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“Which one does he favour most, again? The white-haired angel fighting at his right hand?”
To any outside observer, including the Demon Prince himself, Barbatos' answer was immediate and decisive.
Under the butler's tranquil surface, however, the moment between question and answer was filled with the chaos of infinite conflicting futures.
“No, My Lord. It has always been the youngest one. Belphegor.”
The arrow flew straight and true, and covered the distance between realms in but a single heartbeat.
Belphegor gasped, wide-eyed and shocked, as his wing snapped in half.
“Belphie! No!!!”
It wasn't one voice, but a devastated duet.
Lilith and Beelzebub threw down their swords, together, and hurled themselves out of the heavens after their fallen brother. Their combined strength was enough to stay his fall before it proved fatal, but that left the three angels huddled together, in a snow globe of silently floating feathers, stranded on the surface of the human world.
Lucifer's army might have withstood the loss of one champion, or even two.
But not three.
The angels closed ranks, and, one by one, crushed the rebellion with great prejudice.
Lucifer fought until the end, and was the last to die.
“No, My Lord. It has always been the most innocent one. Beelzebub.”
The arrow flew straight and true, and covered the distance between realms in but a single heartbeat.
Beelzebub felt the devastating impact, and knew immediately what it meant. Tears of agony filled his eyes, but he blinked them away before anyone could notice. He clung to his place in the clouds with willpower and determination alone, cast down his shield and switched his sword to his left hand, and fought on. He defended his brothers, and his sister, and all the determined lesser angels who had taken up arms in Lucifer's name.
The rebellion succeeded. Heaven fell at the feet of a new king.
Moments later, suffering a fatal wound he'd kept all to himself, so too did Beelzebub.
“No, My Lord. It has always been the purest one. The shining light, Asmodeus.”
The arrow flew straight and true, and covered the distance between realms in but a single heartbeat.
Asmodeus’ eyes filled with shock and despair as the arrow shredded his wings. He gasped, staggered, and collapsed at the feet of the angel he'd been fighting.
Already poised to deliver the killing blow, Simeon stayed his sword. His own eyes welled with furious tears.
…What was he doing?
This wasn't how angels were supposed to act.
They had been misled.
He raised his horn, and sounded its battle cry across the heavens and the earth. His personal regiment, ten thousand strong, rallied behind him.
Simeon stepped up beside Lucifer, and his wings turned black.
Side-by-side, they threw down the heavens.
“No, My Lord. It has always been the most fragile one. Leviathan.”
The arrow flew straight and true, and covered the distance between realms in but a single heartbeat.
Leviathan gasped, and clasped a trembling hand over his fatal wound. The clouds parted beneath him, and without a word, he fell.
A powerful hand grabbed his arm, and pulled him back up. Beelzebub positioned himself between the army of angels and his fallen brother, and hefted his flaming sword. Asmodeus followed suit, then Mammon, and Belphegor, and Lilith, and, finally, Lucifer. Together, the siblings abandoned their onslaught on the gates and formed a protective ring around their brother, instead.
Huddled together, they made for an easy slaughter.
But they died together.
“Which one does he favour most, again? The white-haired angel fighting at his right hand?”
“Yes, My Lord. Mammon is his most trusted confidant, and he favours him above all others.”
The arrow flew straight and true, and covered the distance between realms in but a single heartbeat.
Mammon staggered at the impact, but stood his ground. A single arrow hadn't the power to strike down an angel so powerful as he.
Lucifer grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him back onto his feet. The two exchanged a look of sullen determination, and, at the same time, they nodded.
Side-by-side, Mammon and Lucifer shed their angelic wings.
Mammon threw back his head and screamed as he spread his new wings, ones forged of black leather and fel iron claws, that blotted out the sun and sent the army of angels scattering in all directions.
Lucifer roared with him, and succumbed to his Wrath. His six black-feathered wings darkened the skies. His snapping, draconian tail shredded the clouds at his feet.
In perfect synchronization, they picked up their swords, now both radiating the blackest hellfire, and rampaged, side-to-side and back-to-back, against the misguided glory of heaven.
Nothing could withstand such an onslaught, and the throne of God shattered, and fell at their feet.
“Which one does he favour most, again? The white-haired angel fighting at his right hand?”
“No, My Lord. It has always been the smallest one. His sister.”
The arrow flew straight and true, and covered the distance between realms in but a single heartbeat.
Lilith gasped.
Her eyes widened.
Her tiny body arched, and went rigid.
Her sword clattered to the ground.
A tiny star, flickering faintly under the light of a blinding moon, lost its place in the sky, and fell.
In a brilliant flash of light, the brightest star that had ever shone, the one the humans had called, forever, the Morningstar, rocketed down in its wake.
It never caught up.
Five others fell in immediate succession, so hard that they crashed straight through the earth and into the waiting arms of the Devildom, and as they did, the heavens fell quiet and peaceful and still.
To any outside observer, including the Demon Prince himself, Barbatos' answer was immediate and decisive.
It was, after all, the only answer.