“Speak!” demanded the Cherubim as he started to unsheath his sword.
Before the sword was a third of the way out of its sheath, Jarahmael cut through Paimon and the other nine Cherubim severing their bodies with five fast and well-aimed cuts from his two light swords. Rather than explode as he had witnessed the demise of the Angels struck by the arrows earlier, the ghostly images of their shapes appeared to leak out of their body parts, reassemble themselves, rose up and disappeared, leaving remnants of their severed light bodies before him.
Better not leave any evidence that there was an attack here, Jarahmael thought. Let me try the Crystal Prism. He sheathed his swords and reached into his tunic and then took out the prism. Aiming it at their bodies he called out the words of the inscription. Immediately, the parts of the bodies of the ten rebel Cherubim were swirling like wisps of smoke, then silently pulled into the prism. He looked at the prism knowing it contained what was left of those rebel Angels. What happened to the rest of them, the images that floated up and away higher into the Heavens?
That gives me some time, thought Jarahmael. Tidy weapon too, as nothing is left here in the entrance way to indicate any fight occurred here. I need to move fast though, as it won't be long until more of Luciferael’s rebels head this way.
Chapter 17
BREAKTHROUGH
The battle for the Sixth Heaven was taking longer than Luciferael had projected. He knew that it would be a tough fight to get through the remnants of the loyal Cherubim in the Sixth Heaven but still thought that he would greatly outnumber them and overcome their resistance fairly quickly. Especially since Luciferael had a third of the Angels in Heaven concentrated and under his control.
The other two thirds of Angels were spread across the Earth working on the nine pyramid projects and only small portions of each order of Angels were left in each of the Seven Heavens. Amassed in a force, his rebel Angels should have already been in control of all the Heavens. On this, the second day of the rebellion, he had the Fifth Heaven definitely under his control and was close to conquering the last resistance in the Sixth and Fourth Heavens simultaneously. Another two or three days, he thought, and the Heavens and the Universe would be his. Then he could depose the Almighty once and for all and become the Almighty himself.
He had received word from Beelzebael that Jarahmael had fallen attempting to break through the defenses in the Fourth Heaven. Those building-type Angels are not to be underestimated, Beelzebael reported back to him. But Luciferael was not worried about them at all. It was only a delay.
Luciferael was also sure that neither Beelzebael nor Suriel were concerned with the loss of Jarahmael. In many ways, that would make things simpler for the final conquest. The other Archangels loyal to the Almighty would realize that they too could perish, and it would reinforce Luciferael's view that the Almighty was not concerned about any of the Beings of Light, just those Humans and Simians. The loyal Angels would at some point also realize that it was Luciferael who was more concerned about the Angels and placed them above the Humans, not the other way around as the existing Almighty was doing.
To be fair, Luciferael would give the loyal Angels the opportunity to join with him when they surrendered or were captured, just as he had with Ariel and Jarahmael.
Standing behind his army in the Sixth Heaven, he was becoming frustrated that his rebel army continued to be bogged down battling the Cherubim who defended the Cathedral of the Cherubim. He could have his rebel legions sidestep the Cathedral and go directly to the Seventh Heaven, as there were not many Cherubim here in the Sixth Heaven to stop him. But he thought better of it. He wanted the weapons that remained within the Cathedral if for no other reason than to prevent the loyal Angels from getting their hands on them.
But the loyal Cherubim proved to be tougher than he anticipated. He decided that the only way he was going to cut through the Cherubim's defenses was to use the energy from the Potentate Angels to increase his own force. Calling a few Potentate Angels up to where he was, he utilized their internal stores of energy and was able to drive the loyal Angels from the Cathedral using the amplified sounds of the trumpets. It was an innovative approach, magnifying an existing weapon using the stored energy of the Potentate Angels, but a gamble that worked. It seemed that nothing could withstand those amplified weapons!
The first rebel Angel who entered the Cathedral reported back to him.
“My lord Luciferael, most of the weapons that had been in the Cathedral are gone,” said one stoic-faced Cherubim.
“Gone?” responded Luciferael. “How could that be? We had removed what weapons we needed prior to the rebellion, but left the rest. There has not been anyone here, or has there been?”
“Not that any of us know of, my lord. But we were unable to capture any of the loyal Cherubim to question them. They have withdrawn back to the western side of the Sixth Heaven and reset defenses over there.”
Luciferael thought for a moment. Even if the loyal Angels were able to acquire the weapons, he had attacked upwards and Beelzebael had started his attack downwards in the Heavens at the same time. They never would have been able to move the weapons past either of the sections of his army without his knowledge. Most likely, the weapons had been moved upwards into the Seventh Heaven. There were not many Angels in the Seventh Heaven who stayed during the day under normal circumstances, as it was home to the fourteen Archangels alone. The Seventh Heaven would fill up for the morning ceremony or when the Almighty would come to hold audiences with all the Angels, but they all dispersed to the lower Heavens and other parts of the Universe afterwards. Only a few Angels would be left behind to do some assignments in the Seventh Heaven. Luciferael also felt reassured that even if the weapons had been moved into the Seventh Heaven they would not be of much use, as there were not enough Angels remaining in the uppermost Heavens to fight back effectively and repulse Luciferael’s rebel Angels.
To be on the safe side, Luciferael dispatched a squad of rebel Cherubim and sent them off to secure the entrance to the Seventh Heaven.
As he thought about it further, Luciferael decided that he needed to make sure that the Throne Room was secured as well. He did not want anything to be missing from the Room nor leave the possibility that the Almighty would be able to simply reoccupy the Throne Room, try to hold out in there and remain in charge. He had a plan and summoned the Archangel Damiel for a special mission.
“Lord Damiel! I want you take a contingent of Angels and go up to the Seventh Heaven and secure the Throne Room for me. I have sent a squad of Cherubim ahead of you to secure the gateway into the Seventh Heaven. They will be near the entrance. Have them assist you in securing the Throne Room. I will follow with a larger force to deal with any other Archangels who remain in the Seventh Heaven.”
“When would you like me to do that, my lord?” Damiel asked, expecting that it would be in a day or two.
“Now!” said Luciferael.
“Yes, my lord Luciferael,” Damiel responded. “I will prepare at once!”
“I will follow shortly,” Luciferael said. “First, I need to go and see how Beelzebael is doing in his attacks on the lower Heavens. Do not fail me!”
Damiel then went out and selected ten of the nearest Angels. He told them to follow him and they flew off into the skies over the Sixth Heaven, heading upwards.
Luciferael then flew to Sammuael's legion. They had been doing most of the fighting with the loyal Cherubim around the Cathedral in the Sixth Heaven and were tattered from the fray.
“Lord Sammuael, I want you to finish securing the Cathedral here. Tell Mammonael to take his legion and go after the retreating Cherubim. They will most likely take position in the defenses built over on the western side. They, too, must be exhausted and I think they will need to regroup and will not be able to launch any further attacks today.”
“Yes, my lord Luciferael,” Sammuael said. “Where will you be?”
“I am going to reinforce Beelzebael. I have reports th
at he continues to have trouble breaking through to the lower Heavens. Reinforcements and my presence may make that easier. We need to expel the remaining loyal Angels from the Heavens and destroy those Simians and the Humans. The sooner the better. I want to take over the Seventh Heaven properly. I have sent a couple of small forces up there to secure the area, as there can't be much of any opposition available up there. I will return to claim the Seventh Heaven once I know Beelzebael is again on the move. Secure the remaining weapons here. Rest if you can, your legion deserves it.”
“Thank you, my lord Luciferael,” Sammuael responded.
Luciferael flew off and away from Sammuael's legion and by-passed Mammonael's. He then collected the remaining ten legions of the various Orders of Angels and they followed him in flight and stayed in formation while descending through the Sixth Heaven and down through the Fifth Heaven.
Luciferael confirmed that the Fifth Heaven was still secure. He caught a glimpse of Ariel still under guard as he passed through. Almost forgot about him, he said to himself. I will deal with him once this rebellion is over.
Upon entering the Fourth Heaven, Luciferael saw that after almost a whole additional day’s fighting Beelzebael had still made little progress getting through the maze-like defense put in place by the Dominion Angels. Beelzebael still could not get more than a single file group of Angels into the entranceway.
Suriel saw Luciferael and his legions coming through the sky towards them first, and spoke to Beelzebael.
“Lord Beelzebael, it looks like lord Luciferael is here and on his way to you. I hope he was not turned away in his fight upwards to the higher Heavens,” Suriel reported.
Beelzebael responded quickly, “Perish the thought, Suriel. Lord Luciferael, I am sure, has won the day!”
As Luciferael approached he saw Beelzebael's legions standing around seemingly lost.
Luciferael landed by Beelzebael and Suriel, who were standing near the walls of the maze at the gateway between the Fourth and Third Heavens. He was angry that all of those legions were stuck and unable to get to the lower Heavens and the Earth to finish this conquest.
“I see that you have not progressed much further, lord Beelzebael,” he said.
“No, we haven't, lord Luciferael. I have been unable to get through the defenses put up by the Dominions.”
“How have you attacked them?” Luciferael asked.
“We can only put warrior Angels through the maze in a single file, and have been unable to breach the walls around the entrance way. We even lost the Archangel Jarahmael that way!”
“That was quite a loss. Lord Jarahmael may have been able to assist in recruiting Michael's factions of Archangels,” Luciferael said sadly.
“I never trusted him much,” said Suriel.
“Sometimes the bigger the reward, the bigger the risk required!” Beelzebael added.
“All right, enough of this,” Luciferael said. “Let's get on with it.”
Luciferael turned as Mephistophael landed near him. “Lord Mephistophael, bring me Crocell and Taap of the Potentates.”
“Yes, my lord Luciferael,” Mephistophael said as he turned and flew off again.
Luciferael looked into the structure that was before him. Touching it, he could feel that it was firm and more solid than just light waves.
Mephistophael returned with the two Potentates, Crocell, a huge green orb and Taap, a huge red orb.
Their voices created a low rumble when they spoke.
“We are here, lord Luciferael,” rumbled Taap. “What can we do for you?”
Luciferael pointed to the path into the open roofed tunnel system that stood before them and said to the two Potentates, “Move over there, I want to see if you two will fit within the walls.”
Grumbling, the two of them moved in front of the tunnels and Luciferael saw that they would indeed fit but only individually, not side by side, even though it would be tight.
“I want the two of you to follow me into the tunnels here. Since you can’t follow me side by side I want one flying low, the other flying high. When I stop, I want you to provide me with your potential energy in order to amplify the sound when I blow through the trumpet.”
“What will that do?” asked Beelzebael. “Those walls haven’t yielded to anything we have tried and we did try the horns, hammers, swords, spears, mace, and even the harps.”
“You will see!” said Luciferael. Now pleased with himself that he could once again show his superiority over the other Archangels, he continued, “Beelzebael, Suriel, Mephistophael get your legions ready. I want to attack forthwith once these defenses fall. I suspect that the remaining Dominion Angels and Principalities who are preparing to defend the Third Heaven feel secure that these defenses will hold. Once we break through into the Third Heaven, the loyal Angels will be in disarray and we should be able to sweep ourselves right down through the Heavens — maybe take a slight breather in the Second Heaven. Then it’s off to conquer the First Heaven and the Earth. We should be there far ahead of the Almighty’s return, and will be established with our own defenses by then.”
Beelzebael took off and flew over his legions as did the other two Archangels, and the body of the army slowly straightened itself up in anticipation of what was to come next.
Luciferael flapped his wings a few times and shot up into the sky and watched as his army of rebel Angels strengthened itself. He thought it was magnificent to behold.
Confident that his army was ready, he folded his wings along his sides and walked in the tunnel with the trumpet before him, the red and green faced orbs bobbing in the space behind him, stacked on top of one another.
A number of minutes later, confident that he was well within the walled defense of the Dominions' Fourth Heaven, he brought the trumpet up.
“Power me up now!” Luciferael commanded the Potentate Angels.
Rays of energy flew off each of the Potentates and into Luciferael's shining body of light. It became brighter and brighter as he waited patiently for it to build within him. He could feel the energy flowing fully into him, strengthening him, radiating off his skin. When he felt that it could not get any stronger, he raised the trumpet and blew with all of his amplified energy and force.
For Beelzebael and the first rows of his legion, the sound was beyond deafening. It shattered the walls and dispersed them into a flash of light, and bouncing off the defenses’ walls as they crumbled the sound waves ricocheted backwards, knocking down Beelzebael and his front ranks.
Similarly, the sound from the horn went through to the loyal Dominion Angels in the Third Heaven, hitting those who had been manning the walls of the defenses and fighting the rebel Cherubim as they came through. The sound threw many of the loyal Angels back down from the edges of the Fourth Heaven into the Third Heaven. It also displaced the ranks of those Principalities who were acting as reserves and assembled on the uppermost clouds of the Third Heaven. They, too, were knocked back off their clouds and cast down to the grounds of the Third Heaven.
As the Principalities were falling, they could see the rush of the rebel Angels pouring through from the Fourth Heaven into their Heaven. The sound remained deafening as Luciferael did not stop blowing the horn even after the walls had dissolved, aiming the sounds at the Third Heaven below to ensure the loyal Angels could not assemble a counterattack.
The rush of the attack took the Dominions and Principalities by surprise. For although the Order of the Principalities Angels tried to hold their Heaven, they could not defend themselves without weapons, and the torrent of rebel Angels was so fast and furious there was no way that they could hold their ground. For those Angels who still could move, the remaining Dominions and Principalities headed into the Second Heaven, knowing that they had better retreat to the First Heaven and regroup there.
The loyal Potentate Angels at first did not realize what had happened as they watched the loyal defenders of the Dominions and Principalities rout right through their Heaven, fleeing to get t
o the First Heaven. It was clear that the loyal Angels had not been able to hold back the rebel Angels. No one of the loyal Angels knew how the rebel Angels had blasted through the massive defenses that the Dominions had assembled in their Heaven. As far as they knew all of the Heavens above belonged to the rebel Angels.
The only option for the Potentates who were still loyal to the Almighty was to flee along with the other two orders of Angels. Better to flee now and come back to fight another day. Abrackus, the leader of the Potentate Angels in the Second Heaven, transmitted instructions by thought to those Potentate Angels still there.
"Downward! Downward!" he ordered.
Racquie, the next highest ranking Potentate Angel brought up the rear of those remaining, and as he looked back at his beautiful Heaven, he could see Luciferael and the rebel army, coming through the Second Heaven. Upset that his Heaven was now being overrun for a reason he did not know or understand, he felt terrible that the Potentates were unable to escape and became captives.
Luciferael caught the glowing orb of a Potentate and when he looked into the Angel's face he could see the anger within its eyes glaring at him.
Rather than make Luciferael feel badly, it gave him strength and empowered him. “Hate me if you must, but I will be the next Almighty,” he said aloud to no one in particular as he flew with strong, broad stretches of his wings. Immensely pleased with himself, Luciferael had now managed to conquer the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Heavens. The First and Seventh Heavens were there now just his for the taking. It had been a good day.
Chapter 18
AN UPDATE FROM ABOVE
Michael woke up the next morning and it took a second for him to remember where he was. He had never slept outside his own palace before. The other Angels were still asleep around him except for Volac. As Michael got to his feet he saw that Volac was already up and looking upwards towards the Heavens.
In Rebellion (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book II) Page 11