Ch. 16 The end

-The day of the last extermination-

Angels come down to hell. The hotel crews are their first target. Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, Angel, Husk, Niffty, Sir Pentious, Cherri Bomb, and other cannibals. The characteristic demons are on the front line of the war. They are going to fight for all the souls in Pentagram. They would leave their names behind in history.

If they could win.But- it never happens. Why?Because the opponent is the man. It's me. The first man, Adam! The fucking man, man of men!

The beginning of this shopworn world. Me, the most obedient slave of god and heaven.

I had thrived on humankind with this original dick! You disgraceful losers never stand a chance against me.

Cause I have gone through the longest entertainment and suffering as a human. Anymore, there's no pain I haven't yet felt, no cost I haven't paid.

'Let's pop the fucking champagne, bitches!'

ATTACK!

The force flew up to invade the hotel. Demons held their weapons tighter.

Adam would kill many souls tonight for his duty. And then, he would be killed. He didn't care about the way of it. To be chopped his head or stabbed his chest. Whatever.

He was going to put an end to this repetitive life. Fuck yeah, let's do it! Do the thing I should have done before, but couldn't due to this fucking left hope!

...

Lucifer curled up on the bed.

He turned on his side and stared at the air. The debris of the wall remained in the same way Adam had crashed through it. He couldn't even try to clean it up. Lucifer felt the bitter hurt on his cheek that Adam hit at that time. The side table, chair, and staff were scattered on the floor. Lucifer saw a rubber duck among them. It had hair standing straight up, no special function, just an ugly and cute little duckling. It resembled his first man.

Lucifer slipped out of bed and picked it up. He rubbed its wings. Whenever he made ducks, he always thought of something or someone, some moments from his past. The things he had done, what he regretted, the choices he made or couldn't make, the words he told or was told. When he made this one, he was just thinking of Adam.

Then Lucifer heard a noise beyond the window. He rushed and leaned against the window frame, peering out. Far from there, angels were descending from the massive portal. The extermination had just started.

Lucifer didn't know what to do. Should I have to go there? No, my role was over. I'm not supposed to be there. Moreover, has my intervention brought about only disasters?

Lucifer wanted to ask the stars for guidance, but in hell, the lowest basement of the world, there was no mercy of starlight.

...

Adam had begun to get excited by the battle. Come on, the brave! Who's gonna kill the chief of the enemy, huh?

Who's gonna lower down the curtain of this performance? To call this the last page, and close this story forever?

Bullets, bombs, and spears were thrown from all directions. Alastor raised a barrier shield, but Adam shattered it with a single punch.

"Oh, no...!"

Alastor put up a longer fight than others who had messed up with Adam, but that was the extent of it. Adam beat him up and broke his cane.

He snorted at Alastor running away into the shadows.

Wow. I didn't know I was this strong. Feels so good!

Who could dare to imagine he was once a weak, vulnerable lamb who cowered behind his guardian angel? Now he was the leader of the heaven warriors. Heaven had bestowed upon him status and strength as credit for his dedication.

'So what?', Adam thought.

What has remained in me? Only to realize that what I had sought after was away far above, too high for me to touch, even after I'd reached heaven.

Adam felt disappointed that there was no worthy rival to fight him.

The princess of hell got in his way. He was hurt slightly, but she was no match for him either. It was getting boring. Is there not a single demon who can beat me?

Adam easily knocked over Charlie."This fight was cute all, but it's time to die with the rest of them!"

He said with a demonic laugh, preparing for the final attack.

...

It was too quiet.

But soon, the sound of the surroundings came back with a buzz.

Adam was thrown by a strong punch, breaking through something and bouncing here and there before he knew it, and fell to the ground.

And then he knew who it was. Someone had finally come back to him.

The pain on his left cheek sobered him up from the dream. His mask was broken in half. Not even bothering to show his human face, Adam climbed up through the crashed roof with a pounding heart.

'Yeah. It's you.' Adam muttered under his breath.It should be you, if someone has to call it an end.

"Okay, seriously!"

The owner of the house, Lucifer, rolled up his sleeves. Adam grinned and prepared himself to fight.

"How many of you freaks do I have to fight?" He asked, sounding his voice laced with irritation.

Adam had been expecting Lucifer's appearance. Finally, all the heroes appear on the stage, huh? Adam had been eager for this moment for so long, so badly. Lucifer smirked glinting his eyes with malice.

"Oh, I'm the only one that matters. See, you messed with my daughter-" he paused, a wicked grin spreading across his face

And now I'm going to fuck you!

... well, that line wasn't in my expectations, by the way.

Adam flew at Lucifer, smashing him into the wall.

The final performance started. The angel and fallen angel soared up into the sky at once. Adam shouted, wearing his half-mask, shooting his angelic beams from his fingers.

"Aimed at where you got hit last time, huh? What a good personality!"

Adam tried to capture him, but Lucifer escaped by turning into a snake. He swam through the air, drawing a curve.

"Haha! No matter how much I think, it was quite bitter!"

Adam tried to grab his tail, but Lucifer transformed into an octopus and captured him in reverse.

"You had it coming, Lucifer!" Adam laughed at him.

"Oh, look who's talking!" Lucifer retorted, avoiding the attack with a turn like dancing.

They were too high from the battlefields on the ground. No one could hear their talk. The spectators barely saw two faint figures and intermittent flashes.

Lucifer knew he hadn't come here.

Just a few minutes ago, he had been looking up at the sky, unsure of what to do.

...

For so long, the choices he had made had been for Adam's sake. To protect Adam, by separating himself from Adam, keeping the man from his love that ruins everything.

A tightness gripped Lucifer's chest as he pondered it. To shelter Adam, right? By telling Adam that the star had been nothing more than a figment of your imagination? Only by succeeding in abandoning him, leaving him adrift in a world of desolate and empty?

Now Lucifer couldn't help but wonder if he had been deceiving himself all along. He couldn't be sure anymore if he had truly been acting out of a desire to protect the man, or had been driven by his own fears to lose Adam.

Then Lucifer saw a ray far from the sky. It cut through the darkness like a beacon. At first, he thought it was a shooting star, even though he knew it was impossible. He realized it was an angelic beam from Adam. The end of the shining line might be the tip of the man's finger.

Standing in his room surrounded by the debris and void, Lucifer thought, If that distant light were really a shooting star, what would I have wished for?

What desire, buried so deeply within him, would he have dared to express?

The weight of his choices, the consequences he had wrought, had been a heavy burden that breathed beside him with every passing day.

Lucifer saw a wish that he had buried beneath layers of guilt and responsibility. He had denied it, but the longing ended up revealed, brightened by the flash of Adam.

I wish to meet Adam

I want to see him once again

And then Lucifer was heading to where Adam was before he knew. He knew he couldn't do this. He should keep the secret forever until the man returns to dust.

But Lucifer couldn't help but be driven to the light of the angelic beam.

Like chasing a lighthouse, like a traveler finding his way home with the starlight.

...

...So, Lucifer didn't come to do this but-

when he saw that Adam was threatening his dear daughter, he just gave a good punch to the man's face.

"...You deserve to get a blow, don't you think?" Lucifer said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Adam kept firing his angelic lasers, and Lucifer slipped away from them with his magic as if playing a game.

"Hah! You judging me? You coward! You always run away. You hid. But you know what?"

Now Lucifer was just flying, circling as if he were playing with a child. Adam tenaciously tried to capture him. "I'm gonna find you!"

Weirdly, they started to become excited. Adam rushed into him again, but Lucifer avoided it by turning into a bird, gently changing direction, and back to his original form.

They flew together, spinning around each other. Lucifer couldn't help but recall old memories.

But for some reason, he wasn't the only one who saw the overlaps.

The hills and forest met Adam's eyes. His view spun, so he couldn't see it clearly, only distinguishing the colors. Were there green fields in hell? And red, and yellow flowers?

'...Every colorful flower has bloomed on earth to please your eyes, and...'

The cave, shadows of dawn?

They were supposed to be only the dark and gloomy scenery. Nothing else could be there except for ugly hell.

But why did this look beautiful? Had he ever seen this in his dreams?

Lucifer, in the form of a white horse, dragged Adam through the air and reverted to his original shape again. The king kept avoiding all of Adam's attempts to attack, just as he had been doing, with no counterattack. Now Adam could tell Lucifer had no will to fight against him. Adam felt he was floating by the gentle wind.

"-Am I right? The horse, you knew it! The being protecting me!" Adam said with a confident smile.

Something started filling their hearts.

"Who protect? I don't know what you are talking about, ugly human!" Lucifer teased him. Adam's attack missed the target again. "You're lying! The guardian!"

The beam disappeared, shining under Lucifer's shoulder like the rising sun.

Lucifer smiled beyond the sunshine.

"I'm not lying! I could kill you right now.""Oh, yeah?"

Adam smiled too, putting his finger to his own temple like a gun.

And shot.

...Blooming. A golden color was blooming.The flash had been fired from Adam's finger. It had happened in the twinkling of an eye. Adam's broken mask fell off his face. It fell far downward.

But his head wasn't blown away. His finger was pointing to the air now. Lucifer had rushed and grabbed Adam's arm, shoving it into the sky before his reason ordered him to.

Lucifer was holding Adam's arm, surprised and scared at the thought of his man being hurt. The world looked like a slow motion. As if the time disappeared at that moment. When the fallen angel protected Adam again, that unconscious decision finally gave him the true answer.Adam said softly with a small smile.

"It was you, Lucifer."

And in that moment, they were no longer in hell.

The countless stars showed their lights at once. The beautiful milky way stretched across the sky, twinkling all around. All the stars in the universe exclaimed, as if when the right answer came out, the stage lamps burst illuminating the winner. They were flying in the dawn sky of Eden. Adam was still looking down with a small smile.

Strong winds touched their hair, tears glistening from the sunlight peeking over their shoulders. The air of dawn felt cold and fresh.

Adam breathed as much air as he had done before.

"You were my star..."

Tears that Lucifer had held back for eons ran down and scattered into the air. They spun, dropping together, but they were so high up that it seemed as if the world stood still.

...

The angels and demons could see the two figures disappearing above the clouds. After a while, the smaller one came back down to them. The winner, Lucifer, stood to his feet in the middle of the attention. He threw the eclipsed halo in front of Lute. Everyone froze, understanding it meant their boss had turned to dust forever.

"So... get OUTTA MY HOUSE-, please,"

Lute took the halo, biting her teeth. The exorcists withdrew.

As the demons saw the angels flying away, they understood that one step behind, they had won. The carnivals screamed in joy, the crews looked at each other, half confused and half overwhelmed.

The leader of the exorcists was dead.

The first war marked the end of the hell side's victory.

...

so far, was what had been written in history.

"...elp, help!"

Lucifer was in the middle of the hallway, bewildered by the urgent voice calling for help.

Like frantically searching for something.

"Help me, where is it?"The man pleaded."Are you okay, Ada-"

As Lucifer burst opened the door to help his man, his mouth was enveloped in a big, tight hug.

"Ah! It's here!" Adam mischievously smiled.

"...What are you doing now?" Lucifer asked, immediately realizing he had once again fallen for Adam's playful antics.

"To find what I lost. Oh, yeah. This feeling. It fits so well," Adam replied, pressing his cheek to Lucifer's, giving Lucifer the answer he had expected.

Adam had been playing this prank in every conceivable way ever since they had taken up residence in the castle.

It was his revenge, of sorts...

...

During the last extermination, when Adam had realized Lucifer's true identity, Lucifer had confessed everything. That answer had been enough for Adam to discard his status and glory in heaven without hesitation. Adam had pretended to be dead during the battle and hid above the clouds. Lucifer then hid Adam in his castle.

Surprisingly, they had carried out this plan without any discussion. Adam had just handed over his halo, saying 'This!', and Lucifer had shortly understood the strategy. He had descended to the ground in his demon form, acting as if he had just endured a tough battle, and acted like he had killed Adam.

They had executed this ruse like a long-lasting team.

One thing that was unexpected was that heaven had not yet discovered Adam was still alive. The discarded halo could deceive most angels, but Sera should have noticed it. However, when Sera saw the halo, she publicly announced Adam's death and closed the case without further investigation.

Sera might have overlooked them, just as she had done ten thousand years ago.

Adam's memory was still unstable. He only had faint residual memories, like fragments of conversations, images, and sensations.

So Lucifer had been busy lately teaching Adam about their shared memories. This was not a significant challenge.

Because Adam had been an enthusiastic student, and Lucifer, had been an experienced teacher.

"...so, you were sullen at me for not helping you get syrup, so you played a prank on me. You covered me with red liquid..."

But the teachings were mostly nagging. Adam couldn't recall most of them, so he didn't clarify the truth from the false.

"Hey, I- ...alright, I'm sorry again, okay?"Adam sighed. He felt that the one who doesn't remember is a sinner, of course.

"And you always carried me like a master, cooked every day for me, and called me god and..."

"...knock it off!"

Lucifer laughed aloud. He pretended to be angry, but Lucifer knew Adam wasn't. Adam was filled with happiness, just like Lucifer was now.

...

But since Lucifer had made fun of Adam several times, Adam had been seeking revenge like this....

"...See? You really scared me like this, silly Adam!"

"Hm? Did I? Well, I don't remember."

It was Lucifer's karma... because every prank he has been doing was what Lucifer had taught him. Is he really don't remember anything? Why does it look like he is just teasing me?

Lucifer wanted to make fun of Adam again. But then, An idea struck his mind.

"Adam, about what you asked before," Lucifer smiled playfully. "I want to say, yes."

"...Um? What was that?"

"Just ten thousand years ago! I mean my answer is, yes, I love to."

Adam looked so confused, which made Lucifer burst into laughter.

"Wha- why are you laughing? You are laughing at me, huh?"

"Nope! I'm seriously talking about your sincere asking." Lucifer just took a spin and went away. "If you are bitter, you try hard to remember, kiddo. I gave you an answer, anyway."

Adam was still puzzled. He grumbled, following Lucifer's back. "What- hey! Whoa, you're so cheap. So mean! Always.

You know everything and I'm curious always, always I'm anxious to do, only me..."

Then Adam suddenly thought of an idea and, with an unnecessarily determined and blushed look, asked, 'Is it about... erotic?' Then he earned a scowling look from Lucifer before he became quiet.

Letting Adam mumble, Lucifer confidently smiled. He would teach Adam this, too. But now, he wanted to keep this small secret.

Once upon a time, there was a proposal that only the two of them knew in the world. The confession was born with the purest smile.

'I will marry you!'

It was born up above the sky, too high for the ground to hear, too low for angels to hear. Only countless stars became their witnesses.

The proposal had wandered the world, round and round for more than a thousand years. It met its answer.

In the end of the eons, like the drop of rain fell onto the dust again,

permeating and blooming the prettiest flower in the world.

-End-