When Lucifer returned to the Forgotten Bookstore again, besides the fury all over his face, he was clutchering a black diamond in his hand. This time, he consciously sat down by the window and slammed the black diamond on the table, then exclaimed, "This damn fool is out of his mind!"
Shiller finishing tidying up the last few books scattered on the ground, then turned to look at the black diamond before asking, "Bruce brought back a similar diamond before, what is it?"
Lucifer's face darkened, he remained silent for a moment before he spit out a name, "Spirit of Wrath, also known as Sky Corrosion."
"Oh?" Shiller uttered a syllable to express his interest, he placed the book back onto the shelf, then sat across Lucifer, waiting for him to clarify.
"As you know, in ancient times, God wanted to spread His prestige and needed a certain deterrent. Hence, God's Punisher's position was born, while the Spirit of Wrath, God's incarnation, was the first Punisher. This position was later taken over by the Spirit of Revenge."
"I hadn't paid much attention to what happened afterwards. I only heard that the Spirit of Wrath was sealed by the Spirit of Revenge and has been silent for many years."
"I couldn't believe that Gabriel was so audacious. He smashed the seal of the Wrath Spirit and used it to wound Wheat."
Lucifer clenched his fist and with a hint of self-reproach said: "Gabriel has always wanted to find my weakness in the human world. The people he sent to the bar last time were all probing. I was careless."
Then he sighed and said: "The power of the Spirit of Wrath is very special. The wounds caused by its seal contain this special power. The healing process of the wounds will cause great pain. Gabriel wanted me to get angry and lose my dignity, chasing him like a mad dog."
Shiller smiled slightly and said: "He wants to pull you into his lowly territory and defeat you with his vast experience. Will you let him succeed? Or should I say… don't you want to teach him a lesson?"
Lucifer's face was terribly gloomy. He painfully pressed his thumb into his palm and said: "I don't have many friends. Over the years, the number of people who have managed to maintain a friendship with me is even fewer. Wheat is almost akin to my soulmate, but very few people know about it."
"Gabriel probably thought she was just one of my lovers when he hurt her without any scruples, but I have to make him pay an equivalent price!"
Lucifer took a deep breath, his jaw trembled a little. Even though he maintained his elegant posture, the veins on his neck were clearly visible. He looked at the table and pondered for a while before looking at Shiller and said: "You guessed it all, but you didn't remind me, so you planned to make me do as you suggested."
"You don't need me to remind you." Shiller shook his head and said: "As long as you are active in the human realm, it's inevitable that there will be friends you care about. Even if they're just casual acquaintances, Gabriel has ways to torture them one by one. All you can do is follow him, feeling the pain of your friends."
Shiller stood up and stepped behind Lucifer, placing his hand on the back of Lucifer's chair, then on his shoulders, and said earnestly: "Don't live like Constantine. That's exactly what Gabriel wants. He and Constantine are the same kind of people."
"They have never been noticed, always the alternatives. So when they do wrong, they will try all means to make you feel the same pain, become the source of disasters in your friends' eyes, and make everyone stay far away from you."
Shiller leaned forward to Lucifer's ear and said: "The greatest bravery isn't to fall from grace, but to return to Heaven after the fall. What you will gain from the comfort of the angels and God will be your best weapon. You have to hold it tightly and then thrust it into the enemy's heart."
"Enough." Lucifer took a deep breath and said: "Don't tempt me, I won't become insane like you...damn it, aren't there enough madmen in the world?"
Then he stood up, walked to the door, turned around and glanced at Shiller. There was hesitation in his eyes, but finally, he said: "I…I'll go back and think about it."
When Lucifer turned and left, Redhood was sitting on the steps of the stairs. He seemed unfazed, then asked: "Okay, who's this big shot? Don't tell me he's really that Lucifer."
"Exactly, that's him, Lucifer Morningstar."
Redhood covered his eyes and said: "You're tempting a Devil to deal with an Angel; the method is to make him become an Angel again. Is there something wrong with it?"
"Lucifer will make the right choice." Shiller's voice was always calm. He took a sip of water, walked to the window, and looked at the iron-grey London street.
This is an excellent hunting ground for vampires because even if it doesn't rain, the sky is still gloomy and dark, without any sunlight.
Bruce, who had just stepped out of the BBC headquarters, saw a familiar figure at the street corner. He walked over and asked Constantine, who was smoking in the corner, "John, why are you here? Haven't you gone back to the bookstore?"
"I'm waiting for you." Constantine exhaled a puff of smoke and looked up at Bruce and said: "Aren't you asking me to help you find a vampire? I originally caught one, but that cunning rat managed to escape. Unfortunately, I was hurt."
Bruce frowned and stepped forward. He pushed Constantine's upper body back to see a long wound on his abdomen.
Constantine gasped a little, blew off a smoke ring and said: "Just my bad luck, but that guy didn't escape either, he turned into ashes under Midnight Daddy. I might have to find you another one."
"It's not necessary." Bruce shook his head and said: "That part is already completed. But you better lie down. It's not good to cover the wound like that."
"I'm fine, can you give me a hand?"
"What I mean is, even if you cover this wound with your hand, it still leaks everywhere. I guess you've never studied anatomy; wounds caused by vampire claws don't look like this."
Constantine fell silent, without any sign of making a move. Bruce kneeling before him asked, staring into his eyes, "Who are you? Why have you come to me?"
"I heard that you're looking for the Black Diamond, do you know what it is?"
"I don't."
"Really? Didn't you feel its immense power the moment you touched it?"
"What are you up to?"
"It's the Spirit of God's Wrath. The Dark Heart that sealed it has shattered, and thus it broke into a thousand pieces, scattered throughout the world. If you can find it, you can acquire tremendous power."
"Then what?"
"It seems like the Spirit of Wrath has already told you these things. What I need to tell you is that even if you gather these thousand fragments, you can't completely restore the Dark Heart. These diamonds of great power will bewitch ordinary people, making them its puppets to commit multiple sins, leading the world into disaster, forever unrest."
Constantine sighed lightly, "I'm Gabriel. The Black Diamond I gave you earlier should make you realize how powerful and dangerous this thing is, and you will surely try your best to retrieve it."
"Unfortunately, you've adopted the most foolish method, which is to let ordinary people search for you. Once they get bewitched, disaster follows, and you can't restore the Dark Heart and re-seal the Spirit of Wrath. The sacrifices made by your brethren will be in vain. This will be your sin."
"Among these thousand fragments, there's a crucial piece known as the Core Fragment. Only with that, is it possible to reconstruct the Dark Heart."
"So, where is this Core Fragment?" Bruce asked cooperatively.
Gabriel revealed a mad grin, he ripped open his shirt to reveal his chest, and at his heart, we see a black diamond radiating a purple glow. He looked up at Bruce and said.
"The Core Fragment is here, in your friend Constantine's heart. If you take it, the energy source powering this dead man's corpse will disappear, and the body will turn completely to ashes. Even if the soul returns from Hell, there would be absolutely no chance of revival."
"And if you don't take it, you will never be able to seal up the Spirit of Wrath again, and innocents will die because of you."
"Make a choice, Batman." Gabriel tilted his head and spoke, "Either leave the Core Fragment and keep the body intact for your friend to have a chance of resurrection, or use it to reseal the Spirit of Wrath and prevent possible casualties?"
Bruce's expression suddenly became a bit complicated. As Gabriel, residing within Constantine, was savouring this moment, Bruce's expression shifted to a peculiar one again.
Bruce clenched a fist to his mouth, coughed heavily a couple of times, escalated his tone and asked, "I didn't quite get that, could you repeat what you just said?"
Gabriel frowned deeply, he stared at Bruce coldly and said, "Don't play with me, human boy, you can't possibly not understand."
"What did you say? You want Batman to make a choice?" Bruce raised his voice even higher.
"What are you up to?!" Gabriel demanded.
Bruce glanced upwards at the roof next to them, but it was out of Gabriel's line of sight. Gabriel frowned and said firmly, "Yes, you must make a choice now, is it the lives of ordinary people or your friend's intact body?"
" I didn't catch that, could you say it again?"
"Are you deaf? I said, I'm giving you a choice!!!!" Gabriel shouted angrily.
With a "whoosh", a gust of wind blew through the alley. Gabriel's eyes grew wide as he saw a cloud of blood mist condensing behind Bruce.
"Vampire?" Gabriel frowned, then snarled with a disgusted expression, "Damn rat, get lost!"
But after the blood mist had consolidated, it was not the gloomy and indifferent face of a vampire that appeared, but a gigantic grin.
Bruce instantly stepped back, retreating from between them, then pointed at Gabriel and said to Cain the Joker.
"It's him! He's the one who just asked me to make a choice!"