In Rebellion (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book II) (13 page)

Chapter 17

The battle for the Sixth Heaven was taking longer than Luciferael had projected. He knew that it would be a tough fight to get through the remnants of the loyal Cherubim in the Sixth Heaven but still thought that he would greatly outnumber them and overcome their resistance fairly quickly. Especially since Luciferael had a third of the Angels in Heaven concentrated and under his control.

The other two thirds of Angels were spread across the Earth working on the nine pyramid projects and only small portions of each order of Angels were left in each of the Seven Heavens. Amassed in a force, his rebel Angels should have already been in control of all the Heavens. On this, the second day of the rebellion, he had the Fifth Heaven definitely under his control and was close to conquering the last resistance in the Sixth and Fourth Heavens simultaneously. Another two or three days, he thought, and the Heavens and the Universe would be his. Then he could depose the Almighty once and for all and become the Almighty himself.

He had received word from Beelzebael that Jarahmael had fallen attempting to break through the defenses in the Fourth Heaven. Those building-type Angels are not to be underestimated, Beelzebael reported back to him. But Luciferael was not worried about them at all. It was only a delay.

Luciferael was also sure that neither Beelzebael nor Suriel were concerned with the loss of Jarahmael. In many ways, that would make things simpler for the final conquest. The other Archangels loyal to the Almighty would realize that they too could perish, and it would reinforce Luciferael's view that the Almighty was not concerned about any of the Beings of Light, just those Humans and Simians. The loyal Angels would at some point also realize that it was Luciferael who was more concerned about the Angels and placed them above the Humans, not the other way around as the existing Almighty was doing.

To be fair, Luciferael would give the loyal Angels the opportunity to join with him when they surrendered or were captured, just as he had with Ariel and Jarahmael.

Standing behind his army in the Sixth Heaven, he was becoming frustrated that his rebel army continued to be bogged down battling the Cherubim who defended the Cathedral of the Cherubim. He could have his rebel legions sidestep the Cathedral and go directly to the Seventh Heaven, as there were not many Cherubim here in the Sixth Heaven to stop him. But he thought better of it. He wanted the weapons that remained within the Cathedral if for no other reason than to prevent the loyal Angels from getting their hands on them.

But the loyal Cherubim proved to be tougher than he anticipated. He decided that the only way he was going to cut through the Cherubim's defenses was to use the energy from the Potentate Angels to increase his own force. Calling a few Potentate Angels up to where he was, he utilized their internal stores of energy and was able to drive the loyal Angels from the Cathedral using the amplified sounds of the trumpets. It was an innovative approach, magnifying an existing weapon using the stored energy of the Potentate Angels, but a gamble that worked. It seemed that nothing could withstand those amplified weapons!

The first rebel Angel who entered the Cathedral reported back to him.

“My
l
ord Luciferael, most of the weapons that had been in the Cathedral are gone,” said one stoic-faced Cherubim.

“Gone?” responded Luciferael. “How could that be? We had removed what weapons we needed prior to the rebellion, but left the rest. There has not been anyone here, or has there been?”

“Not that any of us know of, my
l
ord. But we were unable to capture any of the loyal Cherubim to question them. They have withdrawn back to the western side of the Sixth Heaven and reset defenses over there.”

Luciferael thought for a moment. Even if the loyal Angels were able to acquire the weapons, he had attacked upwards and Beelzebael had started his attack downwards in the Heavens at the same time. They never would have been able to move the weapons past either of the sections of his army without his knowledge. Most likely, the weapons had been moved upwards into the Seventh Heaven. There were not many Angels in the Seventh Heaven who stayed during the day under normal circumstances, as it was home to the fourteen Archangels alone. The Seventh Heaven would fill up for the morning ceremony or when the Almighty would come to hold audiences with all the Angels, but they all dispersed to the lower Heavens and other parts of the Universe afterwards. Only a few Angels would be left behind to do some assignments in the Seventh Heaven. Luciferael also felt reassured that even if the weapons had been moved into the Seventh Heaven they would not be of much use, as there were not enough Angels remaining in the uppermost Heavens to fight back effectively and repulse Luciferael’s rebel Angels.

To be on the safe side, Luciferael dispatched a squad of rebel Cherubim and sent them off to secure the entrance to the Seventh Heaven.

As he thought about it further, Luciferael decided that he needed to make sure that the Throne Room was secured as well. He did not want anything to be missing from the Room nor leave the possibility that the Almighty would
be able to
simply reoccupy the Throne Room
,
try to hold out in there and remain in charge. He had a plan and summoned the Archangel Damiel for a special mission.

“
Lord
Damiel! I want you take a contingent of Angels and go up to the Seventh Heaven and secure the Throne Room for me. I have sent a squad of Cherubim ahead of you to secure the gateway into the Seventh Heaven. They will be near the entrance. Have them assist you in securing the Throne Room. I will follow with a larger force to deal with any other Archangels who remain in the Seventh Heaven.”

“When would you like me to do that, my
l
ord?” Damiel asked, expecting that it would be in a day or two.

“Now!” said Luciferael.

“Yes, my
l
ord Luciferael,” Damiel responded. “I will prepare at once!”

“I will follow shortly,” Luciferael said. “First, I need to go and see how Beelzebael is doing in his attacks on the lower Heavens. Do not fail me!”

Damiel then went out and selected ten of the nearest Angels. He told them to follow him and they flew off into the skies over the Sixth Heaven, heading upwards.

Luciferael then flew to Sammuael's legion. They had been doing most of the fighting with the loyal Cherubim around the Cathedral in the Sixth Heaven and were tattered from the fray.

“Lord Sammuael, I want you to finish securing the Cathedral here. Tell Mammonael to take his legion and go after the retreating Cherubim. They will most likely take position in the defenses built over on the western side. They, too, must be exhausted and I think they will need to regroup and will not be able to launch any further attacks today.”

“Yes
,
my
l
ord Luciferael,” Sammuael said. “Where will you be?”

“I am going to reinforce Beelzebael. I have reports that he continues to have trouble breaking through to the lower Heavens. Reinforcements and my presence may make that easier. We need to expel the remaining loyal Angels from the Heavens and destroy those Simians and the Humans. The sooner the better. I want to take over the Seventh Heaven properly. I have sent a couple of small forces up there to secure the area, as there can't be much of any opposition available up there. I will return to claim the Seventh Heaven once I know Beelzebael is again on the move. Secure the remaining weapons here. Rest if you can, your legion deserves it.”

“Thank you, my
l
ord Luciferael,” Sammuael responded.

Luciferael flew off and away from Sammuael's legion and by-passed Mammonael's. He then collected the remaining ten legions of the various Orders of Angels and they followed him in flight and stayed in formation while descending through the Sixth Heaven and down through the Fifth Heaven.

Luciferael confirmed that the Fifth Heaven was still secure. He caught a glimpse of Ariel still under guard as he passed through.
Almost forgot about him, he said to himself. I will deal with him once
this rebellion is over
.

Upon entering the Fourth Heaven, Luciferael saw that after
almost a whole additional day’s fighting Beelzebael had still made little progress getting through the maze-like defense put in place by the Dominion Angels. Beelzebael still could not get more than a single file group of Angels into the entranceway.

Suriel saw Luciferael and his legions coming through the sky towards them first, and spoke to Beelzebael.

“Lord Beelzebael, it looks like
l
ord Luciferael is here and on his way to you. I hope he was not turned away in his fight upwards to the higher Heavens,” Suriel reported.

Beelzebael responded quickly, “Perish the thought, Suriel.
Lord
Luciferael, I am sure, has won the day!”

As Luciferael
approached
he saw Beelzebael's legions standing around seemingly lost.

Luciferael landed by Beelzebael and Suriel, who were standing near the walls of the maze at the gateway between the Fourth and Third Heavens. He was angry that all of those legions were stuck and unable to get to the lower Heavens and the Earth to finish this conquest.

“I see that you have not progressed much further,
l
ord Beelzebael,” he said.

“No, we haven't,
l
ord Luciferael. I have been unable to get through the defenses put up by the Dominions.”

“How have you attacked them?” Luciferael asked.

“We can only put warrior Angels through the maze in a single file, and have been unable to breach the walls around the entrance way. We even lost the Archangel Jarahmael that way!”

“That was quite a loss.
Lord
Jarahmael may have been able to assist in recruiting Michael's factions of Archangels,” Luciferael said
sadly
.

“I never trusted him much,” said Suriel.

“Sometimes the bigger the reward, the bigger the risk required!” Beelzebael added.

“All right, enough of this,” Luciferael said. “Let's get on with it.”

Luciferael turned as Mephistophael landed near him. “
Lord
Mephistophael, bring me Crocell and Taap of the Potentates.”

“Yes
,
my
l
ord Luciferael,” Mephistophael said as he turned and flew off again.

Luciferael looked into the structure that was before him. Touching it, he could feel that it was firm and more solid than just light waves.

Mephistophael returned with the two Potentates, Crocell, a huge green orb and Taap, a huge red orb.

Their voices created a low rumble when they spoke.

“We are here,
l
ord
Luciferael
,” rumbled Taap. “What can we do for you?”

Luciferael pointed to the path into the open roofed tunnel system that stood before them and said to the two Potentates, “Move over there, I want to see if you two will fit within the walls.”

Grumbling, the two of them moved in front of the tunnels and Luciferael saw that they would indeed fit
but only individually, not side by side
, even though it would be tight.

“I want the two of you to follow me into the tunnels here.
Since you can’t follow me side by side I want one
flying low, the other flying high. When I stop, I want you to provide me with your potential energy in order to amplify the sound when I blow through the trumpet.”