the remaining angel

cult member pov....

the grand leader and I traversed the dimly lit stone hallways of our sanctum, the torch in hand providing enough light as to where we were able to effortlessly navigate, allowing us to reach our destination rather quickly, even with the hobbling and limping of our leader, his injuries still grave and crippling, not yet fully closed by the healers.

KNOCK

KNOCK

the taps of the leaders' fist on the massive metal door rung far and wide as movement could be herd shuffling about from within the room.

"he is awake."(healer) one of our most loyal replied from inside as she opened the door for us, soon ushering us forwards.

"is he able to speak?"(Leader) inquired, to which he was given a short nod accompanied by a sorrowful expression.

seems he was as worse for wear as the leader, whatever place we pulled them from must have been truly horrific.

"seems I have a mortal to thank, who would've thought, me, the great krivociel, one of the four, saved, by a human."(Krivociel) the winged man spat with rage, his eyes seemingly stuck in a glare as they eyed me, the six broken white feathered appendages upon his back shifting restlessly as he stared.

"he wouldn't have kept you alive for no reason, same as he did for me, he kept us in that place for something, so why? why were you in there?"(leader) demanded from the angel, an action he seemed not to mind from the leader, the cause mutual hate maybe? but I could tell he wouldn't allow me the same.

"he needed my blood, lots of it, as for what I have no idea but all of my......'activites'.....involved cutting or breaking, he seemed very invested in taking as much of my blood as possible."(Krivociel) answered calmly, his voice only wavering and pausing once.

"not many things call for angel blood, and the things that do are mostly holy in nature, what could the fake king of darkness want with angel bood?"(leader) asked himself aloud, his hand on his chin as you could see his mind working on overtime.

"if there is one thing I've learned, that monster has earned the title ruler of the abyss, master of darkness."(Krivociel) suddenly added to the room, the message sending the leader into an angered state.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW HIM TO TAKE WHAT IS MINE!"(leader) boomed as he slammed his fist against the wall, causing more harm to his hand than to the structure, no visible damage to the stone able to be seen beneath the blood of his hand.

all the angel did meanwhile was laugh.

"to have right to something you must have the strength to claim it on your own, he stood up and stole the power of darkness on his own before he lost everything but his power, after that he has made stride after stride in terms of strength and growth, he has earned the right to claim his titles and his place as a pillar, you have no place to challenge him."(krivociel) advised with a hard to discern glint of emotion in his eyes, there was almost a wisdom to his tone.

all of those things combined only seemed to further frustrate the leader, his hands gripped tightly into fists, his knuckled white.

"he stole everything from me, I will-"(leader) began, only to be quickly interrupted by the angel.

"he only took back what was rightfully his, you may feel free to believe otherwise but in truth he only took back what never belonged to you, I don't know for what reason you freed me, but if it's to help you wage war against him then you must know I won't, I can't risk going back, I won't."(Krivociel) spoke in a broken tone as his emotions choked in his throat, his eyes pleading as his voice was a forced even.

he was a broken man wearing a mask, that place had done something to him, something he would never be able to heal, not completely anyway.

"always a coward."(leader) spat as he glared down the angel.

"call me whatever you wish, I'm leaving, going to watch the sunset one more time before I end it, there's nothing left for me here."(Krivociel) said with a tone both solemn and determined.

after he spoke his wings stretched and cracked, soon flapping as his form vanished from the room entirely, leaving only us three mortals, myself, the leader, and the healer.

---

the expanse of trees before me and the silence around me allowed my senses to spread further than they were able to before, at least since the drain started, in all reality I'm still cut down in terms of range and perception, I was able to sense a lot more and a lot farther before this whole hell sucking me dry thing.

"not long now, the nexus for level three is just up ahead."(Abigail) informed, she had somehow become my guide in the few minutes after we had finished talking, I had also learned that I had somehow progressed to level two after my blackout, it did make sense though, I wanted to kill more demons and I wasn't being drained, so I portaled.

god did I miss portals.

---

Malikesh pov...

"here it is sir, a portion of darkness' power."(demon) said as he prostrated himself before me, my hands shaking as I faced down a large chunk of the pillar, to be more precise his heart.

"my patrols found it beside a human in a cart, it seems the pillar made his way here in search of it, if you absorb i-"(demon) began only for me to quickly interrupt.

"if we absorb it then it will be destroyed, if it's destroyed than he will grow a new one and the power we gained from it will be gone, no, we lock this in the vault and use it to power the levels and the demons on them."(Malikesh) I ordered, my voice firm and backed by power as to ensure my wishes carried out.

we had a golden opportunity as of now, we had the heart of the pillar, if he was unaware of this and left hell without it then we would be able to drain massive amounts of power from him for the rest of eternity, I can't let him know that it's here.

its simply too valuable to allow free.

and because of that, anyone who knows about it must die.

I thought as I slowly stood from my throne, my aura expanding from my body faster than an explosion as it brought every demon in my castle to their knees.

"no one must be allowed to know."(Malikesh) I boomed as a massive blast of flame wrought havoc on all those around me, charred remains littering each floor as I returned to the throne, ensuring to lock the heart directly beneath it.