Chapter 25: Morality or Immorality?

They advanced together, light and darkness converging to destroy me. Every step they took seemed to shake the very foundation of Hell, but I did not retreat. In that moment, I realized that sheer force would never be enough to defeat them. Not against an angel, the symbol of celestial order, and Lucifer, the archetype of absolute rebellion. But against the mind, neither Heaven nor Hell can defend.

I waited for the opening, for the moment when the very essence of their roles would make them predictable.

The angel attacked first, his shining sword cutting through the air like a divine lightning bolt. His strikes were precise, disciplined, predictable. Each blow was methodical, a perfect demonstration of the order he represented. I dodged, moving in circles, forcing him to expose his pattern.

"You cannot win, human!" the angel shouted, his voice still imposing. "My strength is not mine, but the Almighty's!"

Lucifer laughed beside him. "The Almighty? Let me guess, He sent you here to die, didn't He? Just like He does with all His pawns."

The angel hesitated but pressed on. He knew Lucifer was trying to poison his mind, but the point had already been made.

"Don't listen to him," I provoked the angel, a cynical smile appearing on my lips. "But listen to me: you never act for yourself. You're a tool, not a being."

He roared in response and attacked with even more ferocity. It was exactly what I expected. The angel was a creature of order, and nothing destabilizes order more than doubt. He was no longer thinking clearly; each strike became more impulsive, less precise.

Lucifer seized the opening. As the angel advanced, he attacked, his black claws trying to grasp me from behind. But he was predictable too. Lucifer was chaos, yes, but a chaos that always believed it was irresistible. He acted on emotion, and emotions are easy to manipulate.

I threw myself to the side, and at the exact moment, the angel's attack passed close to me, colliding with Lucifer's claws. Light and darkness met in a brutal explosion, throwing both of them back.

"You're so blind, you don't even see the obvious!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the hall. "You're not opposites. You're two sides of the same coin, destroying each other while thinking you're in control."

The angel, panting, stood up. His face was marked with doubt and rage. Lucifer, on the other hand, looked furious, his form wavering between human and monstrous.

"He's manipulating us!" the angel shouted. "He wants us to destroy each other!"

"And you?" Lucifer retorted, his claws trembling with frustration. "Will you continue blindly following orders while the human exposes your weakness?"

The seed was planted. They were no longer fighting me, but each other. The angel charged at Lucifer, his sword cutting through the air with divine determination. Lucifer responded with all the brutality of his essence, his claws and teeth trying to destroy what represented order.

I stood there, watching, as the battle unfolded. Light and darkness collided in a dance of destruction, each blow weakening both. And then, at the right moment, I acted.

I grabbed a piece of the broken angel's sword, which had fallen during the fight. Its light was weak, but still burning. I moved toward them, silent as a shadow. Lucifer was distracted, trying to block an attack from the angel. I approached from behind and drove the sword fragment into his chest.

He screamed, a guttural, deep sound that made Hell tremble. His body began to disintegrate, but not before launching one last attack, his claws striking the angel in the chest. The angel's light also began to fade, but he still managed to turn to me, his eyes glowing with a mix of pain and respect.

"You... won," he said, his voice weak. "But at what cost?"

I didn't answer. There was nothing to say.

When they both disappeared, consumed by their own destruction, the hall fell silent. Hell itself seemed to hold its breath. And then, a voice emerged.

"Is this what you chose?" God asked. His voice was serene, yet powerful, as if coming from everywhere at once.

I looked around, searching for a form, but there was nothing but emptiness.

"Chose?" I replied, my voice heavy with weariness. "I didn't choose anything. I just survived."

"And now?" God asked. "You stand at the crossroads. Obedience, rebellion... or something else?"

I laughed, a dry sound that echoed through the void. "I won't bow, nor will I fight against you. I choose apathy. The absence of choice."

There was a long, heavy silence. Then, God spoke again, but now His voice seemed closer, more personal.

"Then you choose to be unique. A being that belongs nowhere. Not to Heaven, nor to Hell."

"I choose to be nothing, and at the same time, to be everything you fear." My tone was firm, almost defiant.

"And so it shall be."

The light disappeared, and I fell, not to Hell or Heaven, but to Earth. A place where I would be everything and nothing at the same time. A ghost in the world of the living.