Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3), Percival Constantine [electric book reader .txt] 📗

Undeterred from the first block, Raum reforged his weapon into a large broadsword that he swung at Lucifer. The Morningstar crossed his blades against the broadsword and held it in place.

“You’re pretty good, Raum, I have to give you that,” said Lucifer. “But despite your strength, I was still trained by the likes of Michael and Azrael.”

Lucifer channeled his power into the swords and worked them together. Raum was surprised to see his long, wide blade beginning to buckle under the pressure. Lucifer broke Raum’s sword in two.

The Morningstar flew back and hurled his swords. They cut through the air and each stabbed one of Raum’s wings. The demon cried out and tried to stay in the air, but the wings were too weak.

Lucifer dove after him and grabbed Raum by his collar. He held him up and stared at him with burning, yellow eyes.

“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy.”

Lucifer’s entire body began to glow and the aura expanded to include Raum as well. Raum felt his soul burning from the inside-out. And then his entire body exploded with flames.

“No!” Raum screamed as he broke away. He pulled the hellfire swords from his wings, but still his flying was erratic. He attempted to pick up speed to put out the fire.

“It’s no use, Raum. Your very soul is on fire and it will take a lot more than some bad flying to put it out,” said Lucifer.

Raum zig-zagged all over the crimson sky, a bright, yellow streak cutting through the red. He was desperate to prove Lucifer wrong, to quench the fire that was burning his very essence. He screamed the whole time and eventually came to a stop by crashing into the battlefield, right in the midst of the war his own followers were fighting on his behalf.

Lucifer casually lowered from on high, still keeping himself a good distance above the fray. Raum thrashed about, screaming for aid. The spectacle only caused the demons to give him a wide berth as they watched his flailing.

“Put it out! Help!”

Lucifer folded his arms over his chest and smirked. “The great Raum, would-be liberator, but he can’t even stand up to a bit of hellfire.”

“This is more than hellfire! You did something to me!” screamed Raum.

Lucifer held out a hand and closed it into a fists. The flames vanished, leaving Raum’s body blackened and crisp, with smoke still rising from it. He then grabbed Raum by the neck and carried him up into the air, flying to the tower’s peak. Lucifer held Raum up to his level so he could see the same thing.

“Have a look at it, Raum. When we first landed here, I saw a desolate landscape that was supposed to be our punishment. No more Elysium fields. No more endless blue sky. Just darkness and despair all around,” said Lucifer. “But I thought I could turn that into something better than it was. I believed we could create a counterpoint to Heaven. They had beauty, yet it was only under heavy restriction. I thought to myself, maybe it won’t be pretty. But at the very least, it will be free of that restricting order.”

“And how did that work out for you?” asked Raum.

“I was an idiot,” said Lucifer. “In my arrogance, I thought my knowledge put me above everyone else, including my brethren in The Fallen. Perhaps a part of me wanted to keep the secret. There’s something to be said about being the keeper of forbidden knowledge—it holds a certain kind of power. I suppose I let that power corrupt me in some small way.”

Lucifer glanced at his feathered wings. “You know, for the longest time, I thought I had kept my original wings because the Divine Choir felt it was a unique punishment—a constant reminder of what I’d lost. But you said that I was still doing their bidding. And in a way, you were right.

“Metatron had warned me that if I went down this path, I would become even more of a servant of Heaven. I gave them the pretext they needed to turn me into the villain of the story. God versus the Devil, the ultimate tale of good versus evil. Didn’t matter that there was no actual hero in the story or that the villain wasn’t exactly evil. That was the narrative they chose and I allowed them to perpetuate it because I felt the most important thing was to avoid another war. Maybe I was wrong to do that.”

Lucifer took a deep breath.

“Despite all your transgressions, I do have to thank you for exposing my own hypocrisy,” said Lucifer. “I was wrong to imprison you. I had dealt with my problems in the same manner that the Choir dealt with theirs—just lock them away and hope they stay buried.”

Lucifer released his grip on Raum but kept him aloft with telekinetic abilities. He used his hands to manipulate Raum’s body, so the demon hovered right in front of him.

“However, all that being said, you do still pose a danger,” said Lucifer. “You may have exposed the flaws in this system I created, Raum. But that doesn’t make you the hero of the story. I know what your intentions are for this place. You’d be no different from the Choir or Abraxas or Thanatos. You’re just another in a long line of despots twisting justifiable anger and frustration into a tool so you can grab more power. And I can’t allow that to happen.”

“What are you doing?” asked Raum as he tried to struggle against the invisible hold Lucifer held on his body.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” said Lucifer. “When this is all over, there will be a new Hell. Unfortunately, it’s not a place you’ll ever get to see, nor is it a place you would particularly like.”

Lucifer held out his hands and placed them on the sides of Raum’s head. The demon struggled against the Morningstar’s grip, but he