When Lucius reached the bottom of the staircase, he came in front of what could be best described as a forest of cobwebs or, more simply put, a lair of a very big spider. Everything was covered in a big and thick spider web, from the floor to the ceiling. Even if he cut the webs in front of him, using his sword like a machete with which he was supposed to make his way through this sticky jungle, it was no use. He had a feeling that this spider's web isn't as weak or ineffective as the one from a regular spider, and that meant he would probably get stuck in it if he walked across it. He started to think about how to approach this situation.
Encouraged by his success in dealing with the minotaurs, he had to ask himself, could it yet again be so simple, when he glanced over the torch that he was carrying in his left hand.
"It doesn't hurt to try." Lucius thought as he approached the web and tried to light it with his burning torch.
The web was initially quite reluctant to start burning, and he had to keep the flame of his torch on it for at least ten seconds until it started burning. The fire burned slowly and spread equally slowly, but at least it burned. It was a success. However, the smell of the web burning was horrible. It was unnatural, and Lucius could bet it was probably poisonous. This forced him to retreat a bit up the staircase. This proved to be a smart idea, not only because of the bad smell but also from the heat that the burning web generated. Slowly, but surely, the fire started to spread, and the light of the flame became stronger and stronger. Realising that it would soon become as hot in the oven on this staircase, Lucius slowly started climbing upwards.
It will take some time for the web to completely burn, probably a lot more time than he actually had, but he much preferred a slow and well thought-out approach than a hasty one, which would surely turn him into an equivalent of a giant fly on the menu of the big spider that spun all that web. Speaking of the big spider, Lucius hoped that the fire would burn him to death. For his taste, he had more than enough interactions with overly sized creatures recently, and if a good old friend called fire can help him with this one, he would really appreciate it. However, right now, the only thing that he could do was to wait and hope fire will do its job. He just hoped and prayed that he had enough time to be able to wait it out.
***
There was no sign of him, and nobody had seen him. Not on the battlements, not in the stables, and nowhere nearby. The demons from the stables swore that every animal is in its place and that not a single one is missing. He and the demons searched the whole front part of the fortress, and there was simply no trace of him, like he disappeared into the ground. But he didn't. He knew he didn't. More importantly, he couldn't. Not while the dark crys…
A worm of doubt immediately appeared in the black knight's head and refused to leave him in peace. It was impossible that the angel could know about that. And even if he somehow knew about it, he couldn't possibly find his way there and defeat all of the guards that would stand on his path. The very idea was absurd. Still, he wasn't a regular angel; he was sure of it. He was special in some way, and he slipped out of his hands before he could discover it, in that way proving his specialness. Yes, a regular angel couldn't do it for sure. But that one…
The black knight was unsure what to do. The whole idea sounded absurd, and maybe the angel was simply hiding in some hilariously obvious spot that they somehow missed, waiting for them to go searching for him in the other part of the fortress, leaving the front relatively weakly guarded, allowing him to get to the stables and escape. Maybe, and maybe not. He couldn't know. That's why he decided to split his forces. One half of the demons was to remain here and guard the stables and the creatures inside it with their lives while he and the other half of the demons searched the rest of the fortress. He further split his force and sent it to search themselves while he went alone. Something drew him to his chamber, probably a strong wish to kill the angel with his own sword.
Well, obviously he wouldn't kill him. Torturing was much more fun and productive than simply killing someone outright. But still, it was safe to assume that the angel managed to arm himself by now, which meant that he needed to be bested in combat before he could be taken back to the dungeon. Therefore, it certainly wouldn't hurt if he grabbed his trusty black sword along the way. Also, his dear pet could prove very useful in finding the intruder quicker than he and the others ever could.
"Yes, that isn't a bad idea at all." the black knight thought as he headed straight into the direction of his private chamber.
The darkness in the hall leading to his private chamber was the first sign that something wasn't right, and he instantly became wary. He couldn't sense the angel, but this was probably his doing. An uncomfortable stench of something burning was coming from the direction of his chamber. He fearlessly went around the corner and found no guards in front of his chambers.
"Those fools… If the angel hasn't taken care of them, I will crush their thick skulls with my own hands after all of this passes." the black knight thought as he approached his chamber angry because of their absence.
Since the guards had the key to his chamber, he had to break down the door, which was not a hard task for him, and so the door of his chamber met a similar fate as the one leading in and out of the dungeon, with the only difference being that he pulled this one right out of the hinges, so he doesn't risk hurting his pet by sending them flying into the room. But the black knight was in for a very ugly surprise.
When he removed the door from the doorframe like it was made out of paper and not out of sturdy metal, the first thing that met him instead of his loyal pet was a cloud of smoke and a nauseating stench of burned flesh. He could see in the dark, but smoke still obstructed his view, and he entered his chamber to find out what happened. He quickly found the charred corpse of his pet.
Black knights are creatures of pure evil. It is said that they are so evil that they cannot even understand emotions, let alone feel them. There was no remorse or sadness in the black knight when he discovered the corpse of his loyal friend. For him to feel that, he would have to know about love, and he simply didn't. However, there was an emotion that remained in the black knights, an emotion that fuelled their bloodthirst, not just in them but in the rest of the demons, and that emotion was pure and unfiltered hate. He hated the angel so much that, if he were in front of him right now, he would have ripped him to pieces with his own hands, without as much as a thought of sparing him or torturing him. That great was his fury, and he went to his throne to take his sword and hunt the bastard down. It was then that he discovered that his sword was missing.
The hate slowed down his thinking a bit. He started punching the wall of his chamber to calm down, making small holes in it as he did. How did the angel find his private chamber? How did he get inside without the key? There was no sign of guards anywhere, so he didn't kill them. Was someone helping him? That must be it. But, who? It didn't matter. He was going to find out later. Whoever helped him get this far probably also told him about the dark crystal and how to get to it. That meant there was no time to lose. He went out of his chamber and started running towards the staircase leading to the dark crystal. He hoped to stumble upon some of the demons he sent searching for the angel when he stopped dead in his tracks.
The sound of drums was heard again. Was it possible that those fools were so dumb that they were once again raising alarm?! Maybe they found the angel? No… He listened… This was the drumming to warn about an attack. That was impossible! They weren't attacked in centuries! Why now? The answer was obvious. It was the angel. He really was special.
The black knight had to decide whether to go after the angel or go help defend the fortress. It's not like he needed a lot to decide. He quickly continued his sprint towards the staircase leading down to the dark crystal.
"When I get my hands on that bastard…" he said in his cold and deep voice, seemingly calm but actually furious.
He was so consumed by his hate that he didn't notice that he was clearly being followed by somebody.