Gabriel's return was not marked by thunder or fire—but by silence.
He stood atop a ruined mountain that hadn't existed moments before. The wind bent away from him, and even the light refused to fully settle on his form. Where he walked, the ground did not crack or yield, but listened.
He carried more than power now.He carried truth.
But there was one more trial left—one not given by gods or angels, but buried inside himself.
As the tattoo on his back flickered and etched anew, his knees suddenly gave out, and he collapsed into the earth, breathless. A voice—his own, and not—rippled across his mind.
"You are not whole."
A mirror of fire rose from the ground, reflecting not just his face, but his soul.
From it stepped a figure wrapped in white, armored in divine gold. Six wings of light folded behind his back. His face was Gabriel's, but cleaner, clearer—ageless.
"I am the first Gabriel," the figure said. "The angel you were named after. The essence you buried long ago."
Gabriel stood slowly. "You... were always inside me?"
The angel nodded. "I am what remained when your soul was fractured. When the Final God cast your true nature into shadow to protect it from the other gods. I am your purity. Your divine instinct. I am your last guardian."
Gabriel reached out, touching the mirror that pulsed between them. "And now?"
"Now, we merge."
There was no explosion. No bright light.
Only stillness—as two halves became one.
Memories surged. Battles never fought. Words never spoken. And above it all—the truth: Gabriel was not a descendant of gods.
He was a parallel to them.
A being forged not by divine blood, but by divine opposition.
When Gabriel opened his eyes again, his aura had changed.
Not brighter.
Not darker.
Simply... absolute.
The Unwritten One had given him trials not to empower him—but to prepare the universe for what was coming. And now that he had merged with the angelic part of himself, he no longer feared corruption or imbalance.
He was balanced.
He was Gabriel Entire.
Merlin, Aziel, and Nyra felt his presence before they saw him. The skies above the realm shimmered, and a deep, ancient bell tolled once—without sound.
Merlin whispered, "He's done it. He's found the reflection."
As Gabriel stepped through the veil of reality, not even the angels of Olympus could deny his presence.
They knelt.
The gods watched from their thrones, silent and still.
Only one dared remain standing—Lucifer.
And yet even he flinched when Gabriel met his eyes.
Gabriel didn't speak.
He only raised his hand—and the glyph of the Final God, now fully awakened on his back, pulsed once.
The world shivered.
He turned, cloak rippling behind him, and disappeared with a thought—returning to Merlin, Nyra, and Aziel, as though he had never left.
His eyes were calm.
But his voice, when he spoke, was steel beneath silk.
"We're not done."