Let's leave Lucius and Old Nigel waiting for the black knight and his company to come down into the dungeon for just a moment, and let's instead take a look at what was happening back at Elysium during Lucius's absence.
When Lucius pushed Nicholas out of the way and got grabbed by that giant crow, Nicholas reacted as quickly as he possibly could. He too was a bit dazed by the same explosion that knocked out Lucius, but he managed to remain collected, and after quickly getting up to his feet, he himself jumped to the nearest lightcannon and tried to take the bird down. Luckily, the crow also wasn't resistant to being in the proximity of the explosion, so it didn't immediately go out of the boundaries of the fortress.
This gave Nicholas enough time to try and take the cursed thing down. As we already know, it was not meant to be. He took three shots, but stricken with panic and fear, each of them missed (though, if nothing else, the last shot narrowly missed the crow), and just like that, it was over. The crow was flying over the chasm and back into the darkness. Even if they managed to shoot it down, it would be a death warrant for Lucius, who was obviously unconscious. Not that the situation would change if Lucius was conscious, since he didn't have wings.
A feeling of shame because of his failure to save Lucius was soon replaced by an unstoppable fury, and Nicholas rallied his soldiers and began pushing back the remaining demons with such force and fervour that even the bloodthirsty grolls realised that the playtime was over as they began jumping back on their rides and escaping. But Nicholas was done with missing that day, and each and every one of them was struck down by an angel's weapon or shot down from (or along) his ride by a lightcanon. A grave silence and wind were the only things that were soon heard in the Morning Star fortress.
Fury was gone and replaced with regret and bitterness. In his head, Nicholas cursed those fools from the Council who, blinded by their own ideas and plans, completely ignored his justified requests.
"I am defending the entrance to Elysium itself, and I don't even have a single soldier with wings or a single winged horse rider under my command! For God's sake! What has to happen? Should Morning Star fortress fall and all of us end up massacred for those pompous bastards to understand that I simply need a flying cavalry, more men, and better weapons?! To the devil with them!" Nicholas yelled in front of all of his men, so they all heard and saw his inadequate behaviour.
Then, without a word, he hastily retreated to his room and sat at the table, putting his face on his palms. He took a few deep breaths and remained in the same position for a few minutes. Then he went outside and addressed the first soldier that appeared in front of him and was unharmed.
"You! Come with me! I have a job for you."
The soldier bowed, and Nicholas went back to his office in his company. Minutes later he was not in the Morning Star fortress anymore, having teleported away. When the soldier left, Nicholas decided it's time to rearrange his room a bit, for he was expecting a special guest, and a special guest deserves special treatment. So, he moved his table to the centre of the room and put a chair on both sides so those who are sitting are looking at each other. Then he sat at the chair, turned to the entrance, and waited. While waiting, he thought about what happened, trying his best to come up with a way to fix this unexpected problem, but no matter how hard he thought, he simply knew that situation is not in his control anymore and that he has to wait for his guest to arrive. Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait for long, for not an hour passed from when he sent that angel away that a loud knocking was heard on his door.
"Enter!" he said loudly.
The door opened, and, as expected, it was his guest alright. Good. That meant that the soldier did as he was instructed. Under normal circumstances, he would have rushed to greet his guest as befits to greet a good friend, but this was not a normal circumstance. Instead, he just said:
"Please, shut the door behind you and sit. We need to talk."
The guest did as he was asked, while Nicholas reached under the table and put a bottle with transparent liquid and two glasses on the table. The guest made a refusing motion with his hand.
"Mine is to offer, and yours is to choose whether you want to or not. And please, spare me the lecture. I've heard it too many times over the years." said Nicholas while pouring himself a drink.
"Then I suppose you are aware how pointless and inappropriate it is for an angel to drink alcohol?" asked the guest in a serious but otherwise calm tone.
"Our Lord drank the fruit of the vine, and that settles that as far as I'm concerned." replied Nicholas hastily.
"True, but he did so while he was human. It served the purpose of fulfilling his need for liquid. What excuse do you, who has no need for liquid, have in your defence?"
"He could have drunk water if he wanted to! And he, as a God, could have survived even without drinking! But he chose alcohol instead; therefore, I am allowed to drink it as well, whatever your arguments may be."
The guest replaced a serious look on his face with a warm smile.
"You haven't changed a bit, my old friend."
"Yes, well, neither have you. I call you because your former apprentice is in danger, but after all these years, you cannot pass on an opportunity to lecture me about alcohol. In other words, you are still good old, Albert." said Nicholas, smiling himself.
"You are lucky that the circumstances of our reunion are so grave; otherwise, the lecture would have been far longer." said Albert, and the seriousness returned to his face.
Nicholas reacted the same. He drained his glass and filled it up again.
"I cannot even describe to you how guilty I'm feeling about the whole thing. I take full responsibility for what happened to Lucius. He was just about to go back to you, and the portal was opened, but at that very moment the demons attacked. I myself then offered him to show me what he's made of by fighting. He accepted and joined the fight. He fought splendidly, but then he pushed me out of the way of a giant crow, which then grabbed him instead of me. I tried my best to take the bloody thing down, but I was unsuccessful. He was taken away into their territory. Only God knows where he's at right now or is even still alive."
"You are mistaken." said Albert calmly, and Nicholas looked at him surprised.
"What do you mean?"
"I also know where he is. He has recited the holy verses three times. He's at the demon fortress across the Morning Star. There is still hope."
Nicholas's face lit up, but after a few seconds, he was moody again.
"I'm afraid I cannot be of much use to you, my old friend. You are aware that I don't have the necessary forces to even attempt such a feat, let alone be successful in it."
"I am. That's why I immediately notified the Council."
"Great… Now everybody will know of my failure…" said Nicholas with a sour smile appearing on his face.
"Nicholas, nobody is blaming you for what happened here except yourself. Lucius took your place by himself. You couldn't have stopped it. As for telling the Council, as you yourself said just now, you don't have the necessary forces. They do. It's as simple as that."
"Of course, it's just that… I…" Nicholas sighed and put a hand on his forehead.
"You don't have to say anything, my old friend. Your frustrations are very well known to me. But fret not. With their aid, there is a good chance we can get him out of there. Besides, don't think that I don't have another plan already in motion. I trust in armies of Elysium, but I trust in something else a lot more."
"You don't mean…" Nicholas stopped in the middle of a sentence and looked at Albert inquisitively.
"I will say no more on the matter. You will find out soon. All in due time, my old friend. As for the reinforcements, they will arrive here any minute now. I've made sure to stress to the Council how important it is for us to succeed in returning our new Hell Purger. They are sending a respectable force our way. Also, I've made sure that a good part of the aforementioned force remains in the Morning Star fortress after we bring Lucius back. Not everything is as bad as it seems at first glance, my old friend, but we must act quickly. Time is of the essence. After a long time, it's time to remind the demons at the border that we are more than capable of fighting!" said Albert resolutely while standing up.
Nicholas looked at him, and then he fully drained his glass again. Then he said while also standing up:
"Very well. Let's bring our boy home!"