Decadence

by Matthew Ashworth

  Aurora was confused. She didn’t know who to listen to and what to do. Malakai just patiently waited and let her decide. Since she was still rather new in the Underworld, there weren’t many individuals she knew well and trusted. He was her most trusted figure whilst there, and therefore she would have no choice but to listen to him, or risk staying alone.

  - “Do you trust me, Aurora?” he asked after a long pause of silence.

  - “All right, I’ll do what you say, but I don’t want you hiding things from me. I want to be aware of everything.”

  - “And it shall be that way then.” Malakai confirmed.

  He then waited for a few moments in case Aurora had anything else to say. However, she was contemplating on the issue, and hence he turned around and continued in the direction he was initially going. He merely walked for a few paces when a messenger came to him.

  - “Dark angel Malakai, I have news for you.”

  - “What is it?” he reacted without glancing at the messenger.

  - “Alastor says there’s been an attack on Abode of the Corrupted. A dark angel from Erebus he says. He also says his master wants you to go and take care of the situation.”

  - “Only one dark angel?” Malakai found it unusual.

  - “So far yes, but there could be more on the way. From what we know, he’s been trying to free the prisoners.”

  - “Fine, I will be going there right away.”

  At that stage the messenger left him. Malakai was perplexed. It was unusual for someone to send a solitary dark angel to try and free the prisoners in the Abode. It was a suicide mission. That could only mean that the angel acted on his own free will. There was only one dark angel from Erebus he knew would do it.

  - “Adelais, what are you doing?” he quietly murmured to himself as he headed for the exit out of the cave complex and prepared to fly to the next door sector.

  Adelais was done with the top level and was now descending via slanted corridor to the level below. Most prisoners he freed, however, were still in their cells. The others only came out into the corridor itself, but did not try to flee from the place at all. They were scared and confused. They did not know the place well, and they did not know why they were suddenly freed. Adelais knew he didn’t have the time to hold their hands and lead them to safety. He granted them freedom, and now it was up to them to seize it.

  Despite most prisoners on the top floor refusing to leave the place, Adelais continued onwards and was now smashing the locks on the cells of the 2nd level from the top. Once again a handful of guards crossed his path, but he finished them with a couple of sword slashes each and resumed.

  Adelais just kept running and hitting the locks on his way, completely oblivious to what the prisoners did afterwards. He just set a goal for himself - to open every single cell door. Every once in a while he was attacked by the oni guards, but they were always in small groups, and hence he didn’t seem to have any trouble with them. This was until he finally came across a worthy opponent.

  Once Adelais got to about halfway through the corridor on the current level, he spotted a solitary figure standing right in the middle. Whoever he was, he looked like a guard, but he wasn’t an oni. He looked more like a demon. This demon resembled a human soldier, except his skin was blood red in colour, and his eyes were glowing with bright amber yellow. He wore a carmine coloured armor to complement the colour of his skin and carried a long sharp sword. By the mysterious individual’s confident posture Adelais could tell he was a skilled fighter and so prepared himself for a serious fight.

  - “I am Berith, of the Abyss of Nightmares sector.” The demonic warrior suddenly introduced himself.

  - “And I am Adelais, of the Erebus sector.” Adelais responded.

  This was a common greeting in the Underworld between two worthy fighters who met for the first time and were about to engage in a fight. It was a sign of honour and respect.

  - “I demand you stop this foolish parade immediately.” Berith went straight onto the issue at hand.

  - “I cannot do that.” Adelais stood his ground.

  - “Then it is my obligation to stop you by force.” Berith stated and instantly dashed towards Adelais.

  Adelais was fully on-guard and thus wasn’t surprised when Berith suddenly rushed towards him. He stepped to the side, narrowly dodging the opponent’s swiping blade and then produced a slash of his own. Berith blocked Adelais’ sword slash and then began thrusting his sword with incredible speed. Adelais had no choice but to start defending at that stage. Eventually Berith’s attacks went from stabs into swift and short-ranged slices. Adelais continued backing away whilst blocking those, and then, during a break in the combo, he began attacking in a similar manner. Berith parried the strikes without trouble. However, Adelais quickly delivered a high kick in the middle of a combo to Berith’s face. The demon warrior stumbled back, but recovered instantly and dashed at Adelais once again. The moment Berith dashed at him, Adelais flew up, successfully dodging the dashing attack and then bringing his sword down in an overhead manner. Berith rolled out of the way in an instant, and as a result Adelais struck the ground instead. Before he had time to recover, the demon soldier delivered a solid punch to his face with his off hand. Adelais fell back, but jumped to his feet immediately and on time to block a deadly slash coming towards him. As soon as he blocked Berith’s sword hit successfully, he resumed attacking, producing wide horizontal slashes. Berith easily dodged the first two, but then Adelais slashed diagonally and managed to strike his opponent on the sword-wielding hand. Berith’s hand tore off at the wrist and fell onto the ground, quickly turning into a vile liquid.

  - “This isn’t over.” Berith said menacingly, and then, without Adelais realising, he jumped over him and pounced onto one of the freed prisoners in the corridor.

  Adelais quickly reacted and ran to stop the demon from hurting the innocent soul. However, Berith grabbed his victim as a hostage and threatened to torture him. Adelais knew that whatever Berith could do wouldn’t kill the victim as he was already dead, but it would cause a lot of pain, and Adelais didn’t want to cause unnecessary pain onto others.

  Then, in a blink of an eye, Berith bit into the victim’s neck and a second later let go. Though he bit for a split second, he managed to consume some of the victim’s energy. He stood back up to his full height immediately after and lifted his wounded arm up. Within moments the hand grew back, leaving no scars behind. Adelais figured out straight away that Berith could rapidly regenerate if he consumed the energy of others. Berith might’ve struggled to pounce on Adelais this way and to drink his energy, but they were surrounded by innocent souls, all of which potentially provided almost an unlimited supply of energy for the demon.

  - “Where were we?” Berith said here and then momentarily rushed for his dropped sword.

  Adelais reacted instantly and ran to cross his path. Berith managed to reach his sword first and picked it up. However, Adelais was already in a middle of a swing by the time Berith lifted his weapon off the ground. He barely blocked Adelais’ strike, but then got kicked in the torso and finally received a slash to the left leg. Losing his balance, Berith fell to the ground.

  - “This ends now.” Adelais said, and then, without feeling any mercy for the atrocious demon, he overhead swung his blade in order to finish him off.

  Berith, however, reacted quickly. As soon as Adelais swung, he spat a splash of blood-like liquid at his face. The spittle disoriented Adelais for a brief second, but that was more than enough time for Berith to turn himself fully into a mass of swirling crimson fluid and to fly off with incredible speed from the area.

  Adelais cleared the blood-like liquid from his face and realised that his opponent was long gone already. He wondered for a brief second why Berith attacked him. It seemed he must’ve been helping to guard the Abode from the forces of the Creator. Without caring to think about this any further, Adelais shrugged it off and resumed his mission. Every second was precious.

>   Chapter 19

  Duality

  Azrael was still on the boat, making his way to the Abode of the Corrupted. The boat only just reached the river Lethe. There wasn’t much left, however, and soon he knew he’d arrive at the destination. Azrael tried to sense Adelais once again and could still feel his presence, what meant that Adelais hadn’t perished yet. Azrael often managed to tackle problems calmly and with patience, but now that Adelais was in such danger, he kept feeling anxious, hoping he wouldn’t arrive too late.

  He tried not to blame himself for ignoring Adelais’ worries about the souls in the Abode. Adelais often expressed dissatisfaction on certain missions, but he never acted upon it. He never rebelled. This was the first time it happened, and hence it took Azrael by surprise.

  - “Just hang in there, Adelais. I’m coming to help.” He said quietly whilst staring far ahead, waiting for the Abode to appear in view.

  Adelais destroyed the locks on every cell door on the 2nd level from the top and was now descending to the 3rd level down, feeling proud with how much he’d done. Nevertheless, his mission was far from over, and he had much more to accomplish yet. Strong thoughts of doubt began plaguing his mind. He began consistently questioning himself of whether he was doing the right thing. He wondered maybe it would’ve been better to attack the sector’s leader, Astaroth, instead. Handling a deity all by himself, however, was going to be difficult, and Adelais was not sure if he could do it. He felt a lot of conflict in his mind, but he tried his best to shun doubting thoughts away and to continue his task.

  Momentarily, when he began freeing the souls on the 3rd level, he felt a familiar presence. He was just about to put a face to the individual he was sensing, when he saw a dark angel soaring upwards from the levels below and heading in his direction. Adelais stopped what he was doing and lowered his blade, watching the dark figure fly up to his level. It was Malakai. The moment he reached the level Adelais was at, he spread his wings and stopped ascending, only then to land onto the walkway corridor. He and Adelais glanced at each other, and neither took their eyes off another. Malakai then took a few steps forward, so that he could converse with Adelais, but left a substantial gap.

  Adelais wasn’t saying anything. He didn’t know what to think. He wasn’t sure why Malakai came here. A mixture of feelings surfaced in his mind and he was lost. Malakai eventually spoke:

  - “Adelais, you must stop what you’re doing.”

  Adelais quickly looked down, realising Malakai came to impede his progress as opposed to lending a hand. After a slight pause he looked up at Malakai again.

  - “Malakai, get out of my way.”

  His response was shocking to Malakai, but he didn’t think he was being unreasonable.

  - “If I will let you continue, you will get yourself killed. Leave these souls be. They are fine as they are.”

  - “Don’t try to fool me, Malakai. I know what you’ve done. You went over to the other side, and as a result these souls are now the victims of demonic forces.” Adelais told him straight out, not holding back even a bit.

  - “I understand, but I strongly suggest you stop. You’re exacerbating the situation by the second.” Malakai advised him.

  - “Shut up! You’re the reason this situation was created on the first place, you traitor!” Adelais exploded at his friend, feeling raging heat deep inside, ready to erupt into a full blown fight.

  - “I did not betray you, Adelais! I only betrayed my master, and I wish you’d hear me out.” Malakai retaliated in a hope that his friend would give him a chance to explain.

  - “You’ve always been like a brother to me. Why would you join the Pandemonium and stir up conflict? Why?” Adelais demanded to know.

  - “Aren’t you tired of all the oppression? In here it’s no different to the External World. Your so-called superiors are no different to the corrupt human warlords and certainly not any different from Lucifer himself. They all want to control you. Nobody will present your freedom to you as a gift, Adelais. You have to fight for it if you want it.” Malakai offered him a suggestion.

  - “Why is freedom so important to you? What do you plan to do with it once you achieve it?” Adelais couldn’t understand Malakai’s obsession.

  - “Once you have freedom, you can do everything. There is nothing weighing you down.” Malakai justified.

  - “Then stop taking mine away. Move out of my way or prepare to be knocked down. I will not hold back.” Adelais warned him, even though he knew with every part of his soul he was exaggerating it.

  - “I’m sorry, but I will not.” Malakai declared and took his great blade out, ready for a fight, “I request you to please abandon this foolishness and come with me. You and I must join forces.”

  - “I will not be a traitor to my friends!” Adelais stated boldly, and a second later charged forward to begin the fight with the one he always considered as his closest friend.

  Malakai quickly got into a battle stance and waited for Adelais’ first strike. Adelais rushed with all speed, fuelled by anger he was experiencing at the time. Upon reaching Malakai, he pounced forward and produced a forceful swing with his long sword. In response, Malakai placed his blade in front of himself in order to block the strike. As soon as their blades collided, both dark angels rebound off each other. Nevertheless, both of them recovered immediately and began duelling with one another using their blades. Adelais was attacking aggressively at first, attempting to strike his friend down with repeated violent vertical swings. Malakai, however, parried one of them and produced a sharp thrust kick which hit Adelais in the stomach. The moment Adelais fell down from the kick, he jumped back on his feet, only to see Malakai jumping onto him with an overhead swing. Adelais stopped the strike with his own blade and began attacking once again. He produced a high horizontal swing, which Malakai avoided by ducking, but then Adelais began kicking and using all of his limbs once again. Malakai dodged all hits successfully, but eventually got elbowed in the face and stumbled back.

  Adelais stared at him there and waited, hoping Malakai would come to his senses and get out of the way. Despite his hopes, Malakai did not even budge. Instead, he charged to continue the battle. Now Adelais had to go on the defensive as Malakai produced rapid deadly swings with his great blade. Despite Malakai’s blade being almost twice as heavy as Adelais’, Adelais could manage to stop every impact successfully without stumbling back.

  As Malakai continued producing high swings, Adelais suddenly dropped to the ground and kicked Malakai really hard on the knees, forcing Malakai to lose his balance and to fall forwards. Despite that sudden move, Malakai didn’t lose himself and instead jumped back up whilst kicking Adelais in the face, causing Adelais to flip once backwards and to end up on the ground.

  Once again Adelais got back on his feet quickly and saw Malakai in midair attacking. He blocked instantly and then continued defending as Malakai kept delivering more strikes. Adelais focused on Malakai’s moves at that stage, studying them, and within seconds he began successfully dodging them within a hair’s width.

  After successfully evading half a dozen swings from his friend, Adelais delivered a sharp horizontal swing that cut through Malakai’s armor and injured him on the torso. Malakai backed away in response, but Adelais continued and followed his efficacious sword slash with another. This one was vertical and landed Malakai on the shoulder, delivering more pain.

  The pain Malakai felt got quickly channelled into energy, and he momentarily shot a fireball from his hand that struck Adelais and exploded in his face, causing him to fly backwards and to land roughly.

  Malakai stood up, trying to withstand the pain. Adelais did the same, though the ache he felt from the fire blast subsided quickly. Being betrayed by his best friend, however, continued causing him suffering.

  - “I did not know you were this rotten on the inside, Malakai.” Adelais yelled at his friend.

  - “I am not rotten.” Malakai responded immediately, trying not to reflect the insult b
ack at his friend, “I am just not your conventional type of good.”

  - “You aren’t good by anyone’s standards but your own.” Adelais commented, trying to point out to his friend his evil ways, “It worries me that you’ve gotten your definitions of what’s good and what’s not muddled up.”

  - “It’s not a muddle. It’s my sincere opinion. Why don’t you create your own path too instead of blindly following orders given to you?” Malakai put forward a question.

  - “I do create my own path. It’s just my ways do not cause suffering to others.” Adelais justified himself.

  - “Your ways cause suffering to you personally, and I shall do my best to free you from it.” Malakai responded with a small degree of annoyance and then charged forward to continue the brutal fight.

  The moment Malakai got close and swung, Adelais produced a swing of his own. Upon the collision, both ended up striking each other on the torso. Malakai got up first and pounced on his friend, thrusting his blade forward. Adelais rolled out of the way and jumped back on his feet. Malakai’s sword stab missed, and now it was Adelais’ turn to attack. Adelais produced a couple of horizontal slices, which were blocked with ease, but then he kicked his friend in the body, forcing him to stumble back a few steps. Malakai charged up some energy in his hand at that stage and immediately threw the newly formed fireball at Adelais, who was already in a middle of a pounce.