Demon Among Devils

Chapter 12: "You Dare Speak His Name, Mortal"

They knelt. Just like they had in the first antechamber. Bending knee, one by one, their weapons forgotten on the floor beside them.

Uriel smiled. A perfect, faultless smile.

Uriel: "Kneeling is good. Kneeling means that you know of your sins"

The Archangel tilted his head to one side

Uriel: "But since when has kneeling ever absolved you of them?"

They tensed in their armor, but it was a futile motion. Uriel gestured, a casual flick of his hand, and the wards and seals that had proved so effective against Belial's fire flared red hot before simultaneously winking out.

Plated forms fell like hewn logs. Toppled like tipped statues. The sound of steel faceplates denting the floor echoed eerily throughout the chamber. Valper stared at the heaps of unmoving armor around him and whimpered. The former priest's fear was shared by those below. The devils scattered. The humans knelt. He frowned and glanced bemusedly in both their directions.

Uriel: "Zealots"

Uriel's gaze remained on the balcony. His tone had turned distasteful

Uriel: "Of all the sinners I have had to deal with, they are the worst of the bunch. Heretics, I can stand. Blasphemers a bit less. But zealots, they are the worst of the worst. They choose which tenets they will follow and ignore the rest, and should you argue against them they will not be above using force against you"

The Archangel turned to regard them, a thin smile playing on his lips,

Uriel: "It was how the Crusades were started. Thousands and thousands of dead. Cities sacked and ruined. Civilizations brought to the brink of collapse. And if that was not enough, they had to have eight in a row! Eight Crusades, and it was left to us angels to pick up the pieces when they were done! Think of all the paperwork!"

They blinked. He sighed. Uriel chuckled. The seraph descended to land in the middle of them, blood red plate clinking harmoniously as they touched the ground. Bright, luminescent wings folded behind the armored back, and the light that had cast itself upon them all steadily faded until it was no more than an ebbing glow.

Uriel: "The stubbornness of humans. More often than not it becomes willful ignorance"

The seraph jutted his chin towards one of them

Uriel: "Tell me, would you eat something that a great, celestial being strictly forbade you to?"

Asia looked up, her eyes wide, then shook her head.

Uriel: "Ah, that makes you wiser than Adam and Eve then"

Uriel; "There are times I wonder if God cast humanity out of Eden for heeding the Serpent's lies or because He was too ashamed of the stupidity of His own creations."

Xenovia and Irina made faint choking sounds from where they knelt. The others wavered, still unsure. The Archangel noticed and grinned mischievously.

Uriel: "Worry not, devils. You are not stupid, merely blasphemous. And I would prefer blasphemy over stupidity any day. Besides, if there was no blasphemy in this world, we angels would have very little to do and many of us would be out of a job. Can you imagine? I, the great Uriel, Archangel of Retribution, forced into the ignominy of unemployment?"