26 Chapter 25: Archangel Zadkiel

[Millie Hotaru POV]

Millie and the Archdukes were all running all around the entire city in a panic.

Ifrit saying. "Come I want to show you all something!" Back in the castle was the word that made them feel panicked and worried.

All of the Archdukes spread out of the city and are finding what Ifrit wants to show them.

Before they ran around the city and started panicking, Ifrit said to them what he saw. "Heavenly ghouls."

Heavenly ghouls, a spirit that the Archangel Zadkiel used in the past war against them.

They are the counterpart of the normal ghouls, the bringer of life and the enemy of evilness and death.

They hate creatures like devils and undead, which is why they won't hesitate to kill even if their target is a demon child.

And also, those ghouls were former angels who have died.

They were revived and hired by the Archangel Zadkiel, because not only he's the Heavenly General of Loyalty, Zadkiel is also the Heavenly General of Mercy, which is why he can revive them at any given chance, but the downside is the one he revives are not fully restored and will remain as a different entity.

Even if they're not the same as before, the angels he revived are still fearsome enemies,

This is why the devils call them heavenly ghouls.

Now that those creatures are running amok in the entire city, there are 0 chances that the citizens of Hell wouldn't get casualties.

Millie who was with Luna and Dawn went to the southern district of the city and went above the roof of every building to look for their target.

And there it was, the three were looking at their target, a heavenly ghoul stalking its prey like that of a lion.

"Luna you'll go to its left, and Dawn go to its right, we'll apprehend it on three."

Counting on three, the three ran at the ghoul at the same time.

When they got near, the three used their skills to make their move faster to easily dodge any incoming attack of the ghoul.

The ghoul noticed the three coming, and it screams a strong shriek that made Millie, Luna, and Dawn's ears ringed.

After that shriek, a large group of heavenly ghouls suddenly appeared everywhere;

surrounding the three, they have nothing to do but fight.

All of the ghouls ran up to them and formed a large circle to trap the three, then ghouls that encircled them summoned a chain, and threw it to the three girls like a whip.

Luna used her scythe to try and hit every chain, but to her shock, every chain she hit passes through her scythe.

"What the-!?" Luna became speechless of what she saw, the chains of the ghouls enveloped Luna and constricted her entire body.

The chains moved toward Millie and Dawn too and constricted them both too tightly.

The three girls were shocked, for some unknown reason, the chain can pass through any objects, which is why their skills are ineffective to the chains of the ghouls.

The three were in fear when they got caught easily by them.

"It's like what the Archduke said, heavenly ghouls, are fearsome enemies that can rival an Archduke's power." That is what Millie whispered to herself.

The ghouls who captured them pulled them away and created a portal to imprison the three to their base.

Upon entering the portal, the three girls saw two Archangels ordering the ghouls around, and some normal angels doing work with them too.

Millie upon getting a close look at the two Archangels knew instantly who the two were. "Camael and Zadkiel, so those two are here working together to kidnap some devils..." Millie snickered angrily.

Camael heard the mumble of Millie, and looked at where the voice came from and seeing Millie, Luna, and Dawn here, Camael smiled with joy.

Zadkiel noticing the mysterious creepy smile of Camael; looked at where he was smiling at.

And seeing the three people the ghoul caught, Zadkiel was both speechless and shocked.

Zadkiel whispered to himself. "Even I'm surprised that my ghouls can do something like kidnapping the Princess of Hell."

Millie was furious from the smile of Camael and stared at him with an intent to kill him.

Camael saw the angered Millie, sighed and stop smiling, and went closer to Millie.

He looked at her back angrily, Camael said to Millie. "What are you looking at you filthy mongrel?" Slap!

Camael was angry from the stare of Millie, slapped Millie in the face very hard that Millie fell to her knees.

Luna and Dawn tried to help Millie stand up, but the chains from the ghouls are restricting them from moving.

Camael thrust his fist and tried for a punch but...

A strong force of wind came from Camael's behind and pushed him.

"What are you doing Camael?!" Zadkiel shouted angrily.

Camael stood up instantly and said in surprise. "What about you Zadkiel? Do you know what have you done? Firing at me, your brother?"

"Shut up!" Zadkiel went closer to the fallen Millie and kneeled at her, to try and lend her a hand to help her stand up.

"Are you okay?" Zadkiel asked Millie worriedly.

Millie noticed the hand of Zadkiel and slapped it angrily. "Don't touch me!" Millie said and stood up by herself.

Zadkiel was saddened by Millie's reaction, and stood up slowly and said to the ghouls. "Take them to the prison with the other Archdukes."

The three girls were shocked upon hearing that the Archdukes were also caught by the ghouls, and so they went silent for a moment to process what they've heard from Zadkiel.

When the ghouls have finally taken the three to the prison room, Zadkiel clenched his fist angrily at Camael and feeling apologetic to what Camael has done to Millie.

Camael looked Zadkiel straight in the eye and slap him too in the face. "Never do that again, or else I'll report this to our Lord."

Leaving Zadkiel behind, Camael created a portal and teleported to Satanael's secret base.

When he got there, Camael saw Satanael talking to Mammon.

"Oh Camael, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing, I just came here to visit you a bit."

"How suspicious, are you sure that's all you're gonna do?"

"*Sigh* Yes, and to guard you a bit to make sure that you won't oppose my Lord's order."

"Okay, you can go now Mammon."

Mammon walked to the door and looked a bit to his back saying something before leaving. "Camael, there's something odd about your behavior lately, are you sure that you're okay?"

"Stop the talking and do your work now, we don't want my Lord to be angry."

"I see... But as I remember I don't serve Yahweh, so why would I care if he's angry?"

"If you make him angry, you will not get what you want."

"Well, I guess that's gonna be a problem if that happens, then have a nice day, Camael." Mammon said while waving to Camael.

After closing the door from his behind, Mammon pulled out a book and wrote something on it.

"Next goal: Find Camael's secret base." Closing the book, Mammon smiled while looking at his book.

"I wonder what lies in your base Camael? It's easy to read you, so be careful, or else I will find it eventually." Mammon whispered to himself happily.

***

The heavenly ghouls of Zadkiel were moving Millie, Luna, and Dawn to their designated room to imprison them with the other Archdukes that they caught.

Millie looked at her surroundings a bit, to see where they've been teleported to.

When they finally got there, Millie, Luna, and Dawn were shocked to see that Vladamir and Lilith as prisoners here.

"Everyone! You're here too?!" Lilith shouted and ran to the three for a hug

Vladamir was in the corner asleep, heavily injured again.

Dawn saw that instantly ran to Vladamir and checked on him to see if he's okay.

Lilith said to Dawn with a sad voice."Vladamir tried to protect me from the ghouls, so he got injured in the process and most of all... I can't use my skills to heal him."

"I see, so when did you and my father get caught by them?"

"We just got here a moment ago, and it seems like Ifrit, Hans, and Shota are still on the city."

"We can see that... But good thing you two are safe." Millie replied with a smile.

"Yeah, but Millie, what happened to you? Why do you have a bruise on your face?"

Millie looked away from Lilith's question and only said to her. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

Lilith sighed from disappointment and asked Luna what happened.

Luna looked at Millie a bit and she figured that it's better to tell than never, since she was also angry from what happened earlier with Camael.

"Camael slapped Millie."

"Hey, Luna-!"

"Millie shut up, for now. Luna did the right thing to tell us what happened because if your mother were to be here, you will know what will happen right?"

"I know... Just don't be worked up about it."

"Come, I'm gonna patch it up."

Pulling something on the corner of the bed, Millie saw that Lilith was getting a first aid kit below the bed.

Millie and Luna were both confused about how did Lilith have a first aid kit with her.

"Lilith, where did you get these?" Millie asked

"Oh, the first aid? For some unknown reason, when Zadkiel saw Vladamir injured, he went here immediately and gave us a first aid kit secretly."

Hearing what Lilith said, everyone was surprised by what they've heard, since why is Zadkiel treating them nicely?

Looking back at it, Millie remembered Zadkiel being nice to her, by trying to help her stand up from that slap that Camael gave her.

And most of all, to the extent that he even fired something on Camael, just to protect his enemies.

Millie was confused about why is Zadkiel doing this. Is it because he's also the Archangel of Mercy that he's helping us?

Millie looked at the hand he used to slap away Zadkiel's hand and whispered to herself. "Why?"

***

[Zadkiel POV]

Zadkiel was ordering the ghouls and angels around in the base, and he saw a portal appearing behind him.

Camael appeared from the portal and told Zadkiel. "That's all you can do for now Zadkiel, go back to Heaven and leave your ghouls here, because I'm gonna need people to do labor for me."

"Wait Camael! Why did you even bring me here in the first place!? And most of all, I heard you saying that only I know about this, so what happened to the others?"

"How noisy... Our Lord knows about this base too and gave me a mission about something unimportant to you and the others, so I only brought you here for your ghouls, so get going now."

"Wait-"

"Did you hear me Zadkiel? I said go back to Heaven now!"

Zadkiel was saddened by the sudden anger of Camael, so he can't do anything but go back to Heaven.

Zadkiel created a portal to Heaven and bowed after entering the portal.

He was finally back to Heaven, Zadkiel saw that he was transported to his room, so he fell to his bed and groaned angrily. "What happened to you Camael?"

Getting deep into his thoughts, Zadkiel remembered what happened back at the attack and the base.

"When will this end?" That is what he questions himself.

Remembering the destruction of the cities in Hell, and hearing the loud cries of the demons, made Zadkiel intense.

"I don't want to see that anymore." Almost in tears from thinking about it, Zadkiel raised his right hand.

"So this is why the Princess slapped my hand, she resented me for killing her people..." I want to change that.

"I gave them a medkit just to help them, but Lilith and Vladamir didn't accept it..." Why is this painful?

Zadkiel kept blinking his eyes, and tears have already started to fall.

"Did the devils deserved to be treated like that?" Can someone help me?

"Is it bad for me as an Archangel to feel something like this?" Will I get hated by everyone?

My Lord, my brothers, and my sisters, will they resent me for feeling something like this?

Closing his eyes slowly and wiping down his tears, Zadkiel ease up for a moment and remembered what Millie said to him. "Don't touch me."

Saying this to himself. "Prince of Hell, whoever you are and if I can ever talk to you, I always wanted to say that... I'm sorry."

Finally falling asleep from what he's been thinking, Zadkiel was woken up from a knock on his door.

Zadkiel who was tired to move said to the person behind the door. "The door's open, you can enter."

Looking at the person who was knocking, Zadkiel saw Jophiel enter his room.

"Jophiel, what do you want?"

"I noticed you return from the work that Camael gave you, so I brought you dinner."

"I see... You can put it at my desk."

Putting the tray at Zadkiel's desk, Jophiel sat at his bed and looked at him.

Zadkiel noticed Jophiel looking at him straight in the eyes and sighed since he knows that there's nothing to do, but to talk to her.

Sitting up, Zadkiel scratch his head and told Jophiel. "So? What do you want? Can't you see that I'm tired?"

"I can see that, of course... But I can also see that something happened also."

"Really? Then what is it?" If this is just one of her jokes, I'm gonna kick her out.

"Don't lie to me alright? You know that I hate liars."

"I know, I know, so what is it? "

With a smile, Jophiel asked Zadkiel. "Zadkiel, did you and Camael fought?"

"*Sigh* I guess that you found out... But it's not something that you need to worry about."

Jophiel smiled filled with sadness and hugged Zadkiel. "I don't want my siblings to fight, so can you tell me what's the reason you both fight? Maybe I can answer it."

Crying from sadness, Zadkiel answered Jophiel. "There are people who I want to protect and be with, but there's something that stopping me."

"Zadkiel, people from various races are like that, they tend to feel something to others, but their differences are what stopping them. If something or someone is stopping you, you still have your own heart, don't let others influence what you feel, and do what you can do to support yourself, because you're the Archangel of Loyalty, Mercy, Freedom, and among others. As the embodiment of freedom wanting something is normal; use your wings as your guide to the path that you chose; encourage yourself to get what you want, and most of all use what your heart wanted and not the heart of others."

Zadkiel smiled happily at what he heard from Jophiel and told her. "Thank you sister, I'm happy that you understood me."

"As your sibling, seeing you and the others suffer is not something I want, because I'm sad to see you all feel something like that."

Zadkiel looked at Jophiel in the eyes and thought to himself. 'Just as you once said Jophiel, siblings understand each other, so I can see deep within you that there's something troubling you.'

"Jophiel, is there something troubling you?" He asked.

"Of course, it's because you, Michael, and Azrael are all too gloomy these days, seriously it makes my blood boil."

"Then sorry, I guess we're all just stressed from the recent events, but thank you for worrying about us."

With a smile and making a peace sign on her hand. "Of course don't mention it, remember if you're in trouble, remember that sister Jophiel is on her way *giggle*."

"You know Jophiel, hugging me and the other angels and making our day more better, it gives me tons of nostalgia in the past, before Lucifer even rebelled, and when she was with us comforting us all together with her hugs and songs."

"I know, I miss those days... When we were in one room together, and when she spoils us, I miss those days... And when she left, I promise her that I'll do her duties and spoil everyone."

"Yeah, I'm grateful to you that you didn't break your promise, and I know that she's happy that you didn't break what you promise her."

Hugging each other tightly, Jophiel teared up a bit and wiped it instantly the moment she noticed it dropping.

"Let's smile now, and forget about these dramatic things, I'm sure she and our Lord would be happy seeing you smile again Zadkiel, so cheer up."

Hearing the now smiling Jophiel, Zadkiel forcedly smiled to not only cheer her up but also for his family also.

"I'm gonna leave now Zadkiel, so don't forget your dinner, because if you didn't eat, I'm gonna get mad at you."

"Fine, fine. Don't worry, I'll eat it."

"Also, I forget to mention this, Uriel asked me before coming here to tell you that he needs to talk to you urgently, so don't forget it."

Jophiel finally left and close the door; Zadkiel stood up and took the spoon to eat, and when he took a bite.

"Thank you Jophiel, I now know what I wanted to do, and I'm gonna do it even if everyone tried to stop me."