Sariel's feet barely scraped against the marble floor as he regained his balance, his hands casually smoothing his pristine suit. The smirk never left his lips, though there was a dangerous gleam in his eyes now, a challenge that flickered with malicious intent. He looked at Lucifer, unfazed by the rage that surged through his twin.
"You're so predictable, Lucifer," Sariel taunted, his voice smooth, like honey laced with venom. His eyes bore into Lucifer's, studying him with deliberate malice. "But you know... it's funny, isn't it? How you've changed. Once, you were so... above it all. So detached. But now?" He let the silence hang between them, savoring the tension. "Now, you let a mortal woman—Chloe—make you forget your place. Make you weak."
Lucifer's fists clenched at his sides again, his whole body trembling with the force of his restraint. His sharp, steady breaths filled the otherwise silent room, his eyes already glowing with a menacing intensity.
"You don't know a thing about me anymore," Lucifer snarled, his voice dripping with contempt as he took a step toward Sariel. His eyes, once a calm burning amber, were now igniting with the fire of his fury. "And you never will."
Sariel's smile widened at the challenge, his posture relaxed as though the building tension didn't even faze him. But there was a flash of something darker behind his eyes—an understanding, a recognition of the storm within Lucifer.
"Ah, but that's the thing," Sariel's voice lowered, the words slithering from his tongue like poison. "You think you're the only one who has learned how to control rage. I've had Eons to perfect it, Lucifer. I can be just as volatile as you." His smile twisted into something even darker, and his eyes—his eyes—flared to a bloody red, the color as dark and violent as the bloodlust that surged through him. "You aren't the only one with that trick."
A cold shiver ran through Lucifer at the sight of Sariel's transformation. His brother's power—so raw, so ancient—was suddenly palpable, suffusing the very air between them with a suffocating tension.
"You're nothing compared to me now," Lucifer growled, his voice low, a dangerous rumble building in his chest. The heat of his anger surged, burning away any semblance of control. His eyes blazed, now entirely red, the glowing embers of his rage reflecting the inferno within him. His face twisted with contempt, the veins in his neck pulsing as his lips curled into a snarl.
Before he could even think, Sariel's fist swung at him with brutal force, the blow crashing into Lucifer's side.
"That's for not visiting me in Hell for Eons," Sariel hissed, his voice sharp and mocking as the punch reverberated through the room.
The impact of the punch sent Lucifer stumbling back slightly, his body twisting from the force, but his eyes didn't lose their deadly glow. His chest rose and fell as he exhaled sharply, a slow smile playing at the corner of his lips, though the fury behind it was unmistakable.
"You really want to do this, brother?" Lucifer rasped, his voice thick with an intensity that made the very air quiver. His form was perfectly poised, his body coiled, like a predator waiting to strike. His blood boiled with the need for retribution, but his mind was focused, calculating. Sariel had just stepped into a trap.
Lucifer's movements were a blur as he reacted. His fist came up, fast and merciless, crashing into Sariel's chest with the same force as Sariel's own punch. The impact echoed through the penthouse, rattling the glass and shaking the very foundations of the space.
Sariel staggered, his expression flickering for a moment, but his smirk quickly returned. He wiped the blood from his lip, his expression cool and unreadable. "So quick to strike," he noted, raising an eyebrow. His gaze flicked over Lucifer's form with subtle interest, though his eyes—those eyes—were dark pools of blood-red fury.
With a sudden, brutal speed, Sariel swung again, this time aiming for Lucifer's jaw. The force of the punch was so heavy that the air seemed to crack as it tore through it, and Lucifer barely had time to react before the blow landed.
"And that," Sariel said, his voice deceptively calm, "is for keeping my daughter away from me."
Lucifer's head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, his neck snapping at an unnatural angle, but his eyes—his eyes—were burning with a rage that could reduce the world to ash. His fists clenched so tightly that the sound of his knuckles cracking was nearly drowned out by the sharpness of his breath. For a moment, there was only the wild thudding of his heart in his chest as his vision blurred with the heat of his anger.
"You've gone too far, Sariel," Lucifer spat, his voice thick with emotion, his face contorted in a mixture of fury and betrayal. His hand shot out with the speed of a serpent striking, grabbing Sariel by the throat and lifting him off the ground.
The world seemed to freeze around them, the city lights twinkling in the distance like the stars in the sky. But here, in the heart of the penthouse, it was a battlefield. Their eyes locked—wild and rage-fueled—but there was more than just anger between them. There was history, bitterness, and the weight of years spent apart, torn between their positions and their choices.
Sariel's hand shot up, grabbing Lucifer's wrist with unholy strength, his grip like iron, and for a moment, the two of them were locked in a deadly dance. Neither willing to give an inch.
Lucifer's chest heaved as he tightened his hold on Sariel's throat, his teeth gritted so hard it was a miracle they didn't shatter. But just before he could bring his brother to his knees, Sariel's voice, taunting as always, sliced through the tension.
"Not so fast, brother," Sariel rasped, his face twisting with sadistic pleasure. He pushed against Lucifer's grip, his eyes flickering with malicious intent.
The two of them were locked in a deadly contest of wills now, each struggling to assert their dominance. But neither of them was willing to back down, not now, not after everything that had passed between them.
The fight had only just begun.