Melancholy Wings: Decadence (25 page)

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“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.

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“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:

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“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.

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

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“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.

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“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.”

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

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“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 patiently. 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.

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“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.

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“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.

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

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“And additionally, there is still a murderer running loose in the External World.” Ethel reminded them about Garridan.

After that, none of them said anything and just continued gazing far ahead into the distance, contemplating and imagining what would happen next. Adelais’ face still remained grim, but somehow he kept feeling strong and refused to give up all hope.

Malakai finally arrived at the first Western gate in Pandemonium. The guards there recognized him, but did not budge to open the gate doors.

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“Open the gate!” Malakai demanded, “I’ve done what was asked of me and need to see Alastor immediately.”

The gate guards obediently rushed to open the gate. As the gates swung open, Malakai went through and headed for the next gate. Alastor told him that once the mission was complete he was to meet with him just past the second gate. He didn’t specify where exactly, but Malakai was confident he’d find the demon general.

 When he approached the second gate, he yelled at the gate guards again, demanding they open it. One of the guards rushed off somewhere to confirm that Malakai was allowed entry. Malakai was getting impatient, but he could understand their protocol. When the guard came back, the second set of gates opened, and Malakai proceeded inside.

 When he entered into the grounds past the second set of gates, he began looking around, wondering where Alastor could be. To his surprise, Alastor was standing on a roof of one of the smaller structures. He didn’t signal to Malakai, but just stood silently and watched. Once Malakai spotted him, he flew into the air and headed for the roof as fast as he could. Alastor continued standing motionlessly and watching him. As soon as Malakai landed, he saw Aurora on her knees, not far from where Alastor was standing. She looked rather ailing and weak.

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“What did you do to her?!” Malakai asked Alastor with intense anger when he saw what state Aurora was in.

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“We forced her to enter that same cave you did after you left.” Alastor replied indifferently.

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“Why? She is not yet ready for that. Her mind is very fragile.” Malakai got perturbed.

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“Good. Then it would put up with less of a fight.” Alastor responded.

Malakai turned away from Alastor coldly and knelt down to see how Aurora was doing. She kept shaking abnormally and staring at the same spot. Malakai tried to catch her gaze, but she wasn’t responding.

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“Aurora, can you hear me?”

No reply came from her. Malakai felt exceedingly enraged with Alastor, but tried not to show it. He just knew that he had to keep a closer look on Aurora and to make sure that he never left her alone with the demon kind. They were not to be trusted, even if he was now working with them.

 He tried calling Aurora again, but she continued gazing blankly into space and shaking from time to time.

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“She will snap out of it soon.” Alastor suddenly spoke again in a nonchalant manner, “Just an initial shock.”

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“What is that power exactly?” Malakai asked as he stood back up and walked over to Alastor.

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“It’s the profane energy of the Void itself, one that manifests itself when someone is deeply suffering or in great torment, which is then accumulated in specific locations in the Underworld.” Alastor disclosed to him, “The more times you’re exposed to it, the more deeply rooted it will be, and therefore the longer its effects will last.”

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“I see. So now that I killed Beelzebub, what’s next?” Malakai changed the subject.

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“It’s too bad that we had to eradicate him. We could’ve used another ally. Nevertheless, there are still other sectors remaining. As far as I am concerned, the action has only begun.” Alastor declared triumphantly and struck the bottom part of his hammer’s handle against the ground as he often did.

Malakai took his words on board and then walked away from him, leaving Alastor to rejoice to himself. He then walked up to Aurora and tried to pick her up from the ground. She wasn’t shaking as much now, but she continued to ignore what was happening around her. He realised that he would have to start taking responsibility, even though he hated doing that. Since he technically still was Aurora’s commander, he had to help her advance in fighting and also to see what special ability she showed the most inclination to. On the surface, the two of them were in the same team as Alastor and all the other demons, but in reality, Aurora and he were only on their own team.

END OF PART 1

Bonus Feature

Sectors of the Underworld

Key:

Name – the name of the Underworld sector

Leader – the deity in charge of the sector

Guards - infantry guardians native to the sector

Name: Abode of the Corrupted

Leader: Astaroth

Guards: Oni, reptilian crawlers

Name: Abyss of Nightmares

Leader: Paimon

Guards: Shadow warriors, void varmints

Name: Den of Retribution

Leaders: Mantus and Mania

Guards: Custodians – scouts and wardens

Name: Dis

Leader: Dispater

Guards: Imps, fiend sentinels

Name: Erebus

Leader: Hades

Guards: Machai, erinyes, hellhounds

Name: Gehenna

Leader: Moloch

Guards: Goblins, troglodytes

Name: Helheim

Leader: Hel

Guards: Valkyries, landvaettir, dark elves

Name: Infernal Pit

Leader: Beelzebub

Guards: Giant flies, spiders, locusts, hornets, centipedes, reptilian crawlers, and bipedal reptilian guards

Name: Limbo

Leader: Mammon

Guards: Rock golems - small and big

Name: Netherworld

Leader: Belphegor

Guards: Black serpents, acephali

Name: Pandemonium

Leader: Lucifer

Guards: Demons (various types)

Name: Purgatory

Leader: Yama

Guards: Yokai – assassin, archer, aerial