Melancholy Wings: Decadence

by Matthew Ashworth

  - “Lord Beelzebub doesn’t want to see you.” Dugan suddenly said after a long pause.

  - “We do not want a fight. We just need to negotiate.” Azrael calmly responded to him.

  - “That is none of our concern. We follow our master’s orders, and he said not to let anyone through, especially the four of you.” Dugan retorted apathetically.

  - “Come on, let’s not make this any more complicated than it already is. We will fight through to him if we have to.” Azrael stated with a slight imperative tone in his voice.

  - “Guards, kill them right now!” Dugan gave a sudden command here, preferring to completely ignore everything Azrael said.

  All of the guards that stood next to Dugan and Ragnar charged forward at the dark angels of Erebus. Azrael and his team had no choice but to fight back. The first two guards fell within a handful of seconds, and so Dugan and Ragnar decided to join as well to help them out. Dugan ran to attack Adelais, producing a swift horizontal swing in his direction. Adelais blocked the slash and then began delivering swings of his own. In a meantime, Ragnar went for Azrael, seemingly because he thought it was most fair if he attacked another axe-wielder. He, however, forgot that Azrael had centuries’ worth of combat expertise. Azrael swiftly evaded his first swing and countered with a shattering axe blow to Ragnar’s side. Ragnar got knocked to the side like a rag doll and landed onto one of the guards. The injury he obtained was rather severe. Nonetheless, he still decided to get back up and to carry on fighting, except there Lazarus struck him in the face with the back end of his pike in order to knock him out. Ragnar stumbled a bit, but did not get subdued and instead began attacking Lazarus. His swings were way too slow due to his wound, which allowed Lazarus to deliver a single well-placed stab in his torso, effectively finishing him off.

  Adelais and Dugan continued their blade duel, whilst the other dark angels were still finishing off the guards. Dugan was rather good with a sword, but he wasn’t as fast and precise as Adelais. Eventually Adelais parried a couple of his strikes and followed that up with a swift slash across Dugan’s stomach. Dugan realised he was about to perish and hence quickly pounced on Adelais in order to stab him before that could happen. Adelais dodged to the side in time and managed to use Dugan’s momentum to throw him onto the hard ground.

  Dugan was still writhing from pain on the ground, but could not get back up. Azrael and the others took care of the guards by then and approached Adelais. Adelais couldn’t leave Dugan in such horrible state and so momentarily stabbed his blade in his opponent’s torso.

  - “I am so sorry, brother.” He spoke as soon as Dugan closed his eyes.

  Adelais and his comrades then headed into the chamber at the end of the tunnel, as Dugan’s and Ragnar’s bodies were taken into the Utopia with a bright beam of light. Although the two defeated angels were inside a cave when that happened, their physical bodies quickly dissolved into pure energy which could pass through anything.

  The chamber Azrael and his team entered after that was the last one, and in it was a huge double door leading into Beelzebub’s private room. The chamber, however, looked deceptively empty. Adelais could see that his commander could sense that something wasn’t quite right.

  - “What are we waiting for?” Adelais suddenly asked him.

  - “If this is Lord Beelzebub’s chamber just beyond those doors, then where are the guards?” Azrael pointed out suspiciously.

  - “We’ve just taken care of the guards.” Adelais reminded him.

  - “Those were temporary guards, whom he placed here because of the conflict happening right now. But where are the permanent guards?” Azrael explained.

  - “I think we should proceed with caution.” Ethel suggested at this stage.

  - “I’ll test it out. Please watch my back in case of anything.” Adelais volunteered to go first.

  He began nudging towards the doors bit by bit, whilst Ethel, Lazarus, and Azrael followed directly behind him. Adelais was relatively sure they’ve taken care of the guards, but he also knew that his commander rarely made wrong judgements, and therefore he tried to be very vigilant. When halfway through the chamber, everything was still tranquil. He began taking slightly bigger steps, but nevertheless kept a careful lookout for any danger.

  Just as he got a little closer to the door, the three of them heard a faint noise, and the ground shook a little. Adelais quickly figured out that something was coming directly out of the floor. The moment he realised that, the carnivorous worm burst out of the ground. Adelais’ quick reactions saved him, as he jumped back, away from the worm’s huge jaws, just before they clamped together.

  Azrael reacted very fast too. As soon as the worm burst out, he darted forward and brought down his heavy axe on it. The blow he delivered killed the creature instantly, allowing everyone to finally stand down.

  - “You were right, I guess.” Adelais said to his commander once he came to his senses.

  Azrael just nodded back, and the four of them walked right up to the big double doors, which swung open on their own accord.

  Chapter 25

  Lord of the Flies

  As soon as both doors swung open and the dark angels went inside the massive room, they saw a repulsive sight. The entire room was filled with giant insects, in particular flies, and other similar creatures, as well as their nests, cobwebs, and cocoons. In the very centre they saw Beelzebub. He was standing straight and glaring directly back at them, as if he was expecting them.

  Azrael and his team walked forward a bit so that they could converse with Beelzebub. He kept watching them closely without saying anything. When they stopped moving any closer, he began:

  - “I knew you would come. Perhaps I shouldn’t have wasted precious fighters by placing them in front of the door.”

  - “We did not come here to have a war.” Azrael clarified straight away, “We want to stop the hostility.”

  - “You say that after my mighty creatures destroyed your sector’s defences. Even though I lost a lot of battle units, you are in no position to tell me what to do.” Beelzebub retaliated with discontent.

  - “Malakai turned you against us.” Adelais suddenly stated, making sure to be loud and clear.

  - “I know what he did. I still cannot come to grips with how it is possible that I, the leader of Infernal Pit, was fooled by a mere foot soldier.” Beelzebub responded.

  - “Then we can end this conflict. We aren’t interested in waging war against you, and you aren’t interested in doing that either.” Azrael called to attention, “Why don’t we reach an agreement right here, right now?”

  It looked that Beelzebub took his words on board and began thinking through them very carefully, as if hoping not to get caught out. His thinking was interrupted shortly, as he sensed another presence. The dark angels saw him gaze at the doors into his chamber and followed suit. Those swung open and a solitary individual flew inside. The individual was Malakai, and by the looks of him, he was ready for a brutal fight.

  - “The traitor is here as well.” Beelzebub noted, “I am surprised you even had the guts to show up here. I could have you dismembered in a matter of seconds.”

  - “Or so you think you can.” Malakai corrected him whilst bravely walking closer to his former master.

  Adelais and the other Erebus angels kept patiently observing the altercation between Beelzebub and Malakai. They were hoping to make peace with the Infernal Pit leader, but Malakai’s sudden entrance could completely change the situation and provoke a fight.

  - “Tell me, traitor, why did you abandon your post? Was it really that bad here?” Beelzebub asked him with scorn in his voice.

  - “That’s because you are weak, Beelzebub.” Malakai justified himself with an answer his former master didn’t seem pleased to hear, “You are weak and pathetic.”

  - “If you think you have any right to call me weak, then I demand you step forward and fight me to the death.” Beelzebub challenged him daringly.

  - “T
hat is exactly what I’ve come here to do.” Malakai was delighted to hear that.

  - “Lord Beelzebub, let’s reconsider all of this.” Azrael attempted to stop the fight, but Beelzebub refused to listen.

  - “No more talking! Take your peace elsewhere. This fight doesn’t concern you.” He exploded at Azrael and then swiftly turned his gaze back on Malakai.

  Malakai at that moment lunged into the air, towards Beelzebub, and thrust his blade at him. Beelzebub stepped aside with an unearthly speed, avoiding the stab, and within a fraction of a second he ripped open the cloak that he was wearing. Having done that, he now could spread all four of his insect-like arms, as well as wings, and to partake in a full out fight.

  Azrael rushed to interfere into the fight between them both, but Beelzebub momentarily instructed for all the flies in the room to attack him and his team. Azrael was forced to pull back and rejoin with the rest of his dark angels, whilst Malakai and Beelzebub continued battling.

  - “This isn’t good. They will end up killing each other.” Azrael said to his fighters right after smacking the first fly that attacked him.

  - “I don’t think there will be any peace now.” Adelais stated negatively whilst dodging the next fly.

  - “We should at least save ourselves and leave.” Lazarus suggested.

  - “I am not going anywhere until this is resolved.” Azrael disagreed.

  Adelais and Ethel seemed to share Azrael’s opinion and it appeared that Lazarus didn’t want to leave his comrades behind and hence stayed to fight the hoard of flies as well. Whilst all the flies were swarming around the four Erebus dark angels and attacking them from all sides, Adelais noticed some arachnids and smaller centipedes attempting to strike Malakai whilst he was fighting with their master. He found that to be unfair and therefore immediately started running to where they were fighting.

  - “Adelais, where are you going?” Ethel asked when she saw him running off.

  - “I am going to help Malakai.” He briefly turned around to tell her that and then continued.

  Ethel didn’t argue and merely carried on fighting the swarm of flies next to Azrael and Lazarus and casting shields when necessary.

  Malakai began diligently slashing his great blade at Beelzebub, without any regard for the insects and other vermin in the room. Beelzebub had no weapon on him, but he had a huge arsenal of unique attacks. Whilst Malakai was slashing at him, he just kept swiftly manoeuvring out of the blade’s path. Once Malakai stopped to rethink on his strategy, Beelzebub spat a corrosive substance at him. Malakai rolled out of the route of the streak, avoiding getting spat on, and then instantly swung at his former master again.

  At that second he spotted Adelais with a corner of his eye, rushing to join the battle. He feared that Adelais was still angry with him and came to disrupt his task to kill Beelzebub. In a quick motion, he kicked Beelzebub, forcing him to stumble backwards, and then turned to face Adelais.

  Adelais swung his blade with all might and struck the spider that was about to attack Malakai from the side. Malakai noticed what happened and felt slightly relieved. Adelais gave him a reassuring nod, indicating that he would cover his back from the creatures whilst he fought Beelzebub, on which note Malakai turned back to continue the fight.

  Beelzebub was dashing at him once again, this time spitting a blob of sticky substance. Malakai moved his head out of the way of the flying glob and then resumed violently slashing his blade at Beelzebub. Eventually Beelzebub got tired of constantly dodging and decided to take to the air. His insect-like wings began to oscillate with incredible speed, and he took off into the air slowly. Malakai looked up and instantly flew up as well. The moment he reached Beelzebub and attempted to slash at him, Beelzebub darted through the air speedily and latched onto Malakai with all six of his appendages. Since he was slightly bigger and heavier, he forced Malakai back onto the ground and pinned him down. In response, Malakai stuck his hand out to Beelzebub’s face and shot a blast of scorching flames. Beelzebub was thrown backwards, his face burning intensely. He quickly spat an unusual liquid into the air around him. Within moments the flames got extinguished and he gazed back at Malakai with fury. Malakai was back on his feet, smiling.

  - “I will burn you to a crisp.” He threatened.

  - “Wishful thinking.” Beelzebub retaliated and darted towards him again.

  Just as Malakai ran at him too, one of the big arachnids got on his way. He was about to stop, when Adelais rammed into the spider and tossed it aside, clearing the way for his friend.

  When Malakai and Beelzebub reached each other, Beelzebub cast a sticky web and shot it in Malakai’s direction. Malakai jumped over the threads of the web and landed onto Beelzebub. The two of them grappled each other with force and took off into the air. Once airborne, the two of them flew irregularly around the room as they held onto each other and tried to deliver punches. Eventually, after a short struggle, Beelzebub pushed Malakai against the wall and momentarily attempted to bite his throat. Malakai moved his head out of the way quickly and pushed Beelzebub off himself with both feet. As soon as Beelzebub was thrown backwards, Malakai charged at him through the air and readied his blade. Within the moment he caught up with Beelzebub, he thrust his great blade into the enemy’s body and grasped him with the other hand, as the two of them continued falling down.

  There was a powerful impact when both of them landed onto the ground. Malakai emerged on the top, with his blade still inside Beelzebub’s torso.

  - “This is the end of your reign, lord of the flies.” Malakai announced to his former master, who was now rapidly passing away.

  He then crudely took his blade out of Beelzebub’s torso and watched him start to break down into an agglomeration of small pieces. The last spider in the room attempted to jump on Malakai from behind there, but Adelais knocked it off its course and stabbed it through the exoskeleton. Malakai swiftly turned around to the noise and saw his friend standing up to face him.

  Chapter 26

  Prepare for the Worst

  Adelais stood motionlessly and kept staring in his friend’s eyes, not knowing what to think anymore. Malakai was returning the gaze for a few seconds and then suddenly spoke:

  - “Thank you, my brother. It was a good fight.”

  At that instant Adelais’ friends had dealt with every single pest in the chamber and had joined him. Adelais didn’t turn around though.

  - “Where are you going to go now, Malakai?” he asked slowly, his voice sounding rather quiet.

  - “Back to my home sector…” Malakai replied as he put a hand on Adelais’ shoulder, “…the Pandemonium.”

  Adelais expected an answer like that, but still it hurt quite a bit emotionally having heard his friend say that. He looked down hopelessly and refused to say anything else. Malakai seemed to have understood that Adelais didn’t want to respond and consequently took his hand off his shoulder and ran towards the room’s exit. Azrael and the others didn’t stop him as he ran past them. As a result, he disappeared out of view very quickly.

  - “Don’t worry about it, Adelais.” Ethel came up to him, trying to comfort him, “He still has goodness left in him. I don’t think he joined them for good.”

  - “I can only hope so.” Adelais turned to her, his facial expression looking quite bitter.

  - “We should probably get going back to our home sector.” Azrael finally announced, “Since this sector’s leader is now dead, its creatures no longer have allegiance to it. We will need to send a messenger to Lord Hades about it before anyone else decides to claim these creatures for themselves.”

  Adelais agreed, and the four of them exited the chamber and headed back up the long tunnel, eventually making their way out of the cave network. Azrael made sure to mentally summon one of the messengers to his current location whilst still in the cave, so when they exited it, the messenger was already approaching him.

  As Azrael went to converse with the messenger, the others stopped and waited patie
ntly. Adelais looked out into the distance and got lost in his thoughts again, thinking of where the current events would go from there. He also realised that Aurora must’ve been with Malakai too, since they hadn’t encountered her during their assault on Beelzebub. He felt horrified even more, imagining all sorts of atrocities that could happen to Aurora in the Pandemonium. Adelais had only known her for a short while, but it felt as if it was a lot longer than that. He knew very well that she was an incredibly benevolent individual, and being in Pandemonium could only mentally traumatize her. He was experiencing a terrible anguish at that moment, and if the angels had tears, then a few would’ve been running down his face.

  - “It appears Lucifer finally put his plan in motion.” Lazarus said here as he stepped forward to Adelais’ right.

  Adelais nodded in agreement, but didn’t say anything.

  - “Looks like we might need to prepare for a hard battle.” Ethel came up to Adelais’ left.

  Once again Adelais nodded, but didn’t respond.

  - “We will need to warn other sectors about it too.” Lazarus added.