Decadence

by Matthew Ashworth

  The fireball collided with Adelais and stopped him short. This gave Malakai an opportunity to begin attacking. As he began producing quick aggressive slashes, Adelais had no choice but to go on defensive once again. Within seconds Adelais caught Malakai by the hands during a slash and swung him to the side in order to throw him onto the floor. Malakai, however, countered that quickly and used his own momentum to throw Adelais onto the floor instead. Once Adelais fell down, Malakai slowly ascended into the air and charged up more energy in his off hand, creating a fireball.

  Adelais recovered and looked up. Malakai chuckled for a second and then tossed the fireball at his friend. Adelais momentarily dived aside as the fireball slammed into the ground, creating a small explosion. Malakai immediately created and threw another at where Adelais was now. Adelais dived away once again, and then concentrated hard and took off into the air with incredible speed to tackle his friend down.

  Malakai got ready in time, and when Adelais approached, he slashed in his direction. Adelais evaded his slash, then swiftly produced an overhead one of his own and began rapidly attacking Malalai whilst both of them were airborne. Malakai continued defending for a while, and once he found the opportunity, he retaliated with a thrust of his blade. Adelais dodged aside from the thrust and produced a quick diagonal slash that once again sliced through Malakai’s armor and wounded him. Malakai ignored the sharp pain and then with rage retaliated with a swing to Adelais’ face. Adelais narrowly dodged that one, but then received the next one directly to his torso. The sword went through his armor and maimed him, knocking him backwards. Despite a powerful strike like that, Adelais did not fall to the ground, but regained his senses quickly and charged at Malakai through the air with an astonishing speed.

  Malakai shot a hasty fireball at him, but Adelais swerved out of its path in time. Just as Malakai began creating the next one, Adelais collided with him, and the two of them violently fell to the ground together. Adelais got up first and violently slashed his sword in Malakai’s direction. Malakai caught Adelais by his hands and then with all his might threw him over his head. Adelais made a flip in the air and safely landed onto the wall he was thrown at.

  Just as he focused his gaze at his friend, Malakai expelled yet another fireball out of his hand. Adelais jumped into the air immediately, avoiding the fireball, and spreading his wings at the peak of the jump to glide through the air smoothly. He then grabbed his blade with both hands and with all his force produced a powerful overhead smash downwards at Malakai.

  Malakai placed his blade on the path of Adelais’ swing in time, for if he had failed, he would’ve been cut in half. The moment Adelais’ blade collided with Malakai’s, Adelais was repelled backwards. Malakai recovered instantly and then used that opportunity to quickly fly into the air towards his friend. Just as Adelais recovered and was about to parry a strike coming from his friend, Malakai grasped him tightly and propelled them both even higher into the air, now hovering above the huge drop between the levels of the sector.

  - “You and I are very much alike, brother. Just let go and take a fall with me.” Malakai said to Adelais at that instant, and then he directed the two of them to dive sharply downwards, in the direction of the ground level, located 25 levels below.

  Adelais began resisting and trying to come off the grasp, but Malakai continued on holding to his friend with all his might. Eventually Adelais’ struggle began to work, and he was starting to come off his friend’s grasp. Malakai couldn’t hold him for much longer. The ground was only in sight but was still a long way down. He quickly began charging a lot of energy in one of his hands. Adelais was almost out by then. However, just as he was about to free himself fully, Malakai released all of the energy he had accumulated in one go. The sudden release of energy ended in a massive explosion, throwing them both in different directions with a violent force and even mildly damaging some of the internal structure of the sector.

  Chapter 20

  The Turning Point

  Azrael could finally see the sector at the distance and so decided to fly the remainder of the way. He, however, instructed the boatman to get to the sector’s docks and to wait till his return. Once the boatman understood, Azrael lunged into the air and headed for the Abode’s front entrance.

  Just as he was about to land, he heard a loud, resonant noise which shook the place. Azrael knew such turbulence could not have been good news and most likely involved Adelais. He instantly landed onto the solid ground and rushed towards the entrance into the cave of a giant mountain that was Abode of the Corrupted.

  The oni guards at the front attempted to stop him, but Azrael drew his weapon momentarily and spoke sternly:

  - “I am only here to retrieve one of my own who attacked this place. Stand aside or I’ll be forced to kill you.”

  The guards obeyed immediately and moved out of his way. Azrael gave them an acknowledging nod and then proceeded inside with all haste.

  After gaining his senses back, Adelais felt entrapped among the rubble. It was quite heavy, and he couldn’t move it in order to free himself. He waited for a few seconds and tried to collect some energy so that he could move it. First time he failed and felt that there was no use in trying. He then waited for a little longer and tried for the second time. This time he managed to push some of the heavier parts out of the way and then eventually punched his way through the lighter parts, bursting out of the heap eventually.

  Malakai was lying on the ground on the opposite side of the enormous chamber. This was the ground level of the Abode, the level with the main entrance. Above it was a long wide shaft via which both of them fell, and Adelais now saw how it looked from the bottom. There was a descent to the subterranean levels as well, but it was in a different corner of the chamber.

  Adelais began slowly making his way towards Malakai whilst clutching his blade. Several oni guards and primitive beasts arrived at the scene suddenly, surrounding him. Adelais was not in shape to fight them all off. He needed some time to regenerate. Malakai seemed to have heard the growling of the beasts and got back to his senses as well. After looking up, his gaze focused on Adelais, who was being surrounded by numerous guards and monsters. Fumblingly he got back up to his feet and picked his great blade up.

  - “You are insane, Malakai.” Adelais accused, “You could’ve killed us both.”

  - “As if we were not trying to kill each other beforehand.” Malakai called to attention whilst shuffling forwards towards Adelais.

  Adelais looked down at the ground at that stage. Now that his anger subsided, he realised how foolish he was to try and kill his own friend. He knew that Malakai might’ve acted selfishly, but that was not reason enough to attack him so ruthlessly.

  - “I have nothing else to say to you.” Adelais finally stated, still trying to figure out how to take care of the guards surrounding him.

  - “I’ll tell you again then. Join me. We can achieve so much together.” Malakai gave a proposition.

  - “No.” Adelais responded coldly, “I do not change my allegiance so easily. Give me a good reason why I should.”

  Before Malakai had a chance to speak, however, the two of them heard a yelling voice, coming from the front entrance corridor. Just as they turned towards it, they saw Azrael rushing into the chamber and stopping just behind the guards who were surrounding Adelais.

  - “Please stop.” Azrael said to everyone.

  - “Azrael, I am not finished yet.” Adelais told his commander whilst turning back to face Malakai.

  - “Adelais, you cannot do this alone. You must stop.” Azrael tried to reason with him.

  - “Then why don’t you help me?”

  - “We are not in a position to liberate the entire sector, Adelais. Surely you must understand that.” Azrael explained, hoping to change Adelais’ mind.

  Adelais looked down at the ground again, trying to make sense of what was happening and what he could do. He never was this confused in his life before. He knew what Azrael was
saying was the truth, but he couldn’t come to grips with it. He simply could not give up on the task that he set for himself.

  - “This is a suicide.” Azrael continued, “Don’t waste your talent away. You are still needed in your sector.”

  Adelais finally yielded to his friend’s advice and looked back up from the ground.

  - “So be it. I guess I have no choice but to quit.”

  He then gave one quick cold glance in Malakai’s direction before turning to Azrael and starting to walk towards him, past the guards. Azrael looked relieved that he managed to subdue Adelais finally.

  - “We’re leaving now.” He said to the nearest guard, “Please give Lord Astaroth my apologies about the mayhem that happened here.”

  The oni guard nodded in response and escorted the two dark angels towards the corridor and through the front entrance of the sector. As soon as Adelais and Azrael came out of the mountain and were on their way to the dock, Adelais spoke:

  - “So are you going to rebuke me now?”

  - “Not at all, Adelais. I do not do such things. I just hope that you understand your actions and learn from them.” Azrael replied calmly.

  - “I guess I just lost control. I am sorry about this.” He apologised to his friend.

  Azrael did not reply, but by the looks of it he sympathized with Adelais. The two of them continued on to the dock, and as soon as they reached the boat, a messenger flew up to them, grabbing their attention.

  - “Dark angels Azrael and Adelais, I have bad news.”

  - “What is it?” Azrael reacted.

  - “Your sector is under attack. A large army of creatures was spotted heading towards it, and as a result I was sent to warn you. They probably have reached it already.” The messenger disclosed everything.

  - “Who is attacking us?” Azrael wondered.

  - “It’s Lord Beelzebub again. This time it’s for real.”

  - “All right. Tell the others we’re on our way.”

  On that note Adelais and Azrael got onto the boat and headed off, hoping to reach their sector as soon as possible, even though their sector’s defences were very good and most likely would be able to repel the attack.

  Aurora overheard two dark angels in her sector mention what happened at the Abode, and she heard Adelais’ name being mentioned. Ever since then she was worried, and now her master was waging a war against Erebus sector for no good reason. Things weren’t making sense. She couldn’t quite comprehend why there was so much conflict happening.

  Finally she saw Malakai in the sky, approaching from the direction Abode of the Corrupted was located at. Without standing still, she rushed to ask him about everything. Just as she was about to fly into the air, she saw him descending and eventually landing onto the ground not far from her. Within seconds Aurora ran up to him and asked before even stopping:

  - “Malakai, what happened in there?”

  She then saw the state Malakai was in and got horrified. He had a few slices on his armor and his face was grim. She got a bit closer to him and tried to catch his gaze.

  - “What happened? Please tell me Adelais is still alive.”

  - “He is fine.” Malakai responded indifferently, “We had a bit of a fight.”

  - “Why?” Aurora desperately wanted to know.

  - “He found out about me changing sides and thought I betrayed him.” Malakai continued disclosing to her in an indifferent manner whilst heading somewhere.

  Aurora calmed down, knowing that Adelais was doing fine. She was glad that Malakai came back alive too. Hearing about a fight between them wasn’t so pleasing, however, even though she could understand why Adelais would accuse Malakai of betrayal. She felt the same way when she first found out.

  - “Where are we going now?” she asked Malakai as he kept persistently walking forward with a purpose of some kind.

  - “It is time, Aurora. Beelzebub has begun his attack. Things are about to change. We are at the turning point.” Malakai declared to her whilst still walking.

  - “I see.” She responded, deciding to stick with her dark angel commander on this.

  - “Now that I have you on my side, I need to mention this to Dugan and Ragnar as well.”

  The two of them got nearer to the main cave complex, but didn’t enter it. Malakai knew exactly where the dark angels from his troop were. The two of them continued a bit further, past the cave complex entrance, until they reached one of the guard towers nearby. In an instant they reached it, they flew all the way to the top of it. It appeared that just as Malakai predicted, Dugan and Ragnar were there, looking out onto the nearby areas and making sure everything was in order.

  - “Ragnar, Dugan, I have something to say.” He alerted them.

  Aurora landed right next to him and quietly listened to the conversation.

  - “Malakai, we’ve heard about what happened at the Abode. It is good to see that you’ve made it.” Dugan spoke.

  - “Don’t worry about it. There are bigger things happening right now.”

  - “What do you mean?”

  - “I’ve come to tell you that I am no longer serving Lord Beelzebub.” Malakai put it straight to the point.

  - “Why?” Ragnar couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  - “For tactical reasons.” Malakai evaded the question, “You have a choice now. If you trust me, you can join me. If not, you can stay with Lord Beelzebub.”

  Dugan and Ragnar were lost and didn’t know what to do. This proposition took them by surprise.

  - “Aurora already joined me.” Malakai let them know.

  - “Well… in that case the two of you are no longer my allies.” Dugan finalised his decision, “I am going to stay.”

  - “Me too.” Ragnar agreed.

  - “Are you sure about this? This is the last time you’ll get to make this decision. From here on you can’t change your mind.”

  - “Yes, I think I’ll stay. I am sorry.” Dugan insisted on his former choice.

  - “Suit yourselves then.” Malakai said apathetically, even though Aurora knew it pained him to lose two of his trusted soldiers.

  On that note he turned around and flew off. Aurora followed right after him, leaving the two of her former comrades behind. Dugan and Ragnar did not attack their former commander, for they had respect for him, even despite the fact that they declined his offer to betray their current master.

  Whilst in the air, Aurora flew closer to Malakai and asked him:

  - “So where to now?”

  - “To the Pandemonium.” He answered without hesitation.

  Chapter 21

  Under Attack

  Ethel, Lazarus, and other Erebus units were in a meantime preparing for the attack. Their messengers spotted the invasion and warned Hades. The time was short, but they were ready beforehand, and hence the defences were in order.

  Now that the army of attacking boats and creatures was sighted, all of the sector’s dark angels and other defenders formed ranks at the side of the sector the attack was coming from, waiting for the enemy to get closer. The variety of creatures in the attacking army was very diverse. Not only there were reptilian crawlers and giant flies, as last time, but also large arachnids, centipedes, locusts, and hornets. The multitude of all those hideous creatures looked horrifying and chaotic.

  Most of the Erebus guards stood right behind the main gate, positioned in numerous rows. There were several catapults on the battlefield too, ready to launch large rocks at the enemy. The dark angels of the sector were scattered along the wall, watching the attackers and letting the rest of the army know how close those were by using various gestures.

  - “We are going to get run down.” Lazarus stated when he saw the wave approaching.

  - “Don’t be so negative.” Ethel responded whilst turning in his direction, “There are a lot of them, but that is all they’ve got on us – the numbers.”

  Lazarus went quiet after she said that, and she could see that he partially agreed. Two
other angels who stood in the vicinity heard that too. Every dark angel of Erebus except for Adelais and Azrael was there.

  The first creatures to reach the sector were the flies and hornets, as they were airborne and were not slowed by the river. When those reached the Erebus walls, every single dark angel spoke the signature phrase “Thy will be done” and finally flew up into the air. Once in the air, they all charged at the approaching monstrosities. The flies were not a problem, as they could withstand very little damage and their only means of attack was biting. The hornets, however, could bite and were armed with a sting, as well as being able to fight on after receiving substantial damage. Nevertheless, for the most part the dark angels were fast enough to evade the stings and hence could bring down the hornets without much trouble. The erinyes joined them quickly and helped out, managing to hold the control of the air.

  However, the ground creatures were starting to reach the sector’s walls. The first ones to arrive were the reptilian crawlers, as they swam through the river, whilst all the others were delivered by big boats. Ethel quickly landed back onto the wall and signalled to the army behind the gate that the enemies had now reached their sector. As soon as she’s done that, she dived downwards and began trying to take out as many reptilian crawlers as possible without properly landing. Two other dark angels joined her, managing to destroy a few of many crawlers. The surviving crawlers began ascending the wall and getting onto the other side. There was very little point to barricading the gates, because all those creatures could easily climb over the walls, or fly over.