22

The cries of war filled Lucifer's ears immediately. A horde of angels came after his subjects, their swords and spears clashing with one another's. The archers from atop the arena did not hesitate to shoot their arrows at unexpected opponents and soon after golden dust began to fill the air. Lucifer smiled broadly. He knew his angels had more advantage over the warriors of heaven, he had no fear. Instead of joining in the fight, he simply went to sit beside Michael's body which had not moved from its place. Surprisingly, he was still conscious but his hand was slowly withering away. Any angel that attempted to come at Lucifer did not even make it past the center of the arena as Lucifer's allies struck them down with haste.

The cherub pretended as though the sounds of the angel's cry were but a lullaby and focused his attention on Michael, who was glaring with all his might. Lucifer scoffed and raised an eyebrow in amusement, the ability for Michael to endure much pain was his doing and it pleased him to know i paid off finally as he could watch him die slowly.

"Does it not hurt?" Lucifer asked him even if he knew the answer. His voice was somehow louder than the clanging of metal and yells of angels in front of him. Michael frowned and grunted in response, earning a smile again from the Cherub's lips.

"You should commend me Michael. I finally brought some entertainment to this place. Can you imagine how boring this place had been, I'm surprised I stayed that long". He said again. Michael shifted uncomfortably on the floor and hissed in pain after the sword had shifted with him, cutting him deeper than before.

"That hand should be gone by now". Lucifer continued to tease. At this moment, a large angel came flying in their direction. With a wave of his hand, Lucifer sent the dying angel to the other side of the arena and sighed in irritation.

"T--that...." Michael attempted to speak. Lucifer brought his ear closer.

"Yes?" He asked.

"That was your angel you threw". He said, discontent laced in his tone. Lucifer stared at the angel, who was now a cloud of dust floating on the air, and shrugged.

"It is not my fault he came swinging this way". He replied nonchalantly. Michael clenched his only working fists.

"He was loyal to you".

"Ah perhaps he was. I gave him what he wanted which was freedom and he decided to use it to die". Then he paused. "Ah well, it's not like if he had refused to die for me, I'll let him live anyway".

Michael widened his eyes at Lucifer's words. He was beyond baffled that Lucifer could not care less about his own subjects. The next words he spoke basically sealed his fate.

"This very act is the reason you can never ever, no matter how you try to become like God or even become God". Lucifer's eyes flashed red immediately, Michael knew he had no chance of running, he was pinned to the floor. Lucifer did not raise a hand on him but rather snapped his fingers and Gadreel came towards them. Michael did not hesitate to raise a sword and try to stab Lucifer but his move was countered by Gadreel.

Lucifer released Michael from the floor by drawing the sword down his arm. His cries synchronized with the cries of the other defeated angels. Lucifer laughed with pride.

"Now this would be an interesting fight". Lucifer then turned to walk away but Michael's weak voice called out to him.

"You coward, you sent your guard dog to finish me off. If you're so powerful, do it yourself". Lucifer laughed.

"Oh Michael, you can't even beat the guard dog, so you don't have the right to talk". With a stiff nod to Gadreel, he vanished to the other side of the room watching closely. Michael was given no chance to defend himself as the now enhanced Gadreel decorated his face with punches.

Meanwhile, in another corner, Adriel was cornered by Nahamani and Beth. Amongst the two, Beth was a fighter and Nahamani was not. Still, she refused to run while her comrades died at the hands of Lucifer, not after what she had suffered.

"You really are hopeless, so hopeless that you had to send your singers and queens into battle". Adriel mocked them. None of the angels responded to her and she laughed at their serious faces.

"Your stances aren't even right". She mocked again. Beth scoffed.

"You spend less than a week training with Lucifer and your ego is as big as his head. You truly are headed towards destruction". She replied.

"Says the one who's on the losing team". Adriel proudly said. "You were doomed the day you spoke against Lucifer and now I will show you what happens to disrespectful angels".

"ENOUGH!" Nahamani yelled before coming to swing at Adriel. She easily dodged it and kicked Nahamani on her torso with her knee and a cry left her mouth, she fell to the floor immediately. Adriel's attention was focused on her.

"You!" She said with anger." I will have fun killing you".

As she made her way towards Nahamani, Beth lunged at her from behind. Adriel didn't even turn as she drew a sword out so quickly and blocked her. With a smirk, she pushed Beth back with so much force that she hit a pillar with her back. However, the angel quickly recovered from the attack and lunged for Adriel again. This time, she made some attempt in hitting her. Beth used her legs to hit the side of Adriel's head, her sword to create two slashes on her stomach and her forehead to bump against Adriel's. At the end of it all, Adriel's wounds healed so quickly like it had never been there and the only response to Beth's gruesome attack was a sigh of frustration from Adriel. Beth wanted to faint from exhaustion.

"You angels do surprise me. You are at a disadvantage and yet you strike with full force. Look at you now, almost out of strength and you couldn't make a dent on me. It's pathetic really". Adriel said while rubbing her temples. Beth comes at Adriel again, roaring loudly to gather strength but the effort was wasted as Adriel back slapped her to the nearest pillar.

"Like I said, pathetic". She began to stride over in Beth's direction but Nahamani grabbed one of her legs. Adriel's eyes turned red and she kicked the angel in the face.

"STOP INTERRUPTING ME!" She yelled.

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER?!" Beth yelled. Adriel turned to her again.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YO--"

Beth caught Adriel shut by throwing herself on her, the force made them both fly to the side of the arena which was already damaged and littered with golden clouds of dust. Beth quickly went on top of Adriel and slammed her head against the floor repeatedly.

"RUN NAHAMANI". She yelled from the distance. The angel in question used her bruised hands to support her weight as she glided on the floor. After a while, she gathered the strength to stand up but an angel came flying towards her and she fell to the ground to dodge the impact. She began to take deep breaths to steady herself and she looked up to view her surroundings. Her eyes began to well up with tears as she watched the angels fall under the swords of the enemy. At every corner, specks of dust filled the air, walls, and floors. Finally, her eyes settled on the frame of Michael. She gasped in horror as she saw him battered and his head under the feet of Gadreel with Lucifer laughing in the corner. If she did nothing, Michael would die a shameful death alongside the others but her problem was she could not go against the giant. With her hands clenched, she decided to do a maddening thing.

She forced herself to look away from Michael's body, struggling to stand up in the process. Lucifer had an enormous ego, if he wanted to kill Michael he would have by now. He wanted to mock him and show his dominance but Nahamani knew it wouldn't last long. She needed to create a distraction while she went away. She forced her wings out and flew into the air, she called a few angels to Michael's predicament and they rushed immediately to stall Gadreel. Nahamani then faced forward as she flew higher and higher into the clouds until she reached God's temple. The temple only Lucifer was allowed into.

The cherub knew that she was not summoned and God could kill her for trespassing. Yet, she had no other choice, her companions were perishing and she needed to know why the master refused to do anything and ask for his help. She needed to do something radical.

Her legs landed on the floor roughly because of the pain in her torso. The gates surprisingly were open and no guard was keeping watch. She walked in with caution still, because she knew she was in the presence of God. The floors were cold and she could hear no angels singing in fact, the whole hall was dark. It was like the darkness that befell heaven could be felt everywhere.

Nahamani fell to the floor and bowed her head even though she could see no one. The silence in the hall scared her more than Lucifer at that moment. She could not fathom what was going on. It was impossible that Lucifer's angels had come in here or were it that the maker was angry at her? While she pondered on these things, a bright light shone from the empty darkness in front of her. Nahamani still did not raise her head up. She noticed also that the floors were not lit with fire as Lucifer had told them once.

The light in the room flickered for a moment before spreading like a bomb throughout the whole hall, Nahamani had to close her eyes. She could not hear the angels singing but she knew that she was not alone anymore. God was watching her. A long silence engulfed the hall for a while before a soft, ethereal voice filled the room.

"Nahamani, I have been expecting you". The cherub's body filled with goosebumps immediately. Another silence took over and then God spoke again, this time Nahamani could have sworn he was smiling from where he sat

"Tell me, do you like the view?"