
Lucarion laughed. Not loudly. But deeply. The sound cracked one of the higher mirrors, which immediately repaired itself.
"Ah, Ramiel the Bound. I've missed your tongue. Sharp. Unwashed. Disposable."
"You have something that doesn't belong to you," Ramiel said. "The Seal of Nine Names."
Lucarion arched one brow.
"You barge into my domain, bringing your own leash, and make demands? How little you've changed. I had hoped... transcendence."
Ramiel stepped forward. Alec behind him, staying close.
"I didn't come to beg."
"No," Lucarion said. "You came to threaten."
He turned. Lifted one hand. The mirrors behind him parted like silk.
From within stepped a creature.
Not wholly demon. Not wholly anything.
Its skin rippled like melted oil. It bore a crown of nails, and from its hands dripped runes — still alive, still bleeding.
Lucarion gestured lazily.
"The thief you seek. He burrowed into my thoughts once. Thought he could hide the Seal here. In me. I kept him. Because I admire boldness. Even in vermin."
The creature dropped to its knees. It held out a glowing orb wrapped in thorns.
Ramiel didn't move to take it yet.
"You expect me to thank you?"
"No," Lucarion said. "I expect you to remember. You walk on my grace."
He took a step forward. The mirrors closed behind him.
"I could dissolve you with a whisper, Ash-Walker. I could unravel your pact. I could let Hell devour you. Slowly. Piece by screaming piece."
Ramiel's expression never changed.
"Then do it."
Lucarion stopped.
"I dare you," Ramiel said quietly. "End me. Prove your pride isn't just theater."
Lucarion said nothing. But something in the room changed. The air pulled inward, as if the Crown itself was holding breath.
Then Lucarion smiled.
"Still such fire. Still so foolish. Very well."
He snapped.
The talisman flew into Ramiel's hand.
Ramiel turned to Alec. "We're done."
Lucarion's voice followed.
"You'll burn, Djinn. If not by my hand, then by this realm. Hell finishes what it starts."
Ramiel paused.
Without turning, he said:
"You've mistaken patience for victory before, Lucarion. You lost Heaven that way. Don't lose Hell too."
Turning slightly Ramiel spoke " From darkness blacker than darkness, emerge and purify that which is impure"
A portal formed.
Ramiel and Alec vanished into it, the Seal burning between them.
And behind, Lucarion sat once more on the throne of mirrors — his smile gone, his gaze not on the portal...
...but on the mirrors that no longer showed Ramiel at all.