CHAPTER XII
Matraton
As the religions of the Almighty expanded throughout the world, the Devil realized the false gods were doomed to oblivion. He would persist in the struggle to prolong their twilight, but decided to change his strategy, focusing his efforts on subversion of faith in the One God. As the new faith took different forms for the various human cultures, Lucifer planned to turn them against each other, corrupting their commandments by the expedient of war.
To this end, he dispatched Lilith and the Infiltrators to spread his lies among the peoples of Earth. Before long, God's preachers, the same ones who condemned the use of violence against individuals, altered their teachings to justify the slaughter of many for the benefit of society. And, worst of all, in the name of God.
Thus, once again, the Devil corrupted Man, making each religion believe itself superior to the others, the only one chosen by God and the true path to Paradise. Deep connoisseur of human nature, Lucifer planted the definitive seed of hostility in the human spirit, manipulating their pride and vanity, and fear of the different.
Mankind forgot the higher teaching that all the religions of the One God were sacred and led to salvation. However, the Devil's success proved only partial. Even sowing discord, prejudice, and violence, Man did not depart entirely from God's teachings.
For His religions, even if infiltrated by evil, remained founded on good. In each of them, free will remained, the choice to embrace the precepts of kindness, tolerance, and compassion. The axis of the war between God and Lucifer shifted from the collective arena to the individual. From the conquest of kingdoms and cities to the struggle within every human being.
In the early days of this new phase of the war, the emblematic figure of Job emerged. The one who attracted to himself the unholy interest of the Prince of Darkness.
Job was a happy, married man and father of seven sons and three daughters. He owned a thriving farm in the kingdom of Uz, with more than seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred oxen, two hundred donkeys, and dozens of servants, which made him the richest man in the East.
Still, Job regarded unwavering faith in the Lord as his greatest good. The angels themselves, when passing through Uz, claimed that there was no man more strongly tended to the Creator. The inhabitants of Uz said that not even the angels worshipped God as much as Job. Such words soon reached Lucifer through the Infiltrators. And they hurt the Devil's ears. For Lucifer did not admit that humans, inferior and miserable, compared themselves to angels, whether those were loyal or fallen.
Lucifer flew to Purgatory to demand from Gabriel the suspension of the divine protection over Job. Gabriel argued that there was no man over the world most deserving of safety, the most righteous, honest, and sincere follower of the Lord.
“Does God fear that Job will succumb to evil?” mocked the Devil. “After all, Job is well-loved, rich, and healthy. Take everything from him and you will see, brother, that he will blaspheme in the face of the Lord.”
Gabriel's light intensified, and the sublime voice of the Almighty sprang from his lips.
“So be it, My Firstborn,” said God. “Bring pain and misery to Job, and may he prove to be worthy of My blessings. But spare his life. Yes, on it, protection is maintained.”
Tears came down from Lucifer's eyes. For since the Fall that was the first time God had spoken to him.
Gabriel's luminescence diminished. God had left him.
“Go, brother,” Gabriel said. “Fulfill your wish.”
Lucifer dried his face with his hands, embarrassed by his emotions.
“I will, and you shall have one additional proof of Man's weakness.”
Lucifer set out to pour out his wrath upon Job.
He killed his cattle, incinerated his house, sent Azazel into the skin of a handsome man to conquer his wife, and covered Job's body with putrefied wounds. His servants and children disowned him in disgrace, and his wife disappeared, never to be seen again. For Azazel fled with her into the mountains and killed her under the stars, consuming her flesh and blood in a grotesque crime that the angels did not perceive such the perfection with which she possessed a mortal body. Azazel then slit her host's wrists, abandoning him to die.
Amid such suffering, Job's faith faltered, but it did not break. In fact, it became even stronger in the face of extreme adversity. And in due course, God rewarded Job twice as much as he had ever possessed. And Job became the man most hated by Lucifer, for his faith has proven to be truly as or more powerful than that of an angel.
Depressed, Lucifer meditated on his defeat from the top of Green Mountain, the most beautiful of the kingdom of Uz, when a battalion of Luciferes came to him, led by Beelzebub, with a grave expression, bringing Mephistopheles, the Dark Sword, to the Lord of Darkness.
“Milord,” said Beelzebub. “Matraton's forces are advancing. We escaped the Dark City just before it fell to warn you.”
The Second Rebellion had begun.
Lucifer realized too late how reckless he had been. Blinded by the pride of his challenge to God, he had allowed his enemies to multiply in the Abyss. He had left the way clear for Matraton and now the Devil needed to act quickly if he wanted to hold to his throne.
“How many legions follow the Demon of Silence?”
“One hundred and six, my prince.”
Lucifer was static. This left him only five legions and three Luciferes battalions. And no chance of victory.
“As we left, three of our legions covered the withdraw of the others to the Citadel,” Beelzebub continued. “The survivors will not last long.”
“The Citadel is the Dark City's most powerful fortress. Maybe we still have a chance.”
Lucifer took Mephistopheles from Beelzebub. Its dark blade shone under the strong morning light.
“But it won't be easy,” Lucifer acknowledged, gloomy. "Most likely we will all perish.”
Beelzebub drew his sword. His blood boiled in anticipation of battle. And he did not care anymore, neither did the other Luciferes.
“I'm here to serve! With honor!”
“With honor!” the Luciferes cried in unison, raising their tridents and swords.
Lucifer rose on his wings. His glow surpassed that of the sun, and he got drunk in his own splendor.
“We are demons! We fight for darkness! Fly beside me to dusk! To oblivion and destruction!”
The Luciferes shouted wildly. And Lucifer flew into the Abyss, with his warriors behind him. The shadows of thousands of wings have been cast upon the world. And that was the last flight of the Luciferes.
The Citadel was a set of fortified walls, buildings and towers that occupied the center of the Dark City, a compact line of defenses intended for the protection of the Great Pyramid.
The walls, however, had been broken. The three remaining loyal legions, the Fortieth, The Forty-Seventh, and the Ninety-Sixtieth, fought valiantly under the leadership of Asmodeus, one of Lucifer's most faithful generals. Their cause, however, was lost in the face of endless waves of rebels.
From above, the Dark City seemed assaulted by countless little dots, a shockwave advancing in all directions, closing the siege on the Great Pyramid. The small pockets of resistance on the walls were systematically massacred, while Matraton's vanguard moved wildly to the only access to the pyramid, its immense gates made of dark, heavy metal. Asmodeus fell under the swords of a platoon of Matratones, Matraton's elite guard.
At that moment, the Luciferes emerged through the Great Seal and immediately realized that if the gates were taken, it would be their end. Lucifer launched himself, in front of his warriors, into a desperate dive into the haze of demons that covered the Citadel.
Swift and beautiful as a shooting star, Lucifer's brilliance heralded his arrival. Hundreds of thousands of rebels took off to give them combat in mid-air. Against that force, the Devil could not prevail, he and his Luciferes would succumb by fighting, and Matraton would guarantee for himself the demonic crown.
And certainly, so it would have been, were it not for Lucifer, the greatest warrior that ever existed.
“Now!” the Devil cried.
The Luciferes covered their eyes as Lucifer burst his light into the darkness of the Abyss. He blinded the rebels momentarily. And Matraton's legions plummeted over the Dark City as the rains that cooled the fields of the Second Heaven, stunned enough for the Devil and his soldiers to reach the gates of the Great Pyramid.
There, Lucifer struck three times the handle of his sword against the dark gates.
“Make way!” commanded the Devil. “I´m Lucifer Morningstar, your only true lord!”
The gates opened and the Luciferes entered.
Valiant, Lucifer and Beelzebub watched Matraton's troops regain their sight and resume their furious sprint toward the Great Pyramid as the gates closed after the Devil and his general got inside.
Lucifer sheathed Mephistopheles as he was greeted by the commanders of his last legions, the First and Second, and his remaining battalions of Luciferes.
“Reinforce those gates,” Lucifer ordered the nearest legionaries. “Quick!”
The soldiers brought all the heavy debris they could find to support the gates, just in time to resist the first onslaughts of Matraton's army battering devices. The strong impacts of rams made of concrete and coated with metal, sporting nefarious frowns of goats and bulls, and driven by up to two hundred demons each, made it clear that the gates would not bear much longer.
The feeling of urgency obscured the thoughts of the loyal commanders. They would fight to the end for their prince, but they saw no hope of survival. Lucifer, on the contrary, kept his mind cold and sharp.
“Where are the Infiltrators?” asked the Firstborn.
“In the Glasshouse, sir,” Pazuzu replied. “Not everyone is a loyal follower. So, I kept them under guard.”
Lucifer smiled.
“You may have saved us all, old friend,” Lucifer told Pazuzu, the only Infiltrator he really trusted. “Come with me.”
Beelzebub and Pazuzu followed Lucifer to the Glasshouse.
From outside the pyramid, three battering rams were thrown together against the gates, which began to knead and break. Matraton's legions were under the command of a huge, cruel demon named Uriel.
Uriel had belonged to the second generation of Seraphim, instructed directly by Samael, Gabriel, Camael, Nathanael and Matraton. Uriel had been the most faithful of Matraton's apprentices and his right-hand in the First Heaven. After the Fall, Matraton had become the mind and Uriel the voice behind the movement that purported to usurp Lucifer's crown. The two complemented each other in such a way that many claimed to be both faces of the same evil.
For it was Uriel who snapped a long three straps whip made of mammoth leather, lined with thick metal studs, his creation from the previous era. Uriel still carried a pair of broad, menacing axes on the back of his armor.
Suddenly, the pyramid gates opened, surprising the rebels and throwing battering rams and their teams to the ground. Lucifer led a suicide assault of one thousand loyal warriors against the millions of insurgents. Lucifer's light shone brightly. But this time, his enemies showed themselves to be foresight, covering their eyes under their hands and shields before they counterattacked.
The loyal demons claimed a high price from the rebels' front line. More than five thousand of them were slaughtered, against a hundred loyalist casualties. Only Mephistopheles, furiously brandished by the Devil, dispatched the essences of more than three hundred rebels, sipped through the bowels of the Abyss.
However, their initial success did not last in the face of overwhelming opposition. The rebels regrouped and surrounded Lucifer's forces. Following the instructions given, Beelzebub, who had remained in charge of the pyramid, ordered the gates to be closed. And so, Lucifer and a handful of warriors found themselves isolated outside, wrapped in a shroud of enemies.
The loyal soldiers formed a defensive circle around their sovereign. A perimeter that shrank rapidly, buffeted on all sides. Lucifer's troops behaved magnificently, with a ferocity never equaled, not even during the worst battles of the First Rebellion. Still, they were being quickly subdued. There were just under thirty warriors left when Lucifer ordered them to drop their weapons.
The rebels stopped, surprised, because they imagined Lucifer would fall in battle. The Firstborn was hated by his opponents, however, even the most contemptuous of them admired his courage. That surrender reaped their derision and disappointment.
Lucifer was despised and vilified as a coward as Uriel advanced from the rebel ranks. He had his hands free; his whip curled around his waist. He displayed an affected smile for the defeated.
“Lucifer, where is your bravery now?” laughed Uriel. “You proved yourself weak and abject! If Lord Matraton had led us in the Great War, there would be no surrender to God.”
At that moment, Matraton appeared gliding over his armies and came to land next to Uriel.
“We were stronger than the angels,” Uriel continued in his lies, pleasing to the ears of Matraton's servants. “If we had persevered in the struggle, if it were not for Lucifer's betrayal, we would have won!”
The demons howled satisfied, preferring to delude themselves and ignore the truth.
“His cowardice cost us the Fall!” accused Uriel, in front of an impassive Lucifer, who smiled and walked slowly among his troops toward Matraton.
Uriel pulled out his axes as Lucifer stood before his two powerful opponents.
“I don't remember you contesting our surrender to the angels, Matraton,” Lucifer teased. “In fact, as I recall, you were one of the first to plead for it.”
“Lies! Slander!” cried Uriel.
“Only I know how difficult it was to accept surrender,” Lucifer said. “But it´s long-past. The important thing is now. And right now, I have three of my Infiltrators ready to take the lives of some humans. Innocent women and children, to be exact.”
The rebels froze, terrified. Matraton and Uriel looked at each other, nervous.
“You're lying,” Uriel said. “A war with the angels would destroy us all. No demon would obey such an order.”
“Really?” Lucifer countered, sarcastically. “Release your thoughts, Matraton. Take them to the Glasshouse.”
Matraton closed his eyes and mentalized.
“See my Luciferes with the spears pointed at the hearts of Azazel, Belial and Abbadon, lying inert in their ceremonial beds,” Lucifer said. “Now, follow their mental paths extending all the way to a distant corner of the world.”
Matraton's mind followed the Infiltrators' tracks to a small forgotten hovel in a remote village. There, he saw a peasant family, whose patriarch and his two teenage sons kept their mother and four younger sisters under the threat of their dirty pitchforks. Trapped in a dark corner, the women hugged her daughters and cried helplessly.
“The Infiltrators have no choice,” said the Devil. “If they don't kill the humans, my Luciferes will take them out in the Glasshouse.”
Matraton opened his eyes. And Uriel saw in them the sincerity of Lucifer's words.
“Damn you!” Uriel protested. “You won't take us hostage to your threats!”
“No threats,” clarified the Devil. “A challenge.”
Lucifer drew Mephistopheles.
“I would propose a duel to Matraton,” Lucifer continued. “The winner would get it all. Sovereign of the Abyss and King of Men. But I realized that this would be unfair,” Lucifer smiled, with disdain. “Then I invite you to join him, Uriel. Two against one. What do you say?”
Matraton and Uriel looked at each other once more. Now, with fury on their faces.
Matraton drew his twisted sword.
“This ends here,” Uriel roared, raising his axes.
Uriel and Matraton advanced together toward Lucifer.
All loyal and rebel warriors walked back, freeing the courtyard in front of the Great Pyramid for that clash of titans.
Mephistopheles repelled the sequence of blows coming from Uriel's axes, but not the sneaky attack of Matraton's blade, which tore an ugly, deep wound across Lucifer's left arm. The rebels greeted with howls and shouts that promising sign.
Lucifer fired to the heights of the Abyss, followed closely by his contenders. The battle unfolded in the air, amid insane pirouettes. Lucifer teased and swerved, while Uriel sought to push him into Matraton's reach.
Finally, Uriel launched a decisive charge, his axes crashing madly against Mephistopheles' blade, causing colorful sparks, like fireworks illuminating the warriors below, who kept their eyes fixed in the battle.
Lucifer was led backwards toward Matraton's sword.
The Demon of Silence waited motionless, in the shadows, smiling, for Lucifer would never know what was about to hit him. Matraton felt the Firstborn's wings flapping near him, the breeze they lifted touched his face, gently. He raised his sword and delivered the fatal blow with all his might. Lucifer heard the sword cutting through the darkness behind him and closed his wings, plummeting into the city. Matraton's blade passed harmlessly over the Devil's head and stuck with violence into Uriel's heart.
“NO!” cried Matraton, his first and last word.
Uriel's essence was sucked through the nearest wall of the Abyss.
Lucifer spread his wings and flew a foot from reaching the rough floor of the courtyard. Lucifer dropped Mephistopheles and took Uriel's axes in midair as they were descending into freefall.
Lucifer launched himself up, back towards Matraton.
“Your time has come, traitor!” shouted Lucifer.
It was Matraton's turn to slam his sword against those dark axes. Skillful, he managed to disarm Lucifer's left hand, after all the cut on the Devil's arm impaired some of his movements.
The fallen axe collided with the courtyard below, opening a crater.
Lucifer joined both hands on the handle of the remaining axe and delivered a volley of blows. Now, Matraton was the one pushed backward until he was pressed into a wall of the Abyss.
Unable to escape Lucifer's savagery, Matraton merely postponed the inevitable. And this came soon.
Lucifer severed Matraton sword's hand and then buried the long handle of the axe through his chest with such force that he pinned the Demon of Silence to the wall. Matraton faced the wound and the distorted reflection of his face on the blade of the weapon, blurred by his tears.
Lucifer relished the torment of his enemy, who feared obliviousness and non-existence. He then ripped Matraton's neck with his own teeth, tore off his windpipe and ate it. Matraton's essence disappeared on the wall. Lucifer left the axe buried in it as a testament to his triumph.
Lucifer went down to the courtyard. The loyal demons left the pyramid and saluted him. Demoralized, the rebels surrendered their weapons. Lucifer ordered the execution of all officers who had followed Matraton.
Later, he restored the legions under the iron fist of the Luciferes, who now held their nominal command. Yet, the worst punishment was reserved for the eight thousand Matratones soldiers. They were imprisoned in the basement of the Great Pyramid and, for centuries, tortured by gruesome beatings, mutilations, and humiliations. The fortunate perished in the early decades of agony. But rumors were rife with some unfortunate remnants still suffering in the fetid dungeons even in the last days of the world.
Lucifer, in turn, retreated into a growing paranoia, seeing conspirators even where there were none. The Firstborn no longer left his throne in the Great Pyramid, randomly ordering the murders of those demons who, for no apparent reason, fell into disgrace. To aggravate, dark thoughts toned his mind, causing him to become increasingly suspicious of how much God would be manipulating him into fulfilling His indecipherable purposes. For the next few centuries, Lucifer became obsessed with revealing whether such purposes existed, and, in this case, what they would be. He went on to write a great philosophical treatise on heavy clay tablets. And he filled tens of thousands of those tablets in the unceasing search for the meaning of his existence and the true rules that ordered creation.
Still, Lucifer despaired, unable to discover such answers for himself. He was already near giving up when Azazel appeared in the throne room, bringing news of her most recent mission on Earth, about a new messiah of the Lord who was walking among men. And her words sounded so disturbing to the Devil that they plucked him from his macabre throne and compelled him back to the surface of the world.