Decisions in dangerous situations are the toughest to make because they have to be made quickly and are often a product of pure will to live and instinct, often being reactions rather than well-thought-out actions. Lucius's situation was simple, but not any less dangerous because of that. He knew that the castle was collapsing and that he should reach the ground as soon as possible, but the problem is that it wasn't possible at all. The Imp King's servants, filled with rage due to their master's death, were rushing to the top of these very stairs, where he currently stood, to tear him to pieces, and they were close. There was no way he could defeat them all in such a cramped space quick enough (if at all) to reach the ground before the whole castle crumbled to dust. This option was out of the question. The only other option he had was taking a last stand at the top of the tower, which obviously wouldn't bring him any closer to safety, but the door seemed durable enough to hold his attackers off for a while. Maybe he will manage to open a portal before they break through the door. Maybe…
Time was up. The image of the first minotaur approaching him on the stairs was a signal that it was time to act. He quickly opened the door and entered the room, closing the door behind him. At this moment, his plan completely fell apart due to one simple fact. There was no key in the lock! It sounded apsurd that the Imp King, the biggest coward known both to angels and demons, would have tried so desperately to get in here if there was no way to lock the door. But where was it? The room was completely empty! Was the key on the Imp King himself? Bah, it didn't matter anymore. There was no more time.
"Alright, if this is how it has to be, then let them come in here! I will take out as many of those beasts as I can before I myself join the Lord!" thought Lucius, ready for a fight to death.
He didn't have to wait long for the chance to begin doing what he intended. As soon as the first minotaur opened the door and stepped into the room, he immediately got slashed by Lucius's lightsword. After multiple quick strikes, the minotaur dropped down, but three more entered the room.
One had a big axe in his hand, the second a big stone hammer, and the third a mace with sharp spikes. Lucius didn't give them time to make themselves comfortable. If they decided how to attack him, they would be enforcing their rules, and he couldn't allow that. Instead, he used their own tactics against them. Instead of minotaurs being those who bring the fight to the enemy, he brought the fight to them instead. Yes, it was completely contrary to what he tried in the past and what his master told him, but it worked. He caught them off-guard, evading their heavy blows and striking as quickly as he could at every chance he got. He managed to kill the first one and badly wound the second one, but the third one decided he'd have none of that and hurled himself towards Lucius.
It's terrifying when such a big body mass is coming at you, but Lucius knew that fear was his biggest enemy and that it had already almost cost him his life, so he remained stalwart. He made a sudden twitch like he's going to move to one side and instead moved to the other one. This move was so basic that even humans use it during their sports games, but it worked! He confused the beast and wasted no time in striking at it with all his might, stabbing it in the neck and killing it with one strike.
This all happened in a very short amount of time, and four dead minotaurs decorated the room's floor. The fifth one entered the room and immediately rushed at Lucius, but he made a spin, dodging it and slashing its back in the process. A gravely wounded minotaur lost control over his body and fell through the window, bellowing in pain. The sixth one appeared at the doorway, ready to have his go, but at that exact moment, the quaking of the whole castle reached its most intense point yet, and both it and Lucius had to stop and try their best not to lose balance. The beast held itself by the doorframe, and Lucius supported himself by leaning on a wall.
Then a loud cracking sound was heard. Then the floor started moving. It was the tower! It was falling down! Not managing to hold himself for anything, Lucius was launched forward by the strong and inexorable force of gravity. Holding out his hand forward, he flew straight towards the minotaur, holding itself by the doorframe, and impaled him on his lightsword to the hilt. Dying, the beast let go of the doorframe, and they both flew further down the stairs. They would have knocked down anyone in their path if they hadn't already rolled down themselves.
The tower finally hit the ground, and the force of the impact was great. The bricks flew everywhere, and the dust made it hard to see anything at first; however, the cries of those unfortunate enough to end up trapped in the rubble could be heard everywhere. Lucius was lucky enough to not end up as one of them, but not lucky enough to completely evade any kind of injury. Again, it was his leg that paid the price. A sharp pain in the left leg made him aware of this unfortunate happening. When the quaking somewhat subsided, he tried to get on his feet, but the pain in his left leg intensified. There was no use. His left leg was out of commission. He was forced to limp.
There was some good in all of this, for he was alive and surely wasn't the only one who suffered damage. On the other hand, it was foolish to presume that every demon perished during the collapse of the castle. Speaking of which, the collapse was still not over. The ground was still quaking, and his number one priority was still to get out of here as fast as possible. Perhaps he could use this moment of turmoil to summon himself a portal and leave this place for good?
He could only dream about that for now because the sound of growling promptly returned him to reality. The demons didn't forget about him at all. The tower fell right onto the battlements, which themselves also collapsed like they were built on sand. Half of the tower was gone in the impact, and this meant that there was now a huge hole in it, which made Lucius easy to spot to a group of imps that stood on the remains of battlements.
Usually the imps would be a welcome change from the constant influx of minotaurs, but Lucius was now wounded, and even standing was hard. Every step he took was painful and awkward. The imps noticed this, and though they were still wary of the lightsword he took out of their fallen comrade and now held in his right hand, they slowly started approaching him, ready to try and overwhelm him now that he was weakened. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with their way of thinking if Lucius was any other angel, but he wasn't. Luckily, they didn't know that, and they decided to attack.
It is said that the great beasts of the wild are most dangerous when they are wounded. This was doubly true for a Hell Purger. There was no surrender as long as there was a means to fight back! Sure, rolling around in the dirt wasn't really the most glorious or appropriate position for an angel or anyone to fight in, but by leaning on his healthy leg and evading the use of the hurt one, Lucius indeed showed the imps that he is far from being an easy prey. When he thinned out their group and they saw their fallen comrades, they turned around and fell back a bit. Realising that they were still no match for him, they chose a different type of attack and started to throw pieces of rubble at him. Besides this painful annoyance, a group of minotaurs who survived spotted him and started running towards him, ready to make sure that he didn't survive!
"Great... What a perfect moment for them to start using their brains..." thought Lucius, bitterly doing his best to evade their projectiles.
It was time for innovation, and he innovated. He sent out a flash of light from his lightsword, but this time he put it down right where he was kneeling. It was the brightest light he ever produced up to this point, and the imps could barely look in his direction, and when they did, their eyes hurt and they cried from such intense brightness, which sadly didn't stop them from blindly throwing stones and bricks, trying to hit him. Meanwhile, Lucius was trying his best to concentrate and summon a portal that would get him out of this quite unusual but nevertheless dangerous situation. He was hit quite badly a few times, and he could hear the minotaurs getting nearer, but he refused to lose his concentration, and the fruit of his labour soon appeared in front of him. He felt as if all his strength had departed from his body, but somehow he found enough strength to drag himself through the portal on his knees just as the minotaurs reached him...